Grandson Sentenced in Man’s Long-Unsolved Murder

An aspiring actor was sentenced Thursday to the maximum term of 27 years to life in prison for the 1983 killing of his grandfather during a botched burglary of the victim’s North Hollywood home.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab said Noel P. Scott, 29, of Woodland Hills deserved the maximum sentence because the defendant “breached a relationship of trust with his grandfather.”

Scott took several deep breaths and appeared to be on the verge of crying as Schwab handed down the sentence. Outside the courtroom later on, Scott’s mother, Debra Scott, angrily told Deputy Dist. Atty. Sidney D. Trapp Jr., “I hope you never sleep again.”

The sentencing followed an unusual hearing requested by defense lawyer Rowan K. Klein, who charged that trial lawyer Sherwin C. Edelberg had mishandled Scott’s defense. Schwab denied Klein’s request for a new trial even though Edelberg acknowledged on the witness stand Thursday that he had failed to call witnesses who might have bolstered Scott’s alibi that he was at a Beverly Hills restaurant when the murder occurred. Edelberg also did not introduce evidence about the criminal record of a key prosecution witness, Charles Berkowitz, a friend of Scott’s.

Schwab said he was upset that Edelberg had not reviewed Berkowitz’s criminal record but still declined to grant a new trial. Klein said he would appeal the verdict.

A jury in May found Scott guilty of murdering 70-year-old Louis Fox after he entered his grandfather’s bedroom early on Oct. 16, 1983, and attempted to steal his Rolex watch and a ring. Fox was shot three times in the head.

The murder remained unsolved until Berkowitz informed police in 1988 that Scott had told him about the killing a few days after it happened. But Berkowitz later told jurors that he had lied about part of the confession to get favorable treatment after his arrest on a burglary charge.

Scott was nevertheless convicted on a wealth of circumstantial evidence, including the prosecution’s claim that the grandson was one of only a handful of people who would not have been attacked by Fox’s German shepherd guard dog, “Dante,” upon entering Fox’s bedroom.

Other evidence brought out that Scott had boasted to his girlfriend before the murder that he would soon inherit his grandfather’s house and other belongings.