Man to Be Charged in Teen’s Death

WOODLAND HILLS — Already charged once before in the killing of a Taft High School football player, a 21-year-old man faces arraignment in two weeks on new murder charges in the case, sources said Friday.

A Los Angeles County grand jury earlier this week indicted Oscar Lopez in the slaying of LaMoun Thames, the 15-year-old student fatally stabbed in 1992 as he waited for a bus on Ventura Boulevard.

Lopez was long considered the prime suspect by police and prosecutors in the Thames killing but a murder charge against him was dropped last spring after crucial witnesses vanished.

Lopez is currently serving a 25-year state prison sentence for a string of robberies around the San Fernando Valley. His lawyer, James H. Barnes, said Lopez would probably plead not guilty to the latest murder charge.

“He’s always taken the position that he had nothing to do with this murder,” Barnes said. “I think basically my client. . .will be the fall guy for everyone else who made mistakes in this case.”

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Joel Price, who investigated the case, refused to comment Friday. Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, also declined comment.

The grand jury’s indictment remains under seal until the arraignment, scheduled for Jan. 27, sources said.

Thames, who lived in South-Central Los Angeles but voluntarily attended the Woodland Hills school to avoid the problems in his own neighborhood, was killed while waiting for a bus on Ventura Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue following a preseason football game. A carload of teenagers drove up and asked Thames for his gang affiliation, police said.

When Thames, who was not a gang member, said he did not belong to a gang, Lopez and another youth emerged and repeatedly stabbed Thames, police said. Thames stumbled about 50 feet before dying.

While the attack was witnessed by several passersby, none could positively identify Lopez. Police, however, arrested him two years later after hearing that Lopez had been bragging about the killing, police said.

Lopez’s alleged accomplice, who was 15 at the time, was tried in Juvenile Court and sentenced to a juvenile detention camp.

But in May last year, prosecutors announced that they had to drop the murder charge against Lopez because they could not locate four friends of Lopez’s--those to whom he apparently boasted. Only one friend could be found.

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Barnes, the attorney, said crucial mistakes were made in the case by the police, leading to the dropped charges.

“This whole case was tainted,” Barnes said. “It was going to be a tough case for the prosecution. They had serious witness problems.”

Police said the case was handled correctly.

Lopez’s prison sentence for the robberies--of tanning salons, small restaurants and yogurt shops--stem from his involvement with Victoria Sellers, the actress daughter of the late comic Peter Sellers, his lawyer said. Lopez was living with Sellers at the time and the proceeds of those crimes were turned over to Sellers, Barnes said.

But he said Lopez was living at home with his parents at the time of Thames’ death. “He was in high school at the time,” Barnes said. “He had nothing to do with this.”