Judge Orders Trial in Road Rage Killing Case

A judge on Tuesday ordered a  to stand trial for murder.

. He will remain in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $3 million bail and is scheduled to appear in court at 10:15 a.m., Oct. 18, in Department 513 of the Hayward Hall of Justice — at which point a settlement can be reached or the case will move forward with a trial.

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Connie Campbell said Holbrook's slaying of was an "ego kill."

"It was a revenge kill based over a blinker," she said.

Attorney Eric Schweitzer, who represented Holbrook during the preliminary hearing at the Gale-Schenone Hall of Justice in Pleasanton, said he was disappointed in Judge Jacob Blea III's ruling.

"It was manslaughter at the most," Schweitzer said.

Holbrook, a married father of two, has said the stabbing was in self-defense, which Schweitzer called a justifiable homicide.

Holbrook and Ziesmer were involved in a that began on First Street in Springtown and ended with a fight at a downtown parking lot.

The preliminary hearing began Thursday and was

Morgan, a primary witness in the case because she was with Ziesmer when he was killed (he was driving her car), testified.

She says .

Holbrook and Ziesmer exchanged words, which escalated to both of them agreeing to "handle it" by pulling over to the parking lot. The two fought and Holbrook is accused of stabbing Ziesmer with a knife he had in his car. Ziesmer then got back into Morgan's vehicle and drove away to a local medical facility. He .

On Monday, Detective Marco Esquivel's testimony revealed that when he stabbed Ziesmer. Holbrook, a software engineer, told Esquivel that while he was driving in Springtown, Ziesmer cut in front of him without using a signal. The two got into an argument and Ziesmer attempted to ram the car he was driving into Holbrook's vehicle, according to Esquivel's report.

However, further questioning of Esquivel on Tuesday showed that Holbrook had several opportunities to avoid a confrontation with the man he would later kill.

There were four major roads along the path the two cars traveled Esquivel said, adding that Holbrook could have turned off on any of these roads to avoid Ziesmer.

Furthermore, the detective said Holbrook, a graduate of the , never considered driving to the police station.

When the two pulled over at the downtown parking lot, Holbrook said he was "bum rushed" and struck by Ziesmer in the head shortly after he exited his truck.

Esquivel's recap of an interview with the defendant is similar to what Schweitzer previously told Livermore Patch:

• Holbrook took a beating and was knocked to the ground;
• He got up and attempted to use his cell phone to take a picture of his attacker;
• An enraged Ziesmer rushed back at Holbrook, who then reached for a knife and stabbed him.

For further details on the .

Esquivel on Tuesday also re-enacted how Holbrook said he hid the knife from Ziesmer before stabbing him in the upper left chest.

Deputy District Attorney Campbell said the autopsy report showed that Ziesmer suffered three injuries: a cut to his left wrist and stab wounds to his chest and back.

The stab wounds punctured Ziesmer's heart and a lung, Campbell said.

"(It is not) self-defense when you stab someone three times," Campbell said.

She also said that Holbrook slashed one of the tires of the vehicle Ziesmer was in when he left to seek medical help.

"Pure rage," Campbell said. "Further evidence that he was intent on Ricky not surviving."