A La Jolla real estate agent was shot to death by a Lakeside man who didn’t want to sell his condominium to him because he had been ridiculed, according to testimony from the suspect’s neighbor.
The one-bedroom condo that was inherited by Michael Ray Jennison, 37, after his grandmother died in 2006 was in foreclosure and real estate agent James Magot was appointed by a probate lawyer to sell it.
Magot, 64, was shot twice in the head in the Feb. 1 incident, and Jennison was ordered Oct. 2 to stand trial for murder at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing in El Cajon Superior Court.
Magot, who lived in Pacific Beach but worked at a real estate firm in La Jolla, initially offered Jennison $100,000 for the condo and later offered $110,000. The neighbor, James O’Kane, testified he was offering Jennison $115,000 for it, and Magot ordered him to leave, saying loudly that O’Kane was not a real estate agent.
“He (Magot) was very aggressive. He wanted things his way … a quick sale,” O’Kane testified.
“He got very close to my face. He wanted me out of there. I told him to take his hands off me,” said O’Kane, who said Magot put his hands on his shoulder to usher him out of the unit.
O’Kane said Jennison feared he would “get nothing” in the deal with Magot because “all profits would be wiped away” due to his late grandparents’ unpaid medical bills.
A lien had been placed on the condo. O’Kane said his offer would have included $5,000 in cash to Jennison directly.
O’Kane said Magot discovered that Jennison was using a sleeping bag to sleep in a closet as he had no bed and ridiculed him about it.
“He started making fun of Mike sleeping on the floor,” said O’Kane, who added that Magot also told Jennison to “tell me your troubles.”
“You’ve got to take my offer. Don’t you want the money?” O’Kane quoted the victim as telling Jennison.
“He was right in Mike’s face. He told him he couldn’t fire him. Mike was upset and rightfully so,” O’Kane said.
“He (Jennison) felt the man was abusive to him. He thought he was being bullied by him. I think he was,” said the neighbor, who added that Jennison told him he threw away the “for sale” signs that Magot had posted.
O’Kane said Jennison grabbed Magot, but the real estate agent quickly put Jennison in a headlock and forced him to the floor. He then released Jennison, who promptly got a gun.
“He leaned over and shot him in the head,” said O’Kane, who added the second shot took place when Magot was on the floor.
“He’s dead,” the neighbor quoted Jennison as saying.
“I was in shock. I didn’t know what to think. I never saw someone shot before,” O’Kane said.
Dr. Glenn Wagner, the county’s chief medical examiner, performed Magot’s autopsy. He said both wounds were fatal and one fractured his skull.
Wagner testified that Magot had “a human bite mark” on his arm that had occurred recently, possibly in the struggle with Jennison.
A trial date will be set on Oct. 16. Jennison is currently in jail. His bail was set at $1 million.
O’Kane said Jennison was reclusive and sometimes watched TV in O’Kane’s unit because he didn’t have a television. He said he took the deaths of his grandparents, who had raised him, very hard.
Brian White, Jennison’s attorney, said his client’s parents died at an early age and he only had an aunt in Florida.
Another neighbor, Patricia Bowles, testified Jennison “seemed very lonely” and “I feared for his future.” Bowles said she heard someone shout “Mike, don’t!” before two gunshots. She said she went to Jennison’s unit and saw the body.
A third neighbor, Jeff Hart, testified he heard the shots and went into Jennison’s unit and found Magot dead on the floor. Another neighbor, Veronica Fredenberg, said she heard the gunshots and saw Jennison “with a pistol in his hand, reaching into his pants to put the pistol there.” She and others called 911.
Jennison fled the area, but was arrested two days later in Globe, Ariz., during a traffic stop after police officers saw guns in his car.