Local News in Brief : Witness Tells of Plot to Kill Theater Manager

A man charged with attempted murder devised an elaborate scheme to kill a North Hollywood theater manager, including stealing a car and disguising the hit man’s face, according to testimony in a Van Nuys Superior Court trial Monday.

Daniel S. Jenkins, 32, is on trial in the July 4, 1985, shooting of George Carpenter, manager of the United Artists theater in the 6300 block of Bellingham Avenue.

Carpenter, who survived despite being shot five times, had testified against Jenkins in a robbery trial.

Monday’s testimony came from Jeffrey Bryant, an admitted robber who was granted immunity for his testimony. Bryant told jurors that Jenkins hired Anthony Bryant, who is not related, to kill Carpenter.

On the day of the shooting, Jenkins applied medication to Anthony Bryant’s face to make him look as though he had a rash, Jeffrey Bryant said. Anthony Bryant and another man, Todd Shaw, then drove to the theater in a car Jenkins had stolen a few days before, Jeffrey Bryant testified.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Bryant said he and Jenkins went to an “alibi spot” at a gas station near Hollywood High School, where Jenkins rigged his car to stall so witnesses could testify that he was not near the scene of the crime.

Neither Anthony Bryant nor Shaw was charged because prosecutors said they had no independent evidence linking either man to the incident.

As part of the same proceedings, Jenkins and Ruben A. (Tony) Moss, 26, are being tried for the 1985 slaying of Los Angeles Police Detective Thomas C. Williams, who was shot just hours after he testified against Jenkins at his robbery trial.