Murder and Conspiracy Trial to Remain in Van Nuys

Three men charged with murder and conspiracy, including the 1993 shooting death of Laurie Myles in Northridge, will stand trial in the San Fernando Valley rather than downtown, a judge has ruled.

Supervising Superior Court Judge James A. Bascue, who oversees the county’s criminal courts, reassigned the case to a judge in Van Nuys after prosecutors argued that holding the trial at downtown’s Criminal Courts Building would place a hardship on witnesses and relatives of the victims.

Steve Cooley, who heads the district attorney’s San Fernando branch, has said that since the crimes were committed in the Valley, and the defendants, victims, and witnesses were Valley residents, the trial should take place in the same community.

Bascue assigned the case on Thursday to Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg, who recently presided over the Menendez brothers’ murder trials in Van Nuys.

Etienne Moore and LaCedrick Johnson, of Canoga Park are accused of fatally shooting Myles, 37, of North Hills as she waited for her daughter to leave a Bible study class, and of killing Bahman Taheri, 53, of Encino, in another apparent robbery attempt.

A third defendant, Shashonee Monette Solomon, faces a murder charge for allegedly asking Moore and Johnson to kill an acquaintance.

When it was determined in June that the trial would last six months or more, supervising judges decided to transfer the case to a downtown courtroom.

But prosecutors presented the court with written statements from family members of the two victims, including Myles’ elderly grandfather, who is a double amputee. The relatives said they could not afford to regularly attend the trial if forced to commute more than 40 miles each day.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Edwin Greene said pretrial motions will be heard in Weisberg’s court on Nov. 18. The trial is expected to start shortly after the first of the year, Greene said.