Witness Tells Court About ’85 Killings of 2 Sweethearts

In an unemotional voice, the prosecution’s key witness in the 1985 shooting deaths of two college sweethearts in the Santa Monica Mountains described Tuesday how 20-year-old Brian Edward Harris spent his last few moments alive--placing his hands over his eyes and pleading for his life.

DeAndre Brown, 25, of South-Central Los Angeles said Harris’ girlfriend, UCLA freshman Michelle Anne Boyd, was silent as she was led into a secluded spot in the mountains and shot in the back of the head.

Brown was given immunity in exchange for his testimony against three friends who were involved in the Sept. 30, 1985, abduction and murder of the pair. Prosecutors say his testimony is crucial to the case against alleged triggerman Stanley Davis, 23, also of South-Central Los Angeles, who is now on trial in Santa Monica Superior Court.

Kidnaped Near Campus

Under questioning by Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss, Brown said he did not believe that the two college students would be killed after they were kidnaped near the UCLA campus and driven into the mountains. The four, he said, merely wanted to commandeer Harris’ Honda to drive to Barstow to commit a robbery.

But that quickly changed when they arrived at a lonely spot along Mulholland Drive.

Harris, a sophomore at Cal State Northridge who was locked in the trunk, “was beating on the trunk, saying ‘Let me out, let me out,’ ” Brown testified.

Davis, according to Brown, had already walked Boyd into the field when he let Harris out of the car’s trunk.

“The guy gets out and is saying, ‘I have my hands over my eyes. I can’t see you,’ ” Brown said.

Telling Harris that “I’m going to take you to your girl,” Davis walked Harris into the secluded field, Brown said.

Two Flashes of Light

Brown, a former gang member, said he then got back into the Honda. Moments later, he said, he saw two flashes of light from the field.

“They were gun flashes,” Brown said, adding that he did not hear any gunfire.

“Then he (Davis) came back and just got into the car,” Brown recalled. “I asked him, ‘What did you do to them?’ He said he killed somebody. I asked him why and he said he didn’t want no witnesses.”

The four men left the scene, returning to South-Central Los Angeles after deciding against committing a robbery in Barstow, Brown said.

Davis’ defense attorneys, who plan to cross-examine Brown on Monday, called his testimony lies. “From the get-go, he’s been lying,” attorney Louis Bernstein said outside of court. “He’s the one who killed them.”

Testified Earlier

He declined to explain how Brown was lying. It was Brown’s testimony that helped persuade a jury last year to convict Damon Redmond for his involvement in the killings. Redmond was sentenced to 53 years to life in state prison.

A fourth man, Donald Bennett, was sentenced last year to 18 years to life in state prison for his part in the deaths. While Brown testified, the dead pair’s mothers were in the courtroom audience, as they were during previous court proceedings. “This is never easy,” said Mary C. Harris of Thousand Oaks.