New Penalty Phase Trial in Couple’s Slaying OKd

VAN NUYS — Prosecutors will try again to persuade a jury to return a sentence of life in prison without parole for Antwan Marque Allison, 19, of Compton, who was convicted of murdering a Chatsworth couple.

At his most recent trial, Allison was found guilty of first-degree murder in the slayings of Richard and Donna Landau, but jurors declined to fix punishment at life in prison.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Judith Ashmann on Thursday cleared the way for a new penalty phase trial for Allison.

“I think it was an unbelievable case,” Ashmann said. “If the people want one last opportunity to prove the special circumstances, I’m going to let them go forward.”

At his most recent trial in September, the jury found him guilty but rebuffed prosecutors, who sought punishment of life without parole.

Jurors set punishment at two life terms, meaning Allison would not be eligible for parole for 47 years.

Defense attorney Alex Kessel said he could not imagine “with the current state of society” that his client “would be able to see freedom.”

San Fernando Deputy Dist. Attys. Robert D’ver and Beth Silverman countered that was a risk they were unwilling to take. “If I was that confident I wouldn’t be here today,” D’ver told the judge.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty because it could not be determined who fired the fatal shots.

At the sentencing of co-defendant Ricky Smith Jr., Ashmann called the double murder, which occurred at the Landau home in a remote area off Owensmouth Avenue, the worst crime she had seen.

The couple had been bound with duct tape and had plastic bags placed over their heads before being shot. Their son, wounded in the attack, played dead and managed to escape by climbing onto the roof.

Kessel said the trial would probably begin in February.