Porn mogul’s son held in killing, kidnapping

updated 7:47 p.m. ET July 14, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - The days before he was arrested for beating his ex-girlfriend to death and kidnapping their daughter brought a string of bad news to James "Rafe" Mitchell, the son of late San Francisco pornography mogul Jim Mitchell.

Last Tuesday, he was ordered to attend a yearlong rehabilitation program for domestic batterers. On Friday, his girlfriend's lawyer wrote to let him know that a judge had permanently granted Danielle Keller's request for sole custody of their child and a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting her.

"I think that was the trigger. He would have got the e-mail on Saturday," said Charlotte Huggins, Keller's lawyer.

Police in the Marin County city of Novato allege that by weekend's end, the 27-year-old Mitchell's problems only got worse. Keller's body was found on Sunday evening in the yard where she had just held a first birthday party for her daughter.

The toddler, Samantha Rae Mitchell, was missing, prompting a statewide Amber Alert. Just before midnight, Mitchell's car was tracked to a Sacramento suburb where police arrested him on suspicion of murder, stealing a child and violating a restraining order.

The violent allegations saddened, but did not surprise those who knew Mitchell only through the prism of his famous father. Sunday also was the two-year anniversary of the heart attack death of "Behind the Green Door" director Jim Mitchell, one-half of the Mitchell Brothers empire that included X-rated films and theaters.

'Traumatic family life'
Jim Mitchell was convicted in 1991 of manslaughter and weapons charges in the shooting death of his brother and business partner, Artie Mitchell, in Marin County. The slaying led to a spectacular trial, and the elder Mitchell served half of a six-year prison sentence.

"By definition, he had an incredibly traumatic family life," veteran newspaper editor David McCumber, who published a book about the Mitchells in 1992, said of the younger Mitchell. "It's hard to say what's related to what. It's just that nobody who comes out of that kind of background comes through intact."

James Mitchell's defense lawyer, former San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, seemed to agree while addressing reporters outside his client's arraignment hearing Tuesday.

"It's a tragedy — the uncle, the father, now this woman. It's just a tragic family, no question," Hallinan said.

Mitchell made his first court appearance shackled at the wrists and ankles and wearing orange-and-white striped jail jumpsuit. He did not enter a plea; Hallinan told the judge he needed more time to evaluate the evidence.

Hallinan said the younger Mitchell "feels terrible about what happened. He's depressed about it. But we'll get through this. ... But hopefully we can work through this and the real facts about what happened can come out."

'Troubled relationship'
One of Artie Mitchell's six children came up to the San Francisco Bay area from Los Angeles to attend the arraignment. Storm Mitchell said he and his cousin were not close, but he had heard about Keller's restraining order.

"It definitely seemed he was having a breakdown leading to this," Storm Mitchell said.

Hallinan, a longtime family friend, said during an interview with The Associated Press that he's still trying to make sense of what happened. He said Rafe Mitchell called him on Sunday evening when he was on the lam with his daughter.

While arranging Mitchell to surrender to police, "I just told him to be calm and it was very important that he do so," said Hallinan. "I know in those situations the police get nervous and things can easily get out of control."

Hallinan said Mitchell and Keller were in "a very troubled relationship." His father's death and fatal shooting of his uncle also weighed heavily on the younger Mitchell, the lawyer said.

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Hallinan said.

During his father's 1997 funeral, the younger Mitchell eulogized his father as a man of his word, despite his faults.

"He always told me, 'Son, I'm not the greatest man. I'm not perfect,'" Rafe Mitchell said. "'Don't try to be the greatest man. Just be a man.'"

Huggins said that James Mitchell never held a job because he had inherited money from his father and had a methamphetamine addiction. Keller left him because of his drug problem, but over the years struggled with staying away from Mitchell, Huggins said.

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