Mistrial Declared in 5 Killings at Birthday Party

A mistrial was declared Thursday after jurors deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of convicting a 20-year-old gang member of killing five young people and wounding four others at a Southside birthday party in one of the worst incidents of gang violence in the city’s history.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick R. Dixon immediately announced that he would retry Keith Tyrone Fudge, one of two men accused of jumping out of a car on Oct. 12, 1984, and opening fire on a crowd of party-goers outside a home on West 54th Street. Jury selection for Fudge’s retrial was scheduled for April 27.

Jurors, who began deliberating March 24, told reporters that no single piece of evidence in the two-month trial was critical in persuading the majority of Fudge’s guilt. Several said they voted for conviction based on a combination of testimony from six eyewitnesses, statements Fudge made to a jail-house informant and blowups of gang-related graffiti from his jail cell.

Defense attorneys, arguing a case of mistaken identity, presented a witness who said Fudge was watching the news with her and her grandson when the killings occurred.

Holdout Juror

The holdout juror, Florine Bennett, who was also the jury foreman, declined to explain her position. But other jurors said Bennett, who the prosecutor said is a real estate agent for Los Angeles County schools, was troubled by inconsistencies in the eyewitnesses’ descriptions and did not accept expert testimony, such as a police detective’s interpretation of the graffiti as bragging about the killings.

Juror Joyce Koehler, 47, of Westchester said Bennett contended that if eyewitnesses could “make a mistake about a certain issue, for example, the color of the car, then they could be wrong about their identification” of Fudge as the killer.

Another juror, Eliza Au, described Bennett as “very unreasonable.”

“She always tried to take the (view) that was most extreme,” Au said. “From Day One I could tell that if we got hung, she would be the one.”

Dixon, obviously shaken by the hung jury, said it was unusual for the jury foreman to be the holdout. “Normally, a foreman is a consensus-builder,” he said.

Jurors Voted 5 Times

Jurors, who informed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Cappai last Friday that they had reached an impasse, said they took a total of five ballots before giving up.

According to Dixon, the shootings occurred after Fudge and another gang member drove to the birthday party to retaliate against Percy (Buddha) Brewer, a member of a rival gang whom Fudge believed had stolen his car that afternoon.

“It was clear from the way the crime was carried out that Buddha was the target,” Dixon said. “The defendant walked up to Buddha and called his name.”

When the gunfire stopped, Brewer, 17, Shannon Cannon, 14, Darryl Coleman, 17, Phillip Westbrooks, 18, and Diane Rasberry, 17, were dead.

Fudge, using a rifle, was responsible for three of the deaths, while Fred (Fat Fred) Knight, 20, killed the other two with a shotgun, Dixon said. Knight, and the alleged driver, Harold Hall, 20, are to be tried separately.

Although five people were wounded in the incident, Dixon said the attempted murder counts against Fudge were reduced to four after one victim could not be located. All of the injured have “basically” recovered, the prosecutor said.

During the trial, one witness, Bridgette Holloman, told the jury that she lay on the ground pretending to be dead while Fudge was shooting her friends. “I looked up and I was screaming,” she testified. “I asked him please not to shoot anymore. He kept shooting so I hold my head back down.”

Under cross-examination, Holloman said she was certain Fudge was the gunman she had pleaded with. “It can be 50 years from now,” she said, “but I never forget his face.”

Staff writer Paul Feldman contributed to this story.