SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KRON) — For the first time since tech CEO Tushar Atre was murdered in Santa Cruz, one of his four accused killers took the stand to testify in self defense.
Kaleb Charters, 25, told the jury that he was hired in the summer of 2019 by Atre to help the millionaire’s new cannabis business build a farm. Charters and his brother-in-law, Stephen Nicholas “Nic” Lindsay, were tasked with planting hundreds of cannabis plants in the Santa Cruz Mountains. They worked for 10 days from dawn until dusk, Charters said, to earn $200 a day.
After Charters and Lindsay received their paychecks, Atre became furious when he realized they lost keys to one of the farm’s trucks, named the “Monster Truck.” Charters told jurors on Wednesday, “Tushar was flipping out. He was going to cancel the checks.”
Atre, 50, was a tech company executive-turned-cannabis entrepreneur. He was angry about the missing keys because his time was worth a lot of money, according to Charters.
Charters and Lindsay, who are members of the Army National Guard, apologized to their boss and found the keys. Atre said, “You guys are in the Army. Do 500 pushups,” Charters testified.
Another employee said Atre had toxic work relationships, and his employees were so disgruntled that they often “joked” behind his back about robbing or hurting him.
Atre ordered Charters and Lindsay to perform hundreds of pushups before he’d pay them, according to testimony from multiple witnesses. Being forced to do pushups for paychecks was humiliating, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Detective Ethan Rumrill previously testified.
Two months later, on October 1, 2019, Atre was kidnapped from his oceanfront Pleasure Point home, robbed, stabbed, and shot to death.
Prosecutors said the deadly plot against Atre was carried out by Charters, Lindsay, Charters’ brother, and their friend, Joshua Camps. The group believed that Atre kept $1 million in cash inside the home safe, according to court records.
Charters’ brother, Kurtis Charters, and Lindsay were convicted of first-degree murder at trials held earlier this year with separate juries. The convicted killers, both 27 years old, were sentenced by Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel to serve life in prison without possibility of parole.
At Kaleb Charters’ trial on Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Michael Mckinney rested his case and defense attorney Thomas “TJ” Brewer called his first two witnesses to the stand.
Video of Camps’ confession to police played in court
Brewer’s first witness, Sheriff’s Lt. Daniel Robbins, interviewed Camps on May 19, 2020 inside an interrogation room with a video camera recording.
Jurors listened closely to the tape as Camps made a chilling confession. An unemotional Camps explained how he stabbed Atre in the neck, kidnapped the victim, and later decided to shoot the victim in the head so he would die faster.
Camps spoke with a matter-of-fact demeanor as he answered dozens of questions. Camps had never met the victim and didn’t even know his name, according to the confession tape.
Lt. Robbins asked Camps, who thought of the plan targeting Atre?
“Who approached you about it? This isn’t your idea, right?” Lt. Robbins asked. Camps answered, “Kurtis said something about a job and offered me a grand. He said they had been in his house before, so it would be easy. Grab a couple things and get out.” Charters and Lindsay were inside Atre’s house in August of 2019 for job interviews.
Kaleb Charters dropped Camps, Kurtis Charters, and Lindsay off at the house around 3 a.m. on October 1, 2019 before he drove to the cannabis farm to wait for the rest of the group, his defense attorney said.
Camps told Lt. Robbins that he found Atre in bed, woke him up, and demanded that the victim open his safe. “We zip-tied his hands, shoved a sock in his mouth. I told him no one wants to hurt you, we are just here for your stuff,” Camps said. “He kept saying, ‘Who are you guys?’ He didn’t know what was going on. He tried to run.”
Camps said they shoved thousands of dollars in cash into bags, but the plan went sideways when Kurtis Charters stole a guitar from the house.
“That stupid guitar,” Camps grumbled. According to Camps, he was distracted when he looked back at Kurtis Charters to tell him stealing a guitar was a dumb idea. In that moment, Atre managed to run down the street screaming for help.
Camps was worried that they would be caught if a resident in the quiet neighborhood woke up, so he stabbed Atre in the neck and the group shoved the victim into a stolen SUV. “He was covered in blood. He was saying, ‘Please let me go.’ (Lindsay) was asking, ‘Why are you so mean to people?'”
Kaleb Charters was “shocked” when the group arrived at the farm with the victim, Brewer said.
At the farm, Atre was shot by an AR-15 rifle “twice in the jaw, once in the back of the head. It essentially destroys half his face,” Mckinney said during opening statements.
In the confession tape, Lt. Robbins said, “I’m going to ask you this straight up, did you shoot him?” In a bizarre explanation, Camps said he fatally shot Atre so that he wouldn’t suffer while bleeding out from the knife wound. Camps added, “He wasn’t going to last much longer. I knew he was going to die.”
Lt. Robbins said, “They had you do the hard s**t. You did the stuff no one else wanted to do.” Camps said the group split up the stolen cash four-ways, and he kept $7,000.
After Camps’ confession, all four men were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, and carjacking.
Kaleb Charters and Stephen Lindsay met at church
Jurors have listened to several weeks of testimony from witnesses called by prosecutors. Wednesday marked Kaleb Charters’ first chance to tell his side of the story to a jury, which will decide if he is a murderer who deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.
On the stand, Kaleb told jurors about his unique childhood. His parents were overseas missionaries who raised their children in Russia and El Salvador. The Charters brothers were homeschooled.
When he turned 18, Kaleb decided it was time to get a job and find his own housing away from his parents.
Kaleb said he met Lindsay at church, they became best friends, and Lindsay later married his sister. Kaleb said he and Lindsay accepted the job from Atre because housing in California is expensive, and Atre provided free housing at a large house in Felton.
At Kurtis Charters’ sentencing hearing last month, his father said the family’s missionary work was dedicated to “spreading the word of God.” He said he raised his children to live with “kindness” and “morality.” The father added, “Both of my sons were easily influenced to be accepted or liked by others. I did not do all I could have to prepare them. I love my son. I’m proud to be his father.”
Atre’s family said he lost his life to a “gang of hateful, greedy, violent killers.” The victim’s sister said Atre would have lived for another 50 years because he lived an active lifestyle surfing and mountain biking.
Kaleb will return to the witness stand Thursday afternoon to continue testifying. Camps’ trial is scheduled to resume after Kaleb’s jury reaches a verdict.
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