A federal appeals court panel has overturned the murder conviction of an Orange County engineer in the high-profile 1979 slaying of a Torrance nurse, ruling that lower courts erred in excluding potentially exculpatory evidence of another suspect.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to the state courts, where prosecutors must decide within 30 days whether to retry Douglas Gordon Bradford in the killing of Lynne Knight, a woman he had been dating.
Bradford was portrayed as a jilted lover when he was convicted in October 2014 in the death of Knight, 28, in her Torrance apartment, but jurors were not told of another viable suspect, Joseph Giarrusso, who dined with the victim the evening of the murder and was the last known person to see her alive, the Ninth Circuit said in its 2-1 ruling handed down last week.
“In a murder case built entirely on circumstantial evidence, preventing a defendant from presenting evidence of another possible suspect who admitted to being at the victim’s home on the night she was killed, and who had previously subjected the victim to physical violence at his hands, violated the defendant’s right to present a defense,” said the appeals court.
If the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office decides to prosecute Bradford again, a retrial must be begin within 70 days and the evidence related to Giarrusso must be presented.
“We currently intend to retry the case, but will conduct a thorough examination of the case and available evidence before making a final decision,” the District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Tuesday, May 7.
Sister angry
Knight’s sister, Donna Wigmore, said she was angered by the Ninth Circuit Court ruling.
“The decision by the Ninth Circuit is clearly wrong,” Wigmore, who lives in Stratford, Ontario, said in an email. “I question even if they read the whole file and all of the court transcripts. Bradford was given a fair trial. And it was absolutely clear that he was the only one with a motive. Joe Giarrusso had no motive.”
Douglas Gordon Bradford of Costa Mesa was convicted in the 1979 slaying of his former girlfriend, Lynne Knight, 28. (Courtesy photo)
Sentenced to 26 years in prison
Bradford, a former engineer from Costa Mesa, was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison for the Aug. 29, 1979, slaying of Knight, a neonatal nurse at the then-named Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance.
Bradford, a Cal State Long Beach student at the time, always claimed he was sailing off Long Beach the night Knight was killed. He and Knight, who had just moved from Canada to live in Southern California, met while skiing and dated for a few months. Prosecutors said he became serious, but Knight wasn’t interested and continued to date other men.
Neighbors heard screaming the night she died in her Anza Avenue apartment. Her neck had been slashed and police found a homemade garrote made from wood dowels and picture-hanging wire under her body. She also was stabbed repeatedly with a large knife, including one wound that was at least 10 inches deep. Prosecutors said Knight bled to death.
One veteran homicide detective, interviewed for an episode of NBC’s “Dateline,” would call it was the “most horrific, powerful, terrifying crime scene I’ve ever seen.”
Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, who prosecuted Bradford with colleague Ethan Milius, said Tuesday he could not comment on the case because it is still active.
Stalked former girlfriend
Lewin told jurors Bradford was angry that Knight was dating other men and called witnesses who said they saw him drive past her apartment after the breakup. On one occasion, Bradford burst inside as she entertained another man, called her a whore and threw a lamp at her.
Bradford was supposed to accompany Knight to her younger sister’s wedding the week she died. Knight was to be maid of honor. The crumpled wedding invitation was found in a wastebasket at the murder scene.
Investigators determined that the wire used to choke Knight was the same kind Bradford’s mother used to display her paintings at home. The paintings were still on the walls when police reopened the case. His mother also used wood dowels as door and window jambs in her house.
Although he claimed he was sailing at 10:30 p.m., prosecutors presented testimony showing there was no wind that night.
Case sat dormant
Police long suspected Bradford of having killed Knight but were unable to develop a sufficient case against him for more than three decades.
Before his trial, the prosecution moved to exclude evidence related to Giarrusso due to insufficient connection to Knight’s killing.
Related links
Trial set to begin for Douglas Bradford in 1979 Torrance slaying of nurse Lynne Knight
Jilted lover Douglas Bradford plotted 1979 killing of Torrance nurse Lynne Knight, prosecutor says
Douglas Bradford convicted in cold-case killing of girlfriend in Torrance
Appeals court upholds conviction of Douglas Bradford in 1979 Torrance murder case
Convicted killer Douglas Bradford declares his innocence in Lynne Knight slaying, gets 26 to life in prison
The state trial court agreed with the prosecution and excluded the evidence on the basis that there was nothing to connect (Giarrusso) there at the time of the perpetration of the crime,” said the Ninth Circuit Court ruling.
The California Court of Appeal affirmed Bradford’s conviction. The appellate court concluded that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding evidence related to Giarrusso. It ruled proximity to the murder scene meant at most that Giarrusso had the opportunity to commit the murder, which was not sufficient to be presented to a jury.
The Ninth Circuit Court disagreed. “The state court had erred in excluding the third party evidence based on the strong forensic evidence presented by the prosecution, rather than weighing the probative value of the third-party evidence,” the panel said in its ruling..