Mother testifies, says witness changed story

Defense attorneys for a Compton man accused of killing a Costa Mesa resident in an August 2006 drive-by shooting rested their case Monday after one last witness was called to challenge the credibility of one of the prosecution’s key witnesses.

Anthony Dispensa’s mother, Patricia Morin, testified that her son told her that he and another man, not the defendant, Joshua Blount, were the only ones shooting guns during the drive-by.

Blount, 24, is on trial for murder and four counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors allege Blount drove a silver Chevy Impala down an alley in the 1300 block of Baker Street and opened fire on a group of men he had gotten into a confrontation with hours earlier.

Several witnesses testified, including Dispensa and the four survivors, that the driver of the Impala was the sole attacker.

Prosecutors claim the attack stemmed from a fight between mutual friends a day earlier, on Aug. 1, 2006. With tensions still high the next day, a girlfriend of Blount’s was disrespected in the alley along Baker Street, prosecutors said. After Blount tried to talk to the men and was rebuffed, prosecutors claim, he grabbed a gun, and, with Dispensa and another man, went back and shot them. Police said evidence shows only one shooter.

Defense attorney Barry Bernstein continued to suggest that Dispensa, not Blount, was the shooter and witnesses’ physical descriptions of the shooter prove it.

Bernstein called on Dispensa’s mother, Morin, to repeat her conversations with her son in the days following the shooting.

“I was brought into hell at that moment,” Morin said, referring to when she learned Dispensa was involved.

Morin, who lives in Redding and hadn’t seen her son in years, testified Dispensa called her and asked if he and a friend could stay there for a few days and provide an alibi.

“I told him I’m not going to lie to police for you,” Morin testified.

Dispensa’s story kept changing every time he talked to Morin, she testified.

One time he wasn’t in the car, another time he didn’t have a gun, another time he had a gun and just fired in the air, Morin told jurors her son said.

Prosecutors contend Morin is simply confused about what her son told her.

Morin could not recall on the stand her son saying he shot anyone. Costa Mesa detective Dana Potts testified Morin told him that’s what Dispensa said.

Morin testified she suffered a traumatic brain injury four years ago and has troubles with her memory, but was sure about this.

“I believe with all my heart and soul that [Dispensa] did not [shoot] and neither did Josh,” she testified.

Dispensa is the prosecution’s only witness who was not a shooting victim who fingered Blount as the shooter. Dispensa is charged as an accessory to murder for the same shooting.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations this morning after attorneys’ closing arguments.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].