ACTON MAN REPRESENTS SELF IN TRIAL; SUSPECT GETS THIRD CHANCE IN '94 SLAYINGS OF NEIGHBORS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

An Acton man whose conviction in the 1994 slaying of a father and son was overturned will be representing himself in his third trial.

Lancaster Superior Court Judge Frank Jackson granted William Strong's request to represent himself on murder and voluntary manslaughter charges in the shooting deaths of Kenneth Laux Sr., 59, of Acton and Kenneth Laux Jr., 34, of Pearblossom.

``He said he wanted to represent himself as is his constitutional right,'' said Alternate Public Defender Avrum S. Harris, Strong's former attorney. ``The court advised him that it's generally not a good idea, that he would be held to the same standard as an attorney. (Strong) said he was aware of that fact.''

In a case prosecutors claimed was retaliation for the death of the defendant's dog, Strong was sentenced in January 1996 to 36 years to life in prison.

But last December, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael Farrell vacated Strong's November 1995 conviction, finding that the defendant had been misinformed as to the potential maximum sentence he faced, officials said.

In Strong's first trial, a Lancaster jury found Strong not guilty of first-degree murder but could not reach a verdict on whether he committed second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

In November, a second jury trial found Strong guilty of second-degree murder of the elder Laux and voluntary manslaughter of his son.

Prosecutors said Strong frequently fired guns into a canyon behind his trailer, next to a two-story home on Hubbard Road. They said he was extremely angry at the death of his dog a month before the slaying and constantly questioned neighbors about whether the father and son had shot it.

Prosecutors had said the Lauxes were upset about Strong firing near their home. Strong said the father and son drove up toward his house after he fired a pistol out his bedroom window.