Death Penalty Will Be Sought in Slaying

Ventura County prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty in the trial of a Los Angeles County man accused of murder and torture.

Spencer Rawlin Brasure, 27, and Billy Lyn Davis, 20, are charged with murder, conspiracy, kidnapping and related offenses in the killing of 20-year-old Anthony Guest of Redondo Beach.

Brasure, a Hawthorne resident, and Davis, who lives in Lawndale, are accused of killing Guest on Sept. 13, 1996, on the outskirts of northern Ventura County.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty only for Brasure.

Witnesses have said he tied Guest up with plastic restraints and shocked him with a makeshift electrical device. The pair allegedly had intended only to beat Guest but lost control.

One witness who testified before the Ventura County Grand Jury in October said that Brasure and Davis tortured Guest by stapling wood to his ear and gluing broken glass in his mouth.

After the alleged torture, witnesses said, Brasure and Davis drove to Ventura County and burned Guest to death at the Hungry Valley Recreation Area near Gorman.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are scheduled for a February trial. Davis pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.