Jury To Decide If Studio Executive's Death Was Self-Defense Or Murder

LOS ANGELES, CA — A prosecutor urged jurors Wednesday to convict a San Fernando Valley man of first-degree murder for the beating death of a 20th Century Fox distribution executive who was having an affair with his estranged wife, but a defense attorney said her client had to defend himself during an unplanned fight in West Hills.

In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace told the eight-woman, four-man panel that John Creech attacked his estranged wife's married lover, Gavin Smith, out of revenge after using a GPS cell phone app to track her down and sneak up on the two in the midst of a romantic rendezvous in Smith's Mercedes-Benz in West Hills in May 2012.

Defense attorney Irene Nunez urged jurors to acquit the 44-year-old defendant, telling the panel that Creech had a lawful right to defend himself in a fight that he testified was initiated by Smith, a 57-year-old married father of three sons.

"This was a tragic fight between two grown men, two flawed men, two imperfect men," Creech's attorney said. "There was no intention to kill. This was a spontaneous fight."

Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace told jurors that Creech "went to great lengths to hide all of the things that he did to Gavin Smith," whose remains were found in a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest in the Antelope Valley about 2 1/2 years after he disappeared.

The prosecutor argued that the actions Creech took to hide Smith's body and car were inconsistent with self-defense and demonstrated a "stunning consciousness of guilt."

"He deliberately, viciously, intently delivered murderous blows to Gavin Smith repeatedly, which resulted in Gavin Smith's death," the prosecutor said. "This wasn't a kids' fight ... There's clearly an intent to kill here that's evidenced by the severity of the injuries to Gavin Smith."

"In this case, there's certainly motive," Grace said of the on-and-off again relationship between Creech's estranged wife, Chandrika Cade, and Smith.

The prosecutor told jurors that Creech and Cade had an "unconventional marriage" in which the two "both cheated on each other," and that it was "essentially a countdown to murder" when Creech had "first uttered the threat" in 2010 that he would kill Smith if he continued to see Cade as two of Smith's sons pleaded for their father's life after learning about the affair.

The deputy district attorney told jurors Creech was an ex-con free on bail at the time and knew there would be consequences if he beat Smith up and left him somewhere, adding that was a "key reason why he could not leave Gavin Smith alive."

In his second day of testimony before a Los Angeles Superior Court jury Tuesday, John Creech acknowledged that he did not call 911 or seek medical care for 57- year-old Gavin Smith, with whom he was involved in a fight after using a GPS cell phone app to find his wife inside Smith's Mercedes-Benz in May 2012.

"At that point, did you think that Gavin was dead or that he needed to go to the hospital?" Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace asked the 44-year- old defendant.

"Both things were going through my head. I wasn't sure," Creech responded.

He said tried to see if Smith was breathing or had a pulse, and got "no response" when he tried to shake Smith after returning to the location.

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"But you had done that before? What was the difference between the first time and the second time that caused you to believe he was dead?" the prosecutor asked.

Creech said it was the amount of time that had lapsed and that Smith was in the same position in which he had last seen him.

"How do you know that he just wasn't unconscious, that if you got him to a hospital at that point that he might have been in a coma, that they could have revived him? Are you a doctor?" Grace asked.

"No," the defendant responded.

"So you just took it upon yourself to pronounce him dead?" the prosecutor asked.

"At that time, Gavin was dead. If there's any chance of him being alive, I would have taken him to the hospital," Creech testified.

"You never called 911 to get an official determination as to whether he was dead or not, right?" Grace asked.

"I take full accountability for everything after the fact. If I could change it, I would," Creech said.

Smith's body was discovered about 2 1/2 years later in a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest in the Antelope Valley.

The defendant testified that he spoke with several attorneys after Smith's death and did not speak to police "on advice of counsel."

"Did your attorneys tell you to bury the body in the Angeles National Forest?" the prosecutor asked.
"No, sir," Creech responded.

In testimony Monday, the defendant said that Smith threw the first punch, choked him and tried to gouge out his eye as the two men struggled inside Smith's Mercedes.

Creech testified that the two men fought inside the sedan and that Smith later got out of the car and came after him with a piece of metal that he referred to as a "multi-purpose weapon."

"I tripped his feet up and I went for the weapon ... he was hitting me with that weapon," the defendant told jurors.

Creech testified that he went to the scene without a weapon and never used Smith's weapon against him.
He said that he continued punching Smith until he dropped the piece of metal and that Smith then retreated to the driver's seat of his Mercedes while Creech walked home. He testified that he returned to the scene intending to use a spare key to retrieve the car that his estranged wife, Chandrika Cade, had left at the scene, and found Smith with "his eyes and mouth wide open" in the driver's seat of the still-running Mercedes.

Under questioning by his own attorney, Creech said he was "extremely" panicked when he couldn't detect a pulse from Smith, and described his own heart afterward as "racing."

Creech -- who acknowledged he had been convicted in 2010 of possession for sale of cocaine -- testified that he was an ex-convict "out on bail" at the time and that the "last thing I'm going to do is call the police."

Creech's attorney acknowledged that her client is a "convicted drug seller," but said he "had to fight for his life" after the man who had "intruded" into his life and marriage approached him outside the Mercedes- Benz with a weapon following a fistfight between the two men inside the sedan.

"In this situation, killing Gavin was lawful," Nunez said, telling jurors that there is "no intent to kill" and that the "only just verdict" would be to find her client not guilty.

The defense attorney has repeatedly said that Creech made "errors in judgment" after Smith's death. She told jurors that her client was an ex-con who "panicked" and was scared after he realized Smith was dead.

"He made some really bad mistakes and errors after he had to defend himself," she said, saying that her client buried Smith in a blanket and then prayed for him.

Creech told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury that he took "full accountability" for failing to call 911 after what he described as mutual combat or to seek help for Smith who was a member of UCLA's 1975 NCAA-winning basketball team under Coach John Wooden and had worked for 20th Century Fox for 18 years.

Creech testified that Smith threw the first punch, choked him and tried to gouge out his eye as the two men struggled inside Smith's car.

The prosecutor countered that Creech's testimony that he was acting in self-defense is "contrived," and that his claim that Smith came at him wielding a multi-purpose tool in the latter part of the struggle between the two men was "just completely made up by this defendant."

Creech could face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of first-degree murder and if jurors find true the special circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait. The jury can also consider the lesser offenses of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH, City News Service