Opinion ID: 1405704
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A. Guilt Phase Evidence: The Prosecution Case.

Text: The offenses of which defendant was convicted occurred on July 8, 1981, when the victims were taking a brief walk during a midmorning break from their jobs at the El Dorado County Welfare Department in Placerville. About 10:30 a.m. they were accosted by a man, identified by Ms. D. as defendant, who jumped out of a car and ordered them at gunpoint to get into the car. They complied, entering the back seat. Defendant drove for some distance, from Highway 50, Coloma Road, and Highway 49, onto Highway 193. The car left Highway 193 and continued for a mile and one-half on Rock Creek Road to a point where defendant drove off the road, stopped the car, and ordered the two women to walk down a dirt path to an overgrown creek bed. They followed the creek bed to an area where defendant ordered the women to disrobe. A car driving at normal speed from the site of the abduction would reach the place where the victims left the car, a distance of 5.9 miles from the welfare department, in 15 minutes. The walk up the creek bed to the location of the shooting would take between five and ten minutes. At defendant's direction, Ms. D. tied the hands of Ms. Pennington with the latter's hose. Defendant tightened the bonds, and then gagged Ms. Pennington with a bandana. He then raped Ms. D., after which he untied Ms. Pennington, and ordered the women to continue walking along the creek bed. When they reached a large hole, defendant ordered both victims to get into the hole. In reply to Ms. D.'s plea that she not be killed, defendant stated that he had to kill them so that he would not be killed. The women turned away from defendant at his orders, after which Ms. D. heard five shots. She felt a numbness in her neck after the second shot and felt the impact of a second bullet in her neck with the fourth shot. She feigned death, lying down, and heard defendant throwing rocks on Ms. Pennington and on her own head. Then, after hearing defendant leave and waiting for from five to ten minutes, Ms. D. made her way back to Rock Creek Road where a gravel-truck driver drove her to the highway, and flagged down a car whose driver took her on to Chili Bar where the sheriff and medical help were summoned. The first driver remained at the intersection of the highway and Rock Creek Road to guide emergency personnel. He and a deputy sheriff who arrived within 15 minutes were able to follow the trail left by Ms. D. By the time they had located Ms. Pennington, they had been joined by paramedics and firemen. A paramedic who examined Ms. Pennington at the scene determined that she was dead. A subsequent examination established that the cause of death was one of three bullet wounds she suffered and a fracture through the base of her skull. [4] Ms. D. had suffered a potentially life-threatening bullet wound to her neck and an abrasion on the back of her skull. She was taken to a local hospital and thereafter transferred to the Sacramento Medical Center. Her first description of her assailant, to the gravel truck driver who picked her up, was a man with long dark hair and a green car. Although the truck driver did not recall her so stating, the deputy sheriff who met him testified that she had stated the assailant was Mexican. [5] One or two days after the shooting, after tubes had been removed from her throat, Ms. D. was able to speak to a detective. At that time she described the assailant as having dark skin or olive complexion, possibly Indian or Italian, with a Fu Manchu style moustache, a two-day growth of beard, and shoulder length hair; and as being about five feet nine inches to five feet ten inches tall, of husky or stocky build. At trial she testified that she had told the officer that she did not know his nationality, but the man could be Mexican ... could be Indian, Italian, there is โ just dark skinned, he had dark hair. On July 14, 1981, without any knowledge that a suspect's photo was included among several shown to her, and having heard or seen nothing in the media or any other source regarding identifying features of a suspect, Ms. D. positively identified a 1976 photo of defendant, noting in particular his eyes. She positively identified defendant at the preliminary hearing and at trial, although he had shaved, cut his hair, and wore glasses. In the interim she had identified several other photos of defendant, pointing out differences in the hair length, moustache, and beard growth. Analysis of a stain on Ms. D.'s panties indicated that seminal fluid was present. Further analysis established that it came from a person having a PGM enzyme type 1 +2 +, which is common to approximately 23 percent of the population, including defendant, and came from a non-secretor who does not exhibit markers of his ABO (blood) type in other body fluids. Defendant is a nonsecretor. The percentage of nonsecretors who produce type 1 +2 + PGM in the population is approximately 4 percent. One out of four persons in the population could have been the donor of the seminal fluid found in the stain. Analysis of the blood and saliva of Ms. D.'s husband eliminated him as the source of the seminal fluid. Ms. D. had described the car in which she had been abducted as an old, large car of American make, two-door, and green in color. On July 8, defendant's parole agent told local police that defendant drove a 1975 Chevrolet Impala, license 807 PSF. That evening, having failed to locate the car at defendant's residence, Deputy Sheriff Allen, waiting near the entrance to defendant's driveway, observed a two-door Chevrolet, partial license 807, approach. The driver was defendant's half-brother, Kevin Jones. Later that night Ms. D. was asked to describe any objects she remembered seeing in the car. On the morning of July 9, 1981, neither defendant nor the car was at defendant's residence, the home he shared with his mother and half-brother on a former boys' ranch in El Dorado County. The car was located there in the late afternoon, however. An officer observed two pillows and a cool cushion in the back seat, items which Ms. D. identified as appearing to be the same black cool cushion and other cushions she had seen in her assailant's car. The car, which was the Karis family car, was impounded by officers who also seized 50 to 60 marijuana plants found growing in buckets in the rear of a