LOS ANGELES : Witness Deals Setback to Defense in 1963 Murder

A witness dealt a blow to the defense Thursday in a 30-year-old murder case that police believe was solved when a new computer system helped match fingerprints found at the slaying scene to those of a cleaning company executive.

Chief Petty Officer Anthony M. Mazzola, a Navy documents specialist, testified that the service records of defendant Vernon M. Robinson and those of his alibi witness show the two were not in San Diego together Oct. 3, 1963, when Thora Marie Rose was bludgeoned and strangled to death in Hollywood.

Robinson has insisted that he could not have killed Davis because he was not in Los Angeles then, even though fingerprints that police say are his were found at the scene.

Robinson’s contention was backed two years ago by Ronald G. Smith, who testified at a hearing after Robinson’s arrest that the two became friends while in basic training in San Diego around the time of the killing. Smith has since died. Mazzola, however, testified that there is no indication in the records that Robinson and Smith ever trained at the same site.

The testimony ended Thursday after Mazzola left the stand. The case is expected to go to the jury Monday.