ACCUSERS LOSE ANONYMITY RULING AFFECTS INMATE WITNESSES IN PITCHESS JAIL ATTACK.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

SAN FERNANDO - Weighing a defendant's right to confront his accusers against a witness's right to personal safety, the state Supreme Court has ruled that prosecution witnesses cannot be anonymous - a decision that affects the trial of six inmates charged in the attack on a man at the Pitchess Detention Center.

Deputy District Attorney Jacquelyn Lacey had sought permission to protect the identity of two inmate witnesses to the brutal April 24 attack, arguing that their lives would be in danger should their identities become known.

However, the justices made clear in their Thursday ruling that key prosecution witnesses cannot testify anonymously, even when their lives are in danger.

A July 24 hearing on Lacey's request in North Valley Superior Court was continued until Sept. 11 pending the state Supreme Court's decision.

Attorneys representing inmates accused in the attack applauded the court's ruling, arguing that their clients' right to a fair trial would be hampered if the attorneys were unable to review the backgrounds of the witnesses.

``A defendant's right to confront and cross-examine witnesses called against him is one of the foundations, one of the sacred rights of our criminal justice system,'' said Todd Melnik, the attorney representing inmate Ramon Brizuela, 26. ``The court ruled with some difficulty that that right has to outweigh any potential danger to the witnesses.''

Melnik pointed out that the safety of inmate witnesses can be protected by separating them from other inmates.

Brizuela and five other Latino inmates are charged with inciting a riot and attempted murder in connection with three days of racial violence at the Castaic detention center that culminated in the beating and stabbing of 21-year-old Ahmad Burwell, who is African-American.

Burwell remains in a coma and is not expected to recover. If he dies, the inmates could be charged with murder, Lacey said.

Other inmates charged are Johnny Contreras, 30; Jesus Alberto Fonseca, 23; Antonio Cruz, 18; Carlos Roberto Robledo, 19; and Jose Juan Campos, 24.

Calling the attack a racially motivated hate crime, Lacey said Burwell was beaten by five of the inmates and stabbed by Robledo. As Burwell lay bleeding, she said, Cruz and Campos placed a mattress over him and sat on it so he would not be seen by sheriff's deputies at the jail.

All of the inmates have pleaded not guilty and will remain in custody in lieu of $1 million bail each, even if their prior sentences expire, Lacey said.

The state Supreme Court's decision overturns two lower court rulings that had allowed prosecutors to keep secret the names of three witnesses to a Los Angeles County jail-house murder. One of the defendants in the case faces the death penalty.

The court spent more than two years struggling with the case. The victim, Jose Uribe, was stabbed to death in his jail cell in February 1993, and the trial of the defendants has been delayed, pending the state high court's decision.

The witnesses, who were in the jail at the time of Uribe's slaying, identified Joaquin Alvarado and Jorge Lopez as the killers. Both have been charged with first-degree murder, and Alvarado faces the death penalty.

Prosecutors said the Mexican Mafia ordered Uribe killed because he was a ``snitch,'' and that the defendants carried out the killing in an attempt to curry favor with the prison gang.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Brentford Ferreira said his office might appeal the court's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition to a possible appeal, Ferreira said, his office will ask the state high court for a clarification of its ruling, which did not address whether the witnesses must disclose their names while on the stand.

The case eventually will return to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert Perry, who will have to decide when the defendants' names must be given to the defense and whether to provide them to the attorneys only.