SIMI VALLEY : Trial Begins in 1986 Canyon Killing

Trial began Monday for a Littlerock man accused of taking part in the 1986 slaying of a Los Angeles man in a remote canyon outside Simi Valley.

Anthony Adams, 28, is accused of killing Christopher Landry of Los Angeles. Adams and another man, Alan Abraham, 30, of Oceanside were arrested in December, two months after a skull found in Black Canyon was identified as Landry’s.

Investigators said each of the suspects confessed to the killing after their arrest. Although their accounts differed somewhat, both said the victim’s roommate had given Adams money to buy cocaine and that Landry was angry with him for failing to deliver it.

At a pretrial hearing Monday in Ventura County Superior Court, attorneys for Adams and Abrahams argued that there was insufficient evidence--aside from the confessions--to establish that a crime had been committed. Under the law, a confession alone is not enough evidence to take a case to trial, and prosecutors must present other proof that a crime occurred.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said there was strong circumstantial evidence that Landry did not commit suicide or fall off a cliff--the theories advanced by Adams’ attorney, James M. Epstein, and Deputy Public Defender Brian L. Boles, representing Abrahams. Friends testified that Landry, 21, was not a hiker and did not even have a car to get to the remote canyon.

The defense attorneys argued that Landry’s wallet and gold chain were not taken, as one might expect if a crime had occurred. They reminded Judge Lawrence Storch that he must ignore the confessions, although Epstein acknowledged that “it’s something very difficult for the human mind to do.�

Storch ruled that the evidence was sufficient, and jury selection began for Adams’ trial. Abrahams will be tried separately at a proceeding scheduled for June 1.