COUPLE TO FACE TRIAL IN SLAYING TWO ALSO CHARGED WITH ROBBING MAN.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- An Antelope Valley couple have been ordered to stand trial in the strangulation and robbery of a Lancaster man who met them at a bar and invited them home to party.

Ex-convict Darrell Haynes, 38, and Kimberli Baxley, 34, are charged in the Feb. 14 slaying of Sean Spaniol, 41, who was found strangled in a home the victim shared with his mother in a quiet, well-kept Lancaster neighborhood.

``I believe the victim interrupted, or was about to interrupt, Haynes as he was ransacking the bedroom,'' Deputy District Attorney Kelly Cromer said. ``At that time, Baxley hit him on the head, and Haynes finished the job by choking him. Each of them made statements to other people they were going to rob the victim.''

Both defendants were ordered held for trial Tuesday on charges of murder, residential burglary and grand theft. They also face a special-circumstance allegation that the murder was committed during the course of a robbery, which makes them eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole.

Both remained in custody without bail being set.

A cab driver picked up the victim and the two defendants at the Britisher bar on West Avenue I and took them to the victim's home on Vahan Court, prosecutors said. The victim slept in a travel trailer on the property.

Cromer said the three ``were partying, drinking and smoking dope,'' when a fight occurred. The defendants gave different versions about why the fight broke out and what happened after that.

``We don't know what happened except we know the victim was hit on the head and died from compression of his neck. Basically he was choked,'' Cromer said.

Haynes told investigators that he got into a fight with the victim about money and choked him, Cromer said.

Baxley said the two men fought after she refused to kiss the victim and the victim insulted her, Cromer said.

``According to Baxley, Haynes jumped on the victim's back and put him in a chokehold. Haynes said Baxley hit the victim before he started choking him,'' Cromer said.

The fight took place in a bedroom, according to the defendants, but physical evidence, such as blood found outside the bedroom, raises questions about their accounts, Cromer said.

``It's hard to believe either of the defendants' versions,'' Cromer said.

After the victim and defendants were dropped off at the victim's house, another couple came over and brought cocaine, but they left before the slaying occurred, Cromer said. The man later returned to give the defendants a ride and drove them around to pawn shops, she said.

Anthony Walker pleaded no contest to felony receiving stolen property and was sentenced Wednesday to 249 days in jail, for which he got credit for time already served, and was placed on probation.

Ashley Jackson, who was found with costume jewelry belonging to the victim's mother, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor receiving stolen property and was placed on three years' probation, Cromer said.

Both Jackson and Walker testified at the preliminary hearing.

Haynes and Baxley were arrested Feb. 23 at a Motel 6 on Avenue K, about two miles from the house on Vahan.

Their arrest came a day after detectives released to the news media a composite image of a man seen fleeing with a female companion from the ransacked home.

The couple were seen climbing over a backyard fence, carrying a pillow case believed to contain jewelry and other small items.

Prosecutors said a man walking a dog spotted them and called deputies.

Responding officers entered the house through the front door, which was unlocked, and found Spaniol dead in the master bedroom.

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

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