Subpoena for Bellamy in ‘Twilight’ Case Voided

The judge in the “Twilight Zone” manslaughter case Wednesday quashed a prosecution subpoena for veteran actor Ralph Bellamy to testify as a trial witness, terming the subpoena “a fishing expedition.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roger W. Boren said he would not force Bellamy to testify at the trial of director John Landis and four associates because Bellamy “was not personally present” during the 1982 accident in which actor Vic Morrow and two children died on the film set. The judge also said he did not believe that Bellamy had “special expertise relating to the issues that might require expert witnesses in this case.”

“It is a fishing expedition . . . ,” Boren said, “and I will not permit it.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino subpoenaed Bellamy, who co-starred in Landis’ 1983 film “Trading Places,” after the 82-year-old actor declared outside the courtroom Tuesday that he believed Landis was being railroaded by a prosecutor with “personal ambitio1848518439of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film “Sunrise at Campobello,” had gone to the courthouse as a spectator Tuesday to show his support for Landis and co-defendant George Folsey Jr.

Boren quashed the subpoena at the request of defense lawyers, who hailed the judge’s ruling and termed D’Agostino’s action a police-state tactic.

“People can feel free to come to the court without being harassed by Mrs. D’Agostino and the district attorney’s office,” said attorney Harland Braun, who represents associate producer Fo1819501945Los Angeles and working for the district attorney’s office. You say what you think in the hallway and then you get hauled away.”

D’Agostino, meanwhile, was disappointed by Boren’s ruling. “Based upon Mr. Bellamy’s statements to the press, he seemed to feel he has some knowledge and I would like to know what it is,” she said.

D’Agostino later called the film’s production designer, Richard Sawyer, to the stand to testify about the construction of a mock Vietnam village film set where the accident--in which a helicopter spun out of control amid special-effects explosions--occurred.

Sawyer testified that on the night of the accident he had initially been concerned about a mortar that had been placed beneath a hut before the filming. But after special-effects coordinator Paul Stewart provided an explanation, Sawyer added, he was satisfied that igniting the mortar would not create a safety hazard on the set.

D’Agostino said outside the courtroom later that even if debris from the hut was not the cause of the helicopter to crash, the placement of the mortar showed “reckless, wanton conduct” on the part of the defendants since they were aware that debris could be thrown skyward by the mortar explosion.