Witness: Mechanic took deliberate aim at transient
Closing arguments will be made today in the murder trial of a Pico Boulevard mechanic who is accused of shooting and killing a transient last July.
Jurors will soon decide if Michael Ward Bell, 54, of Los Angeles, is guilty of first degree murder for firing six shots at Andre Watson, a homeless man with a history of mental illness.
Bell, who managed BT Automotive on the 2600 block of Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, testified Wednesday that he was acting in self-defense after being attacked by Watson with a box cutter.
Watson was extremely intoxicated on the day he died and had recently been released from jail after serving half of a 15-day sentence for attacking two teenage girls with a box cutter on Santa Monica Beach, witnesses testified.
Dr. Gordon Plotkin said Watson’s corpse had a blood alcohol content of.13 percent, though that level was measured after a full blood transfusion that diluted the level of alcohol. Although the exact level of alcohol in his blood can’t be determined, Plotkin said it was probably two or three times higher than.08, the legal limit to drive.
Dave Hobek, the owner of a Phoenix hotel for transients, testified that Watson was a calm man most of the time but sometimes erupted into violent behavior. Dr. Lisa Remsing, who diagnosed Watson at County-USC Hospital before the fatal incident, said Watson was paranoid and his mind was filled with “assaultive” ideas.
Watson had apparently stopped taking the anti-psychotic drugs Remsing prescribed sometime before his fatal encounter with Bell on July 1, 2002 because the coroner determined there were no traces of the medication in his body, witnesses testified.
More than 30 expert and eyewitnesses were called in the trial, which enters its seventh day today.
John Raphling, Bell’s public defender, called about 20 of the witnesses. Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Mark Burnley called 12.
Because Bell has admitted he shot Watson, Burnley said his challenge was to prove that Bell was not acting in self defense. He claimed that Bell acted deliberately and passed up numerous opportunities to protect himself without injuring Watson.
“He walked out of the shop when he could have locked himself in,” Burnley said. “He walked past his car, he had the keys and he could have gotten in. Instead he continued on and walked west down Pico.”
Watson was shot in front of the SGI-USA building, a Buddhist community center, which is more than 100 feet from BT Automotive.
Joseph Beedle, a military police officer who was parked across the street from Bell’s shop when the shooting occurred, testified that Bell took careful and deliberate aim at Watson, cocking the trigger and stepping toward him between each shot. He added that during the shooting, Watson lay curled up in a fetal position on the sidewalk.
When asked Thursday why his client fired on Watson six times, Raphling replied, “He was in a panic and he had no choice. The guy was coming at him and he had to act.
3D4,“He feels terrible about it but he also feels like he had no choice.”
Burnley told a different story.
He put Santa Monica Police officers on the stand, who testified that Watson was not found holding any weapon. Instead, the officers found two small box cutters in Watson’s front left pocket. One had a three-inch handle with a small push-button blade and the other was circular in shape, about one-inch in diameter with a small protruding blade.
Bell testified that he didn’t see what Watson was holding when he jumped him, Raphling said. He also testified that Watson earlier approached his shop with a blade in his hand. Watson had spent the day hanging out down the street from Bell’s shop, witnesses from both sides testified.
At the end of the day, Bell said Watson made a gesture indicating that he wanted to slice Bell’s throat. After a heated argument, Bell went back to his shop, where he finished the day’s business, showered and poured himself a drink, he testified.
Watson then tried to enter the shop with a blade in his hand, Bell testified. When Bell realized the bay doors to his garage were still open, he said he panicked. He grabbed the.357 Magnum he keeps in his file cabinet and ran into the street. As he walked toward a trash bag he believed to be Watson’s belongings, Bell testified that Watson jumped on his back.
That is when he fired six bullets, four of which connected with Watson’s hip, calf and thigh. Watson died about 90 minutes later from loss of blood.
Bell, who is being held on $2 million bail at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown L.A., sat next to Raphling in a black suit and prison-issued black slippers throughout the trial. Three friends sat behind him in the courtroom, one of which is a friend and colleague of 12 years who flew in from Connecticut.
Jurors will hear closing arguments Friday before deliberating. The case is being heard by L.A. Superior Court Judge Steven Van Sicklen at the Airport Courthouse near LAX.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 20, 2003. Read the original PDF.