After his arrest, Hoyt confessed to the murder in a videotaped confession with detectives. However, on November 9, 2001, Hoyt testified to jurors that he did not recall the interview or ever confessing to the crime. Hoyt stated that his only role in the crime was accidentally giving a duffel bag containing the handgun, which he believed to contain only marijuana, to Jesse Rugge. Michael Kania, a psychologist hired for Hoyt's defense, described him as "a man who's never really succeeded at anything" and said Hoyt had trouble finding a job and girlfriend, as well as untreated depression. Several other expert witnesses also stated Hoyt had a
personality disorder with "avoidant" and "dependant" behavior. Deputy
District Attorney Ron Zonen, who assisted with the production of
Alpha Dog, called an expert psychiatric witness, who testified that Hoyt's complete memory loss of the murder and subsequent confession is very rare, and contrasted Hoyt's sharp recall of other events. Hoyt's defense attorney Cheri Owen hoped to use Hoyt's youth, troubled family background, and lack of criminal record to persuade jurors, but in November 2001 Hoyt was convicted of first-degree murder, and the jury delivered a death sentence in February 2003. Superior court judge William L. Gordon stated that Hoyt refuted several chances to walk away from the crime before going through with the murder, and that “any feelings of sympathy for the defendant ... are substantially outweighed by the circumstances of the crime”. Hoyt remained on death row at
San Quentin State Prison until January 2024 when his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Superior Court Judge Brian Hill granted Hoyt's motion to vacate the death sentence, indicating he was swayed that Hoyt's inexperienced attorney Owen was deficient during the penalty phase of the trial, and that he was a "youthful offender" with "mental deficits" that made execution inappropriate. Hoyt was subsequently transferred to the
California Men's Colony in
San Luis Obispo to serve his life sentence. ==See also==