David Wayne Sconce

A judge in the trial of a crematory operator charged with plotting to kill a competitor has been disqualified from the case, the district attorney's office announced Thursday. The defendant, David Wayne Sconce, has already pleaded guilty to a number of counts and was sentenced by Pasadena Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling, but still faces the conspiracy charge. Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Robert Altman ruled Aug. 8 that Smerling should be removed because of an appearance of bias.

A judge in the trial of a crematory operator charged with plotting to kill a competitor has been disqualified from the case, the district attorney's office announced Thursday. The defendant, David Wayne Sconce, has already pleaded guilty to a number of counts and was sentenced by Pasadena Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling, but still faces the conspiracy charge. Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Robert Altman ruled Aug. 8 that Smerling should be removed because of an appearance of bias.

A Ventura County Municipal Court judge on Wednesday ordered a murder trial for David Wayne Sconce, the former Pasadena undertaker accused of poisoning rival mortician Timothy Waters with oleander in 1985. The 24-year-old Waters died April 8, 1985, in his parents' home in Camarillo after suffering a bout of nausea and diarrhea on Easter weekend, according to witnesses' testimony. Prosecutors have alleged that Sconce, now 34, spiked Waters' drink with oleander at an unnamed restaurant.

A Ventura County Municipal Court judge on Wednesday ordered a murder trial for David Wayne Sconce, the former Pasadena undertaker accused of poisoning rival mortician Timothy Waters with oleander in 1985. The 24-year-old Waters died April 8, 1985, in his parents' home in Camarillo after suffering a bout of nausea and diarrhea on Easter weekend, according to witnesses' testimony. Prosecutors have alleged that Sconce, now 34, spiked Waters' drink with oleander at an unnamed restaurant.

In what is believed to be the first murder prosecution in American history for oleander poisoning, authorities filed charges Friday against a former Pasadena funeral home worker accused of using the lethal plant's leaves to poison a rival mortician. David Wayne Sconce, 33, was charged with poisoning Timothy R. Waters, 24, a rival Burbank mortician, in 1985. The motive, according to Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Deputy Dist. Atty.

A Pasadena funeral home worker charged with fatally poisoning a rival mortician with oleander leaves in 1985 was denied his choice of defense counsel Monday by a Municipal Court judge. David Wayne Sconce, 33, requested that Roger Jon Diamond, of Santa Monica, serve as his court-appointed attorney. But Ventura Municipal Court Judge Barry B. Klopfer appointed a public defender instead. Diamond said he will appeal the decision before Sconce's arraignment on March 13.

A Ventura County Municipal Court judge on Wednesday ordered a murder trial for David Wayne Sconce, a former Pasadena undertaker accused of poisoning rival mortician Timothy Waters, 24, with oleander in 1985. Waters died at his parents' Camarillo home. Prosecutors allege that Sconce, now 34, spiked Waters' drink with oleander at an unnamed restaurant, but they admitted Wednesday they have no proof the men ever saw each other around that time.

A former Pasadena mortician cleared of charges that he murdered a business rival is asking the state Supreme Court to throw out an unrelated charge involving an alleged conspiracy to kill another rival. Attorneys for David Wayne Sconce, 35, contend there is no proof there was a conspiracy to kill Elie Estephan, who was never harmed. If there was a plan against Estephan, Sconce withdrew from it, they said.

Citing procedural problems, a Ventura County Superior Court judge tentatively decided Friday to dismiss the murder case against David Wayne Sconce, a Pasadena crematory operator who was accused of poisoning a rival mortician with oleander. However, prosecutors have said that if the case is dismissed, they will refile the charges. Judge Frederick A.

The arraignment of a Pasadena funeral home worker charged with fatally poisoning a rival mortician with oleander leaves was delayed Tuesday and an April 6 hearing set on his request to be represented by a private attorney rather than the county public defender. David Wayne Sconce, 33, originally asked that Roger John Diamond, of Santa Monica, serve as his court-appointed lawyer. He argued that Diamond, who represented him in a related criminal proceeding last year, is familiar with the case.

In a bid to streamline a long-delayed trial, former Pasadena funeral home operators Laurieanne Lamb Sconce and Jerry Sconce will be tried on nine criminal counts, instead of the two dozen offenses alleged, a prosecutor said Thursday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Elliott Alhadeff said he opted to focus on fewer felony counts "so we can proceed to trial rapidly on these charges," which stemmed from a 1987 inquiry into the family's mortuary businesses.

David Wayne Sconce pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in Ventura County Superior Court on Wednesday in the 1985 oleander-poisoning death of rival mortician Timothy Waters. Prosecutors have alleged that Sconce, 34, spiked Waters' drink with a fatal dose of oleander at a Ventura County restaurant to stop him from spreading word about violations at the Sconce family's Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena.