Conviction upheld in girl's 2001 Tahoe campground killing

PLACERVILLE - A state court ruled the appeal for Lisa Ann Platz, the mother involved in a bitter custody battle over her 9-year-old daughter she was convicted of killing in a South Lake Tahoe campsite, was without merit.

Platz will spend the rest of her life in prison, the Sacramento-based Third Appellate District ruled Wednesday.

"She alone is criminally liable, although many others set in motion or contributed to the events that led to her daughter's tragic death," the ruling states.

Bruce Cohen, a Berkeley-based attorney who was handling Platz's appeal, said he'll take the matter to the next level, the California Supreme Court.

El Dorado County District Attorney Gary Lacy, who prosecuted the case, first heard about the Third Appellate District' decision from a reporter.

"I'm pleased that the conviction was upheld," he said. "I think it's the appropriate determination."

In March 2003, Platz, then 33, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the September 2001 murder of her daughter, Rebbeca, whose death came after a nine-hour standoff with authorities at Campground by the Lake. Rebbeca was killed by knife slashings to her throat.

In its ruling the state court cited the August 2001 armed abduction of the child by Platz and her boyfriend, James Csucsai.

"Lisa's participation in the kidnapping alone established her liability for her daughter's death," the court ruled.

At the trial, the prosecutor, El Dorado County District Attorney Gary Lacy, had emphasized that under the felony murder rule, once Lisa kidnapped her daughter, she would be responsible for the child's death even if "Rebbeca had been bitten by a rabid squirrel and died of rabies."

The thrust of Platz's defense placed the blame on Csucsai as the perpetrator of the murder. Even if that was true, the state court said it would not exonerate her from accomplice liability.

Platz asserted that under California law the jury could have found she did not forcibly take Rebbeca because the child ran to her and did not appear frightened.

The state court disagreed.

In Lisa Platz's view, "her 9-year-old daughter's preference to live with her translated into an implied consent to live on the run, chased by the FBI and moving from campground to campground across the country," the ruling states.

Platz and her boyfriend transported the 9-year-old child across state lines, armed with an arsenal of knives and guns, and were on the run for more than five weeks.

"A young child in these circumstances has no capacity to consent to a kidnapping no matter how much she loves her mother," the ruling states.

The state court recounted the history of the case, noting that Platz's relationship with Jose Aramburo, the father of Rebbeca, deteriorated not long after Rebbeca was born in April 1992.

The two separated and Platz moved to Alaska and then Ohio. Aramburo resurfaced after five years, serving Platz with a petition for custody. She failed to follow a court order to integrate Aramburo into her daughter's life.

In 1999, Aramburo was awarded custody and flew to Ohio where he took the girl from her mother. His custody was ultimately reversed by the Alaska Supreme Court and Rebbeca sought to live with her mother.

She spent the summer of 2000 with Platz, who returned Rebbeca to Aramburo as required by the court. Rebbeca spent spring break 2000 with her mother, who failed to return her to Aramburo because she said her daughter begged her not to.

Platz was arrested in June 2001 on a felony for alleged interference with Aramburo over custody rights.

In August she and Csucsai, both armed, approached Rebbeca and her stepmother as they got out of a car at day care. The girl ran to her mother and hugged her.

"If he comes looking for her," Csucsai warned about Aramburo in an Sept. 20, 2001, e-mail to his sister, "I'll put a bullet through his head."

"When they do catch up with us there will be a big gun fight and we'll win or we'll die on spot," he said. "There won't be any jail for anyone."

Lisa and Rebbeca, he added, "have very little to do with why I'm doing what I'm doing and what I'm going to do."

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department issued an alert that Platz and her boyfriend might be at a campground. On Sept. 21, 2001, at 1:30 a.m. police officers surrounded the tent and shined lights.

Hostage negotiators arrived and spoke with Csucsai but when a SWAT team at 10:30 a.m. stormed the tent after gurgling sounds were heard, they found the lifeless body of Rebbeca covered by blankets and under her mother's side. Lisa Platz was bleeding from both wrists and her boyfriend was bleeding severely from the neck.

The prosecution's theory was that Lisa slashed her daughter's throat with a knife so she would not be returned to Aramburo. The state attorney general in challenging the defense appeal contended there was overwhelming evidence Platz either slashed her daughter's throat or held her while Csucsai stabbed her.

Platz's boyfriend hanged himself in his cell in April 2002.