Eyewitness account is on hold in case

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 10:23 a.m.

Whether the only eyewitness to a 1992 quadruple murder will be able to testify could be in the hands of a Florida psychologist.

The guardian of the now-12-year-old girl already has refused to let her travel to Las Vegas to testify against 37-year-old Richard Powell because of the trauma it would cause.

That prompted prosecutors in Las Vegas to get permission from District Judge Michael Douglas to take a videotaped deposition of the girl's story in Florida. The catch, however, is that Powell would have to be taken there because of his constitutional right to confront his accuser.

The girl's guardian now is opposing that move because of the girl's fear of the face-to-face confrontation, and Florida authorities have filed a motion in Nevada to authorize a psychological evaluation before a deposition could be conducted.

Douglas has scheduled a Dec. 6 hearing on the matter.

Powell, still a federal prisoner serving a seven-year sentence on drug charges, is the second man charged in the quadruple murder that already has one killer on death row.

Powell's drug conviction resulted from information authorities were given by one of the four murder victims, and prosecutors always contended the slayings were in retaliation for the snitching.

That victim, 24-year-old Samantha Scotti, had been tortured before being killed with a bullet to the chest as she took a bath in her Las Vegas apartment. The other victims apparently were little more than unfortunate visitors to the home.

The only survivor was a then-4-year-old girl who knew one of the killers, Vernell Ray Evans, as Uncle Ray or Little Ray, but could only describe the second gunman as "Scary Eyes."

Although authorities believed the second killer was Powell, he wasn't identified until one day in a federal courtroom when the girl looked into his face and announced he was "Scary Eyes."

Deputy District Attorney David Roger conceded the identification was insufficient to charge Powell, but additional evidence has surfaced that resulted in February 1998 in a grand jury indictment. That information came primarily from new witnesses who said Powell told them about his involvement in the murders.

Scotti and the three others were killed in the apartment at 532 Wardelle St. either late at night April 30, 1992, or early in the morning, May 1, 1992, in what police quickly determined was a revenge slaying.

The killers apparently picked that night because police were busy attempting to contain rioting following the first verdict in the trial of Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King.

According to testimony at Evans' trial, he and a second man walked into the apartment, and Evans quickly killed Jermaine Woods and Stephen Walker, both 19, with shots to their heads after ordering them to remove their hats.

Lisa Boyer, 26, who was in another room, was then shot in the chest, and the killers' attention turned to Scotti.

The murders were witnessed by the 4-year-old girl who testified that she followed after the two killers as they executed their victims.