LOS ANGELES — The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether a prosecutor in the Jesse James Hollywood murder case should be thrown off it because he cooperated with a Ventura screenwriter who co-wrote the movie "Alpha Dog," which was based on the crime.

In looking at the Hollywood matter and a similar case — both involving actions by senior deputy district attorneys in Santa Barbara County — the justices appear to be weighing whether to set a standard of behavior that might have broad implications on how much information California prosecutors can reveal about cases going to trial.

"Where do we draw the line?" Justice Carol A. Corrigan asked during the hearing.

While the 2nd Court of Appeal in Ventura removed the Santa Barbara prosecutors in both the cases, the "conflict of interest" that underpins the standard for throwing them off was not clearly identified.

Gerald Franklin of the Santa Barbara District Attorney's Office and David Glassman of the California Attorney General's Office both argued that while the behavior might not have been appropriate, there was no conflict of interest identified.

More importantly, the rights of the two criminal defendants in the separate cases were not violated, they said.

Both cases involve pretrial revelations by prosecutors.

Hollywood, now 28, is accused of orchestrating the August 2000 kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz. Hollywood fled after the crime but was caught in 2005 in a Brazilian beach town after spending five years on the run and being on the FBI's Most Wanted list. He is now being held in Santa Barbara County Jail, awaiting trial. Hollywood could face the death penalty if convicted.

The parents of both Hollywood and Markowitz attended the state Supreme Court hearing Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Los Angeles. Jeff Markowitz said the process has taken too long.

"They're really drawing this out," he said.

Four other young men were all quickly caught and convicted for their involvement in the crime and are serving time. One of them, Ryan Hoyt, is on death row.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen handed over what amounted to his whole case file to screenwriter and lawyer Michael "Mic" Mehas, who was working with filmmaker Nick Cassavetes on the outline of the script for the 2007 film "Alpha Dog."

Mehas, who was at Tuesday's hearing, also has recently written a book, "Stolen Boy," that closely mirrors the details of the crime.

Although he benefited from the cooperation with Zonen, Mehas said Tuesday that he hoped the justices would do something about reining in pretrial publicity by prosecutors.

A strong advocate against the death penalty, Mehas said he has helped Hollywood create a record that might help him on appeal if he is ever sentenced to death.

The other case involved Senior Deputy District Attorney Joyce Dudley, who wrote a book called "Intoxicating Agent" that had parallels to a rape case she was trying.

While Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar noted that such behavior by a prosecutor "seems unseemly," it wasn't exactly clear how the actions of Zonen and Dudley amounted to a conflict of interest.

In the case of the rape trial, the prosecutor gave a sworn declaration saying the similarities in the case were merely coincidental. In the Hollywood case, the prosecutor said he'd cooperated with the filmmakers in an effort to attract attention to the suspect, who was still at large at the time. Zonen was not paid for his cooperation.

But James Blatt, an Encino attorney representing Hollywood, said the two cases might not clearly meet the traditional standard of conflicts of interest because they are so unprecedented.

"This is the first time something like this has ever happened in this state. It's never happened in this country before," Blatt said. "It's truly unique."

According to Blatt, a prosecutor has never before acted, in essence, as a "co-producer of a film" based on a case he or she is about to try. Blatt said the conflict was on several levels, but they all boil down to a debasement of the justice system.

He wants the prosecutor and Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office thrown off the case.

The court will rule whether Zonen and Dudley should be barred from trying the cases. And in the Hollywood case, the justices also will consider whether the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office should be prohibited from handling the prosecution. The decisions are expected within the next 90 days.