Murder Defendant Loses Bid to Choose Counsel
A Pasadena funeral home worker charged with fatally poisoning a rival mortician with oleander leaves in 1985 was denied his choice of defense counsel Monday by a Municipal Court judge.
David Wayne Sconce, 33, requested that Roger Jon Diamond, of Santa Monica, serve as his court-appointed attorney. But Ventura Municipal Court Judge Barry B. Klopfer appointed a public defender instead. Diamond said he will appeal the decision before Sconce’s arraignment on March 13.
Sconce is charged with murdering Timothy R. Waters, 24, a Burbank mortician, to keep him from exposing activities at the Lamb Funeral Home where Sconce worked.
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