A Los Angeles County judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors could file murder against two men accused of killing college administrators, although authorities have no motive for the homicide in Los Angeles Live.
Sidney Barrett Morris, 43, an official in Cal State Northridge, California, had dinner alone two years ago after a masked man shot him in the head.
Prosecutors charged two men, Santana Kelly and Phillip Clark, with murder based on surveillance videos, phone records, prison phone calls and other evidence. They called Clark a shooter and Kelly planned the killing.
Kelly and Clark's attorneys asked the judge to dismiss the case because of lack of evidence, believing that the prosecutor did not establish a connection between the client and Morris.
Kelly's attorney Deion Benjamin said prosecutors only proved that his client helped destroy the escape car, meaning he was just an accessory.
He told Senior Court Judge David Herriford that he said: “If you believe the evidence, he is asked to burn the car.”
Clark's lawyer said his client was a masked gunman just a detective's “guessment”.
“It sounds like they have a theory,” said Zino Osehobo, representing Clark. “There is no support, proven evidence.”
Herriford disagreed, ruling that he had seen enough to allow the case to proceed.
The murder occurred on November 28, 2023, when the white Ford escaped along the roadside along the roadside of the Los Angeles live restaurant, which was close to the roadside.
The shooter's safety video shows the shooter wearing a black sportswear, a black Balaclav and a baseball cap with “no f-inen”.
The Los Angeles Police Department detectives identified Clark as the so-called shooter. They testified that Kelly was a conspirator, noting that the video he shot on his cell phone was allegedly Morris's apartment building.
“I think it's better to take him to another location than this one,” Kelly said in a video shot a month before Morris was killed.
Other videotapes showed Kelly giving the suspicious shooter a “F-given” baseball cap and wearing a wide-edged straw hat, which was later worn by a vacation driver, and has not been confirmed, police said.
Clark and Kelly's devices went to Palmadale after the murder, where the free-spirited car was caught fire and abandoned, detectives said.
Even after searching the suspect's phone, house and car, and listening to their prison phone number, det. Martin Mojarro said authorities did not know the motive.
“Not yet. I hope,” Moharo said.
Maintaining their innocence Clark and Kelly will be arraigned on June 5.
Times employee reporter Matthew Ormseth contributed to the report.
