Opinion ID: 2639434
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Finding Ferrari Mill Road

Text: 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.