Prosecutors Will Rest Their Case in Beating Death of Grandmother

Charles Wayne (Chuck) Keeler seemed incredulous when interviewed by police in Reno about the murder of Lois Bacon, 73, who lived in La Habra.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Keeler, now 28, said at the time. “If people think that I would do in my own grandmother, they have got to be all the way crazy.”

Today, the prosecutors in Keeler’s death penalty murder trial in Santa Ana are scheduled to rest their case, after three weeks of testimony.

Keeler’s attorney, Ronald P. Kreber, says he realizes how bad it must look to a jury.

Just hours before Lois Bacon was found stabbed and beaten to death in her apartment on Jan. 30, 1986, Keeler was recorded on videotape at two Orange County banks trying to cash a $600 check bearing her forged signature. Two bank clerks noticed he had a serious hand injury.

Neighbor Heard Sounds

A neighbor identified Keeler as the man she saw leaving Bacon’s apartment just before 10 p.m. the night before the body was found. Shortly before seeing Keeler leave, the neighbor heard thumping sounds coming from the Bacon apartment.

Keeler was arrested for running a red light in Reno on Feb. 20, 1986. He was driving Bacon’s car--the same car other witnesses say Bacon never let anyone else drive.

“It may look bad, but you see, that’s what Chuck thought, too,” Kreber said. “That’s why he says he ran when he found out she was dead.”

It’s not uncommon in Orange County to see a person facing homicide charges because of the violent death of a relative. But it is rare in such a case that the district attorney’s office seeks the death penalty.

The last time the death penalty was sought in a murder case involving relatives in Orange County was more than three years ago when Rene F. Dayco of Huntington Beach was convicted of killing his wife and mother-in-law. The jury in that case decided against the death penalty.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Jill W. Roberts, who is prosecuting Keeler, said she has no reservations about seeking a death sentence against him.

“It was a very brutal murder,” she said, adding that talk of the defendant’s relationship to the victim is misleading. Bacon was Keeler’s stepgrandmother. “We’re not talking about a blood relative. They were really not very close.”

Another factor, which Roberts will not discuss, is that Keeler has a criminal record that could be used against him if the case reaches a penalty phase. Keeler was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Washington on a burglary conviction and he has a record of poor conduct in prison.

Recorded Statements

With jurors and Superior Court Judge Lloyd E. Blanpied Jr. following a transcript, Roberts last week played for jurors Keeler’s tape-recorded statements to police in which Keeler denied that he had cashed her check or stolen her car. He said she lent the car to him.

When police said they could prove he was lying about the check and about where he had stayed during that time, Keeler answered: “You’re drunk.”

His lawyer says now that Keeler lied to police because he was afraid they would suspect him of murder if he told them the truth.

Kreber said Keeler, who had driven to La Habra from his home in Phoenix, will testify that he either found Bacon dead or knew something about her death and that he panicked and ran.

But if Keeler thought police might point the finger at him, wouldn’t he think it would look even worse if he took the victim’s car and cashed that forged check?

Kreber winced in response.

“It’s a very tough case,” he said.

If a jury could be convinced that Keeler killed Bacon during an argument, he could be convicted of second-degree murder or manslaughter rather than first-degree murder. But Kreber says that’s not what happened.

“My client says he did not kill her, and that’s that,” Kreber said. “I can’t tell a jury it was a manslaughter if Chuck says he wasn’t there.”

If jurors find Keeler guilty of first-degree murder under special circumstances involving robbery, they then would be told about Keeler’s background in the penalty phase of his trial and would have to decide between a verdict of death or life without parole.

Keeler is described by his attorney as “a very upbeat kind of guy.”

“I’ve seen him dozens of times, and I’ve never seen him down,” Kreber said. “He’s an exceptional client in terms of cooperation and helping out with his defense.”

Keeler’s mother and a close friend have been in court each day of the trial.

Keeler’s mother was married to a son of Bacon, and for a brief time Keeler lived with Bacon. In Keeler’s statement to police, he referred to Bacon’s natural grandson, Mitchell Booth, as his brother, and always referred to Bacon as “Grandma.”

The prosecution contends that Bacon did not like Keeler and refused to let Mitchell Booth have anything to do with him. But Keeler denies that.

At one point on the tape of his interrogation, Keeler shows his exasperation. It is when police officers say they are only trying to solve a crime.

Keeler answers that he wants the crime solved, too, because “it’s my grandma we’re talking about.”