Witness Was the Real Killer, Lawyer Asserts

The attorney for a Palmdale man charged with the execution-style slaying of two other men Wednesday accused an alleged witness of being the real killer.

In his opening statement, attorney Leonard R. Milstein charged that Dan Lucero intended to kill defendant Brad Millward but accidentally shot one of the victims instead.

If convicted, Millward faces the death penalty for first-degree murder in the July 5, 1987, killings of Bruce Gruber, 28, of Yucca Valley and Albert Dulyea, 37, of Norwalk. Both men were shot in the desert east of Palmdale.

Over nearly five days of testimony before a San Fernando Superior Court jury, Lucero, 22, of Palmdale, testified that he, his wife and two children were driving along Avenue P when he saw Millward holding a gun several inches from Gruber’s head. Lucero said he heard a gunshot, then saw Gruber fall to the ground and Millward flee into the desert.

Lucero, who said he had never met Millward or Gruber, brought the dying Gruber to the police station with the assistance of several passers-by.

Bullet-Riddled Body

Milstein told the jury that Lucero brought Gruber’s body to authorities to cover up his crime. He charged that Lucero, Gruber and other members of an Antelope Valley drug-trafficking ring killed Dulyea because they thought that he and Millward were federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents. Dulyea’s bullet-riddled body was found in Millward’s garage.

Gruber was killed accidentally by Lucero after Gruber caught Millward as he was attempting to escape, Milstein said.

Gruber and another man caught Millward and wrestled him into a brown Oldsmobile, the lawyer said. Millward managed to steer the car off the road, get out and run into the desert, Milstein alleged. But Gruber caught him and then Lucero, who had been following in his own car, fired at Millward, but fatally wounded Gruber, Milstein said.

While he was on the stand, Lucero repeatedly denied killing Gruber and denied involvement in a methamphetamine ring.