Condemned killer of former child actor in Hawthorne dies in San Quentin

SAN QUENTIN — A prison inmate condemned to die more than two decades ago for the brutal slaying of a former child actor in Hawthorne has been found dead in his cell, authorities said.

Guards found Spencer Brasure, 49, unresponsive around 12:30 a.m. Thursday at San Quentin State Prison and pronounced him dead about 45 minutes later. He had been on death row since Aug. 28, 1998.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Brasure’s death in a statement.

A jury in Ventura County sentenced Brasure to death for the first-degree murder on Sept. 7, 1996, of actor Anthony Guest, who was 20 at the time. They found that Brasure and co-defendant Billy David kidnapped Guest at gunpoint, and tortured him for hours in a Hawthorne home.

Brasure and Davis forced Guest to eat glass and electrically shocked him before setting him on fire and killing him. Davis also was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

A jury also convicted a third defendant, Matthew Ormsby, of Hawthorne, and he was sentenced to 25 years to life, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Brasure’s death leaves 731 inmates on California’s death row, the CDCR said. The agency said 82 condemned inmates have died, 27 have committed suicide and 13 have been executed in California since the return of the death penalty in 1978. One also was executed in Missouri, one was executed in Virginia and 14 have died from other causes.

Brasure is one of three inmates whose cause of death hasn’t been announced.