COMPTON : Jailed Witness in Slayings Relents, Testifies at Trial

After spending five days in jail for refusing to testify in a murder trial involving the deaths of two Compton police officers, key witness Calvin Cooksey relented Monday and told his story in court.

Cooksey, who claims his family has been endangered, told jurors he decided to testify because he was better off out of jail than inside, attorneys for both sides said.

The 33-year-old witness, who claims he heard defendant Regis Thomas, 23, brag about shooting the two officers to death in February, 1993, has been held in Los Angeles County jail since Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Edward A. Ferns told Cooksey he would stay in jail until he testified, or until the case was over.

Cooksey has filed a $125-million lawsuit against the county and Compton, alleging that authorities failed to protect his family as promised, despite written death threats. Cooksey’s mother, Viola Pirtle Woods, was killed in August, 1994, in what Cooksey claims was an act of revenge for his testimony in a preliminary hearing. Woods was shot by gang members--possibly by Thomas’ gang associates--but Los Angeles police investigators say she was unintentionally caught in gang cross-fire.

Cooksey faces cross-examination by defense attorneys today. If convicted, Thomas faces the death penalty for the slayings of Compton officers Kevin Burrell and James MacDonald.