Josh Conway was held captive at gunpoint for 10 hours, beaten, tortured with a knife and bitten all because his ex-girlfriend told a lie, Assistant Attorney General Kim Ortiz told jurors Tuesday.
Kumari Fulbright told Robert Ergonis, another ex-boyfriend, that Conway had stolen a Rolex and two diamond rings from her, Ortiz said.
In reality, Ortiz said Conway sold the jewelry at her request.
Ergonis, 47, is on trial in Pima County Superior Court on five felony charges, two counts of aggravated assault, kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated robbery.
Ergonis and Fulbright, 28, had been romantically involved for several years and during their time together Ergonis had showered her with expensive gifts, Ortiz told jurors.
In August 2006, Fulbright was just about to enter her first year of law school at the University of Arizona when Ortiz said she she wrote the following in her diary: “I’m dressed in designer clothes courtesy of Neiman Marcus . . . a Louis Vittan in tow and enough diamonds to look like Elizabeth Taylor on a casual day.”
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A little more than one year later, Fulbright and Ergonis were no longer an item and she was in love with Conway, who couldn’t keep her in the lifestyle to which she’d become accustomed, Ortiz said.
“I went from a millionaire to a 24-year-old that is adorably clueless about life,” Fulbright wrote in her diary in November 2007, Ortiz said.
Fulbright asked Conway to sell a few pieces of her jewelry and he obliged, Ortiz said.
The couple broke up soon after, however, and Ergonis came back into Fulbright’s life, Ortiz said.
It was then she told Ergonis Conway had stolen her jewelry and they came up with a plan to kidnap him, torture him and kill him in the desert, Ortiz said.
On Dec. 8, 2007, Fulbright lured Conway to her apartment saying she wanted to see the lights at Winterhaven and when he arrived, Ergonis and his “henchman” David Radde jumped him, Ortiz said.
Ergonis told him “You are going to die in the desert tonight” and “You can know our names, you’re not going to live to tell anyone,” Ortiz said.
Over the next several hours, Ortiz said Conway was tortured at two separate locations, but he managed to escape when he was left alone with Fulbright for a short period of time.
Fulbright was arrested the same night. At the time, she was a UA law student and a volunteer clerk in U.S. District Court.
Ortiz told jurors they will hear testimony from Fulbright, Radde and Larry Hammond, all of whom were charged in the case/ They each have accepted plea agreements and all of them are awaiting sentencing.
Defense attorney Paul Gattone told jurors all three “know they are going to get a good deal as long as they say what needs to be said” in the eyes of the prosecutors.
The evidence will show Conway stole and sold Fulbright’s jewelry to pay off a $16,000 drug debt and Fulbright blackmailed Ergonis into helping her get the jewelry back, he told jurors.
The only person who caused Conway physical harm, Gattone said, was Fulbright, whom he described as being “the princess, the beauty queen, the center of the universe.”
Fulbright met Conway two years prior to the kidnapping while participating in beauty queen pageants, Gattone said. Conway was dating another beauty queen contestant and selling drugs, Gattone said.
Fulbright ran in the Miss Arizona contest and was named Miss Pima County in 2005 and Miss Desert Sun in 2006.
Gattone said Radde has a long criminal history and can’t be trusted and Hammond is known as “Crackhead Larry.”
Moreover, Hammond contends he was forced to participate in that day’s events, but the evidence will show he left the crime scenes on four occassions and always came back, Gattone said.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Michael Miller is presiding over the trial.
Contact Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
