The Supreme Court of California

opinion S072949

Sentenced: Aug. 25, 1998, age 28

Residence: Hawthorne

Crimes: Murder, kidnapping, torture

Date of crimes: Sept. 6, 1996

Locations: Hawthorne and northern Ventura County campground

Victim: Anthony Guest, 20, of Redondo Beach

Status: Opening brief filed, state attorney general working on response

The words “My mama don’t love me” tattooed across his belly, Brasure tortured Guest inside the so-called “Red Room” at a Hawthorne house.

Brasure committed one of the worst crimes prosecutors had ever seen, one that nobody has been able to explain.

He hogtied and gagged Guest, put a gun to his head, zapped him repeatedly with electrical cords attached to his body, used an industrial stapler to attach wood to his ears, forced him to eat glass, and glued his eyes shut.

Then Brasure dragged Guest into a van, drove him to a Ventura County field, doused him with gasoline and set him ablaze ‹ alive. A coroner’s official testified that Guest probably lived for several hours in agony.

Guest, a former child actor, was scheduled to walk his sister down the aisle at her wedding two weeks later.

Those who seek pen pals on death row might want to write to Spencer Brasure. Brasure is one of the many death row inmates that the web site, Canadian Citizens Against the Death Penalty has decided to feature on there "pen pals" page.

It is ironic that one of the large headlined pleas in this web site are "Stop the Torture." They feel that the death sentence is murder and that these poor souls are victims of our society. Some of the death row inmates have web pages where their art and poetry or incoherent ramblings are displayed, along with their photos. Some of the less talented, simply have their name and a request to "reach out" to the outside world. After all, life on Death Row is not pleasant.

Some states feel they have the right to do this; to contact people on the outside and tell them their sob stories, as well as ask for money. Some states, such as Florida, have banned death row inmates from such contact, in the interest of protecting the unsuspecting public.

I never heard of Spencer Brasure until I wrote this article. Probably many people haven't heard of him or the crime he committed to get him sent to Death Row. The web site never lists the crimes of their adopted victims. None of the inmates express remorse or admit guilt. They are all innocent and the murderers are those who have sentenced them to death.

Let me tell you a little about the poor, unfortunate Mr. Brasure. On September 6, 1996, the twenty-eight year old Brasure and an accomplice, Billy Davis, met up with former child actor Anthony Guest at a hotel in Hawthorne, California. Guest was scheduled to walk his sister down the aisle for her wedding two weeks later. Why he met up with Brasure and Davis is still a mystery, but whatever the circumstances, he certainly didn't deserve what happened to him in that room.

Guest was hog tied by both of the men and repeatedly zapped with a cattle prod. He was gagged after being forced to eat glass and having a broken beer bottle shoved down his throat and his mouth taped shut. The two men took turns bashing Guest in the head and electrocuting him with the electric prod.

They then used an an industrial stapler to attach wood to his ears and finally glued his eyes shut. When Brasure and Davis had all the "fun" with Guest that they could, they shoved him into a van and drove to a Ventura County campground. It was there that they removed the still bound Guest, threw him on the ground, doused him in gasoline and set him on fire, leaving him to burn to death. The coroner testified at the trial that Guest probably lived several hours in agony most of us would never even dare to imagine.

Evidence was found at the scene of the crime which led police to Brasure and Davis. Brasure was sentenced to death for the crime, despite making death threats to five witnesses who testified against him. Davis was let off with a life sentence.

It was never known why the men targeted Guest or how they knew him. But their sadistic slaying was, in the words of the prosecutor, "the worst he had ever seen."

Anthony Guest was a former child actor, but not very well known. You won't find anything about him online. The fact is that he was only 20 years old at the time of his murder.

There are no memorials to him. Nothing in the database regarding his life as an actor. He bore no relation to actors Christopher or Nicholas Guest. But he was still a person; a human being. And he died in the most horrific way a person can die. Ever burn your finger on the stove? Imagine already being in a state of agony due to diabolical torture and being burned to death; having that sensation that you get when your scorch your finger run all over your body. And dying in slow agony. And no one remembers you or who you were except your family.

Spencer Brasure, however, has many champions to fight his cause. Many people who "feel sorry" for this creature who inflicted unimaginable torture on this 20 year old boy. And he's seeking pen pals from the outside world.

Want to write to him? Visit the web site and look him up. Drop him a line or two. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from someone. Or better yet, send some money to the web site that gives people like Brasure an audience.

  

Court upholds conviction in '96 kidnapping, murder

Saturday, February 9, 2008

The state's highest court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of Spencer Rawlins Brasure, who kidnapped, tortured and murdered a Redondo Beach man at a Ventura County campground in 1996.

Anthony Guest, 20, was set on fire after being tortured. His body was found Sept. 13, 1996, at a campground in the Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area near Gorman in Ventura County.

Brasure, of Hawthorne, was tried, convicted and sentenced in 1998 in Ventura County Superior Court. The California Supreme Court upheld the conviction this week.

"We find no prejudicial error affecting the defendant's conviction or death sentence," the high court ruled. Brasure had cited 16 errors he said occurred at his trial, including allegations that crime scene and autopsy photographs deprived him of a fair trial, and that the state's death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution.

Executions in California and other states done by lethal injection are on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the method's constitutionality.