Alix Tichelman, left, stands next to her public defender Athena Reis as she is arraigned in Santa Cruz Superior Court on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Santa Cruz, Calif.SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – A high-priced prostitute accused of abandoning a Google executive after shooting him up with a fatal dose of heroin would never have wanted him to die because he was paying her well, a defense attorney said Wednesday.
“There was no intent to harm or injure Mr. Hayes,” said Larry Biggam, whose Santa Cruz firm has been appointed to represent defendant Alix Tichelman. “Why would she? He was a lucrative source of income to her.”
As her parents watched quietly from the front row of a courtroom packed with media, Tichelman, 26, pleaded not guilty to prostitution, drug use and manslaughter in the death of Forrest Hayes, 51.
Her eyes were often closed during the proceedings, but she told Judge Timothy Volkmann “yes sir” when asked if she agreed to waive her right to a preliminary hearing within 10 days.
Hayes was found dead by the captain of his 50-foot yacht Escape last November. But the circumstances of his death were not widely known until last week, when Santa Cruz police arrested Tichelman after luring her 160 miles south from Folsom with a fake story about a client who wanted to hire her at an upscale resort.