A 24-year-old man gunned down a friend in Irvine following an argument in a plot to steal fentanyl, a prosecutor told jurors Monday, while the attorney for the accused said her client did not plan to kill or rob the man and acted out of “jealousy.”
Noah Emmanuel Farmer is charged with murder with special circumstances allegations of lying in wait and robbery and sentencing enhancements for discharge of a gun causing death and the personal use of a gun.
Farmer is accused of killing 19-year-old Nicholas Alistair Neaimi-Pour just before 12:40 p.m. on Aug. 3, 2023, at Athel Avenue and Sego Street.
The killing was a “deliberate, thought-out plan to manipulate the victim to a place where he could be ambushed,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Alexa Elliott said in her opening statement.
Co-defendants Hailey Angelique Rangel of Lake Elsinore and Jayden Browndorf of Irvine, both 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Browndorf and Farmer had been dating for about nine months at the time of the shooting, Elliott said. The two had met Rangel a few days before the killing, she added.
Farmer had asked Neaimi-Pour about the cost of 1,000 fentanyl pills, Elliott said. Then he texted “I’m doing a plan,” meaning robbery, to his girlfriend, the prosecutor added.
Early Aug. 3, 2023, Farmer, Rangel and the victim drove to Los Angeles, but when they ran into car trouble they called a friend, Julie Harline, to pick them up in Bellflower, according to Elliott.
An argument broke out among the group with Farmer angry with Neaimi-Pour, Elliott said.
Harline noticed a “completely different vibe” as Farmer told the others they would ditch the victim at a gas station at about 3 a.m., Elliott said.
Neaimi-Pour called his friend, Kalani Fitzhugh, to pick him up, the prosecutor said.
At some point during the evening, Brownsdorf started sending provocative text messages to Neaimi-Pour saying she wanted to “hook up” with him to get revenge on her boyfriend for cheating on her, Elliott said.
Neaimi-Pour was suspicious, prompting Brownsdorf to be “working very hard to get him to show up to this location (in Irvine) for Farmer,” even sending the victim a “bathroom selfie” of herself in underwear, Elliott said.
Brownsdorf, who had significant damage to her own car, drove her father’s car to the rendezvous point while keeping Rangel updated on the victim’s movements, Elliott said.
Home surveillance video captured the shooting. When Neaimi-Pour showed up for the bogus date he remained suspicious and is seen in the video checking out the backseat of the car and its trunk, the prosecutor said.
Farmer arrived at the scene in his girlfriend’s car and opened fire on the victim from the vehicle, Elliott said.
“The gun jams and he clears it” as he gets out of the car and fires three more times, Elliott said.
The victim was shot in the face and shoulder and neck area before the kill shot through the body, Elliott said.
Fitzhugh, who was still in the area after dropping his friend off, heard the gunshots and circled back, Elliott said. Fitzhugh grabs blankets to stanch the bleeding and screams for help while also grabbing a bag of 954 pills from his friend, Elliott said.
Fitzhugh was tight-lipped when questioned by police but did write down the name “Noah” for investigators, Elliott said.
When investigators found a Noah in the Irvine area they printed a picture and showed Fitzhugh, who confirmed that was the shooter, Elliott said. That led police to Brownsdorf and a door dash receipt for her address, Elliott said.
Investigators found blood stains on Farmer’s shoes with the victim’s DNA, Elliott said.
Farmer’s attorney, Kelly Rozek of the Associate Defender’s Office, said the shooting was a “suburban tragedy of the fentanyl crisis.”
The whole group involved were “young people whose lives were being destroyed by drugs,” Rozek said.
Farmer sold and used drugs, she said.
Neaimi-Pour and Fitzhugh, who has battled his own drug addictions, were friends for about four years, Rozek said, adding that the two had gone to Santa Ana to score the painkiller Percocet, and from there met up with Farmer.
The group stopped to get some nitrous oxide and got high on that as they drove aimlessly around the Los Angeles area, Rozek said. The argument allegedly erupted at a gas station in Huntington Park, where the victim was stranded.
“There had been a dispute over drugs,” Rozek said. “There is a plan, but it is a poorly done plan. They were doing nitrous oxide and fentanyl.”
The defense attorney said the plan “was not a murder, the plan was to get the drugs back.”
Farmer wanted to retrieve the bag of pills he paid for, she said.
“It’s a haphazard plan by three drug addicts,” Rozek said. “There is no plan to kill him.”
The shooting happened in “broad daylight” in a quiet neighborhood of Irvine after the three had been up all night, Rozek added.
When Farmer saw his girlfriend with the victim “he snaps,” Rozek said, characterizing it as a “fit of jealousy.”
A psychological expert is expected to testify about adolescent brain development and how it leaves youths prone to risky behavior, Rozek said. The expert will also discuss how drug abuse contributes to poor decision making.