murder trial of 27-year-old Blood gang member Dwayne Rice is accused of shooting a man to death last year at a nightclub restaurant in East Pasadena.
murder trial of 27-year-old Blood gang member Dwayne Rice is accused of shooting a man to death last year at a nightclub restaurant in East Pasadena.A jury of nine men and three women, including two female alternates, was chosen Monday and will decide the fate of the Pasadena Denver Lanes (PDL) gang member prosecutors allege shot 32-year-old David Crosby to death last May.The jury, which is not composed of any black community members, will hear from a list of witnesses that includes Rice's former PDL apprentice, 17-year-old Charles Wetstone. Wetstone was also charged with murder before taking a plea agreement and agreeing to testify against Rice.
Police say Crosby was gunned down at the crowded nightclub restaurant after engaging in a fistfight with Rice. Crosby's brother, Carl Cook, testified during a preliminary hearing that he watched Rice shoot Crosby to death.
Crosby was a member of the Squiggly Lanes Gangsters. PDL and the Squiggly Lanes are both predominantly black Blood gangs and were feuding with each other at the time of the shooting, according to Pasadena police homicide Detective Keith Gomez, who testified at Rice's preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors had trouble getting witnesses to testify against Rice, and several recanted previous statements when testifying during the preliminary hearing.
Rice was known by the moniker "D. Rice" and had allowed Wetstoneto use that name to join the gang, police said. The two were with a group of three or four other people when they entered the restaurant and eventually initiated a confrontation with Crosby, police said.Wetstone pleaded guilty to a felony assault with a firearm count as part of his deal with prosecutors and will be sentenced to nine years in prison on March 19, according to Christopher Chaney, Rice's attorney.
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