Opinion ID: 2639434
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Darlene's 1985 Jury Trial Testimony

Text: The referee made several findings regarding Darlene's 1985 trial testimony: (1) the referee found that petitioner did not confess to Darlene at the Exxon station; instead, the confession was prompted by Sergeant Wilson's statement to Darlene, on December 4, 1984, that she would be arrested if she withheld information; (2) the referee also found that Darlene did not find Debbie's key chain in petitioner's vehicle that day; and (3) the referee found that Darlene did not see petitioner pick up Denise and Joanna the night Denise was murdered. But the referee also found that much of Darlene's trial testimony incriminating petitioner was true. The referee found true those portions of Darlene's testimony in which her account of the events was first given prior to Sergeant Wilson's December 4, 1984 threat of arrest, or where her testimony was 100 percent corroborated by physical evidence or witness testimony. As will be shown below, we accept the referee's findings as true because they are supported by substantial evidence.

The December 4, 1984, taped interview revealed, and the referee found, that the deputies threatened to arrest Darlene on that date. This threat, concluded the referee, prompted Darlene to falsely state that petitioner confessed to her at the Exxon station a day or two after Debbie disappeared. The referee based this conclusion on the following factors: (1) prior to December 4, Darlene had steadfastly maintained that petitioner had not confessed and her denials were credible; (2) Darlene wanted to avoid going to jail; (3) the confession itself was not credible because it described the three killings in exactly the same manner; (3) the confession was rife with inconsistencies; (4) the confession contained material inaccuracies, such as the location where the murders occurred; and (5) there were no verifiable facts in the confession that were not already known to law enforcement. We accept this finding as true because it is supported by substantial evidence.
The referee also concluded that Darlene falsely testified at trial that while smoking a cigarette on a hill near the foster home the night Denise disappeared, she saw petitioner pick up Denise in his vehicle. The referee based this finding on the following factors: (1) Darlene did not tell this fact to the sheriff's deputies throughout the interrogations, including the December 4 interrogation; (2) she disclosed this information for the first time just days before she testified at the jury trial; and (3) the referee visited the location and found that there were ample places to smoke just outside the foster home, on a cold night, without walking to the hill that overlooked the area of the underpass. We accept this finding as true.
Finally, the referee did not believe Darlene's statement at trial that she found Debbie's unicorn key chain in petitioner's car on the date of the claimed confession, because he believed that the confession never occurred. The referee also found it significant that the key chain had no keys on it, which suggested that Debbie did not carry it on her person. Moreover, Darlene repeatedly referred to the key chain as belonging to both Debbie and Denise. We accept this finding as true.
As noted, the referee found that, prior to December 4, many statements made by Darlene that incriminated petitioner were true because they were corroborated by physical evidence or witness testimony that the referee found credible. [5] Because they are based on substantial evidence and the referee's credibility assessments, we accept the referee's findings that (1) petitioner stated to Darlene that he did not know Lynda, but did know her parents; (2) petitioner stated to Darlene he would eliminate three from the foster home and three more; (3) in speaking to Darlene, petitioner referred to Denise and Debbie as whores, tramps and sluts; (4) the night Denise disappeared, Darlene witnessed petitioner cleaning his gun and sharpening his knife and he said to her he was going to take care of business (the referee rejected as ridiculous Darlene's explanation at the reference hearing that petitioner made this statement in the context of a poker game); (5) the night Debbie disappeared, Darlene witnessed petitioner pull a knife from his car's sun visor, put it in his pants, and say to her he had to take care of business; (6) Darlene observed that petitioner had a deep fingernail scratch on his chest and scratches on his face around the end of June or early in July of 1984, which coincided with the time Lynda disappeared; and (7) Darlene and petitioner saw Debbie at Benham Park the night Debbie disappeared, and petitioner took Darlene home unusually early that evening.