PASADENA, Calif. — The accused killer of adult star Felicia Tang, who has been held at Mens Central Jail in Los Angeles for more than two years in lieu of $2 million bail, will finally face a trial that will decide his fate.
Los Angeles deputy district attorney Philip Wojdak told XBIZ on Friday that trial is slated for Monday, Nov. 14. "On that date, we anticipate starting jury selection," he said.
Wojdak said that the murder trial will be held at one of three county courtrooms, either in Burbank, Pasadena or Los Angeles.
The case has lingered for quite some time because defendant Brian Randone's defense attorney had been going through a lengthy illness that included chemotherapy. A substitute defense attorney later was installed.
Randone is accused of torturing, suffocating and murdering 31-year-old Tang, his live-in girlfriend at the time, inside the couple’s Monrovia apartment on Sept. 11, 2009.
Tang, whose birth name was Felicia Lee, became an online-adult top draw for seven years, from 2001 to 2008.
She starred in several Playboy TV shows, appeared in several Peach DVD movies, and she starred in the pay-per-view series “Strip Poker Tournament.” She also owned softcore site FeliciaTang.com.
Wojdak, in previous XBIZ interviews, said there is a large amount of evidence pointing against Randone, and that the case probably will attract a fair share of media attention. "Because of the nature of the crime scene, it is going to be a colorful trial," he said.
At his arraignment last year, prosecutors said Tang had been beaten with a "coat hanger-like object," then suffocated by having her head held into a pillow or ground into the floor. Bruising on Tang's body led investigators to believe she was suffocated against a hard surface.
Even a judge last year sealed the photos of Tang's injuries at the arraignment, remarking that "the photos, needless to say, are gruesome."
Randone, an Omaha, Neb., native, is a former minister and mime who was featured on a 2000 Fox reality show "The Sexiest Bachelor in America."
