Summations End in Torture-Slaying Trial

A Ventura County jury began deliberations Tuesday in the trial of a Los Angeles County man charged with the gruesome torture-murder of a 20-year-old Redondo Beach resident.

Spencer Brasure, who could face the death penalty if convicted, sat passively at the defense table as prosecutor Mark Pachowicz concluded his closing remarks in the three-week trial Tuesday morning.

Looking at the defendant from a few feet away, Pachowicz called Brasure a “creature” who tortured Anthony Guest for hours on Sept. 6, 1996.

“What happened to him is inexcusable,” Pachowicz said. “What happened to him shouldn’t happen to anyone.”

Pachowicz said Brasure tied Guest up and beat, shocked and burned him with a makeshift electrical device. He also stapled his ears with an industrial stapler and broke glass inside his mouth, the prosecutor said.

After this torture, Pachowicz said, Brasure and co-defendant Billy Davis drove the victim to a remote campground near Gorman and burned him alive.

Guest’s charred body was found by maintenance workers a week later.

The motive for the killing is unclear.

Pachowicz urged the jury to return guilty verdicts on charges that include first-degree murder, kidnapping and torture.

Davis is being tried separately. His case is scheduled to go before a jury this fall.