building across from defendant's house. The car, which had a vinyl top and was silver or gray in color, appeared.to be green, tan, or light brown at night when illuminated by headlights or parking lights. Some time after 8 p.m. on July 8, 1981, Kevin Jones and his girlfriend Dana Skelton, returning from a visit to her grandmother in Kelsey, drove to the house. Dana testified that after Kevin stopped to speak to a deputy sheriff who was parked at the foot of the driveway about a quarter of a mile from the house, he drove on up to the house and spoke to his mother. He then returned to the car and told Dana that he had to take her home, and that they had to put defendant in the trunk because defendant was dealing in cocaine. After leaving the house, Kevin stopped, Dana met defendant, and defendant joined them in the passenger compartment of the car. Defendant had a moustache and a little bit of beard at the time when Dana met him. They drove to the home where Dana lived with her grandmother who gave permission for defendant and Kevin to remain overnight. On the next morning, although Kevin had promised Dana when she awoke at 6:30 a.m. that he would drive her to work, he told her he could not do so because his brother had to leave. The two men left ten minutes later. Dana's grandmother described the man who had stayed at her home as having a fairly long moustache and dark hair. She identified a photo of defendant as similar to that man, but his moustache was longer. A neighbor, David Marden, who lived in the other half of the duplex building shared with the Karis family, saw defendant driving up to the house much faster than he had ever seen him drive before on an afternoon that was determined to be July 8, 1981. It was also determined that this occurred between 3 and 3:30 p.m. The same neighbor testified that defendant was growing the marijuana plants the officers had seized, and was paranoid about them. The neighbor had believed defendant left the family home out of fear regarding their discovery. On July 9, 1981, defendant arrived unexpectedly during the noon hour at the home Peggy Steuben shared with Jay Raugust, who was a friend of defendant, and whose home defendant visited about once a month to work with Raugust making jewelry and other crafts and to talk. On this occasion defendant was quiet, withdrawn, and clean shaven. When Ms. Steuben had last seen defendant on July 5, 1981, he had a full beard and a moustache. When she jokingly asked defendant if he was on the run, he said he did not want to talk about it, said he needed to get away for a few days, and asked if he could stay with them. Ms. Steuben refused, but when she returned to the house from work at 6 p.m., defendant was still there. He left about 7:30 p.m. Ms. Steuben also testified, over objections that the statements were hearsay and more prejudicial than probative, that defendant had visited them on the July 4, 1981, weekend, and that during a conversation about keeping a gun for self-defense, defendant had stated that he could understand that if someone committed a serious crime, it could be necessary to have a gun to kill witnesses and avoid apprehension. He stated that he had been in prison and would consider it self-defense to kill anyone who might send him back. He thought rape was an example of a serious crime. Prior to the trial, Kevin had suffered a stroke. Pursuant to stipulation that he was physically and mentally incompetent to testify, portions of his preliminary hearing testimony were read to the jury, without objection by defense counsel. [6] In that testimony Kevin said that he, defendant, and their mother, Eva Jones, lived together, and each had access to the family car, a 1975 Impala. On the morning of July 8, 1981, he, his mother, and defendant went to Placerville to cash a check at the Lucky Market, and went on to the post office to buy a money order. They drove back to their home between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Defendant and Kevin remained there until evening except for checking the mail and a visit to Georgetown where they had a couple of beers. Kevin testified that defendant did not have a moustache that morning, and had shaved his moustache off a week before. Kevin also testified that he had spent the night of July 8, 1981, at the home of Dana Skelton. On July 9, 1981, he arrived home about 8 a.m. Defendant was just getting up. Jones drove defendant to the bus station in Placerville about one hour later. Defendant wanted to visit friends. Kevin had been interviewed several times prior to the trial. On the evening of July 9, 1981, he first told Placerville Police Officer Southern that when he arose at 10 a.m. on July 8 both defendant and the family car were gone. He later said that on that morning he, defendant, and their mother had left the house together at 8 a.m. to drive to Placerville, where they cashed a check and bought the money order, returning home just after 10 a.m. On July 10, 1981, Kevin told Southern he had lied previously, and that defendant had been gone when Kevin arose at 10 a.m. on July 8, but had arrived at the house shortly after 10 a.m. On this occasion he said that defendant had a moustache on the morning of July 8, but shaved it off on the following morning, telling Kevin to tell anyone who asked that he had shaved it off a week earlier. On July 13, Kevin repeated that defendant had a moustache on July 8, but had shaved it off on July 9. Defendant was apprehended on July 15, 1981, in Windsor (Sonoma County), after one of two women and a baby he had kidnapped attempted to escape from her van, attracting the attention of a gas station employee who came to help. Defendant fled on foot, and was located by police who found him hiding nearby. These kidnap victims, Debora Coffler, Patricia Dobbs, and Dobbs's five-month-old son, had been at a park in Fairfax, where the women played tennis. As they returned to their van, defendant ran up, and ordered the women, at knifepoint, into the back of the van. He told them he was wanted for murder, that he would be shot on sight by the police, and had nothing to lose since he was a murderer who would go to the gas chamber. He refused Dobbs's offer of money and the keys, saying that if he let the women go, the police would be after him in seconds. He repeated the statement that he was a murderer and would not hesitate to hurt them at that time and again during the northward journey.