2 Men Indicted in 1996 Torture Slaying
The Ventura County Grand Jury has delivered an indictment that could mean the death penalty for two Hawthorne men accused of the torture and murder of a man whose beaten and burned body was found Sept. 7, 1996, in a remote corner of Ventura County.
The panel indicted Spencer Brasure, 27, and Billy Lynn Davis, 20, on charges of murder, torture, kidnapping, grand theft, arson, threatening witnesses and violating a court order. The grand jury also alleged special circumstances that the murder of Anthony Guest of Redondo Beach occurred during other felonies--the kidnapping and torture--that make Brasure and Davis eligible for the death penalty.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Calvert said prosecutors will be deciding in the next month whether to press for the death penalty against the two men, and that Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury will make the final decision.
Brasure and Davis are being held without bail in the Ventura County Jail. They are due to be arraigned Friday at 1:30 p.m. in Ventura County Superior Court.
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