Defendant’s Phone, Mail Rights Cut for Witness Safety

Concerned that an accused murderer could use the long weekend to seek retribution against witnesses, a Ventura County judge Friday temporarily prohibited the man from writing letters or making phone calls from County Jail.

Prosecutors charge that Spencer Rawlin Brasure has been sending letters to friends asking them to kill witnesses expected to testify against him at an upcoming preliminary hearing.

While Municipal Judge Roland Purnell did not resolve the issue of how Brasure got confidential information on witnesses in his case, the judge issued a temporary order blocking nearly all correspondence over the Memorial Day weekend.

Purnell stripped Brasure of telephone and mail privileges, although he is allowed to talk privately with his attorneys. In addition, Brasure can have no unsupervised jail visits until attorneys return to court Tuesday to discuss permanent restrictions against the defendant.

Defense attorneys Friday fought the temporary order, arguing that such limitations would infringe on their client’s constitutional rights.

“The court should not without more information authorize a blanket invasion of privacy,� Deputy Public Defender Robert Willey argued, fighting a request that authorities monitor Brasure’s phone calls.

But in a fiery hearing in a crowded courtroom, prosecutors argued that constitutional issues, at least temporarily, should take a backseat to concerns about witness safety.

“Every person who is a witness in the case should be assured over the three-day weekend that they are not in danger of being killed,� Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Pachowicz argued.

Brasure, a 27-year-old Hawthorne resident, is facing charges of murder, torture, kidnapping and conspiracy for allegedly slaying a Redondo Beach man last year in the back country of northern Ventura County.

Brasure is one of three defendants charged in the murder case, and if convicted he and one co-defendant could receive the death penalty. A preliminary hearing is set for next month.

Prosecutors recently found out that Brasure had allegedly been soliciting the slaying of witnesses through a series of letters, some of which were written in a secret code of symbols and letters.

After cracking the code, authorities issued search warrants and seized documents from Brasure’s jail cell.

Last week, prosecutors filed a motion seeking a court order to halt any additional correspondence and to determine how Brasure got his hands on confidential information, such as witness telephone numbers, addresses and in some cases driver’s license and Social Security numbers.

They suggested in court papers that Brasure’s defense team provided him with the information and acted as a “messenger of threats and solicitations�--allegations his attorneys emphatically deny.

The judge delayed a hearing on the issue, but not before attorneys engaged in a heated argument about how materials seized from Brasure’s cell should be reviewed by the court and whether the public defender may have acted improperly.

“Those are speculative allegations that were made in their moving papers,� Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom said in court Friday. “They are untrue, irresponsible and unprofessional.�

But prosecutors countered that if the public defender’s office did not supply the information, the court needed to find out how Brasure acquired it.

In the meantime, they argued, witnesses in the case must be protected.

“Mr. Brasure’s conduct does not leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling that he is going to stop,� Pachowicz said.