Charles Luckett, who works as a painter, pleaded not guilty on Monday to a murder charge stemming from the slaying of Anthoney Vaughn at the Sizzler at 2710 Telegraph Ave. at about 10:45 p.m. on July 16, 1993.
Luckett is scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court on July 16, the 19th anniversary of the slaying, for a pretrial hearing. The murder charge was filed on June 15.
According to a probable cause statement filed in court by Oakland police Officer Herbert Webber, two suspects came into the Sizzler Restaurant, ate a meal and then summoned Vaughn to their table.
Webber said, "Both suspects announced they were robbing the business and forced the victim into the manager's office."
The suspects tried to make Vaughn open the safe but when he didn't comply, one of the suspects shot him three times, Webber said.
Vaughn died of the gunshot wounds. No money was taken from the restaurant.
Webber said multiple witnesses told police that one suspect shot Vaughn after the other suspect said to "bust him" or "waste him."
Officers who responded to the shooting recovered a .44-caliber revolver with three spent rounds in a Dumpster about a block away from the restaurant and concluded that it might have been the murder weapon, Webber said.
Biological evidence recovered from the scene implicated Luckett in the attempted robbery that led to Vaughn's death, according to Webber. In addition, Luckett matches the description of one of the suspects, Webber said.
When Luckett was interviewed by Oakland police recently, he denied being involved in the crime and said he was in Los Angeles in 1993, according to Webber.
