Emotional Prosecutor Describes Shooting of 2

SANTA ANA —  Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan F. Brown’s voice cracked uncharacteristically Monday as he described to jurors how an Anaheim couple were handcuffed and forced by two gunmen to kneel at the side of their bed before each was shot twice in the back of the head.

Ryoko Hanano, 60, died instantly; her husband, Kazumi Hanano, survived but was left permanently paralyzed from the neck down.

“It’s just by the grace of God he’s alive,” Brown told jurors in his opening statement at the trial for three defendants accused of murder.

The three allegedly entered the couple’s home after they identified themselves as prospective buyers of the Hananos’ 1984 black Corvette.

Brown’s voice quavered so much that at one point he had to pause. He acknowledged later outside the courtroom that in 22 years as a prosecutor he has never had his voice crack with that much emotion.

Brown is the supervisor of the homicide panel for the district attorney’s office and has prosecuted four other defendants who are now on Death Row, including serial killers Randy Steven Kraft and William Bonin. In all of those cases, Brown adhered to his usual low-key style.

Monday, however, Brown was so vivid in describing the circumstances of Ryoko Hanano’s killing on July 10, 1988, that one of the defense attorneys chided him in front of the court for getting too emotional. The attorney, George Peters, objected to a comment by Brown when he told jurors about Dean Hanano, now 22, finding his parents lying on a bedroom floor about 2:45 a.m., six hours after the shootings.

“I don’t know if Dean will ever get over this,” Brown told the jury.

The Hanano murder is considered by county prosecutors as one of the most aggravated murder cases they have ever prosecuted. Kazumi Hanano has testified at previous hearings that his wife became so frightened when two men in their home pulled out guns that she began chanting a Buddhist prayer.

Brown told jurors that one of the two defendants, Norman James Dewitt, 36, of Cypress, ordered her: “Shut up! Shut up!”

Dewitt’s co-defendant, Robert Clarence Taylor, 39, of Sunset Beach, is accused of being the triggerman. A third defendant in the case is Nanette Scheid, 29, of Newport Beach, accused of helping them set up the ruse of being interested in buying the Hananos’ Corvette.

Scheid is also charged with murder, but prosecutors are seeking the death penalty only against Taylor and Dewitt. Hanano said Scheid left the house before Taylor drew two guns from a briefcase.

Scheid’s attorney, Charles Margines, told jurors that his client will testify at the trial and explain to them that she only thought she was helping Taylor buy a Corvette.

But Brown contended to jurors that if it hadn’t been for Scheid, the Hananos would never have let the other two defendants, who were dirty and disheveled, into their house that night.

Taylor’s attorney, Gary M. Pohlson, reserved his opening statement until the defense begins its case.

Peters, attorney for Dewitt, presented jurors a two-pronged defense. In the first part, Peters contended that he would put on evidence which, “if it is believed, will exonerate my client.” But if jurors find that Dewitt was at the scene, Peters contended, his defense will be that there was never an intent by the assailants to kill anyone.

Prosecutors can elevate the case to a death penalty trial for Taylor if they prove that he robbed the Hananos.

Dean Hanano was the first prosecution witness Monday. He told jurors about finding his parents, who were forced to kneel near their bed, their heads between the box spring and mattress, before being shot several times.

“I called 911, but I was screaming and it was hard for him (the police dispatcher) to hear me,” he testified.