Opening statements are scheduled Monday in the trial of two felons accused of fatally shooting a 61-year-old man guarding a 460-acre marijuana grow in Anza.
Brandon Noll Pollard of Escondido and Maxwell Hakole Reynolds of Anza, both 33, allegedly killed Khamsene Singnolay in 2019.
Both men are charged with first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping to commit robbery, special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing in the course of a robbery, as well as sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The defendants have separate juries in the courtroom of Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Freer at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. Reynolds’ jury was seated Wednesday, and Pollard’s was seated Thursday.
Freer directed both panels to return for prosecution and defense statements Monday morning.
Each defendant is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, on the night of June 4, 2019, Maxwell and Pollard conspired to perpetrate a robbery at the illegal cannabis grow operated by Singnolay and his friends, identified in court documents as “K.I.,” “B.K.” and “A.T.,” in the area of Bautista Canyon and Trip Flats roads.
Pollard parked his pickup a short distance from the front gate of the grow, where he and Reynolds waited to see who might come and go, prosecutors said.
The first to arrive and enter was K.I., who was ambushed by the pair as he unlocked the gate, according to the brief.
“The defendants rushed him and struck him in the face with a shotgun, knocking out several of his front teeth,” the document stated. “They bound his hands, feet and face, and he was forced into the rear of his own Honda Odyssey.”
Moments later, A.T. arrived in his car, and the “defendants rushed him and struck him in the back of the head,” court papers alleged.
He was also bound, gagged and shoved in the rear of the Honda with K.I., where the defendants fleeced him of all his personal belongings, the prosecution said.
The brief said the defendants drove onto the property in the Honda, parking near single-wide mobile homes where the occupants resided. Pollard and Reynolds proceeded to hide — Reynolds crouching close to the Honda and his co-defendant concealing himself in bushes nearby — according to court papers.
Singnolay came outside and noticed the Honda but didn’t see his friends, prompting him to walk over and look inside the vehicle, at which point he spotted K.I. and A.T. tied up.
Before the victim could react, Pollard jumped out of the bushes with the shotgun, allegedly blasting Singnolay, with Reynolds catching part of the discharge in one of his legs, according to the brief.
The defendants then climbed back into the Honda and headed for the front gate, parking the vehicle a short distance away and making their way to Pollard’s pickup, which they used to escape, prosecutors alleged.
K.I. and A.T. aided one another in freeing themselves, after which they drove back onto the property and discovered Singnolay mortally wounded on the ground. With the help of the victim’s girlfriend, B.K., they drove to county fire Station No. 29 at 56560 Highway 371, where firefighters attempted life-saving measures, to no avail. The victim was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit detectives immediately began gathering information from the victims and collecting evidence at the scene and elsewhere that confirmed the vehicle used in the deadly robbery.
According to court papers, after Reynolds was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley for treatment of his leg wound, investigators were able to reconstruct the chain of events. After questioning him, as well as his girlfriend, in the hospital, arrest warrants were obtained for both defendants.
Reynolds was arrested on June 7, 2019, and Pollard was arrested the following day. Reynolds’ girlfriend was not implicated.
Court records show both men served time in state prison. No details were available regarding their prior convictions.