3rd Trial Begins in Granada Hills Killing in 1984

The third murder trial of a Granada Hills man accused of shooting his former girlfriend’s date began Tuesday with the prosecution stating that the defendant was a clever man, “but not clever enough.”

The man, Charles Ruben Stevens, 36, is charged with the December, 1984, killing of Evans Lee Crawford, 29, outside Crawford’s Granada Hills home. The murder weapon was identified as a .22-caliber handgun that Stevens received as a birthday present from his girlfriend before they broke up.

The first two trials in September, 1985, and last March ended with the juries deadlocked. The first jury deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of a first-degree murder conviction and the second jury deadlocked 8 to 4 in favor of conviction.

In her opening statements to the jury, Deputy Dist. Atty. Janice L. Maurizi said testimony would show that Crawford left his house on Dec. 6, 1984, to visit his sister but “never made it.”

“He was suddenly and violently and brutally attacked,” Maurizi said. “He was pistol-whipped, he was shot in the leg and then he was shot in the head twice at almost point-blank range.”

Investigators earlier said they believe that Stevens shot Crawford because the victim was dating Roberta Duenas, a Sylmar woman who had broken up with Stevens three months earlier.

Stevens could be sentenced to 27 years to life in prison if convicted, Maurizi said.