Man Was ‘Regular Kid’ Before He Killed Family, Lawyer Argues

With his client facing the death penalty for killing his parents and younger brother, an attorney defended Edward Charles III Tuesday by saying that until the time of the triple murder, he was “a regular kid that everybody liked.”

Defense attorney Thomas Goethals conceded that Charles “has forfeited his right to ever walk the streets of California again” but insisted that the government “has no compelling reason to execute him.”

Goethals asked jurors to set aside any “knee-jerk” reaction they have about the horrendous nature of the crimes and reserve their judgment until after he has presented to them a full picture of Charles’ life.

“You have someone’s life in your hands,” Goethals said. “This is as serious as it gets.”

The bodies of the defendant’s father, Edward Charles II, 55, his mother, Delores, 47, and brother Danny, 19, were found in a burning car in La Mirada. The father and brother were stabbed and beaten and the mother was strangled.

The Orange County Superior Court jury that heard Goethals’ opening statement is the third panel convened to decide Charles’ fate. The first jury deadlocked. The second jury recommended the death penalty, but that decision was thrown out because of juror misconduct.

Charles, 24, squirmed, buried his face in his hands and wiped away tears as one of the first witnesses, a medical examiner, explained the multiple injuries inflicted upon the victims.

The defendant appeared emotional again when his 76-year-old grandfather, Bernard Severino, took the stand and testified that he was “not sure” if he still loved his grandson.

Severino, who lived with the family in the Sunny Hills area of Fullerton, was at home asleep the night of the November 1994 murders. He recalled his shock at later learning what occurred.

“I thought it only happened to other people,” he said. “To this day, I can’t figure out why it happened. I have no idea what the purpose was.”

Severino recalled with emotion when he was told by police that the bodies of his family were found in a burning car. He said he “couldn’t see anybody dying that way.”

The grandfather testified how his grandson called him from jail after his arrest asking him to take the rap for the killings, “saying something to the effect that he was a young man and I was an old fellow and why don’t I take the blame,” Severino said.

During his opening remarks and his questioning of Severino, Goethals focused on the defendant’s life leading up to the murders, touching on a sibling rivalry between the defendant and victim Danny Charles, a student at USC who was a promising opera singer.

“It was probably a healthy competition,” Severino said.

Severino acknowledged that before the murders, the defendant had been his favorite grandson because the two shared a passion for fixing cars and other interests. He said his grandson had been a talented soccer player and was gifted with computers.

Goethals told jurors the defendant’s life changed dramatically when he met a girlfriend in 1994 whom his family rejected. There was also tension because of their disapproval of his direction in life both socially and career-wise.

“That was the situation that led us to November 1994 and that led us down the road to where we are today,” Goethals told jurors.

Although there were problems in the family, Goethals described Delores and Edward Charles II as “good parents.”

“They tried hard,” he said. “But we all know families where kids raised apparently the same turned out different.”