Opinion ID: 2639434
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Referee's Findings: Joanna

Text: Petitioner contends Joanna's trial testimony that she witnessed the killing of Denise was false. For the reasons stated below, we adopt the referee's finding to the contrary. It has long been settled that the offer of a witness, after trial, to retract [her] sworn testimony is to be viewed with suspicion. ( In re Weber (1974) 11 Cal.3d 703, 722, 114 Cal.Rptr. 429, 523 P.2d 229; see also In re Roberts (2003) 29 Cal.4th 726, 743, 128 Cal.Rptr.2d 762, 60 P.3d 165.) This principle is especially true here, as Joanna affirmed her trial testimony in 1990; and after she was granted immunity, she made several assertions in her 1992 recantation that were materially inconsistent and contrary to assertions she made in her 1994 reference hearing testimony. In addition, the referee listened to tapes and read transcripts of Joanna's prior statements and testimony. He visited the crime scenes. He also had the benefit of gauging Joanna's credibility, as well as the credibility of the other reference hearing witnesses whose testimony bore on the credibility of Joanna, based on his observation of their demeanor and manner of testifying. In support of his finding that Joanna witnessed the murder of Denise, the referee made the following findings, which we accept as true because they are based on the referee's credibility assessments and are supported by substantial evidence:
The referee found that State Public Defender investigator Marilyn Mobert scared Joanna into recanting her trial testimony by discussing perjury, prison, and loss of custody of her children. Her technique, stated the referee, consists not so much [of] the finding of evidence but as creating it by threatening witnesses, scaring witnesses, putting words in the mouths of witnesses, preparing false reports and testifying falsely in court. As the referee pointed out, Joanna never discussed recanting her testimony nor took any steps towards that end for six years after the trial. In 1990, she executed a declaration affirming her trial testimony. However, immediately after her September 1990 meeting with Mobert, Joanna phoned Sergeant Wilson in tears and in a panic and later, in January 1992, recanted. Because the referee's factual findings are supported by the evidence, we accept them as true. [3]
Fay Harnage testified at the reference hearing that, on October 30, 1984, the day after Joanna returned to Placerville, she picked up Joanna by the side of the roadway in front of her house to give her a ride. They had never met before. Joanna was upset and emotional. She said she knew something about the murders of the three girls, and was afraid that petitioner would kill her. Fay testified that Joanna was so distraught, she thought Joanna might jump out of her car. Joanna told Fay, I was there, but it was too terrible to talk about. The referee found that Fay Harnage was credible. He rejected Joanna's 1994 testimony that she was not hysterical or excited when she spoke to Fay Harnage. We accept this finding as true.
Joanna stated, during her 1992 recantation, that she had no recollection of the events of June 12, 1984, from the time of the incident in which a cement block was thrown through the windshield of a patrol car in downtown Placerville until meeting Bruce Nesthus, and that the time frame of this memory loss was an hour or so. But the cement block incident took place between 9:10 and 9:30 p.m. on June 12, and Joanna met Nesthus in Placerville at approximately 3:30 a.m. on June 13. The referee therefore rejected Joanna's claim that her memory loss was an hour or so. The referee also rejected the claim that Joanna had no recollection of the events of June 12 after the cement block incident because on August 12, 1984, Joanna admitted to Placerville Police Officer Dannaker that she was with Denise on June 12, saw her walk under the overpass towards the foster home, and that she saw petitioner drop off Darlene as Denise walked towards the foster home. We accept these findings as true.
At the 1994 reference hearing, Bruce Nesthus testified that Joanna's clothing was neat when he saw her at the Stancil's Toyota dealership in Placerville between 10:00 p.m. and midnight. However, Nesthus testified that when he saw Joanna later, at 3:30 a.m., her clothing was soiled and dirty, like you'd be on a tractor in a field and get dusty, but not caked on mud or anything like that. At the reference hearing, Joanna claimed her clothes were clean at this later time. The referee found that Nesthus was a neutral and reliable witness and accepted Nesthus's testimony as true. We accept the referee's finding.

On January 16, 1992, Joanna stated that she knew how to get to the murder scene because somehow she knew it was off of Ferrari Mill Road. She was not sure if she read that in the paper or somebody told her. But she claimed that she learned it was Ferrari Mill Road maybe ... the day before the deputy sheriffs took her to the location. She claimed she did not know how to get to Ferrari Mill Road, but assumed it was in the same area in which she found the clothes. At the 1994 reference hearing, Joanna's testimony changed dramatically. Joanna claimed to have specific knowledge of Ferrari Mill Road from two newspaper articles, dated August 13 and 22, 1984. While she claimed she had never noticed the road before November 1984, she said she was familiar with the area because it was near where the clothes were found. She claimed not to have the faintest idea where the bodies were found on Ferrari Mill Road itself. Once at the Y (the fork in the road before Four Corners), she said that she correctly guessed which direction to go. The referee found that Joanna lied in both 1992 and 1994. As the referee pointed out, Camp Creek, where Joanna found the clothes, was 12 miles from Ferrari Mill Road, so Joanna's assumption that she found Ferrari Mill Road because it was in the same area as Camp Creek was disingenuous. Moreover, Joanna's two statements are suspect because of their material inconsistencies. In the 1992 recantation interview, Joanna claimed that she learned of Ferrari Mill Road from the paper (or somebody told her) perhaps one day before her November 1984 trip with the sheriffs deputies. At the 1994 reference hearing, however, she claimed she knew of Ferrari Mill Road from two newspapers articles she read on August 13 and 22, 1984 more than two months before the trip. Finally, Sergeant Wilson testified at the 1985 jury trial that Joanna told him she did not read any newspaper articles about the case. The referee found that Joanna did not read the newspaper articles until after her 1992 recantation. We accept this finding as true.
