PASADENA : Witnesses’ Names Withheld in Halloween Murder Case

A judge refused Friday to reveal the names of confidential witnesses in the case of five men accused of killing three boys during last year’s Halloween night ambush in Pasadena.

“To allow the names (of informants to be released) would be putting a warrant of death or injury to these people,” Superior Court Judge J.D. Smith said in denying the defense request. “I couldn’t do that, in good conscience.”

Attorneys for Lorenzo Newborn, Aurelius Bailey, Herbert McClain, Soloman Bowen and Carl Holmes argued that not knowing the names has made it difficult to prepare for trial. Smith listened to more than two hours of closed-door testimony from the confidential witnesses earlier this week to determine if there is a real danger to them.

He said Friday that he is more than convinced that the people who have come forward to provide information about the Oct. 31 shooting deaths of Reggie Crawford, Stephen Coats Jr., both 14, and Edgar Evans, 13, face a genuine threat.

Some witnesses have already been threatened, Deputy Dist. Atty. Anthony Myers said in court. The prosecutor said they have had to move because they are so frightened.

Smith said he would make his courtroom available “at the right time” before the trial to allow the defense to interview witnesses.

The five men, who sat in the jury box handcuffed and shackled together during Friday’s hearing, were indicted in March on three counts each of first-degree murder, as well as on charges of attempted murder and conspiracy.

The victims, who had been to a Halloween party, were walking home with three friends when gunmen who had been hiding in nearby bushes sprayed the boys with gunfire.

Prosecutors theorize that the defendants, supposedly members of a Pasadena-based gang, mistook the victims for other youths involved in a fatal shooting of a gang member three hours earlier.