Conviction upheld in Lancaster crossbow killing
Murderer currently serving 64 years to life
A state appeals court panel upheld a man’s conviction for the March 2008 crossbow killing of a retired Edwards Air Force Base employee who was randomly targeted in Lancaster.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected Arsellers C. Scott’s contention that there were errors in his trial in Lancaster Superior Court.
Scott was convicted in June 2010 of first-degree murder for the March 13, 2008, killing of Angel Martinez. The 62-year-old victim was out for a late-night walk when he was struck with the crossbow.
Scott approached authorities while jailed on an unrelated matter and promised them information about the killing if detectives got him out of jail, according to the appellate court panel’s opinion.
Scott was temporarily removed from his cell and directed detectives to an area at an aqueduct in Lancaster where scuba divers later found a piece of an arrow at the bottom, according to the 16-page ruling.
Scott blamed another man for the killing, but detectives concluded the second man was not involved in the crime after listening to a surreptitiously recorded jailhouse conversation between the two, the justices noted.
Along with Martinez’s murder, jurors convicted Scott of vandalism and dissuading a witness involving a separate crime on June 8, 2008.
He was sentenced in August 2010 to 64 years and four months to life behind bars.
A memorial service is planned May 31 beginning at 1 p.m. at United Methodist Church, 918 W. Ave. J, for former college trustee Don Ross. He would have been 97.
Ross, an author, engineer, Air Force veteran and former Antelope Valley College (AVC) trustee died May 3 in Lancaster, according to his son, Gary Ross.
Ross had served on the college board 32 years until he stepped down in 1999.
Ross retired as deputy director of the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base in 1971.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Former Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith and two other men were ordered today to stand trial for the October 2008 slaying of a man in Lancaster.
Superior Court Judge Carol Koppel found sufficient evidence to require Smith, 43, of Fontana, Charles Eric Honest, 41, of Los Angeles, and Dewann Wesley White, 33, of Bloomington, to proceed to trial in the Oct. 7, 2008, killing of Maurilio Ponce.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The space shuttle Endeavour, which was built in Palmdale to replace the destroyed Challenger shuttle, will be placed on display at the California Science Center in Exposition Park after its upcoming final mission, NASA announced today.
"Endeavour will now become the centerpiece of the third phase of the Science Center's 25-year master plan and will be a major air and space gallery on the east end of our building,'' center CEO Jeffrey N. Rudolph said.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Aaron Eugene Wallace, 21-years-old, has been charged with murder in the shooting death of 14-year-old Dominique Peatry at a party in Lancaster last September, but a second suspect remains at large.
Wallace of Lancaster is accused in the Sept. 5, 2010, slaying of Dominique Peatry, who was gunned down at a party near Nugent Street and Sixth Street East.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Aaron Eugene Wallace, 21-years-old, has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a 14-year-old Dominique Peatry at a party in Lancaster last September, but a second suspect remains at large, authorities said today.
Wallace of Lancaster is accused in the Sept. 5, 2010, slaying of Dominique Peatry, who was gunned down at a party near Nugent Street and Sixth Street East.
