Opinion ID: 2494456
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Relevant Trial TestimonyRigterink's Fifth Story

Text: During the defense case-in-chief, Rigterink took the stand and testified in what amounted to over nine hours of combined direct, cross, and redirect examination. Through his testimony, he offered a fifth version of the facts with regard to his activities and whereabouts on Wednesday, September 24, 2003. In the process, he contradicted almost everything that he had previously told the police and, instead, claimed that he intentionally misled the PCSO investigators because Marshall Mark Mullins had threatened to kill him, his parents, and his former girlfriend if he mentioned that Mullins or an unnamed group of others [n.15] were involved in the murders of Jarvis and Sousa. [N.15] Rigterink testified that Mullins used the pronoun we when issuing the death threats. To Rigterink, this indicated that Mullins might have issued these threats on behalf of a larger group of individuals. During his testimony at trial, Rigterink again admitted that he was at the crime scene, but claimed that he arrived after an apparent attack, explored unit 5, followed the blood trail to unit 1, and then ran down the hallway in unit 1 where he crashed through the doorway separating the rear-office and warehouse areas. Once inside the warehouse area, he discovered both victims. According to Rigterink, Jarvis was still alive and reached up and grabbed Rigterink's hand and arm and then slumped back to the floor. Rigterink then heard what he thought were car doors slamming shut, so he ran outside. As he exited unit 1, he saw a dirty white van drive away. When the van drove past, Rigterink made eye contact with the driver and a passenger. The driver was a taller white male, while the passenger was a shorter, stockier, shirtless man with tattoos on his upper body. Rigterink also thought that he saw movement in the rear of the van, so (in his mind) there may have been a third person in the vehicle. In an apparent attempt to explain his unorthodox response to discovering two very bloody murder victims (one of whom was an acquaintance or friend), Rigterink consistently described himself as freaked out, and explained that he had never encountered this type of situation. He never called 911 and never told anyone about the gory, blood-filled scene that he had discovered because on the 24th he was still freaked out, and on the 25th, Mullins allegedly visited Rigterink at his condo and issued the death threats. Under oath, Rigterink denied: (1) owning a black hunting knife; (2) having a bag to transport marijuana; (3) owning a black Jansport backpack; (4) changing his clothes or throwing his clothes away; (5) carrying a knife or attacking either of the victims; (6) injuring his wrist; and (7) ever having been in a fight or struggle. Rigterink further claimed that the detectives suggested many of the details and evidentiary items that he identified and discussed during the interrogation. Rigterink testified that he simply went along with what the police wanted to hear. In his mind, if he concocted enough stories, the PCSO detectives would then see through his intentional façade and would conduct a thorough examination, which would exonerate him without requiring him to implicate Marshall Mark Mullins. In the words of Rigterink: Well, I didn't do it, and I figured they'd be able to tell that I had nothing to do with it. As far as the knife, I never had a knife. I never got in a confrontation with Jeremy. . . . I figured the system would work. In contrast to his claim that he believed the detectives would simply see though his stories, Rigterink also testified that he wanted to provide enough detail to make it believable. Further, despite the apparently very real, very serious death threats that Mullins delivered on behalf of himself and a dangerous group of unnamed drug dealers, Rigterink had consistently provided Mullins' name to the investigating detectives when they asked him to identify additional associates of Jarvis who might have information relevant to his murder. In fact, the name Marshall Mark Mullins was among the first pieces of information that Rigterink provided to PCSO detectives during their first visit to speak with him on September 25, 2003. Moreover, Rigterink provided Mullins' name to law enforcement on the night of September 25 notwithstanding the fact that he claims Mullins issued the death threats that very morning. Much of Rigterink's trial testimony was also inconsistent with the testimony of other witnesses. For example, his ex-wife testified that he always kept a large military knife with a curved tip and a ten- or eleven-inch black blade lodged between their mattress and box spring. [n.16] Also, both the male and female eyewitnesses testified that one mannot a group of two or three menpursued Jarvis. An additional concern with Rigterink's testimony involved the amount of time between when the PCSO received the 911 calls (close to 3:08 p.m.) [n.17] and when the first responders arrived on scene (close to 3:18 p.m.), which would have made it difficult for Rigterink to have arrived after the murders occurred and to have then explored units 5 and 1 before freaking out and leaving all before law enforcement arrived. Finally, on cross-examination, Rigterink was not able to explain why he never called out to his friend Jarvis when he entered unit 1where the female eyewitness happened to be on the phone with the 911 dispatcheror why he felt compelled to charge down a blood-soaked hallway and crash through a door when, by his own admission, he was not there to render aid and was unsure what had occurred in units 1 and 5. [N.16] Despite repeated searches, the PCSO was never able to recover this weapon. [N.17] The female eyewitness also testified that the scuffling and banging in unit 1 continued for approximately one minute while she was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, which pushes the relevant time ahead to approximately 3:09 p.m.