Attorneys rest case in Arbor Way arson, murder trial

BARSTOW • Prosecution and defense attorneys called their final witnesses this week in the trial of a man accused of killing a Barstow woman and burning down her home during a burglary gone wrong last December.

Thomas Deshawn Reed, 20, is charged with murder, robbery, burglary, two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object, arson and vehicle theft. The charges are connected to the Dec. 12, 2008, death of Evelyn Scott, 58. Firefighters found Scott’s body inside her home after responding to a fire on Arbor Way.

Deputy district attorney Sean Daugherty rested his case Monday afternoon after calling witnesses that connected Reed to past burglaries and a TV that police believe came from Scott’s home.

Curtis Smith, who Reed previously lived with in San Bernardino, testified that he saw Reed with a pair of his cars, which were stolen after a break-in at his home, at a Food 4 Less in Riverside and called police. Det. Kevin Townsend, of the Riverside Police Department, testified that he responded to the report of the stolen vehicles and arrested Reed and two other suspects after seeing him in possession of the vehicles.

Daugherty talked with Scott’s son, Adam, about a TV that the Barstow Police Department recovered from the home of Herbert Francis in Fontana on August 31. Adam said the TV appeared to be his after he looked at photos of the TV that were submitted as evidence. Desiree Gomez, Reed’s ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, testified September 2 that she took a flat-screen TV, believed by detectives to be stolen from Scott’s house, to Francis’ home.

Reed’s public defender, Scott Seeley, questioned Adam about how he was sure the TV was his. Adam testified that he didn’t check serial numbers or measure the TV to make certain was his.

Seeley’s final witness of the trial was public defender investigator Rex Merrill. Merrill said that Lecrisha Scott told him that she had never told police that she saw the TV at Reed’s house. Merrill referred to a report from Barstow Police Department Det. Keith Libby that mentions Scott talking about the TV during his testimony.

Reed requested a new public defender during a Marsden hearing prior to the start of the court proceedings on Monday, but the court denied the request, according to court records.

Daugherty and Seeley will give their closing arguments at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Barstow courthouse. Reed is being held at West Valley Detention Center on $5 million bail. He currently has two strikes against him and faces life without parole if convicted on all charges.

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(760) 256-4126 or dheldreth@desertdispatch.com