Pre-Trial Begins For Lake Forest Man Accused In Laguna Killing

LAKE FOREST, CA — A pretrial hearing was scheduled for Jacob Anthony Quintanilla, charged in connection with the killing of a 40-year-old Laguna Beach man in his home. Co-defendant Matthew Thomas Dragna of Lake Forest is awaiting a retrial in the case after his original sentence was overturned.

Though Quintanilla has yet to be tried in the death of 40-year old Laguna Beach resident Damon Nicholson, his friend Matthew Thomas Dragna of Lake Forest was initially convicted in December of 2013 on first-degree murder charges.

At that time, jurors found true a special circumstance allegation of killing during a robbery, in the bludgeoning death of 40-year- old Damon Nicholson at his Laguna Beach home on Oct. 22, 2009. An appellate court judge overturned that ruling in 2016, according to previous Patch reports.

According to court records Dragna, now 30, admitted going to Nicholson’s Dolphin Way apartment the day before the murder to have sex with Nicholson. He told officials that he returned one day later with Jacob Quintanilla, a friend whom Dragna believed “would be interested in similar [sexual] acts,” records show. Dragna claims he went out to smoke cigarettes inside his car leaving Quintanilla inside the home.

Later, when Quintanilla exited the residence, Dragna told the court that his friend said the date "did not go well. When things escalated into an argument inside the home, Quintanilla struck Nicholson with a baseball bat to "knock him out" but killed him, instead, Dragna alleged.

Dragna's case was overturned by appellate court judges after his initial investigation was "botched" by Laguna Beach police, the LA Times suggests.

Read:

Lake Forest Man Gets Life For Killing Laguna Beach Resident

South OC Man's Murder Conviction Overturned Because of Police Impropriety

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