Gang Member Acquitted by Jury in 1984 Massacre of Five Youths : Crime: Shootings were called among worst in L.A. street warfare. Man was one of three charged in deaths.

An admitted gang member was acquitted Wednesday of murder charges arising from the so-called “54th Street Massacre” in 1984, when five teen-agers were shot to death in what authorities said was one of the worst incidents of gang violence in Los Angeles history.

After a six-month trial and five days of deliberation, a Superior Court jury found Fred (Fat Fred) Knight, 22, innocent on five counts of first-degree murder.

“We’re ecstatic,” Joel R. Isaacson, an attorney who defended Knight along with attorney Carl Jones, said of the verdict. “We think the jury reached the correct decision.”

Knight was also acquitted of the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders that would have made him eligible for the gas chamber if convicted.

Keith Tyrone (Ase Kapone) Fudge, 23, a reputed gang member charged in the same shooting, was convicted of the murders in August, 1987, and sentenced to death. A third defendant, Harold Hall, 22, is awaiting trial.

In an interview Wednesday night at the Men’s Central Jail, Knight said he had no doubt that he would be acquitted, “because my attorney did a good job.”

“I could see there was no way they would find me guilty, because the witnesses were all lying,” he said.

Knight, who admitted that he is a member of a Bloods gang called the Van Ness Gangsters, will be released from custody today.

He said “it was wrong” that he spent four years and four months in jail. “The D.A. had to know I didn’t do the crime,” he said.

He said he believes the jury did not believe the prosecution’s case, because no one noticed an overweight man at the shooting scene. Knight stands 5 feet, 6 inches and weighs 260 pounds.

The prosecution’s case against Knight, Isaacson said, was one of mistaken identity. He said Knight, who did not testify in the trial, was home at the time of the shootings.

Two witnesses who positively identified Knight as a gunman at the massacre were career criminals the jury did not believe, Isaacson said.

The attorney said he proved at the trial that one of the witnesses who identified Knight was not even at the party the night of the shootings.

“I’m so proud of the system and how it works,” Isaacson said. “The D.A. kept showing pictures of bodies all over the place. The jurors were able to set that aside and ask: ‘Did they prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt?’ ”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Deborah Kass, who prosecuted Knight, said, “I felt there was enough evidence to convict him and I felt he was guilty.”

Witnesses to the Oct. 12, 1984, shootings said at the time that party guests had gathered at the front of the home on West 54th Street at about 9:30 p.m. when a car drove up.

“They double parked, jumped out and started shooting,” said one teen-ager who saw the attack. “There was no kind of argument. It was random, like they said . . . ‘I’ve got to hit someone, and I don’t care who I hit.’ ”

A neighbor said the assailants were “just cracking up and laughing” as they drove off.

Prosecutors alleged that the shootings occurred when Knight, Fudge and Hall drove to the party to retaliate against Percy Brewer, 17, a member of a rival gang. Fudge believed Brewer had stolen his car that afternoon.

Prosecutors alleged that Fudge, using a rifle, and Knight, firing a shotgun, shot into the crowd of party goers, killing Brewer; Phillip Westbrooks, 18; Diane Rasberry, 17; Shannon Cannon, 14, and Darryl Coleman. Five others were wounded. Hall allegedly drove the car.

At the jail, Knight said he is looking forward to meeting nieces and nephews he has never seen after he is released, and he said he wants to return to school and become a lawyer. Asked if there is some place he wants to go after his release, he said:

“Disneyland. That’s where everybody goes when they win, isn’t it? But they ain’t giving me no endorsements.”