A jury was seated Wednesday for the trial of a man accused of beating and choking his 71-year-old father to death in the victim’s Rancho Santa Fe home.
Leighton Dorey IV, 42, is charged with the murder of Leighton Dorey III, whose body was discovered by his wife in a back room of their home. An autopsy showed the victim suffered blunt force injuries to his head, neck and upper body and was strangled.
The defendant had been living in France for the previous several years and had returned to the United States about a week before his father was killed.
The younger Dorey showed up out of the blue at his father’s home on May 30, 2017, driving a Jeep, according to authorities. He was arrested the following day in the Riverside County mountain community of Idyllwild.
Deputy District Attorney Patricia Lavermicocca alleged the defendant wanted financial support from his father, who was unwilling to give it to him.
Dorey, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity earlier this year, faces a potential life without parole sentence if convicted of murder with a special circumstance allegation of torture.
Opening statements are slated to be delivered Thursday morning at the Vista courthouse.
—City News Service
