Opinion ID: 2633651
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The investigation and defendant's confession

Text: In an attempt to identify the body found in the canal, detectives showed photographs of it to sheriff's deputies. Sheriff's Deputy Martin Williamson showed a photograph to defendant, who said he did not recognize the person. The following day, Deputy Williamson and Detective John Soliz, the lead investigator on the case, went to Union Avenue to learn whether any of the prostitutes there could identify the body depicted in the photos. Connie Zambrano told Detective Soliz she recognized the victim as the girl she had seen entering the truck the night before. Another prostitute identified the victim as Tracie Clark. That same day, criminalists compared the three bullets recovered from Clark's body with the two bullets recovered from Benintende's body the year before. The bullets matched: all were .38-caliber semi-copper-clad hollow-point bullets, all were of the same type as sheriff's-department-issue ammunition that was available to all deputies, and all had been fired from the same weapon. The ammunition also was sold commercially. Detective Lage and Detective William Nikkel went to defendant's house that day and compared the tires on his truck with photos of the tire tracks found at the Clark murder scene. Finding the tires and tracks matched, the detectives drove Zambrano past defendant's house, where she identified defendant's truck as the truck she had seen Clark enter. She also picked defendant's photograph out of a photo lineup consisting of photos of six sheriff's deputies. At that time, she did not know defendant was a deputy sheriff. Kern County District Attorney's Office investigator Tam Hodgson obtained warrants for defendant's arrest and the search of his house. Officers arrested defendant soon thereafter. Defendant's shoes appeared to match photos of the shoe prints at the scene. Once in custody, defendant agreed to be interviewed. Investigator Hodgson and Detectives Soliz and Lage questioned defendant on February 13 and 14, 1987. At the outset of the first interview, defendant waived his rights under Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, then admitted shooting Clark and described the following events. According to defendant, he picked up Clark near the El Don Motel at the corner of South Union Avenue and Belle Terrace in the early morning hours. Defendant was driving a Ford pickup truck with a brown-and-white camper shell, which he had purchased toward the end of the previous year. [2] Clark appeared to him to be a Mexican female, about 20 to 30 years old and about 140 to 150 pounds. [3] She asked whether he wanted a date; he said I don't know. Clark entered the truck, and defendant drove about one block East on Belle Terrace, then stopped. They agreed on a price of $30 for oral sex. Defendant wanted to go out in the country rather than to Clark's motel, and she agreed. Defendant said he drove for about 15 to 20 minutes. [4] On the way, Clark told defendant her name was Anna and that she was from Cuba or Puerto Rico. She also began complaining about how far out of town they were going. Defendant parked at a spot on the south side of Hermosa Road where there was nobody around. He then lay down on the seat of the truck's cab, and Clark kneeled over him and began to perform fellatio on him. Defendant could hear coins or keys rattling in her pockets. Clark had brought a condom, which was lying in the truck. Defendant's pants were around his ankles. After awhile, according to defendant, Clark stopped and demanded to be paid $50 instead of $30 because they had gone so far out of town and the liaison was taking so much of her time. When defendant refused, Clark became angry and started swinging at him. He told her to knock this shit off. Instead of complying, she began yelling and kicking him. Defendant was afraid Clark might scratch his face with her long fingernails. With his left hand, defendant (who was right-handed) reached under the front seat and retrieved a .38-caliber revolver he had stored there. He pulled back the hammer and pointed the gun at Clark, hoping it would make her quit, but it did not. Instead, she continued to swing at him and kick him. The gun went off, wounding Clark. According to defendant, Clark then fell back against the truck door, screaming. Defendant started the truck and began driving, telling her he would get her back to town. When she continued to scream, defendant stopped the truck, unlatched the passenger side door, and pushed her out with his feet. She ran around in front of the headlights, screaming and hollering. Defendant noticed blood on the right side of her rib cage. He put on his pants, got out of the truck, and told her he would take her to town and get her a cab to go to the hospital. But she started going crazy again and said she was going to report him. Defendant panicked and shot her again, this time with the gun in his right hand. Defendant said Clark then ran up the road. Defendant realized if she turned him in, he would be arrested and go to jail. As Clark leaned against an embankment facing him, defendant shot her four more times, empt[ying] the gun. Defendant shot her because she could not testify against him if she were dead, and that was the bottom line. Clark ran into the road, then fell down. Defendant said he then drove away but came back shortly. He determined Clark no longer was breathing, and then dragged her body by the ankles to a nearby bridge and pushed it over the cement railing into the canal. He then drove home, dropping the shell casings on the way. Once home, he threw the gun into a black bag in the back of his truck, watched television, and went to bed. The following day, he drove back to the scene. It didn't look good. There was blood in the road. Defendant said he had purchased the murder weapon, a short-barreled .38-caliber revolver, about six years earlier from a man at the Four Queens bar on Edison Highway. He had fired it only once before. During the interview, one of the investigators asked defendant about the Benintende killing. Defendant at first repeatedly denied having shot anyone other than Clark, but later said he could not remember. A search of defendant's home turned up ammunition of the same type issued by the sheriff's department to its deputies and used in the killings, as well as several expended .38-caliber shell casings. Investigators thoroughly examined defendant's beige pick-up truck but found no bloodstains. In the camper they found a black canvas bag with several guns in it, including a .38-caliber Colt Detective Special. Criminalist Gregory Laskowski test fired that weapon and compared the resulting bullets to those retrieved from the bodies of Clark and Benintende. The bullets had matching characteristics, leading him to conclude the bullets that killed both Clark and Benintende had been fired from that gun. After comparing crime scene photographs with the tires on defendant's truck and defendant's shoes, Laskowski concluded those tires and shoes made the tracks depicted in the photos. Laskowski searched defendant's green Datsun truck for evidence of the Benintende killing but found nothing significant. Although Benintende had been wearing a rabbit fur jacket when she died and there was rabbit fur in the truck, that fur could have come from a pair of gloves in the truck. Laskowski also examined Clark's clothing. Inside the pockets of her blue skirt he found a key, some coins, a $20 bill, and a package of Contour Lifestyle condoms. Investigator Hodgson determined the murder weapon had been reported stolen several years earlier. Defendant had written the theft report. Hodgson then tracked down the Four Queens bartender from whom defendant said he had purchased the murder weapon. The bartender, Steven Howell, never had sold defendant a gun. The murder weapon had belonged to Ahmed Li Ubadi, the manager of a Stop and Shop Market. He last saw the gun before his store was burglarized in 1982. A deputy sheriff had gone to the store to investigate the burglary. When Mr. Ubadi arrived at the store, the only thing missing was the gun.