Defendant in Drug Murders Gets Immunity

One of six defendants charged in the murder of four people at a rock cocaine house in Lake View Terrace was granted immunity Monday in Los Angeles Municipal Court in exchange for testifying against the other defendants.

James Franklin Williams III, 19, of Pacoima is an employee of a San Fernando Valley drug ring that is tied to the Aug. 28 slayings, authorities said.

Williams, scheduled to testify today at a preliminary hearing for the defendants, faced murder and attempted murder charges. But in exchange for his testimony, those charges will be dismissed and he will be placed in the Federal Witness Protection program, Deputy Dist. Atty. Myron Jenkins said.

New Name

“He will be warehoused in another state with another name,” Jenkins said.

Charged with murder and attempted murder are: Stanley Bryant, 30, of Pacoima; Le Roy Wheeler, 19, of Sylmar, and Tannis Bryant Curry, 26, of Pacoima. Also facing charges of accessory to murder are Nash Newbil, 52, and Antonio Johnson, 28, both of Lake View Terrace.

The preliminary hearing, before Los Angeles Municipal Judge Glenette Blackwood, is expected to include testimony from as many as 240 witnesses and to last as long as 6 weeks, authorities said.

The victims in the attack were Andre Louis Armstrong, 31, and James Brown, 43, both of Pacoima; Lorretha Anderson English, 24, of Seaside, and her 28-month-old daughter, Chemise. English’s 18-month-old son, Carlos, was injured by breaking glass during the shootings.

Originally 11 people were charged, but charges were dropped against one--Levie Slack III.

Arrest warrants have been filed for four others but they remain at large, authorities said. The four, all from Pacoima, are: John Preston Settle, 28, and Antonio Arceneaux, both of whom face murder and attempted murder charges, and William Gene Settle, 30, and Provine McCloria, 19, who are charged with accessory to murder.