‘Southside Slayer’ Mistrial Declared Over Clerk’s Error

A Compton Superior Court judge reluctantly declared a mistrial Friday in the case of a Watts man accused of three so-called “Southside Slayer” murders after it was revealed that an exhibit that was not admitted into evidence was mistakenly sent into the jury’s deliberation room and seen by six jurors.

The error was made by a clerk who included the exhibit, containing remarks made by the suspect’s brother, with evidence sent into the jury room.

After her ruling, Judge Janice Claire Croft set a new trial date of Jan. 6 for Louis Craine, 32, who is accused of strangling five prostitutes. Three of the deaths were investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southside Slayer task force, which has examined 18 deaths between the fall of 1983 and May, 1987.

Statement From Brother

The exhibit that led to the mistrial was an unabridged version of a statement given to police by Craine’s 19-year-old brother, Shatay, in which the younger man told detectives that his brother tried to strangle two unidentified women and that he hated prostitutes.

“He’s got problems with girls,” the statement said.

Craine’s attorneys said the brother’s statement was highly prejudicial because it was inflammatory and referred to incidents not covered during the three-week trial.

“It could tip the delicate balance (of evidence) against the defendant,” said Craine’s attorney, Ronald Skyers.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Watson, who prosecuted the case, reluctantly agreed.

“I don’t think Mr. Craine would (now) get a fair trial,” he said.

Found by Juror

Jury foreman Robert Dowdy told the court that the statement was discovered in the jury room Thursday afternoon when a juror, later identified as Kathy Hurada, 25, began reading Shatay Craine’s statement aloud.

According to Dowdy, during Hurada’s recital another juror broke in and said, “Hey, we haven’t heard this before.”

Although Hurada stopped, it was determined that six of the panel had read the statement or heard Hurada reading it.

No one was more red-faced about the mistrial than Hurada and the court clerk who mistakenly included the statement with other evidence.

Although consoled by police detectives who prepared the case against Craine, Hurada, a civil engineer for the City of Los Angeles, told them outside of court, “I wish I’d never seen it.”

Court clerk Denis Leeds called his mistake a “regrettable” one.

During Friday’s lengthy hearing, Croft asked the 12 jurors if they could still be fair in continuing deliberations. Each said yes.

However, the judge concluded a mistrial was the only solution, noting that there were not enough alternate jurors to replace the six who had seen the statement.

Skyers and co-defense attorney Morris B. Jones said that they would not agree to an 11-member jury.

“I’m not anxious to grant this motion but I will,” Croft said.

After the jury was dismissed, Leeds shook hands with the prosecutor and the defense attorneys, saying “I’m sorry” to each of them.

Outside of court, the lawyers were quick to defend Leeds.

“He’s highly organized and does a very good job,” Skyers said.