Order to Put Explosive on ‘Twilight’ Set Told

The special-effects coordinator on the “Twilight Zone” movie ordered an explosive set under a mock Vietnamese hut even though he and director John Landis had decided it might threaten a low-flying helicopter, a technician testified Tuesday.

Prosecutors maintain that debris from special effects explosions--including the one under the hut--crippled the helicopter during filming of a Vietnam War segment, causing the aircraft to fall onto actor Vic Morrow and two children, killing them. Landis, special-effects coordinator Paul Stewart and three associates are on trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in the 1982 deaths.

Special-effects technician Jerry Williams testified that prior to the scene in which the helicopter crashed, Stewart “asked me to place a mortar under a four-legged structure that was a Vietnamese drying hut. . . .”

“I placed the mortar under the hut. . . . I did what he asked at the time,” he told the court.

View of Prosecution

The prosecution maintains that Stewart would not have given such an order without the approval of Landis.

However, prior to placing the explosive under the hut, Williams and Stewart decided “that we were not going to place any mortars inside the huts because we didn’t want any debris going up,” Williams testified.

Under questioning from prosecutor Lea Purwin D’Agostino, Williams at first testified that he did not remember overhearing any conversations between Landis and Stewart on the placing of the mortars at the rural northern Los Angeles County location.

That prompted the prosecutor to read aloud some of Williams’ testimony before the county grand jury in 1983 in which he said, “He (Stewart) would not put mortars in huts because of debris. Mr. Landis had approached him, and they had decided it was unsafe. . . .

“John Landis had wanted mortars under the huts and he (Stewart) did not and would not do it. . . . because he did not want debris flying into the air.”

After hearing his grand jury testimony, Williams said his memory had been refreshed and in general, that is what he told the grand jury.

The prosecutor has long maintained that many of her witnesses fear being blackballed by the motion picture industry if they give damaging testimony against Landis and the other defendants.

In other testimony, Williams said that just prior to the crash, he heard a voice that he thought was Landis’ ordering helicopter pilot Dorcey Wingo to “lower” the aircraft’s altitude. D’Agostino said Williams had told one of her investigators that Landis had also ordered Wingo to “get in tighter,” but Williams testified he did not recall making that statement.