VAN NUYS : Deliberations to Start in Murder Trial

A Van Nuys Superior Court jury will begin deliberations today in a murder trial driven primarily by a few pieces of circumstantial evidence and one eyewitness who positively identified a Pacoima man as the driver of a van speeding away from the scene of his uncle’s murder.

Prosecutors want the jury to convict Asa Washington of first-degree murder in the slaying of his 57-year-old uncle at the family-owned business.

Washington, 22, testified last week that he had nothing to do with the North Hollywood slaying and said he had spent the day at Magic Mountain with his cousin, who is the son of the man who was felled by two shotgun blasts.

Burnett Washington of Pacoima was killed inside Washington Metal Polishing at 5415 Cleon Ave. in North Hollywood on Sept. 4, 1992.

While suggesting several different motives for the slaying, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels said the defendant’s testimony was chock-full of lies and included a fictional story about collecting his dead grandfather’s stray shotgun shells to protect the children in his house and another about refusing to attend school at an out-of-state university because he wanted to see his relative’s killer brought to justice.

In addition to a single shotgun shell found in his bedroom that matched expended shells found at the crime scene, Samuels presented evidence that she said showed Washington’s consciousness of guilt.

Washington refused to pose for a photograph of his profile--which the prosecution’s key witness had requested--and he ran from his house when police came to arrest him two months after the killing, Samuels said.

Samuels went on to suggest that Asa Washington may have committed the killing in conjunction with his cousin, Randall Washington, who was one of the victim’s heirs.

In the weeks before he was gunned down, Burnett Washington had obtained a court order to have his son thrown out of his home. Randall Washington was also arrested in the case and was ordered to stand trial by a Municipal Court judge earlier this year. However, a Superior Court judge dismissed charges against him because of lack of evidence.

Defense attorney Charles Lloyd ridiculed the prosecution case, saying it was based on statements like “might have been” and “possible.” Lloyd took great pains to discredit the testimony of Anthony Bird, a sound engineer for the rock band KISS, who testified that Asa Washington was definitely the man driving a white van that left the metal works company moments after shots were heard.

At a previous court hearing, Bird said he only got a “glimpse” of the van driver, according to Lloyd, who added that the star witnesses initially identified that suspect as Latino. Lloyd said Asa Washington is black. The suspect testified last week that his mother is white.

If the jury convicts Washington on all charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in state prison.