Second trial begins in no-body murder

After one previous false start, attorneys will present opening statements today in the second murder trial of Mohammed Monie, accused of prompting a teenage boy to kill a 25-year-old Daly City man for his car parts nearly two decades ago.

Monie’s new trial comes more than a year after a witness stand slip by a police chief led Judge Stephen Hall to declare a mistrial. The new proceedings come with a new judge — Judge Barbara Mallach — but little else is expected to deviate from the case prepared in the April 29, 1989 death of Robert "Bobby” Perruquet.

Neither attorney involved in the case could be reached for comment but Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said he was not anticipating significant changes.

According to opening statements in the 41-year-old San Francisco man’s first trial in November 2007, Monie was either the murder’s mastermind who ordered 14-year-old Jesse Rodriguez to shoot Perruquet or an innocent man identified by the admitted killer 16 years later in hopes of avoiding prosecution himself. Ironically, Rodriguez cannot be tried because in 1989 a 14-year-old could not be charged as an adult for murder and now at 33 he is past the 25-year age limit for juvenile inmates. Instead, Rodriguez is expected to testify for the prosecution.

Perruquet, who lived with his parents in Daly City, went out with Monie and Rodriguez on April 29, 1989, days before he was to drive in his prized baby blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo to Southern California with a family friend with plans of starting a new job. The three men were acquaintances though attorneys differ on the state of the relationships.

That night, the three drank, smoked some marijuana that Monie allegedly told authorities later was laced with PCP and Perruquet never came home again. Four days later, the Monte Carlo turned up stripped, sprayed with primer and filled with enough blood that authorities assumed its owner was dead.

Monie allegedly had the car’s motor removed prior to its dumping for use in his own, less-pristine Monte Carlo. No blood or fingerprints were found inside Perruquet’s Monte Carlo.

No arrests were made until 2005 when a new investigator re-opened the cold case and interviewed Rodriguez. He admitted the crime and was brought back to San Mateo County for prosecution until authorities realized the law at the time of the crime prohibited him from being tried as an adult.

Rodriguez told police he stood outside the car and fired a couple of shots at Perruquet. He helped Monie put the body in the trunk, he allegedly said, and the pair dumped it down the steep side of State Route 92. The remains have never been found.

Monie remains in custody on no-bail status.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail:

michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.