MAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN DEATH OF UCSB STUDENT.

Byline: BRAD A. GREENBERG Staff Writer

A 21-year-old Canoga Park man pleaded not guilty Thursday in the stabbing death of a UCSB student.

Lawrence Davila was arrested last month in the June 24 stabbing slaying of David De A'Morelli, 26, a student at University of California, Santa Barbara.

Davila told detectives he had a chance encounter with De A'Morelli just after midnight in the 10500 block of Lindley Avenue in Granada Hills, where De A'Morelli had been visiting a friend. The two, who did not know each other, began talking, and De A'Morelli became agitated, Davila told police.

Fearing for his life, Davila has said he pulled out a knife and stabbed De A'Morelli six times before jumping into a friend's truck and fleeing. He did not summon police.

De A'Morelli died 20 minutes later.

``The evidence will show he is guilty of murder,'' Deputy District Attorney Lou Holtz Jr. said Thursday.

There was no evidence of a struggle, and De A'Morelli's father, Richard, claims his son's laptop was missing from his truck.

Richard De A'Morelli is offering a $1,000 reward for the return of his son's computer, a Hewlett Packard DV-4030 Pavilion Notebook, serial number CNE5110B1V. Anyone with information about the case can call Los Angeles Police Department Detective John Doerbecker at [phone].

brad.greenberg(at)dailynews.com

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