Man Guilty of Killing Hells Angel, Girlfriend

A 44-year-old San Fernando Valley man was convicted Friday of the 1998 slayings of a Hells Angels member and his girlfriend.

Daniel Ray Waring, who faces life in prison, will be sentenced Feb. 8 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The jury deliberated four days before finding Waring guilty of first-degree murder in the shootings of Laurence “Large Larry” Lajeunesse, 45, and Tammie Ann Brannigan, 35, in their Chatsworth residence.

The verdicts were read in a San Fernando courtroom that was on heightened security because of the Hells Angels connection, authorities said. As many as eight deputies were in the courtroom.

Judge Shari Kreisler Silver banned cameras from the proceedings, saying Hells Angels in the prison system posed a threat to Waring.

Prosecutors said Waring wanted to be a member of the Hells Angels and killed 450-pound Lajeunesse, a longtime member of the motorcycle club, because of greed and a feud the men had over methamphetamine dealing.

On the night of Dec. 3, 1998, Waring, a tow truck driver, went to the cluttered industrial complex where the couple worked and lived to rob and kill them, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeffrey Jonas said. Waring shot Lajeunesse five or six times in the head and then shot Brannigan to eliminate her as a witness, he said.

Waring did not testify during the trial, but jurors were shown a videotape of police interviewing him.

A California Highway Patrol detective testified that Waring, who had worked as an informant, provided tips that led to arrests.

“He’s a likable guy,” said Waring’s lawyer, Mark P. Brandt. “I think he didn’t do it.”