Opinion ID: 2542673
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Testimony of the Prosecution's Witnesses

Text: On July 14, 2005, Complainant [2] testified as to the incident that formed the basis of the underlying offense against Hicks: Q. [By the prosecution:] I'd like to draw your attention to the week of January 18th to the 23rd of 2004; this week, January 18 to the 23rd, 2004. During that week, were you housed in Module B? A. [By Complainant:] Yes. Q. Did you experience any painful incidents that week? A. Yes. Q. Where did it happen? A. In  when we was [sic] lining up for go back to school, in the module. Q. You were inside the module? A. Yes. Q. Okay. Do you  approximately what time was it that it happened? A. About 12:05 or 12:10. Q. Okay. Is this the normal time that you line up to go back to school? A. Yes. Q. And who was there? What staff members were in the module at the time? A. Mr. Hicks. Q. Just Mr. Hicks? A. Yes. Q. Where were the other wards? A. Waiting in line, too. Q. How did the incident start? A. We has, like, a verbal conflict, like, talking about  he told me to grab his dick or his balls and I told him to grab mine; and, like, a while after, he came up to me and grabbed mine and grabbed my  my balls and my dick and twisted it and  Q. It started with him telling you to grab his dick or his balls? A. Yeah. Q. Was he speaking just to you or was he speaking to everyone? A. Just to me. Q. Just to you? A. Yes. Q. Was he looking directly at you? A. Yes. Q. What did you think he was  what did you think his meaning was when he said that? A. I['m] not too sure. He has his mind of his own. I['m] not really  Q. You weren't sure what he meant? A. Yeah. I wasn't sure what he meant. Q. Any idea why he would say this to you? A. No. Q. Was he expressing any emotion at the time that he said it to you? A. Laughing. Q. Laughing. Okay. So when you heard him say this, what did you say back to him? A. Say  what did I say back to him? Why don't you grab my balls or dick. . . . . Q. . . . And why did you say this back to him? A. We was [sic] just joking. I thought we was [sic] just joking. . . . . Q. Okay. You just said it back  A. Just for laugh, you know. Q. Okay. But what did he do immediately after you said that? A. He walked up to me and grabbed my balls and my dick and twisted it. Q. How close were the two of you before  before he walked up to you? A. Maybe, like, two feet away. Q. So how many steps did he take to  before he grabbed you? A. I['m] not too sure. . . . . A. Maybe, like, two steps. Q. Two steps. How did he grab you? A. He grabbed me with his right hand and twisted it up toward the right, like clockwise kind. Q. Did he grab you through your clothing? A. Yes. When asked whether he tried to defend himself during the incident, Complainant responded negatively, stating that he did not touch Hicks [b]ecause it would have been wrong for me to hit a YCO, and I could have gotten in trouble for that. Three former wards of the HYCF, who were present at the time of the incident, testified to the event between Hicks and Complainant. They all testified to observing Hicks grabbing Complainant's testicles while they were standing in line in Module B to return to school in the afternoon. Further, HYCF head nurse, Linda Hadley, testified that she examined Complainant and observed Complainant's right testicle to be swollen, red, and [that he was in] lots of pain. HYCF staff physician, Dr. Robert Bidwell, also testified that he conducted a medical history of Complainant  not a physical examination  and, in his opinion, the injury was consistent with the explanation Complainant gave of having his testicles grabbed and twisted. The testimony of YCO Cathy Jean Kaleo Marciel, who has been employed at the HYCF for six years, revealed that the duties of a YCO consisted of security[,] custody and control of wards. She explained that: [The wards] are troubled youths that have been sentenced to prison and  that's basically what it is. They're in jail, and I'm a correctional officer for the youth. Marciel further stated that: [A YCO] can be assigned to a module [or] . . . to Central Control. And  well, if you're in the module, you normally take the kids to school. . . . . Central Control is the heart of our facility. It opens and closes doors and  it's our security area. . . . . [Central Control contains] four monitors [or] five monitors that view the different modules, outside, inside, on the streets. It's all cameras that we have within different parts of the facility. . . . . [B]esides watching the monitors, [YCOs assigned to Central Control] release and  [] open and close doors and watch where everyone's going. That's their job. She described the morning routine in the modules as what normally we do, the routine is we open up each cell door and we wake them up, tell them, go ahead and clean your room. When asked whether the HYCF is a state correctional facility and whether Complainant was a minor imprisoned at HYCF, Marciel answered yes to both inquiries. Hicks did not object to the questions or the answers. Marciel then described the conversation she had with Complainant the morning of January 29, 2004 when she observed Complainant holding his groin area: A. [By Marciel:] And, so, I said, What's wrong? And he said, I'm sorry. I gotta see the nurse. I said, Well, when did this happen? He goes, I don't know. I said, Did you  I asked him if he saw the nurse last night, and he said yeah. And I said, Well, just wait for her to come up this morning. You know, that's normal for them. You know, they see the nurse twice a day, two or three times a day. Q. [By the prosecution:] Did you ask him why he was hurting in that area? A. Yes, I did. Q. What did he tell you? A. He said that My balls are sore. And I said  I said, What? And he said, Yeah. Hicks grabbed my balls. And I said, What? And then he said, Oh, it was out of playing, or  Marciel testified that she believed Complainant was hurting because [h]e was walking real slow. She also stated that she was assigned by her supervisor to take Complainant to the hospital to get checked. Marciel indicated that she placed shackles on Complainant before transporting him to the hospital and, at the hospital, she had to be near Complainant at all times, right outside the examination curtain. Another YCO and Internal Affairs Investigator, Henry Bell Haina, Jr., testified that he was assigned to investigate the case of misconduct involving Hicks and Complainant by the youth facility administrator Kaleve Tufono-Iosefa. When asked whether Complainant was imprisoned at [the] HYCF back in January of 2004, Haina answered in the affirmative. Haina testified that he narrowed the specific date as to when the incident occurred to January 21, 2004 by reviewing the reporting of the incident; the statement of [Complainant] as to how long he was in pain and the time element between it and the reporting to Cathy Marciel and the medical unit; going back and looking at sign-in sheets and figuring out when Mr. Hicks was on duty [in Module B]. As previously testified by Marciel, Haina explained that there are four cameras in each module and one outside the door for a total of five cameras for each module. Using the January 29, 2004 videotape of Module C, entered as State's exhibit 7, Haina further described what each camera looks at, including the YCO desk and the inside of the entrance door to the module. Haina, however, testified that the January 21, 2004 videotape was not preserved. On cross-examination, the following colloquy occurred: Q. [By the defense counsel:] Your assignment  or you were assigned by Ms. Kaleve Tufono-Iosefa? A. [By Haina:] Yes, sir. Q. And she was the  she's the administrator? A. Youth Facility Administrator. Q. YFA? A. Yes, sir. Q. And she's also used the word warden interchangeably. A. For everyday conversation's sake[,] you could call her the warden. She is the top person at the facility. Q. But perhaps YFA is the more correct term, more accurate term? A. That is the actual title. . . . . Q. Who is Ms. Iosefa accountable to? Is there someone above her? A. Yes, sir, Sharon Agnew, the executive director. Q. Executive Director of Youth Services? A. Yes, sir. Q. And she oversees not just the youth correctional facility, but other  I guess, other programs within the office of Youth Services; correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. And Agnew is accountable to [the] Director of Human Services? A. I believe so. Through the testimony of the prosecution's witnesses, the prosecution admitted as exhibits, inter alia, photographs of the secured cell doors within Module B and the January 29, 2004 video of Module C, showing the wards in orange prison type uniforms lined up at the security door in front of Hicks, who was dressed in a YCO uniform.