Ex-Athlete Admits to Concealing Murder

A former Fullerton College football player has pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder in helping cover up the slaying of his pregnant girlfriend last year in Las Vegas.

Anthony James, 21, pleaded guilty Monday, just days after Malcolm Gray, his friend and teammate, was convicted of firing the shot that killed Amy Tuttle in her Las Vegas apartment on May 27, 1994. James admitted that he witnessed the shooting, and that he helped Gray, 21, lie about what happened.

James also took the witness stand last week to testify against Gray, who was convicted in Nevada of second-degree murder Friday.

“Accessory is exactly what Anthony is,” said James’ defense attorney, Andrew Myers. “That means you did something about concealing or covering the crime up. In the end, I think he got exactly what he deserved.”

Gray testified last week that he shot the 20-year-old victim accidentally, after he put a gun to her head to intimidate her while she argued with James about whether to have an abortion, said Gray’s attorney, Paul E. Wommer.

Wommer said his client admitted taking all six bullets out of his .38-caliber revolver and then putting one bullet back, thinking the chamber would rotate clockwise and give him “five empty clicks.” Instead, the chamber turned counterclockwise, sending a live round through Tuttle’s left temple.

“I think that, in light of the evidence that was presented, it was a fair verdict,” Wommer said of his client’s conviction.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Roger said Gray’s testimony, and physical evidence that showed the gun was pressed to Tuttle’s head, was so damaging that the jury at first deadlocked 11-1 in favor of a first-degree murder conviction before agreeing on the lesser offense of second-degree murder.

Gray also wrote letters to James in jail admitting that he was the shooter, Roger said.

Both had joined the Fullerton College football team as walk-on players, James as a running back and Gray, of Corona, as a linebacker. Neither had played in any games. They were arrested in their football gear at a team training room during practice in August, 1994.

One day before their arrests, James and Gray had enrolled as new students in a two-year vocational program at Fullerton College; James planned to study automotive service, and Gray had chosen accounting, a college spokesman said.

The men had attended Centennial High School, in Corona, with Tuttle. A few months before the slaying, Tuttle ended a two-year relationship with James and in February, 1994, moved to Las Vegas to put some distance between them, taking jobs as a swimming pool attendant at Caesars Palace and a trainer at a Gold’s Gym, her father said.

Before the shooting, neighbors heard arguing, the sound of crashing objects and gunshots, and one neighbor then saw the two men carry Tuttle, who was eight weeks pregnant, from the apartment.

They first told police they had found her shot in the head after returning from playing basketball and saw a man running from the building, Wommer said.

Las Vegas District Judge John McGroarty is scheduled to sentence James on Nov. 16. He faces one to five years in prison, Myers said. Gray faces the possibility of 10 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 20.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.