Torture, homicide charges facing 5 Fairfield suspects

Prosecutors are seeking torture and homicide charges with special circumstances for five of the seven Fairfield residents held for trial in the alleged beating, kidnapping and shooting death of a Fairfield man last year.

Two of the defendants appeared for arraignment in Solano County Superior Court on Thursday but only one, Khalil Askari-Roberts, 30, entered a plea. The other defendants are set to be arraigned today.

Today, prosecutors are expected to announce the filing of homicide and torture charges for Janiel D. Miller, 40; Damarcus V. Armstrong, 20; Frank P. Bigoski IV, 27; Tina Odom, 18; and 18-year-old Jennifer Whittington. Two special circumstances: murder involving the infliction of torture, and murder committed in the course of a kidnapping, will apply to all but Miller and Whittington, prosecutors said.

The defendants facing special circumstances would be eligible for the death penalty, although prosecutors have yet to make the decision to seek it in the applicable capital cases.

The charges stem from the death of Keith E. Osby Jr., 29, whose body was discovered on May 13 bound and blindfolded in the parking lot of the Springbrook Masonic Temple in Vallejo. Osby's badly beaten body was found with a gunshot wound to the head.

According to preliminary hearing testimony, Ryan Odom was upset at Osby for allegedly stealing a laptop and PlayStation 3 from the house on a previous occasion. With all of the other defendants present at the home,

Odom ordered Whittington to call Osby and invite him over so that she could "confront" him about the thefts, witnesses said.

According to police testimony, Osby went to the San Andreas Street home on May 12 and upon arrival, was warned by one of Odom's daughters not to go inside.

Osby went in anyway. Drawn into a converted-garage bedroom, he fell to the ground after being struck by a baseball bat-wielding Bigoski, and Armstrong proceeded to tape Osby's arms behind his back while Miller and Askari-Roberts helped hold him down, according to police testimony regarding statements made after the incident.

Trying to figure out what to do with Osby, Armstrong told police the suspects procured a van from Askari-Roberts, who worked for a cab company. Armstrong told detectives that Bigoski and Miller loaded Osby's body into the rear of the van, police testified.

Prosecutors believe Armstrong killed Osby in the Vallejo parking lot and returned to Fairfield with the cab.

On Thursday, Askari-Roberts pleaded not guilty to the charges. Ryan Odom also appeared for arraignment, however Judge Wendy G. Getty agreed to put the matter over until March 1 over an objection raised by her defense attorney.

Follow Staff Writer Ryan Chalk

at Twitter.com/Ryan Chalk1883.

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Meet Dominic Bracco: Los Ninis in Ciudad Juarez

Learn more: pulitzercenter.org Over the course of two years, Pulitzer Center photojournalist Dominic Bracco spent time with young people who neither work nor study—the Los Ninis—of Ciudad Juarez. The city bordering El Paso, Texas, might have once been a prosperous center for manufacturing, but today it has transformed into a major drug trafficking route, giving it the highest homicide rate in Mexico. Economic decline exacerbates the violence as well as the lack of infrastructure, especially educational institutions, compelling increasing number of Juarez youth to participate in crimes. While some are able to hold on to the slightest hope as their safeguard, many plunge into narco-related activities, experiencing harms and losses inflicted by drug cartels. This report is part of Pulitzer Center-sponsored project "Los Ninis: Mexico's Lost Generation" (bit.ly

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