The State - News from May 9, 1986

A military school student on trial for his alleged part in the murder of a transient in Santa Barbara denied urging his classmate to kill the man. James (Rusty) Tramel, 18, testified that he was “shocked “ when David Kurtzman, 18, of Palo Alto, stabbed to death Michael Stephenson, 29, in a park gazebo last August. Kurtzman was convicted in March of second-degree murder. Tramel, being tried in the same Santa Barbara Superior Court, said he heard the victim say, “No, my friend, no!” just before he was killed.