Prosecutors Seek Delay in Oleander Case : Slaying: The district attorney’s office says it needs more time to find evidence of the poison allegedly used to kill a Burbank mortuary operator.

Prosecutors in the oleander-poisoning trial of David W. Sconce say they need more time to find evidence of poison in the remains of the man Sconce allegedly murdered.

Sconce, 35, whose family owned a Pasadena funeral home, is accused of using poisonous oleander to kill a business rival, Burbank mortuary operator Timothy Waters, in 1985. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

The trial is scheduled to start today in Ventura County Superior Court. But one of the prosecutors, Harvey Giss, said Monday that a chemist who is analyzing Waters’ remains for signs of oleander needs more time.

Giss said he will ask Judge Frederick A. Jones to grant a one-week postponement.

Sconce’s attorney, Roger Jon Diamond, said he will oppose any delay in the case, which was filed more than a year ago.

“We’re ready to go,” said Diamond, whose client is being held without bail. “If they want more time, he should be released.”

Giss said chemist Jack Henion, a Cornell University professor, has not found oleandrin, the juice of the oleander bush, in Waters’ remains. “It’s not very surprising,” Giss said. “It’s an unstable molecule. It breaks down.”

He said Henion is still testing for substances that could indicate whether oleander ever was present. A Pennsylvania expert on oleander poisoning analyzed blood samples from Waters in 1988 and determined that oleander had killed him.

Henion, who was hired jointly by the defense and the prosecution, would say only that his work is not finished and that “there are no conclusions to be drawn yet.”

If Henion’s tests find no evidence that suggest oleander ever was present in Waters’ body, new tests may be conducted to look for other poisons, Giss said.

Sconce has denied killing Waters but pleaded guilty to assault for hiring two men to beat up Waters two months before his death.

Those same two men testified at Sconce’s preliminary hearing that he had bragged about killing Waters by spiking a drink with oleander. According to their testimony, Sconce was angry at Waters for spreading rumors about illegal operations at Sconce’s funeral home.

But prosecutors acknowledge that they cannot prove that Sconce and Waters were together in the days before Waters, 24, died at his mother’s home in Camarillo. At the time, Waters, who weighed 300 pounds, was believed to have died of a heart attack.

Because the death occurred in Camarillo, the case is being tried in Ventura County. Giss, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, is familiar with Sconce’s other cases, so Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury appointed him to handle the murder trial.

Sconce served more than two years in prison on the assault charge and convictions stemming from illegalities at the mortuary. He has since been held in Ventura County Jail while awaiting trial.