D.A. Won’t Seek Death Penalty in Double Slaying

A Valencia man convicted of murdering two witnesses to his burglary was spared the death penalty Tuesday after prosecutors, in an unusual change of heart, withdrew their bid for capital punishment just before the guilty verdict was announced.

The dramatic conclusion to the trial of Kenneth Leighton, who now faces life in prison without parole, was the second strange twist in the case.

Earlier, there were revelations that a prosecutor had concealed evidence from defense attorneys.

The decision against seeking the death penalty was made Tuesday by Assistant Dist. Atty. Peter Bozanich, chairman of the office’s death penalty committee, “after the defense attorney asked them to reconsider,” said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the office.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Terry A. Green revealed the prosecutors’ about-face to a packed courtroom after the reading of the verdict.

A jury of four women and eight men convicted Leighton, 37, of first-degree murder in the West Hills killings of Jamie Navaroli and April Mahoney, with the special circumstances of multiple murders, lying in wait and the killing of a witness, each of which would have qualified him for the death penalty.

The jury would have heard the penalty phase of the trial if the prosecution had not dropped its capital punishment request.

Prosecutors, including Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, declined to explain the sudden reversal. The office is withholding comment until a separate jury, still deliberating the fate of co-defendant Randall Williams, has returned a verdict, Gibbons said.

Prosecutors would not say if they will continue to pursue the death penalty against Williams.

Relatives of the victims said they were relieved by the verdict and not bothered by the prosecutors’ decision on the punishment.

“I’m not a believer of the death penalty anyway,” said Navaroli’s mother, Maryann, of Canoga Park.

She learned of the decision in open court, she said.

In a trial that lasted nearly four months, Deputy Dist. Attys. Jessica Dabney and Michael Duarte successfully argued that Leighton wanted Navaroli and Mahoney dead because they were about to testify against him in a burglary case, which he mistakenly believed could have been his third strike.

To avoid 25 years to life in prison, he enlisted his friend Williams to carry out the killings, prosecutors alleged.

Tuesday wasn’t the first time the trial took an unusual twist. Earlier, a law clerk for the prosecution told a supervisor that Duarte had concealed evidence from the defense.

Harsh Words From Judge

The judge instructed jurors that Duarte’s action was “without lawful justification and in violation of a specific court order that required [prosecutors] to turn over all witness statements.”

He also told jurors they could consider Duarte’s conduct during their deliberations of the defendants’ guilt.

On Tuesday, jurors said Duarte’s conduct didn’t matter in their deliberations.

They didn’t think the concealed statements were all that significant, said the foreman, a 33-year-old engineer who lives in Venice and declined to give his name.

“The statements were not any different than what was already testified to,” he said.

“This case wasn’t about Mr. Duarte,” said Carrie Haskell, Jamie Navaroli’s ex-wife. “It was about the father of my children getting killed.”

Deputy Alternate Public Defender Henry Hall said “there was always a question” over the propriety of seeking the death penalty in the case, in part because Leighton has “next to no [criminal] record.

Leighton has a marijuana conviction from 20 years ago, Hall said.

Leighton will be sentenced on July 13.