TORTURE CASE GOES TO THE JURY; VICTIM BURNED TO DEATH.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A jury on Tuesday began deliberating the fate of a man accused of torturing an acquaintance for hours before burning him alive in the wilderness near Gorman. Anthony Guest's last hours were spent in agony as his killer shocked him with electricity, beat him in the head, stapled wood to his ear and filled his mouth with broken glass, Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Robert Calvert Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945, Pretoria, South Africa - 14 August 1988) was the lead singer, poet and frontman of Hawkwind intermittently from 1972-1979, who went on to a less successful but intriguing separate career. He was believed to have suffered from bipolar disorder. said. ``It is difficult to believe one human being would do this to another human being,'' he told jurors during closing arguments Monday. ``But it did happen.'' Spencer Brasure, 28, of Hawthorne is charged with kidnapping kidnapping, in law, the taking away of a person by force, threat, or deceit, with intent to cause him to be detained against his will. Kidnapping may be done for ransom or for political or other purposes. , torture and first-degree murder in the 1996 slaying. He could receive the death penalty if convicted. Lesser charges against him included grand theft, arson arson, at common law, the malicious and willful burning of the house of another. Originally, it was an offense against the security of habitation rather than against property rights. , threatening witnesses and violating a court order. The defense contends Brasure was present during the torture but never took part in it, and that the real killer was co-defendant Billy Davis. The 21-year-old from Lawndale is charged with similar crimes. His trial is set to begin in the fall, however, prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Davis. Calvert said Guest was tormented for three to four hours at a Hawthorne home before he was taken to a remote off-road vehicle off-road vehicle off n → véhicule m tout-terrain recreation area near Gorman. A magnesium magnesium (măgnē`zēəm, –zhəm), metallic chemical element; symbol Mg; at. no. 12; at. wt. 24.305; m.p. about 648.8°C;; b.p. about 1,090°C;; sp. gr. 1.738 at 20°C;; valence +2. plate was strapped to his face and he was doused with gasoline and burned alive, Calvert said Tuesday. Authorities contend that Brasure was angry at Guest for stealing some personal property, although it was never made clear what that property involved, Calvert said. The charred body of the 20-year-old Redondo Beach Redondo Beach (rĭdŏn`dō), city (1990 pop. 60,167), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1892. Once a commercial port for Los Angeles, it is a residential and resort city with a protected harbor and an excellent marina. man was found by two maintenance workers on Sept. 13, 1996, beneath a juniper bush at the Hungry Valley state recreational area. Brasure also is accused of threatening to kill several other people, whose names he kept on a ``rat list'' because he believed they would testify against him. As Guest's mother wept, Brasure looked defiantly de·fi·ant adj. Marked by defiance; boldly resisting. de·fi  ant·ly adv.Adv. 1. at Superior Court jurors on Monday while Calvert offered a detailed account of the alleged torture. Friends of Brasure testified during the three-week trial that they saw him torturing Guest with a makeshift electrical device, the prosecutor said. One friend testified he saw Guest tied to a chair in a house, wearing a ``a scary mask that was wolf-like,'' Calvert said. The witness told Calvert he went home, went to bed and said a prayer for the victim. Another witness, Sandra Johnson, testified that when she went into the house, she heard a ``buzzing, cracking or snapping sound'' and smelled burned flesh. ``He (Brasure) has her kneel down and look into Guest's eyes,'' Calvert said. ``They are filled with tears - afraid and pleading. She heard him revving something up. Then she saw a jerking jerk 1 v. jerked, jerk·ing, jerks v.tr. 1. To give a sudden quick thrust, push, pull, or twist to. 2. To throw or toss with a quick abrupt motion. 3. .'' Neither person called authorities. ``They simply felt that it was none of their business,'' Calvert said Tuesday. |
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