Gang Member Convicted in Birthday Party Murders of 3

Gang member Keith Tyrone Fudge was convicted Monday of murdering three youths in October, 1984, when he opened fire on a crowd attending a Southside birthday party.

After the verdicts were announced in Los Angeles Superior Court, panel members returned to the jury room to resume deliberations on two additional murder counts against Fudge, 21.

Five people were killed and five others wounded outside a home on West 54th Street in what police described as one of the worst incidents of gang violence in the city’s history.

Second Jury in Case

Fudge’s first trial ended in a mistrial April 9, when jurors deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of conviction. The new jury deliberated five days before finding the defendant guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Phillip Westbrooks, 18; Diane Rasberry, 17, and Percy Brewer, 17.

The prosecutor in both trials, Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick R. Dixon, said Fudge, using a rifle, “actually pulled the trigger” in those instances, while fellow gang member Fred Knight killed two other party goers, Shannon Cannon, 14, and Darryl Coleman, 17, with a shotgun.

Knight and the alleged driver of a getaway car, Harold Hall, are to be tried separately. Their trials are scheduled for Sept. 21.

According to the prosecution, the shootings occurred after Fudge and Knight drove to the party to retaliate against Brewer, a member of a rival gang. Fudge believed that Brewer had stolen his car that afternoon, Dixon said.

Change in Tactics

In his first trial, Fudge was also accused of four counts of attempted murder, but those charges were dismissed after the original jurors told Dixon they found the instructions on those counts “confusing.”

“It was a tactical decision,” Dixon said. “. . . I just thought there was a better way to try the case this time.”

In another development Monday, a juror who asked to be excused because of a work-related problem was replaced by an alternate juror. Judge Ronald E. Cappai instructed jurors to make a fresh start in their deliberations on the two remaining murder counts and on the question of whether Fudge is eligible for the death penalty.