Defendants, Lawyers Trade Blows During Murder Trial

Two defendants on trial for murder in Los Angeles went on a courtroom rampage Monday, attacking two defense attorneys, one of whom was left bleeding from a head wound.

The trial was canceled for the day after Albert Lewis became upset following a police detective’s testimony and suddenly slugged Richard Leonard, one of his two court-appointed attorneys.

Lewis, 36, and his half-brother, Richard Oliver, 31, are facing murder charges in a 1989 shotgun attack that left two women dead in a South Los Angeles church.

The Superior Court courtroom turned into a free-for-all when Richard Leonard punched his client back. His co-counsel--and brother--Jim Leonard joined the fray, and tables and chairs were sent flying, according to witnesses. Oliver ran across the courtroom to help Lewis. Detective Jerry Brooks jumped off the witness stand to stop the fracas.

“Never in 30 years of practice have I seen anything like this,” said Charles Lloyd, Oliver’s attorney, who was struck by a table.

Judge Jacqueline A. Connor pressed an emergency button to summon help and ordered the jury out of the room through a side door, Deputy Dist. Atty. Marcia Clark said.

The defendants were quickly subdued by bailiffs and police officers. Jim Leonard had a gash on his head and blood covered his neck and suit jacket. Richard Leonard had cuts on his face, and his suit jacket was split up the back. Detective Richard Aldahl, there to assist Clark during the trial, was nursing a bite on his wrist from Oliver. One juror had a bump on her head, suffered when she fell while leaving the courtroom.

City Fire Department paramedics responded, but no one was hospitalized, a spokesman said.

Afterward, the attorneys wondered why the attack had occurred. Incidents of defendants attacking someone in a courtroom happen about four times a year, said James Moss of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which supervises court security.

The trial was in its second week of testimony. The district attorney is seeking the death penalty against the half-brothers for the crime. The murders took place at Mt. Olive Church of God in Christ; parishioners Patronella Luke, 35, and Eddie Mae Lee, 76, were killed.

No dramatic testimony was being presented when Lewis attacked his lawyer, Clark said.

Clark charged that the defendants staged the incident “in a deliberate attempt to cause a mistrial.”

But Richard Leonard said his client was upset about upcoming evidence the prosecutor said she may present about Lewis’ ex-wife, his chief alibi. That material, said Clark, involves police reports that Lewis had “beaten” the woman, “shot at her parents and burned down the house of her parents.”

Lewis “was getting agitated, that if she would testify, this could be used against” him, Richard Leonard said.

Despite their wounds, the defense attorneys said they would be back in court today. “We don’t anticipate there will be a mistrial, and we’re going to continue,” Jim Leonard said. “It’s all in a day’s work.”