Man Guilty of Murdering Neighbor

A Winnetka man was convicted of second-degree murder Friday for shooting the husband of a Neighborhood Watch captain, believed to be the first time a resident has been killed while doing volunteer work for the popular crime prevention program.

Scott James Craft, 34, showed no emotion as the verdict was read in Van Nuys Superior Court. Several friends and relatives of the victim, Keith Brown, cried and hugged each other in the courtroom. His widow Kathy slumped forward in tears.

“It makes me believe in the judicial system,” Kathy Brown said outside the courtroom. “Honest people were up there telling the truth. That’s all it takes.”

Jurors deliberated for little more than a day before finding Craft guilty.

Defense lawyer Michael M. Duffey complained that the verdict should have been nothing more than involuntary manslaughter, if not an acquittal. He theorized that jurors were swayed by the daily courtroom presence of Kathy Brown and her supporters.

“It was a verdict based on sympathy and emotion rather than the facts as presented in the courtroom,” Duffey said. “The facts clearly show that the defendant acted in self-defense to save himself and his father from death or great bodily injury.”

The shooting on July 23 began with an argument between Craft and neighbor Jennie Campbell, who testified that Craft shouted profanities at her and her grandson as they passed his house.

The woman told Kathy Brown, then a block captain, about the incident. Brown, her husband and their 5-year-old son then walked to the Craft house to write down the address. Kathy Brown testified that she planned to give the information to their community police officer.

But a heated argument broke out between Craft and Keith Brown. The dispute quickly deteriorated to violence, and Craft shot Brown once in the chin and three times in the back.

Keith Brown was also armed, but never pulled his gun. A neighbor testified that he disarmed Brown as the argument escalated. At one point Brown picked up a wooden board, but three witnesses testified that he had dropped it before he was fatally shot. Craft and his father testified that Brown was still holding the board when he was shot.

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During closing statements Wednesday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin L. Herscovitz told the jury that finding Craft not guilty of murder would require them to ignore the testimony of numerous neighborhood residents who were far more credible than the defendant.

Craft testified that he shot Brown because he feared for his and his father’s safety. But, Herscovitz said in his closing statements, Craft was the aggressor throughout his encounter with Brown, and shot the victim when Brown was empty-handed.

Herscovitz emphasized that Craft was carrying a .25-caliber automatic pistol loaded with a blank and four bullets when he went outside to face Brown. The defendant’s state of mind was obvious, Herscovitz said.

“I’m going to shoot a warning shot, and then if necessary I’ll kill him,” Herscovitz said Craft must have been thinking to himself.

Herscovitz said Brown was already heading home when Scott Craft fired the first shot, the blank, that caused something to strike Brown in the back. It was natural for Brown to become angry at that point, Herscovitz said.

Although Brown turned toward Craft and even picked up a wooden plank as if to strike him, Brown dropped the plank and came at Craft unarmed when he was shot, Herscovitz said in his closing statement.

Duffey asked the jurors to place themselves in Craft’s position. Because Craft and Brown did not know each other, Craft could not have planned to hurt Brown, Duffey said.

“He doesn’t have any contact with [Brown],” Duffey told the panel. “He’s neutral about him.”

There was a heated exchange, but the two men were separated and the confrontation appeared to be defused, Duffey said.

“He was walking with his father in his own driveway,” Duffey said of Craft. “He wasn’t trying to lure Keith Brown back.”

But Brown turned back toward the Craft property, grabbed the plank and came at the Crafts, Duffey said.

It was a natural act for a fearful Craft to try to defend himself and his father in whatever way he could, Duffey said in his closing statements.

“This is an incident that Keith Brown caused,” Duffey said, showing the jury the 5-foot-long 2-by-4 that Brown held before being shot. “Put yourself in their position. I don’t think there’s any question that [the plank] could cause some serious damage.

“This is a classic case of self-defense,” Duffey said.

The jury foreman, Phil Cohen, said the jury of seven men and five women quickly dismissed the claim of self-defense because the confrontation had quieted when the shooting occurred.

“They were walking away,” Cohen said. “They were off Scott’s property. This is not self-defense.”

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Juror Richard Lew said the decision came down to the credibility of the witnesses. On Thursday jurors asked to hear the 911 tapes of both Kathy Brown and Craft’s father, Harvey Craft, who both reported the confrontation.

The tapes raised questions among jurors about the forthrightness of Craft’s father, who appeared to be evasive in his answer to basic questions about the incident--including who did the shooting, Lew said.

“All of us agreed if it was self-defense he would have said something,” another juror said.

Herscovitz said the verdict was expected, and “it’s what I think was proven.”

Craft is scheduled to be sentenced next month. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

“Whatever he gets is not going to be enough,” Kathy Brown said. “It won’t bring Keith back.”