Prosecutor Challenges Suspect’s Alibi in Slaying

Continuing to profess his innocence, a parolee accused of killing an armored-truck guard during a robbery underwent a withering cross-examination Wednesday from a prosecutor who hammered away at inconsistencies in his alibi.

Often raising his voice and gesturing with his arms, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Jonas hurled a barrage of questions at Sean Darnell Slade, 27, who is accused of murdering Edwin Maldonado on July 20, 1992, during a robbery at the Home Depot in San Fernando.

“What do you want to tell the jury?” Jonas asked Slade at the start of questioning. “Look them in the eye,” the prosecutor demanded.

“First, I’m not guilty,” Slade responded. “Second, all this right here didn’t have to be. Thirdly, certain people wanted to see bad things happen in my life.”

When pressed on who wanted “bad things” to happen, Slade looked at Jonas and said: “Starting with you.”

The defendant also accused Elizabeth Floyd, the mother of a man Slade admittedly killed in 1987, of being a liar. After police developed a composite drawing of the suspect in the Home Depot slaying, Floyd contacted authorities and said Slade was the man they were looking for. Her information led to his arrest.

Slade pleaded guilty in 1988 to manslaughter in the man’s death and was sentenced to state prison. He was paroled only 25 days prior to the Home Depot robbery.

As Maldonado carried $82,000 from the manager’s office in the Foothill Boulevard home improvement store, a gunman ran up and, without warning, shot him in the back of the head.

When the guard fell to the ground, the robber fired two more shots into his head. A Home Depot employee standing a few feet away testified that Slade was the killer.

But as he did when he first took the witness stand Tuesday, Slade reiterated that he had nothing to do with the crime.