Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 | 11:33 a.m.
The trial of Steven Gazlay, an alleged 311 Boyz gang member, expected to begin next week, was delayed Thursday in a dispute over possible evidence about the alleged victim who was burned on the face with a hot butter knife.
James "Bucky" Buchanan, attorney for the 18-year-old Gazlay, sought evidence of possible violent acts of Jason Cammilleri, 18, the man who police say was burned during a July house party. Gazlay is charged with battery in the incident.
District Judge Valorie Vega did not rule on the validity of Buchanan's claim that Cammilleri had been involved in a recent fight but ordered prosecutors to turn over any evidence they may have.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said he was having issues of his own gathering evidence in the case, noting that he was unable to interview several of Buchanan's witnesses who plan to testify during the case.
Buchanan said he plans to call between 12 and 15 witnesses to the stand, but Laurent said most of those witnesses are reluctant to talk to prosecutors.
"We're running into what seems to be a concerted stonewall," Laurent said.
Gazlay's was expected to be the first of several trials involving the 311 Boyz, a gang police have described as a group of violent youths from middle class neighborhoods.
Another trial in which Gazlay faces assault and battery charges in the beating of a teen with a crowbar is expected to go forward next week as planned. A hearing scheduled for this morning is to determine which judge will preside over that trial.
Also on Thursday attorneys for two other alleged 311 Boyz, Jeff Hart and Scott Morse, both 18, asked District Judge Michael Cherry to dismiss multiple charges against their clients.
Hart and Morse, along with Gazlay and six other teens, face 12 felony charges, including attempted murder, in an attack on 17-year-old Stephen Tanner Hansen. Authorities say the teens threw a rock threw the window of the vehicle in which Hansen was riding, hitting him in the face.
Cherry said he would take the matter under advisement and announce his ruling in a hearing scheduled for Dec. 9. Gazlay is due to appear before Vega for a status check in the crowbar case on Dec. 18.
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