Last trial begins for Santa Cruz tech CEO murder case ...Middle East

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KRON) -- Attorneys delivered opening statements on Tuesday for the trial of Kaleb Charters, one of four men charged with murdering a Santa Cruz tech executive in 2019.

The victim, Tushar Atre, was a millionaire executive who founded a successful tech company, AtreNet. He previously lived in San Francisco, but he moved to an oceanfront house at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz because he loved surfing and mountain biking. Atre, 50, was also a cannabis entrepreneur who owned a marijuana farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Two of Charters' co-defendants, Stephen Lindsay and Kurtis Charters, were already convicted of murder during separate trials held earlier this year in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. A trial for Charters' third co-defendant, Joshua Camps, is underway.

Kaleb Charters is the final defendant to stand trial for the tech executive's death.

During opening statements on Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Michael Mckinney told jurors that Atre was sleeping on October 1, 2019 when three home invaders grabbed him out of his bed just before 3 a.m. They bound the victim's hands with zip-ties, forced him to open a home safe, and stole thousands of dollars in cash. The thieves believed that Atre kept $1 million inside the safe, according to court records.

Camps was in charge of making sure Atre didn't escape, Mckinney said. But when the group was distracted, Atre bolted down the street and "ran for his life," Mckinney told jurors. "He didn't make it far," he said.

Lindsay tackled Atre before Camps stabbed the victim seven times, including in the face and back, Mckinney said. Then, the group stole Atre's white BMW SUV and used it to kidnap the tech executive. Atre "was brought to an isolated place in the mountains, (was) shot four times, (and) left for dead," Mckinney told the jury.

Pushups and paychecks triggered motive, prosecutor says

Atre met two of his suspected killers when he interviewed Lindsay and Kaleb Charters at his house, located at 3034 Pleasure Point Drive in Santa Cruz, for jobs with Atre's marijuana business, the prosecutor said.

Lindsay and Kaleb Charters began working for Atre in the summer of 2019. Atre said they would be paid, and could live rent-free in a house in Felton, the prosecutor said.

Mckinney told the jury, "Tushar worked them hard."

Kaleb Charters and Lindsay were tasked with buying marijuana plants in Humboldt and planting them at Tushar's farm, located at 24575 Soquel San Jose Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

In late August, they lost car keys that belong to Atre, and their boss cancelled their paychecks.

"A wealthy guy who lives at Pleasure Point cancels their paychecks. They have a conversation at the mountain property -- Lindsay and the defendant are upset. Things get heated," Mckinney said. 

During an argument over pay, Atre ordered Kaleb Charters and Lindsay to perform 200 pushups, the prosecutor said. Once they completed hundreds of pushups, Tushar gave them their paychecks, but withheld $200 from it, Mckinney said. Atre promised to pay their full checks later.

The duo, however, never heard from Atre again, and they felt cheated out of $200, the prosecutor said.

After Kaleb Charters and and Lindsay traveled to Las Vegas, they talked about potentially robbing their ex-boss, Mckinney said. Five days before the murder, they called one of their former co-workers and asked for Atre's home security codes, so they could unlock the front door of his Pleasure Point house.

The former co-worker gave them the codes and joked over the phone, "Good luck, you're going to get caught," Mckinney said.  

Prosecutors said their plan had two obstacles: Lindsay drove a recognizable yellow Ford Mustang, and he didn't own a gun.

"They recruit Joshua Camps. He has guns, several of them," Mckinney said.

Mckinney explained the relationships between the four co-defendants. Kaleb and Kurtis Charters are brothers. Lindsay is married to the Charters' brothers' sister, and Camps is a close friend of the brothers, he said.

On September 30, 2019, the four men drove from Camps' house in Lancaster, Calif. to Santa Cruz and brought Camps' AR-15 rifle. "Five plus hours. All this extra time to plan," the prosecutor said. 

On October 1, 2019, Kaleb drove Camps' car to Atre's Pleasure Point house and dropped off his brother, Lindsay, and Camps before Kaleb drove away.

When the trio broke into the house, "Tushar is asleep and in bed. They yell at him to get on the ground, open his safe," Mckinney said. The group stole thousands of dollars in cash from Atre's safe after the victim helped open it at gunpoint, the prosecutor said. 

Tushar had a house guest sleeping over that night. "He could hear them yelling. This person thought they were going to die. He could hear them punching numbers into a safe. He lay there, frozen in bed. Tushar was screaming," Mckinney said. 

While Atre was attempting to run away from the home invaders, he screamed, "Chris help me! Chris help me!" until he was tackled by Lindsay, the prosecutor said. 

While the home invasion, burglary, stabbing and kidnapping were all happening, Kaleb Chaters was following through with his part of the plan, the prosecutor said. 

Kaleb was tasked with driving Camps' car to Tushar's marijauna farm in the mountains, unlocking the gate to the farm, and waiting for his accomplices to arrive, Mckinney said. His job was "to be ready for them," the prosecutor said. 

