Defendent declines attorney, trial by jury
DOWNTOWN LA — A Santa Monica homeless man charged with the murder of a woman nearly seven years ago began his trial Monday, without an attorney or a jury.
David Thomas Wright was charged with murder for allegedly killing Aviva Labbe, then a 20 year-old woman who authorities found dead on June 14, 1998. Labbe was found wearing a dark blouse and maroon sweatpants, lying face down in a walkway on the 200 block of Hill Street, at a vacant Santa Monica home.
Labbe’s murder had been classified as a “cold case” and remained unsolved for nearly four years until a sampling of Wright’s DNA linked him in 2002 to the murder through the U.S. Department of Justice’s database system, authorities said. Convicted felons are required to give a DNA sample, which puts them in the data-base for authorities to periodically check.
Wright, 49, was found in the California state prison system serving a six-year sentence for battery of a Santa Monica police officer during an unrelated incident, authorities said. In January of 2001, a jury found him guilty of battery, resisting arrest, and failing to register himself as a sex offender.
Sources close to the case didn’t offer why Wright opted not to be represented by an attorney and to let a judge alone decide his case, especially since it’s believed such circumstances would not work in his favor.
Wright appeared in court Monday looking withdrawn. His hair was pulled back and crimped. He wore glasses and had a long white goatee, speaking slowly to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ruth Ann Kwan, who will determine if he is guilty.
Leonard M. Garber, who once represented Wright and has since become Wright’s “stand-by” attorney, said he explained to Wright that he may do better in court with a jury trial, but Wright refused the advice. He has fired two public defenders assigned to the case, delaying the case for nearly two years.
Garber said he felt Wright was not competent to stand trial and informed him as such, which Garber said might have also had to do with why Wright decided to represent himself.
Three psychiatrists evaluated Wright and only one of them felt he was not competent to stand trial, Garber said.
Wright, who spoke briefly during the trial, declined to give an opening statement.
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Ellen Aragon during her opening statement laid out her case and indicated several witnesses would be testifying. She also requested permission to admit into court the witness testimony of two women who accused Wright of sexually assaulting them in the early ’90s.
Wright’s rap sheet goes back to at least 1990, when he pleaded no contest to petty theft. In 1993, he was convicted of possessing a dagger and given probation. In 1994, Wright was sentenced to two years in prison for assault with intent. In 1999, Wright was acquitted for possessing a deadly weapon.
Although using information from prior records is typically ill-advised by defense counsels, Wright decided to allow the witnesses to speak against him.
“Let’s do it,” Wright said. The trial is expected to last a week, with interruptions that may arise because Judge Kwan is expecting a death in the family.
A DNA expert is scheduled on Wednesday to testify about the accuracy of the samples collected by the Serological Research Institute, which Aragon said has compiled semen samples that match Wright’s and was found in Labbe’s rectum. Cigarette butts near the scene also match an oral swab taken from Wright, prosecutors said.
Wright won’t face the death penalty if found guilty, a special panel within the DA’s office decided in 2003.
Wright was homeless and living on the streets of Santa Monica before being arrested. Sandie Richards, a reverend at the Church at Ocean Park, is scheduled to testify in the trial. Richards knew of Wright, who frequently laid his possessions at the church, which is located across the street from the murder scene.
Blood from Labbe’s bludgeoned head stained a white wall where her body was found, according to the Santa Monica Police Department, who investigated the murder.
During the autopsy, LA County supervising criminalist Dan Anderson testified in an earlier court proceeding that he found a foreign object inside Labbe’s body. Upon further investigation, Anderson discovered that a beeping pager had been lodged in Labbe’s rectum. It is unknown whether or not the beeper is connected to Wright.
A key at the murder scene belonged to a motel on Lincoln Boulevard, where it was determined Labbe lived shortly before she was killed.
During the investigation, Santa Monica Police detectives spoke with Labbe’s cousin, Leslie Tutnick, who at the time was Labbe’s only local relative. Tutnick told police she was trying to help Labbe get through emotional distress. She also described Labbe as “someone desperately trying to get her act together,” according to court testimony.
Aragon has previously said the details of Labbe’s activities shortly before her death are unclear although there had been a suggestion that she was prostituting herself.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 22, 2005. Read the original PDF.