Slain woman's family settles with Jerrod Mustaf
Posted: Saturday September 19, 1998 06:35 PM
PHOENIX (AP) -- The family of a slain Phoenix woman who was pregnant with
a child by former Suns player Jerrod Mustaf settled their wrongful-death
lawsuit against him.
Althea Hayes' parents, Hazel and Alvin, refused to acknowledge the
settlement Thursday, which is sealed in Maricopa County Superior Court.
But court documents show that Hayes, Mustaf and their attorneys attended a
settlement conference August 28 before Judge Jonathan Schwartz.
Three days before the conference, Mustaf's attorney Daniel Maynard offered
the Hayeses $50,000 to $100,000 -- the estimated amount it would cost to
defend Mustaf.
Mustaf has not been charged with Hayes death, but Maricopa County Attorney
Rick Romley said Mustaf is considered a suspect and prosecutors are
watching the civil case closely.
"We will be utilizing all of the power within this office to obtain all
information that may be obtained from civil suit," Romley said.
Mustaf left the Suns after the slaying to play basketball in Europe. He
filed recently for bankruptcy in Maryland, but The Arizona Republic
said he could not be reached for comment.
Mustaf's cousin, LeVonnie Wooten, was convicted of killing Althea Hayes,
but when Romley's office failed to prosecute Mustaf, the Hayeses publicly
accused the basketball player of masterminding the 1993 murder. They filed
their wrongful-death lawsuit in 1995.
The Hayeses accused Mustaf of paying Wooten to kill their daughter so he
could avoid paying child support and the bad publicity that would come with
an illegitimate child, court records say.
The family alleged that her refusal to accept $5,000 from Mustaf and get
an abortion was the motivation for the murder.
The lawsuit said Wooten was brought to Phoenix from Maryland "for the
express purpose of carrying out the plan to kill Althea Hayes."
Documents filed by Mustaf's attorney, however, conflict with the Hayeses'
story.
Mustaf and Wooten were not close and had not spoken in months before
Hayes' murder, Maynard wrote in a memorandum to the court. Wooten had filed
a lawsuit against Mustaf after Mustaf hit Wooten in the head with a
cellular phone four months earlier, Maynard says.
Wooten came to Phoenix to patch up their relationship, not to kill Althea,
Maynard wrote.
Maynard's memorandum also says that Mustaf had "never been told she was
pregnant."
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