Profit Motive in 1980 Bombing Death Ridiculed

A millionaire real estate broker, accused of inducing an acquaintance to mail a bomb to a woman because of a dispute over a beach bungalow, was too rich to quibble over a modest profit for a small home, his defense attorney argued Wednesday.

Mitchell W. Egers, a lawyer for Hawthorne businessman William Ross, ridiculed the murder-for-profit motive that the prosecution has advanced as the Los Angeles federal court trial opened for two people charged in the 1980 bombing death of a Manhattan Beach secretary.

Ross, 52, and Rochelle Ida Manning, 48, are accused of aiding and abetting and mailing an explosive that killed Patricia Wilkerson, who worked at a computer company on Sepulveda Boulevard. Wilkerson, 32, died instantly when the bomb exploded, federal investigators said.

Manning’s husband, Robert Steven Manning, 36, is also charged in the case but is a fugitive living on the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Although the defendants met while active in the Jewish Defense League, Assistant U.S. Atty. Nancy Wieben Stock has been forced by court rulings not to mention the JDL connection. She has cited a soured deal over the bungalow between Ross and the intended target of the bomb, Brenda Crouthamel Adams, as the reason for the bombing.

In his opening statement, Egers said Ross owned 9 to 11 pieces of property in the Los Angeles area valued at a total of $1 million.

“The prosecutor says Ross, for profit reasons, for venal reasons, for greed, must have imposed upon Robert Manning to ask him to blow up a woman named Brenda Crouthamel,” Egers said. “The evidence will show you that is absurd; that is ridiculous.”

The house, which Egers said eventually sold for $78,000, was “no Taj Mahal,” he said. “It was not a mansion in Beverly Hills. It’s a modest little house in Manhattan Beach, not far from a railroad track.”

Egers also criticized the government for waiting eight years to prosecute despite the fact investigators already had most of the evidence.

“In 1988, they took a stab at the solution, and that’s why we’re here,” he said.

In her opening statement, Stock said an “acrimonious” confrontation over the bungalow erupted during a June 23, 1980, walk-through of the home in the 2500 block of Valley Drive. The disagreement over certain repair costs caused the canceling of the escrow, she said.

Part of the dispute arose over Adams’ refusal to give exclusive listing rights of her home to Ross after she bought the bungalow, court documents show.

After that confrontation, two telephone calls from Ross were placed to the Los Angeles home of Robert Steven Manning for the purpose of harming Adams, Stock said.

The end result, she argued, was a package bomb--addressed to Adams--that exploded July 17, 1980, killing Wilkerson, an innocent victim.

Stock also told the jury that:

- Rochelle Manning’s fingerprints were found on the letter that accompanied the bomb.

- Robert Manning’s fingerprints were on the cardboard package the device was mailed in.

- The cardboard box used was traced to a company owned by a JDL associate of Manning’s, Steven Smason. Manning worked for Smason for a time and had access to the business at the time of the bombing. Smason has not been charged.

- Rochelle Manning and her husband had a relationship with Ross dating to the early 1970s. She did not tell the jury, but evidence shows they also met during JDL activities.

Rochelle Manning’s lawyer, Michael Adelson, said in a brief opening statement that she was innocent despite the fact her fingerprints were found on the letter.

“Like Patricia Wilkerson, she, too, was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Adelson said.

Because much of the crucial evidence involves the absent Robert Manning, defense attorneys tried to distance their clients from him.

“We don’t represent Robert Steven Manning,” Adelson told the jury.

The case is expected to last three weeks. The defendants could be sentenced to life in prison if they are convicted.