Judge Changes His Mind, Orders Trial for Mortician

A Ventura County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that the murder case against David Wayne Sconce could go forward, flip-flopping from a tentative decision last week to dismiss the case.

Sconce, a 34-year-old Pasadena crematory operator, is accused of using oleander to poison Timothy Waters, 24, a rival Burbank mortician who died in 1985 after becoming seriously ill at his parents’ home in Camarillo.

Roger Diamond, Sconce’s lawyer, has argued that the case should be handled by deputies who are overseen by the district attorney in the county where the trial would take place.

Judge Frederick A. Jones tentatively decided last week to throw out the case on the grounds that Sconce was being denied due process of the law because his case was being handled by prosecutors from Los Angeles County instead of Ventura County.

In last week’s tentative decision, Jones said it appeared that Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury made no active decisions in the case before deputizing two Los Angeles deputy district attorneys as special prosecutors and turning over all authority in the case to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

Bradbury testified Thursday that he made the decision to charge Sconce with murder and a special circumstance of murder by poison, which could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

But he also admitted that he turned over authority to Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss to decide whether to seek the death penalty and had never discussed the case with Reiner.

Bradbury said he realized it was a mistake to give up the authority and decided to take it back when Diamond argued that relinquishing it was grounds for dismissal. Bradbury said he has not decided whether to seek the death penalty for Sconce.

After Bradbury’s testimony, Jones reversed his tentative ruling.

Jones also gave Diamond permission to exhume Waters’ body from a Burbank crypt on an undisclosed date to test it for residue of oleander, the poison that medical experts testified caused his death.