A California cannabis worker was convicted on Wednesday of murder and other offenses in the gruesome killing of a marijuana and tech entrepreneur who established a hostile and unpleasant work environment that included pushups for pay. Prosecutors claim the employee assassinated the multimillionaire CEO and three others at the same site where the job maltreatment occurred.
“It’s fitting where they chose to take him to,” Santa Cruz County Assistant District Attorney Michael McKinney told jurors during closing arguments on Monday, according to the Los Gatan newspaper, referring to the marijuana farm where 25-year-old Kaleb Charters assassinated CEO Tushar Atre. Charters was accused of killing Atre alongside his brother, Kurtis Charters, and brother-in-law, Stephen Lindsay, who were convicted earlier this year. Joshua Camps, a fourth alleged participant, is presently awaiting his trial to resume.
Charters, a former member of the United States Army National Guard, was found guilty of all charges related to the Atre killing, including kidnapping and burglary, according to local CW station KRON. During his trial this month, he spoke about Atre’s paycheck ultimatum.
“You guys are in the army. Do 500 pushups,” Charters said Atre told him and Lindsay, another former National Guard member, according to KRON.
Charters said that he and Lindsay — who was also convicted of first-degree murder, along with Kurtis Charters — had misplaced the keys to a farm vehicle known as the “Monster Truck,” and Atre was furious. According to authorities, this occurred only two months before the Santa Cruz-based CEO was kidnapped, robbed, stabbed, and shot to death.
“Tushar was flipping out,” Charters testified, recalling how he and Lindsay had recently planted hundreds of cannabis plants in the Santa Cruz Mountains, allegedly working 10 days straight from dawn to twilight for $200 per day. “He was going to cancel the checks.”
Charters, Lindsay, and Kurtis Charters allegedly recruited Camps for a $1 million robbery at Atre’s residence. However, things went wrong when Atre escaped, according to prosecutors.
“Lindsay tackles him in the street,” McKinney stated during closing arguments, according to KRON.
The prosecutor showed jurors photographs of an SUV covered with Atre’s blood, explaining that Camps repeatedly stabbed him. “For the second time, Tushar fled for his life. Kurtis grabbed him and tossed him in the car.
McKinney told how the men reportedly drove Atre to a Santa Cruz cannabis ranch to kill him, with Lindsay shouting at him throughout the journey. “Why are you so mean to people?” Lindsay yelled, according to a confession Camps allegedly made after his detention.
According to KRON, employees accused Atre of creating a poisonous work atmosphere in which subordinates frequently “joked” behind his back about robbing or injuring him before to his murder. They claimed he shouted at workers on a regular basis, withheld and bounced their paychecks, and fired employees who he believed were disrespectful to him.
“They were humiliated in front of people,” Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Detective Ethan Rumrill said in late October regarding Kaleb Charters and Lindsay, according to KRON.
Sam Borghese, another cannabis worker, testified last month, accusing Atre of being a boss who “pushed his employees very hard.”
“Did Mr. Atre instill fear in his employees?” “So people would work harder for him?” Thomas Brewer, Charters’ defense counsel, questioned Borghese.
A video of Camps’ purported confession to police following his detention was shown in court during Charters’ trial, in which he explained how the group allegedly murdered Atre.
“We zip-tied his hands and shoved a sock into his mouth,” Camps allegedly stated. “I told him no one wants to injure you; we are only here for your belongings. He continued asking, ‘Who are you guys?’ He had no idea what was happening. He was covered in blood. “He said, ‘Please let me go.'”
Camps allegedly confessed to stabbing Atre in the throat after he attempted to escape. According to investigators, he admitted to shooting him many times in the jaw and back of the skull to end his pain.
“He wasn’t going to last much longer,” Camps stated in the footage produced in court. “I knew he was going to die.”
According to online records, Camps is still in detention and faces a number of charges, including carjacking and murder. He is charged with kidnapping, robbery, burglary, carjacking, and first-degree murder. Lindsay and Kurtis Charters were convicted of murder and condemned to life without parole.
