Mother of ‘Twilight’ Victim, 7, Testifies

The mother of a young boy killed in the filming of the “Twilight Zone” movie testified Thursday that the film’s associate producer told her that he would treat her son “like (his) own,” yet never told her that the child would be positioned near special effects explosions and a low-flying helicopter.

Hoa K. Le, the mother of Myca Dinh Le, 7, also told a jury that associate producer George Folsey Jr. failed to mention that her son would be working illegally. The film’s producers did not have a state permit to employ children at night.

“It would be a scene about a Vietnamese village (that) was bombed and then destroyed, and only two children would survive,” Le said she had been told by Folsey and director John Landis.

“Did he tell you that your son Myca was going to be filmed with explosions going on around him?” Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino asked.

“No,” replied Le, who spoke softly but firmly, appearing to fight off tears twice during 45 minutes of testimony.

Landis, Folsey and three associates are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Le, Renee Chen, 6, and actor Vic Morrow. The trio were killed when, during the 1982 filming of a Vietnam War battle sequence, a helicopter spun out of control and crashed upon them.

Le, a social worker who lives in the San Jose area, was the 20th witness to testify in the 3-week-old trial.

After her emotional session, Folsey’s attorney, Harland Braun, said his client will testify later in the trial that Le’s recollections were incorrect. Folsey, charged under the legal theory of child endangerment, did tell Le that her child was being employed illegally, and also provided her details about the helicopter and explosives, Braun said.

Moreover, during cross-examination, Braun confronted Le with a taped transcript of her statement to National Transportation Safety Board investigators four years ago in which she allegedly said “(the children would) pretend like the helicopter came over and shoot at the village, shoot and bomb the village.” Le protested that she had not made such a statement.

Le, a former Cerritos resident, testified that she accompanied her son to the film set near Saugus the night before the fatal accident. Once there, she said, the children were forced to wait about six hours before filming their first scene--which involved no helicopters or explosives--after midnight. Several takes were needed, she added, because “the children kept laughing and giggling.”

Afterward, she said, Folsey asked that Myca be brought back a second night, but she protested that she would be too tired to return. Folsey told her that Myca, who had slept several hours in a van near the set, could return without her and that he would take care of him as if he were his own child.

Although Le did not return with Myca the following night, her husband Daniel, who is expected to eventually testify, did.

Myca and Renee Chen, both of whom had never acted before in films, had been hired by Folsey for $500 a night through contacts in the Oriental community. Their parents have filed multimillion-dollar civil lawsuits against Landis and his associates.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roger W. Boren heard more testimony, without the jury present, from a state deputy labor commissioner who said she would not grant a work permit for children participating in filming near helicopters and explosives. The defense is seeking to severely limit Commissioner Colleen Logan’s eventual testimony before the jury. Boren took the matter under submission, saying he would rule on Monday.