2 Youths Face Trial in Death of Purse Thief

Two South-Central Los Angeles youths have been charged with murder in the beating death last April of a 28-year-old man who was pursued by a group of teen-agers after he snatched an elderly woman’s purse, it has been learned.

Authorities said that Gregory George Sanders, 19, and a 17-year-old youth fatally beat, kicked and stomped Derek Pillares on April 29 in the parking lot of the La Salle Avenue Elementary School while the other teen-agers looked on.

Although Sanders stands accused of murder, his defense attorney and members of his close-knit family describe him as a good Samaritan who is being falsely blamed for Pillares’ death.

Sanders, who lost his job as a private airport security guard after he surrendered to police on May 22, admitted to detectives that he hit Pillares “a couple of times” but said that when he left the scene the purse snatcher “was OK,” according to a police report.

The attorney for the juvenile defendant, who is also accused of trying to intimidate a witness, did not return a reporter’s phone calls.

‘A Good Samaritan’

“He’s not a vigilante and he doesn’t portray himself as one,” said Sanders’ attorney, Deputy Public Defender Freda Perel. “He’s a good Samaritan who went to the aid of a . . . schoolteacher.”

Sanders, who is being held on $5,000 bail, served 14 days in jail last year after pleading guilty of selling a small amount of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He has no other criminal record, according to court documents.

“He has been taught to be helpful, especially to women, because there are so many women in his family,” said Iola Sanders, one of two grandmothers with whom the defendant is close. “He went out of his way to help a stranger.”

Although police initially reported that about seven youths were involved in Pillares’ death, Lt. Joseph Freia now says that was a “misconception.” Further investigation showed that only three people, including one young man police have not been able to identify, were involved in the actual beating, said Freia, who supervises detectives at the 77th Division station.

According to police reports, the episode began when Pillares grabbed the purse of a 67-year-old woman in front of a store at 89th Street and Western Avenue.

Three youths gave chase, and one of them, a 16-year-old who was carrying a gun, fired a warning shot from the rooftop of an abandoned hospital when he spotted Pillares approaching the school parking lot about three blocks from the store. In the parking lot, Pillares grabbed teacher Marilyn Lockhart’s car keys.

Meanwhile, police reports say, Sanders and the 17-year-old who later became his co-defendant were riding in Sanders’ car when they observed the chase and joined the group in the parking lot.

Sanders wrested the car keys from Pillares, after telling the would-be car thief, “Hey, that’s no way to treat a lady,” according to Lockhart’s statement.

“That guy (Sanders) was the one who started punching the guy who had taken my keys,” Lockhart told police. “He hit him until he fell down. He kept hitting him in the face.

“That’s when the other guys started punching him, and once he fell, they all started kicking him in the face and body,” the teacher said in her statement.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald N. Eastman, who is supervising the prosecution, said “upwards of five people” have linked Sanders and the juvenile to Pillares’ death, including Lockhart and the three youths who originally chased the purse snatcher but who claimed that they did not participate in the beating.

In her statement, Lockhart said that “three guys were just standing there” while Pillares was assaulted. But she put the number of Pillares’ assailants at four.

Lt. Freia said he could not account for the fourth assailant Lockhart remembered seeing.

Deputy Public Defender Perel questioned the credibility of the three teen-agers who blamed Pillares’ death on her client and the other defendant.

Change Their Story

When originally interviewed by police shortly after the incident, all three denied knowing that a gun had been fired while the chase was in progress. Later that evening, after police found the 16-year-old’s gun hidden near the crime scene, the boys changed their story, police reports show.

In addition, police interviewed three witnesses who described the events differently--from each other and from the teen-ager with the gun and his two friends.

One youth who was playing basketball on the school grounds when the confrontation began said Sanders left the parking lot after he retrieved the car keys and the stolen purse. At that point, this witness said, another group accosted Pillares. One of them held a gun on the purse snatcher while the others kicked and beat him, according to this witness’ statement.

Sanders’ companion never got out of the car, the youth said.

Couple Saw Attack

A couple who witnessed the beating from across the street said in separate interviews with a reporter that Pillares was attacked by seven to nine youths.

After about 10 minutes the youths scattered, leaving Pillares writhing on the ground, said these witnesses, who asked not to be identified. Shortly afterward, the couple said, a large man they had not previously seen pulled up in a car and, leaving the motor running, either stomped or kicked Pillares.

The description of the man’s car given by the female witness matched the car driven by Sanders.