Charges Dismissed Against Man Accused In Inglewood Slayings
INGLEWOOD (CBSLA) — A judge Tuesday dismissed murder charges against a Compton man who had been held in the shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend's grandmother.
Justin Marquis Scott, 19, had been held without bail since his arrest Oct. 9 in the slayings of 18-year-old Crystallyn Nguyen, who was known as Asia, and Dora Dawson, 64. But his defense attorney, Juliette Robinson, had maintained that video surveillance tapes showed him in stores at the time of the Oct. 8 shootings.
Police said a gunman fired at three people in an apartment in the 11700 block of South Crenshaw Boulevard, wounding Nguyen's boyfriend, 22-year-old Datwan Henderson. The gunman then fatally shot Nguyen and Dawson.
"My mom was on the floor, my son had come into the kitchen and his girlfriend was laying in the dining room area," said Shamika Shoels, Dawson's daughter.
Tuesday, Inglewood Superior Court Judge Victor Wright dismissed the case against Scott after the prosecution announced it was unable to proceed.
"Based upon newly discovered evidence, prosecutors said they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the charged crimes," said Shiara Davila-Morales of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
The murder charges included the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, which could have carried the death penalty.
Officials, who had theorized that the shootings were sparked by a love triangle, are continuing their investigation in the case, Davila-Morales said.
"I knew he was innocent," Scott's mother Netta Williams said. "But the way they came at us, came at me, came at my son, it was unjust. (In) the world that we live in, you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty."
Meanwhile, the victims' family is outraged, as Henderson, who is still in the hospital, identified Scott as the shooter.
"I'm like a volcano, I'm boiling over," Henderson's Uncle Shawn Williams said. "It's scary, you know. For them to let somebody out, it's mind-boggling."
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