VENTURA, Calif. -- A former funeral home employee was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges he murdered a rival mortician in what is believed to be the nation's first oleander poisoning prosecution.
Following a preliminary hearing, David Wayne Sconce, 33, of Pasadena was ordered to stand trial on one count of murder with special circumstance allegations -- murder by poisoning -- that qualify him for a possible death penalty.
Sconce was ordered to remain in custody without bail and to appear in Superior Court for arraignment Oct. 24.
He is charged with using the lethal leaves of the oleander plant to poison Timothy R. Waters, 24, a Burbank mortician, in 1985, to keep Waters from exposing activities at Sconce's parents' Lamb Funeral home.
Prosecutors said the case is believed to be the first murder prosecution in the country involving oleander poisoning.
Sconce, who worked at the funeral home, is serving a five-year state prison term after pleading guilty in April 1989 to 21 criminal counts involving the mingling of human remains, the theft of body parts and the removal of gold teeth from cadavers.
His parents, Laurieanne Lamb Sconce and Jerry Sconce, are awaiting trial on similar charges.
Even though Waters died in Ventura county, the case is being handled by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office because that office has been prosecuting Sconce and his parents for the alleged funeral home violations.