Back at Pleasure Point, Tushar was making his second escape attempt after he was stabbed by Camps, Mckinney said.

"Tushar's hands are still bound, he's been stabbed seven times," the prosecutor reminded the jury.  

Mckinney played surveillance footage in the courtroom showing Atre running and collapsing in the street while multiple men chase him. Kaleb's defense attorney and prosecutors agreed that Lindsay, Kurtis Charters, and Camps are the three men seen in the surveillance video.

They dragged the gravely-wounded victim into Atre's SUV and drove away, surveillance video shows. 

When the BMW arrives at the farm with Atre still inside the vehicle, "the defendant is waiting at the property. Tushar is walked down 50 feet from the BMW and shot four times ... twice in the jaw, once in the back of the head. It essentially destroys half his face," the prosecutor said.

The gunman was Camps, who used a high-powered AR-15 rifle to kill Atre, the prosecutor said. "They left Tushar Atre dead at the farm. The plan relied on Tushar being home. The plan was successful," Mckinney said.

On the same day of the murder, Kaleb took $1,000 of the stolen money and deposited it into his bank account, Mckinney said. Kurtis Charters spent some of the stolen money to buy gifts for his new girlfriend. And Lindsay used Atre's bank accounts to pay for bills. In court documents, Camps wrote that he needed money because his mother had recently passed away.

The group separated when Lindsay and Kaleb returned to living in Las Vegas, and Kurtis Charters and Camps lived at Camps' house in Lancaster.

After deputies found Atre's body on his cannabis farm, investigators had no leads for tracking down suspects, the prosecutor said. A break in the case happened when detectives dug into Atre's list of employees, which included Kaleb and Lindsey. 

When police questioned Lindsey face-to-face, they thought, "That guy looks like the guy in the surveillance video," Mckinney said. Lindsay told police that he previously worked for Atre and was never fully paid, but he had not seen him since he stopped working for his boss and left Santa Cruz, Mckinney said.

When detectives interviewed Camps and Kurtis Charters at Camps' Lancaster home, detectives noticed similarities between the duo and two men recorded by surveillance cameras outside Atre's house on the night of the murder. 

Kaleb eventually left Las Vegas and went to Michigan, where he was employed with the Army National Guard, Mckinney said. After gathering enough evidence from Camps' house and the group's cellphones, detectives arrested all four men in May 2020 on suspicion of murder.

Defense's opening statements tells different story

Kaleb's defense attorney, Thomas "TJ" Brewer, began his opening statements by using a quote from a poem. "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry," Brewer declared to the jury.

Kaleb, who was 19 years old at the time of the homicide and the youngest member of the group, agreed to participate in a burglary, Brewer said. He never planned to be part of a murder, the attorney asserted.

"Plan A" was to break into Atre's house while the tech executive was out of town, steal cash and one of Atre's cars, and drive the cash to Kaleb at their meeting point on the marijuana farm. "Get in, get out," Brewer said.

"Camps will tell you that the plan went south because they realized there were people in the house," Brewer told jurors, suggesting that Camps may take the stand to testify for Kaleb's trial.

After Kaleb had already driven away from Pleasure Point, the remaining trio decided to go with "Plan B," by burglarizing the house even with Atre at home, Brewer said. "They made the decision to change the plan," the defense attorney emphasized.

Lindsay and Kurtis Charters filled bags full of cash from the safe. "Tushar took off running. At that point, all plans were off -- sheer chaos," Brewer exclaimed.

Lindsay tackled Atre and Camps stabbed him in the face, according to the defense attorney. "The plan (went) awry and devolved into chaos. You will not see any evidence Kaleb knew Tushar was coming. Kaleb never touched Tushar," Brewer told jurors.

The jury will listen to evidence from Camps that he fatally shot Atre, Brewer added.

"They had a Plan A, and Plan B, maybe. Never a Plan C," the defense told jurors.

After opening statements concluded, Mckinney called for his first witness: a sheriff's detective who was the first on-scene responding to a 911 call from Atre's Pleasure Point house. The detective said he arrived at 3:43 a.m., there was no one inside the house, and Atre's BMW was missing.

The trial will continue with more testimony on Wednesday and Judge Stephen Siegel presiding. 

Lindsay, 27, was sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is currently appealing his conviction through a habeas corpus petition. The petition relies heavily on a jail letter allegedly written by Camps that was never shown to Lindsay's jury.

The letter, which states "Read & Destroy" at the top, contains a detailed confession about what happened on October 1, 2019.

Camps' alleged letter mirrored some of Brewer's opening statements on Tuesday. Part of the jail letter states, "Sh** went really bad. The guy took off running ... I stabbed him. We got him in the car and took off. We got to the spot. The guy was messed up and bleeding out. I knew if we dumped him there he would bleed out. So I decided to show mercy and just end it fast. I told him I was sorry and that none of this was supposed to happen and then I ended it."

The letter continues, "I’m not an evil murderer. I f**ked up beyond repair and my life is in God’s hands now."

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