3rd Penalty Trial Underway for Man Who Killed Family

Holding a shiny crescent wrench in his hand, a prosecutor on Monday described for a jury how Edward Charles III “caved in” the skulls of his father and brother and killed his mother on a night in November 1994.

A defense attorney then listed for the jury some reasons he contends the Fullerton mechanic should not be put to death for the crimes that he admits Charles, now 24, committed.

The penalty phase of the case is being heard for the third time. Charles’ first jury, which convicted him, deadlocked on the question of his punishment. His second jury recommended death, but that verdict was thrown out due to juror misconduct.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Brent began his case Monday by telling about the discovery of a burning car in La Mirada. Inside were the nude and badly burned bodies of Charles’ 55-year-old father, Edward Charles II, and his 47-year-old mother, Delores. The body of his brother Danny, 19, was found inside the trunk.

Brent told jurors that Danny Charles, a student at USC and a promising opera singer, apparently was attacked first, shortly after a dinner at the family’s Fullerton home. He said the brother had stab wounds in his back that were probably not life-threatening, a skull crushed into small pieces and a broken neck.

“That is the damage this defendant did to his brother,” Brent said, pointing to Charles.

The prosecutor said the father also had a crushed skull and broken neck. The mother’s neck was also broken, but “he decided to spare attacking her skull,” he said.

Brent said neighbors heard someone moaning “somebody help me” in the trunk of Danny Charles’ car the night of the murders, and Eddie Charles was seen scrubbing his driveway early the next morning.

In jail, Brent said, Charles suggested in a letter to a fellow inmate that someone kill his grandfather, who lived with the family, to make it appear that the “real killer” was still loose.

“Mr. Charles is not a lover of truth,” Brent said.

Defense attorney Thomas Goethals, who will conclude his opening remarks today, told the jury that “the crimes speak for themselves,” and he does not plan to dispute most of the facts in the case.

Instead, he will focus on Charles’ lack of a criminal record and his potential to be a positive influence on others, if sentenced to life in prison, because of his computer and auto mechanic skills. Goethals also mentioned the feelings of surviving relatives, including Delores Charles’ sister, who wants his life spared.

Goethals said he plans to call a psychiatrist to the stand to help explain how “a young man, in no trouble and his grandfather’s favorite grandson . . . goes from that to the Eddie Charles sitting over there, convicted of killing his parents and brother.”