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# Wright trial drags into its third and final week
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/wright-trial-drags-into-its-third-and-final-week/
- Published: 2005-04-04T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T06:32:29.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Crime, Downtown, #archive-import, Homeless

*Homeless man’s murder trial to conclude this week*

DOWNTOWN LA — The murder trial of a Santa Monica homeless man continues into a third week as the presiding judge takes great measures in an effort to avoid an appeal.

David Thomas Wright, who is charged with murder for allegedly killing Aviva Labbe in 1998, is representing himself. He waived his right to a jury trial and agreed to allow Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ruth Ann Kwan to decide his fate.

Those circumstances have prompted Judge Kwan to be extra diligent to prevent Wright from making a successful appeal, sources close to the case said.

If found guilty, Wright faces life in prison, said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Ellen Aragon, who has presented testimony from seven witnesses since the trial began March 21.

Authorities found Labbe, then 20, lying face down in a walkway on the 200 block of Hill Street, in front of a vacant 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 data-base system, authorities said. Convicted felons are required to give a DNA sample, which puts them in the database for authorities to periodically check.

Wright, 49, was found in the California state prison system serving a six-year sentence after biting a Santa Monica Police officer’s finger during an unrelated incident, authorities said. In 2003, a jury found Wright guilty of battery, resisting arrest, and failing to register himself as a sex offender.

Wright appeared in court on Friday calm and seemingly skinnier than he has in previous proceedings. He wore a blue LA County Jail jumpsuit, glasses, and carried his ruffled legal papers. His grayish hair was set loose in an afro.

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 said outside of the courtroom on Friday that Wright has done a poor job cross-examining the witnesses during trial. On Thursday, 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 very thorough in the trial, providing Wright with as many legal opportunities as possible to defend himself within the full spectrum of the law, sources said. On Friday, when the prosecution was prepared to present its last witness and make closing statements, the trial was put on hold so the court could verify whether the witness — previously referred for a psychiatric evaluation — was legally competent to testify.

Wright himself 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.

The trial is expected conclude early this week.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 4, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040405.pdf?ref=smdp.com)