 Kelvin Fuller (Photo: Loyola Project for the Innocent)
He was arrested the next day in Riverside County after he crashed the vehicle while being pursued by police. He was taken to the West Covina police department where he was questioned about two other crimes.
The first occurred on October 7, 1983, when four Black men robbed two women at knifepoint in the parking lot of a Reuben’s restaurant in West Covina. The men also stole the silver Toyota Celica belonging to one of the women.
The second occurred a week later in the parking lot of a Charley Brown’s restaurant in West Covina. The victim, S.D. had arrived there at 1:30 a.m. to pick up her husband when he got off work. As she walked to the door of the restaurant, she was kidnapped at knifepoint and forced into a silver Toyota Celica. The four men drove her into the Azusa Mountains where she was raped and forced to engage in oral sex. She was abandoned and managed to walk about two miles to a ranger station to seek help.
Although a rape kit was prepared at the time, there was no indication in the files whether any comparison attempts were made. At the time, DNA testing was not available.
A day later, the stolen Toyota had been recovered by Los Angeles police following an attempted robbery. Charru Bradley, 16, was driving, and his passenger was Tracy Turner, who also went by the name Tracy Brown. Turner told police that there had been two other passengers who fled before police arrived: 18-year-old Kenneth Dixson and 19-year-old Pierre Alexander.
S.D. was shown separate photographic lineups containing Dixson, Alexander, Bradley, and Turner. She identified Dixson, Alexander, and Bradley as three of the four men who kidnapped her and took her to the mountains. She did not identify Turner.
In April 1984, when Fuller was arrested, his photograph was put in a photographic lineup. S.D. identified him as the fourth participant in her attack.
In 1985, Dixson pled guilty to participating in the attack on S.D. He was sentenced to seven years to life. Bradley was adjudicated in juvenile court and was sent to the Central Youth Authority. He was killed in 1989.
In March 1985, Fuller and Alexander went to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
S.D. identified them as being among the four men who abducted and sexually assaulted her. She testified that after she was abducted, the car stopped at a Shell gas station. She said the driver got out while she was held inside by the other three. After the driver got gas, they drove into the mountains.
Two Shell gas station clerks who were on duty at the Shell station recalled the Toyota stopping for gas. The driver gave them $5 and asked for $4 of gas. The two clerks, Jeffrey Cavanaugh and Anthony Carabello, identified Alexander as the driver who bought the gas.
Detective David Shively testified that during his first interview with Fuller after his arrest, Fuller admitted being involved in the crime at the Charley Brown’s. According to Shively, Fuller said he had been knocked unconscious during an unrelated incident in Los Angeles and was passed out in the back seat when the crime occurred. He said he did not take part in the attack. He admitted he was there, but was unconscious, Shively said.
In a second interview, Fuller said that the incident where he was knocked unconscious was the night of the Reuben’s restaurant crime, not the Charley Brown’s crime. Fuller denied that he was present for the Charley Brown’s crime.
The prosecution presented evidence that S.D.’s purse had been recovered at the location where she was sexually assaulted. Fingerprint examiners reported that Dixson was the source of two prints found on credit cards in the purse.
The defense contended that Fuller was with his family at the time of the crime. Jaqueline Haley, a family friend, testified that the entire Fuller family had attended an “appreciation service” at the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church where Fuller’s father was the pastor.
The program and festivities lasted from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. when Fuller and Haley went roller skating with Fuller’s sister, Carol. Haley said they stayed until the rink closed at 10 p.m., and then Carol and Fuller went home.
Carol Fuller testified similarly. Kelvin’s mother, Helen, testified similarly. She also said that just before 11 p.m., she went to the kitchen and saw Fuller in the den watching a movie. She said she wanted to watch a film when he was done and that he knocked on her door to let her know at 12:30 a.m. Howard Fuller, Fuller’s father, also testified to those events.
On March 22, 1985, Fuller and Alexander were convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault and kidnapping for the Charley’s Brown’s crime. They were also convicted of robbery for the Reuben’s crime. Fuller was convicted of the hatchet robbery.
On April 25, 1985, during a motion for a new trial for Fuller, defense attorney Ben Wyatt, who had represented Dixson and Bradley, said that both of his clients said Fuller was not the fourth person involved in the crime. They said Turner, who had not been charged, was the fourth person. However, Dixson and Bradley had refused to testify for Fuller because they did not want to implicate Alexander. The motion for a new trial was denied. Fuller and Alexander
were each sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.
In August 1986, Bradley told Fuller’s family: “Kelvin Fuller was not the proper defendant. The correct defendant is Tracy Brown.” Bradley admitted he was present when S.D. was abducted and raped. “At no time was Kelvin Fuller present at any of these events,” Bradley said.
In 2012, a student working with California Innocence Project interviewed Dixson, who had been released on parole in 2006, and Alexander, who had been released on parole in 2007.
Dixson provided a statement saying he had committed the crime with Alexander,
Bradley, and Tracy Brown. “At no time was Kelvin Fuller involved in this crime,” Dixson said. “He was never there.” Alexander provided a similar statement as well.
In 2016, Fuller, acting without a lawyer, submitted a request for review by the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. He sent the statements saying he was not present.
In 2017, the California Innocence Project requested testing on the rape kit. However, none of the physical evidence in the case could be found.
In 2021, Sondra Clayton, Fuller’s cousin, submitted a second request to the CIU and the case was accepted for a review.
The CIU investigation of Alexander’s prison history showed that he participated in six parole hearings before he was granted parole. In three of those hearings, he referred to the perpetrators as himself, Dixson, Bradley, and Tracy Turner/Brown. A review of Dixson’s prison history showed that he had nine parole hearings before he was released. In 1992, he said that one of those involved had not been prosecuted, but did not name that person. In 2002, Dixson identified that person as Tracy Turner and said Turner had cooperated with the prosecution: “turned states [sic] evidence.” In 2006, Dixson told the parole board that Fuller “was never involved in this case,” and that Turner was the fourth man involved.
In November 2023, the CIU interviewed Fuller. He denied involvement in the crime. He admitted to taking part in the Reuben’s restaurant crime as well as the hatchet robbery.
On August 15, 2024, Turner was interviewed by investigators for the District Attorney’s Office. After lengthy questioning, Turner admitted that he was involved in the Charley Brown’s incident. “Fuller wasn’t there. He was not in the car,” Turner said.
On September 20, 2024, a joint petition for a writ of habeas corpus was filed by the CIU and Joseph Trigilio, attorney for Fuller and the executive director of the Loyola University Law School’s Project for the Innocent. The 33-page petition recited the evidence that Fuller was factually innocent.
On September 25, the petition was granted. Fuller’s convictions were vacated, the charges were dismissed, he was declared factually innocent, and he was released. He had spent more than 39 years in prison since his conviction.
– Maurice Possley
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