Attorney: Murder suspect doing poor job of defending self
DOWNTOWN LA — The Santa Monica homeless man representing himself in a murder trial has had his case postponed until April 29 so he may attempt to provide the court with documents proving he had an alibi.
David Thomas Wright was charged with murder for allegedly killing Aviva Labbe, a then-20-year-old woman who authorities found dead on June 14, 1998. Labbe was found 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 the 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. If proven guilty of Labbe’s murder by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ruth Ann Kwan, who is trying the case, Wright faces life in prison.
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.
The three-week trial began March 21 and continued until Thursday, April 7, when Los Angeles Deputy District Ellen Aragon was prepared to make her closing remarks. Judge Kwan decided to postpone the trial until April 29 so a court-appointed investigator, working on behalf of Wright, can attempt to find any documents that might help prove Wright’s innocence, such as records or receipts showing Wright was somewhere else when the murder occurred.
Court officials said April 29 will be the last day the prosecution or defense may present any new evidence in the case. After that, there may be some cross-examinations and closing remarks. Judge Kwan will then make a decision.
Wright was homeless and living on the streets of Santa Monica before being arrested. Sandie Richards, a reverend at the Church at Ocean Park who testified in the trial, said she knew of Wright, who frequently laid his possessions at the church, which is located across the street from the murder scene. She told him he would have to leave.
Blood from Labbe’s bludgeoned head stained a white wall where her body was found, according to the Santa Monica Police Department.
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.
Wright’s former public defender, Leonard N. Garber, has been on “stand-by” during the trial, often shifting out of frustration in one of the juror’s seats as Wright attempts to defend himself. Garber said he is Wright’s legally appointed attorney through the California Bar Association who Wright fired last year, possibly for disagreeing with his decision to not have a jury trial.
Garber has said outside of the courtroom that Wright has done a poor job cross-examining the witnesses during trial. Wright asked the DNA expert how he was certain the semen and saliva samples taken from Labbe were from him and not from a dog, to which the witness explained that only human DNA is registered with the Justice Department’s database.
Garber said although Wright’s DNA samples were found on or near the victim’s dead body, it doesn’t prove he was responsible for the murder, since the semen could have been inside Labbe a few days before the murder took place.
Judge Kwan has been thorough in the trial and provided Wright with as many legal opportunities as possible to defend himself within the full spectrum of the law, sources said.
Wright was evaluated by three psychiatrists to determine whether he was competent to stand trial, let alone defend himself. Garber disagreed with the panel of psychiatrists, who found that Wright is competent.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 14, 2005. Read the original PDF.