A parolee and reputed gang member was charged with capital murder Tuesday in the May 2011 slaying of an Inglewood nightclub owner
A parolee and reputed gang member was charged with capital murder Tuesday in the May 2011 slaying of an Inglewood nightclub owner, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Dennis Roy Brown, 31, was charged with one count of murder with a special circumstance allegation that the killing occurred during a robbery. The criminal complaint also includes gang and gun allegations.
Prosecutors said Brown could face the death penalty, but no decision to pursue a capital case has been made.
A reputed Rollin 20’s Blood gang member known as “Junebug,” Brown is accused of gunning down Alonzo Ester, 67, a real estate entrepreneur and Inglewood nightclub owner, about 2:45 a.m. May 13 as he sat inside his Rolls-Royce in the driveway of his Baldwin Hills mansion
Police believe the assailant approached the driver’s-side door and fired one or two shots. Ester owned a black Rolls-Royce and a white one. He was driving the $300,000 white car, which rolled into a neighbor's house across the street after the shooting.
Witnesses heard the shots and saw a man leaving the scene in a sedan.
At first, LAPD South Bureau homicide detectives believed that the killing could be related to the victim's business. But after painstaking investigation, they determined that the crime was one of opportunity and that the suspect targeted Ester because of his lifestyle.
Prosecutors said Brown had two previous convictions -- a 2004 second-degree robbery and a 1999 attempted second-degree robbery. Both offenses took place in Los Angeles County.
