2 Sailors Ordered to Stand Trial in Carjack, Kidnap

Two Navy men were ordered to stand trial Wednesday on charges of attempted murder and kidnaping stemming from the carjacking of a Yellow Cab and the abduction of the cabby earlier this month.

Graham Francis Davis, 19, and Richard Anthony Price, 20, both enlisted men stationed at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, are accused in the Nov. 6 attack, which left the victim with a fractured skull and brain damage.

Testifying Wednesday during a three-hour preliminary hearing, Craig Smith, 45, told Municipal Judge Howard Shore that he picked up the two defendants outside NTC about 10:30 p.m.

“As soon as I got on (Interstate) 5 north, I started feeling uneasy about these individuals,” he testified.

He dropped the men off near Morena Boulevard and Balboa Avenue and was paid the full fare.

“At that time, one of them put what I assume was a bar around my throat,” Smith said.

The attacker dragged him halfway into the back seat, though he was wearing a seat belt and a shoulder restraint, he said.

“The next thing I knew, I was being hit in the head with something hard,” Smith testified.

After being hit four or five times, Smith said he heard one man say: “Is he still breathing? Kill the son of a bitch.”

Price got into the driver’s seat, and after receiving instructions from Davis, went to Interstate 5 and began driving north again, Smith said.

Eventually the car pulled over, and Smith said he heard Davis say, “Oh good, there’s a bridge.”

Smith testified that he was ordered out of his taxi, and after Davis threatened his life, he ran away, calling authorities from a freeway call box.

Davis and Price were arrested several hours later in San Clemente after leading authorities on a chase that began at the San Onofre immigration checkpoint and reached speeds of 110 m.p.h., Deputy Dist. Atty. Phyllis Shess said.

They will be arraigned in Superior Court Dec. 11 on charges of premeditated attempted murder and kidnaping for robbery, both of which carry possible sentences of life in prison.

Price and Davis, who are being held in lieu of $250,000 bail, are also charged with robbery and evading an officer.