Joanna stated at the 1994 reference hearing that but for the Ferrari Mill Road sign, she would have never found the road. But Joanna never mentioned the road sign during the January 16, 1992 interview, or on direct examination in 1994. She only added this piece of information on cross-examination in 1994. The referee rejected this testimony because it was contrary to the evidence. Dr. Dougherty testified at the reference hearing that on the first night he, Joanna, and El Dorado County Sheriffs deputies, Sergeant Wilson and Detective Harnage drove to the murder scene, Joanna was in the backseat, on the passenger side. He sat next to her, in the middle of the backseat. Joanna, he said, did all the directing. Dr. Dougherty said that Joanna almost always looked out the right window because you couldn't see very well through [the] otheryou had to be close to the window to see through it. So she was looking straight out to her right out the window as we passed different areas. He described Ferrari Mill Road as an unmarked dirt road, and when the vehicle reached that location, Joanna told them to turn right. Dr. Dougherty did not recall seeing a sign on Ferrari Mill Road. He said Ferrari Mill Road was dark, maybe muddy, and we couldn't see out of the window very well. The referee found that Dr. Dougherty was a credible witness. Sergeant Wilson provided the referee with additional details about the first trip to the murder location. He explained that it was snowing heavily that night. Once on Mormon Emigrant Trail, they passed several spur roads. As they approached Ferrari Mill Road, Joanna became excited and told them to slow down. Ferrari Mill Road was a T-intersection; there was no road to the left. Joanna told them to turn right. But the street sign was on the opposite side of the road, to their left. Sergeant Wilson did not recall seeing the sign, as it was snowing heavily. Ferrari Mill Road, he said, was a dirt road with snow on the ground. At the Y fork on Ferrari Mill Road below Four Corners, Joanna said to go to the right but after they had gone 150 yards, she said this was the wrong road. They then proceeded up the left side of the Y fork. As they went up a hill with ruts in it, Joanna said she remembered that hill. Past the top of the hill, they came to Four Corners. Joanna told them to stop. The referee found that Sergeant Wilson was a credible witness. Based on the evidence that it was snowing, the visibility was poor, and Joanna always looked to her right, the referee rejected Joanna's claim, made for the first time on cross-examination at the reference hearing, that she saw the Ferrari Mill Road sign that was located on the opposite side of the road. Instead, the referee determined that Joanna told the sheriffs deputies to turn on Ferrari Mill Road because she was there the night of the murder. We accept this finding as true.
Sergeant Wilson testified at the reference hearing that on the June 22, 1985 trip, Joanna described, as we left the [Four Corners] intersection, that we would go over a small rise and drop down off this rise and it would level out, the road would level out as we went down off the rise. Wilson stated that that did happen. He added: Before we got to the [third] landing, actually, we went into a small draw and she seemed like she was getting, for lack of a better word, excited. She was scooting forward in the seat. [¶] She said, `slow down real slow here,' when we were in this turn .... kind of an S effect, and as we came around the top part of the S, the road widened out into this landing. She got very excited and started telling me to stop. Sergeant Wilson stated that when he asked Joanna why she wanted to stop, she replied: `That's where [petitioner's] car was parked the night Denise was killed.' This spot was, in fact, within 75 yards of the murder scene. The referee found this testimony to be true and probative of the fact that Joanna witnessed Denise's murder. The referee rejected Joanna's reference hearing testimony that she knew where to stop the car on the June 22 trip because in observing Sergeant Wilson's demeanor, he went from being silent to completely silent. We accept this finding as true.
At trial, Joanna testified that after she saw petitioner stab Denise, she ran towards the road and got a ride back to Placerville with Joe. In her 1992 recantation, Joanna claimed that in 1987, she told Sergeant Wilson that she lied about getting a ride back with Joe and instead, had ridden home with petitioner the night of Denise's murder. Sergeant Wilson, she said, informed her that this detail was not significant. In both her 1992 recantation and her 1994 reference hearing testimony, she maintained that Joe had not given her a ride back to Placerville that evening. At the 1994 reference hearing, the defense called Joe Shamblin to testify. He stated that he knew Joanna, having met her at Happy Trails in 1983 or 1984. Shamblin testified that he never picked up Joanna hitchhiking in the middle of the night on Mormon Emigrant Trail. He also claimed he contacted law enforcement prior to the original jury trial because his parents had seen a newspaper article in which the police stated they were looking for a person named Joe that fit his description. He said he thought he spoke to an officer named Bill. Sergeant Wilson acknowledged that Detective Harnage had interviewed Joe Shamblin prior to the original jury trial and, afterwards, that he (Sergeant Wilson) informed Joanna that they might have found the Joe who gave her a ride home the night Denise was murdered. But Joanna, he said, told him this was not the right Joe. Joanna said that the person named Joe who gave her a ride had moved to Nevada. Sergeant Wilson stated that he still felt there was [another] Joe who gave Joanna a ride home. He testified that, to his recollection, no report of the Joe Shamblin interview was prepared and the interview was never disclosed to the defense. [4] The referee found that the person named Joe that Joanna described to the sheriffs deputies was, in fact, Joe Shamblin, and that Joanna lied in this portion of her trial testimony. The referee instead concluded that Joanna rode home with petitioner. The referee believed that Joanna's riding back to Placerville with petitioner explained a great deal about Joanna's behavior after Denise was murdered, including her reluctance to come forward. We accept this finding as true.