Nash, Aide Ordered to Trial in ’81 Deaths of 4

Convicted drug dealer Eddie Nash and his former bodyguard were ordered Thursday to stand trial in the 1981 killings of four people in Laurel Canyon for which the late porn star John C. Holmes was tried and acquitted.

Nash, once described by Holmes as “the most evil man I’ve ever known,” and Gregory Diles were ordered to stand trial on four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and special circumstance allegations that could qualify them for a death sentence if they are convicted.

Los Angeles Municipal Judge Marion Obera upheld the charges after a 2-week preliminary hearing. Nash, 59, and Diles, 40, remain in custody without bail pending arraignment in Superior Court on Jan. 25.

‘Pathological Liar’

Defense attorneys argued that the prosecution’s star witness, Scott Thorson, a former lover of the late entertainer Liberace, was a “pathological liar” and that the charges should be dismissed.

But Obera disagreed.

“Mr. Thorson has made false statements under oath in civil matters, but I do not have a reasonable doubt about his testimony (in the criminal preliminary hearing),” the judge said. “. . . I don’t think Mr. Thorson is so brave that he would make something up like that against Mr. Nash. I think he feared Mr. Nash.”

Thorson testified that Nash admitted feeling responsible for events that led to the four killings. Thorson said Nash never admitted ordering the July 1, 1981, killings to avenge a $1-million robbery of drugs and cash at his Studio City home, but that Nash later lamented that he had sent Diles and Holmes to the home.

“He felt he was responsible for sending Mr. Holmes and Mr. Diles there and it had all turned into a bloody mess,” Thorson testified. “He felt the whole thing had gotten out of hand.”

Two of the four people found bludgeoned to death had participated in the robbery, authorities said. They were William Deverell, 42, and Ronald Launius, 37.

Other Victims

Also slain in the house on Wonderland Avenue were Barbara Richardson, 22, and Joy Miller, 36. A fifth person, Launius’ wife, Susan, 25, survived severe head injuries, but has been unable to identify the assailants.

Nash, whose real name is Adel Nasrallah, was sentenced in 1982 to eight years in state prison for possessing cocaine for sale, and was later paroled.

Thorson sued Liberace in 1982, claiming that in return for being the entertainer’s former live-in chauffeur and lover, the entertainer promised him $70,000 a year for life. The suit was settled out of court in 1984. Liberace died of AIDS in February, 1987.