Lawyers Say Prosecutors Withheld Key Evidence

Lawyers for two men on trial for killing two witnesses blasted a prosecutor Tuesday for concealing evidence, telling jurors they had been cheated out of the truth and urging not guilty verdicts.

“The prosecution is . . . charged with seeking justice,” said Deputy Alternate Public Defender Linda Wieder, in her closing argument. “We learned the prosecutor, Michael Duarte, had concealed evidence. He cheated you . . . but most importantly, he cheated justice,” Wieder said.

Kenneth Leighton, 37, and Randall Williams, 36, could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jamie Navaroli and April Mahoney, who were to testify against Leighton in a burglary case.

Earlier, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry A. Green instructed jurors that Duarte had withheld from defense attorneys statements made by a key witness, which the defense asserts may be exculpatory.

“The [prosecutors’] concealment was without lawful justification and in violation of a specific court order,” Green said. He told jurors they may consider Duarte’s conduct during their deliberations.

Duarte’s actions amounted to “a fraud on the defendants . . . a fraud on the court and . . . a fraud on you,” said Deputy Public Defender Michael Gottlieb, who represents co-defendant Randall Williams.

As Duarte sat nearby, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jessica Dabney asked jurors to focus on the evidence against the two men, including admissions allegedly made by Leighton to eight people and Mahoney’s deathbed identification of Williams.

Leighton mistakenly believed another conviction would be the “third strike” that would send him to prison for 25 years to life, prosecutors said. Leighton then allegedly enlisted a friend, Williams, to carry out the killings.

Couple Shot Execution-Style

Navaroli and Mahoney were found shot, execution-style, outside their West Hills home on the night of Nov. 4, 1998. Though Navaroli died right away, Mahoney clung to life.

From her hospital bed, Mahoney first told a detective, then her mother and sister, that someone named “Randy” shot her and later identified Williams in a photo line-up, Dabney said. Mahoney died on Christmas Eve that year.

Witnesses heard Leighton repeatedly call the victims rats and snitches, Dabney said. Leighton told another witness that the two were prime witnesses against him and that without them the police didn’t have a case against him, Dabney said.

The couple had been in a witness protection program but had left it.

Leighton had a 9-millimeter gun, which was the type used in the slayings, Dabney said. Bullets from the victims’ bodies “came from the same batch of bullets found in Leighton’s home. . . . Leighton supplied the gun and bullets for Williams to use in killing Jamie Navaroli and April Mahoney,” she said.

After Mahoney died, Dabney said, Leighton bragged, “Did you hear what I gave Jamie for Christmas? I gave him April,” and called Mahoney a profane name, saying she “can’t talk now. No one can testify now.”

Defense attorneys acknowledged that Leighton was loquacious. “We all know Kenny Leighton has a big mouth,” Gottlieb said.

Wieder likened Leighton to Archie Bunker and called her client an “equal opportunity jerk” who is “foul-mouthed, ill-mannered, crass, obnoxious and vulgar.” She told jurors there were times she couldn’t stand to be around Leighton, but argued he shouldn’t be convicted just because he’s so offensive.

Gottlieb also challenged Mahoney’s dying declarations, which she allegedly made while on life support.

“She can’t talk, she can’t whisper, she can’t make noises . . . when the tube’s down the throat,” Gottlieb said.

Defense Says Client Lacked a Motive

Williams had no motive for killing Navaroli and Mahoney, while at least two other people wanted the couple dead, Gottlieb argued.

Prosecutors’ witnesses were not credible, Gottlieb said, calling them a collection of thieves, robbers, drug dealers, addicts, felons and misdemeanants.

Those people were witnesses because they were friends, associates or acquaintances of defendant Leighton, prosecutor Dabney countered.

Closing arguments are scheduled to end today.