He was convicted on November 21, 2001 and sentenced to death on December 9, 2001.[9] Jesse Rugge, aged 20 at the time of the murder, was charged with aiding in the kidnap and murder of Nicholas Markowitz. He was convicted in 2002 of aggravated kidnapping for ransom or extortion with special circumstances and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after seven years.