Murder Trials : 2 Brothers: 1 Convicted, Other Freed

Last February, a Superior Court jury convicted Cedric Wayne Scott of first-degree murder for what is believed to have been a drug-related quadruple slaying committed by three men who invaded a South Los Angeles home.

Much of the case against Scott was based on the testimony of the only person to survive the April 30, 1984, attack, since the prosecution had no physical evidence--no guns or fingerprints, for example--to present to the jury.

Earlier this week, however, after listening to similar testimony in a separate trial, another Los Angeles Superior Court jury acquitted Scott’s older brother, Albert, of all four murder counts.

Again, the key witness against him was the survivor, Marcia Cook, a waitress.

A third defendant, William James Butler, was acquitted last November. The jury foreman said after the Butler verdict that Cook’s description of the third assailant was “too dramatically different from what we saw in the courtroom.”

In a sense, it was Cook herself who was on trial in the three cases, which were handled separately at the request of defense attorneys. Although the prosecution stands by her testimony, only one jury out of three found her credible.

As a result, Cedric Scott, 20, may spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole--the sentence recommended by the jury that convicted him of four counts of murder.

And because 12 other jurors reached a different conclusion on Monday, Albert Scott, 21, is already a free man.

Lawyers on both sides said they believe that jurors in Albert Scott’s trial were troubled by inconsistencies in Cook’s statements to authorities.

“Basically, this was a one-witness case,” Deputy Dist. Atty. George J. Knoke, the prosecutor in all three trials, said Tuesday. “That witness was not able to articulate consistently the facts or her identifications. I’m not saying she’s unreliable--just that she is inconsistent.”

“There were just too many conflicts in the testimony,” said Robert H. McNeill, principal attorney for Albert Scott. “The police detectives had not properly investigated the case. The D.A. did not present enough credible evidence.”

Neither of Cedric Scott’s attorneys, Gerald D. Lenoir or Halvor T. Miller Jr., were willing to discuss the cases. “It was just a distinction between two different juries,” Miller said.

Even Knoke concedes that not much is known about the events leading up to the deaths of Rebecca Hood, 45; her son, Derrick, 20; her common-law husband, Travis Clark, 49, and a family friend, Larry Simmons, 37. The four were shot to death by three men in the home they shared in the 4500 block of 4th Avenue.

“I wish someone would tell me what went on in that house because I sure don’t know,” Knoke said.

Managed to Escape

Cook, a friend of the victims, testified that she had answered the door on the night of the murders. While two men rushed into the house, Cedric Scott grabbed her, telling her he had a gun, she said, but she managed to escape into the street.

Cook recognized one of the intruders as Albert Scott, known as “Pete,” because he had been a frequent visitor to the house, Knoke said. “There is evidence that Travis Clark was selling drugs and that one of his salesmen had been Pete,” he said.

Earlier that evening, the Scott brothers had gone to the house because Pete wanted to sell Clark a gun, Knoke said, adding, “He didn’t have it with him, but he said he would go get it and bring it back.”

Knoke noted that Cook picked out Cedric Scott’s picture from a book of photographs and also identified him in a police lineup. Since she knew Albert Scott, police thought “it would be a wasted effort” for her to go through the same identification procedure, the prosecutor said.

To the prosecution’s surprise--and the defense’s advantage--the waitress was unable to identify a photograph of Albert Scott when it was shown to her at the preliminary hearing.

Other Inconsistencies

In addition, both Knoke and McNeill said, there were inconsistencies between Cook’s account and that of a neighbor who claimed to have seen the Scott brothers on the night of the murders. For example, one placed them in a brown car, while the other testified that it was blue and white.

McNeill said he believes that both brothers are innocent and finds it odd that the jury convicted Cedric Scott. “There was even more evidence against Albert,” he said, pointing out that Cedric Scott had offered an alibi while his client had not.

Police, however, have no intention of reopening the investigation, according to Lt. Joseph Freia, commanding officer of the detectives who handled the case.

One of those detectives, Rudy Lemos, attributed the inconsistencies in Cook’s testimony to the shock of the murders. “Marcia did the best she could, considering the traumatic things she had seen,” Lemos said.

During a brief court session Tuesday, Judge Henry P. Nelson set Cedric Scott’s sentencing hearing for May 9. His attorneys said they plan to file a motion for a new trial.