FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The defense team of three people accused of plotting a 19-year-old man's murder in 2005 began their closing arguments in a Broward County courtroom Tuesday.
Mike Bilotti, 60, his daughter, Christin Bilotti, 27, and John Pachiana, 42, then-manager of Bilotti's Miami strip club, Secrets, face charges in the murder of Richard Rojas.
Police said Rojas was gunned down outside the Bilotti's home in Davie. The state contends that Rojas was lured to the house when Bilotti's daughter, then 17, falsely told her father that Rojas had raped her.
Mike Bilotti's attorney said there was no set up, claiming Rojas came to the house looking for trouble and found it.
"They had the fear in their minds of the gun, of a bomb, firebombs, about this kid, that he was violent, that he was tough," attorney Fred Haddad said. "They didn't plan a murder. They didn't do anything."
Prosecutors said it was Pacchiana who pulled the trigger after a struggle with Rojas.
Wayne Palazzola, 47, and Richard Corbin, 39, each pleaded guilty to an accessory charge in connection with the murder. They face between 13 and 30 years in prison when sentenced.
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