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

Heading: Joanna's 1994 Reference Hearing Testimony

Text: On direct examination at the reference hearing, Joanna made several claims that were inconsistent with the 1985 trial evidence, her 1985 trial testimony, and her 1992 recantation. Joanna testified that she did not recall seeing Placerville Police Officer Phillip Dannaker upon her return to Placerville on October 30, 1984, and said she spoke to Fay Harnage about a week or a week and a half after her return and not, as she had testified at trial, on the day of her return. Joanna testified that she was concerned when the El Dorado County Sheriffs deputies wanted her to take them to where she claimed Denise was murdered because they would find out she was lying. But she had read in the paper that Ferrari Mill Road was where the bodies were found and she knew probably where it was, knowing it was past the second dam and knowing where I'd found Debbie's clothes, that it was probably nearby. Joanna claimed she had specific knowledge of Ferrari Mill Road because of two newspaper articles in the Mountain Democrat, dated August 13 and 22, 1984, that mentioned where the girls' skeletons were found. Specifically, the August 13 article stated that female skeletons were found within three quarters of a mile of each other off Ferrari Mill Road, which runs off Mormon Emigrant Trail (Iron Mountain Road) near the second dam and Jenkinson Lake. The August 22 article stated that dental charts determined that skeletal remains found off Ferrari Mill Road Aug[ust] 4 were those of Lynda and Denise. Joanna claimed she was familiar with that area because [t]hat was the area near where [Debbie's] clothes were found. When the referee pointed out to Joanna that the area where Debbie's clothes were found was several (actually 12) miles away from where Denise's body was located, Joanna hesitantly replied: Well, it was stillit was several miles, but it was near comparative to it being out in the country out there. She claimed not to have the faintest idea where the bodies were found on Ferrari Mill Road itself. Joanna asserted that, contrary to her trial testimony, petitioner never requested anal intercourse from her. She stated that, contrary to her trial testimony, Joe never gave her a ride off the mountain, but that Joe was a real person by the name of Joe Shamblin. Joanna stated that when Sergeant Wilson, prior to petitioner's jury trial in 1984, told her they thought they had found Joe, she lied to Sergeant Wilson and told him that that was the wrong Joe because the Joe who had given her a ride had moved to Reno, Nevada. Joanna testified that on June 22, 1985, during trial, Sergeant Wilson, without warning, told her they needed to go to the murder scene. Once they got to Four Corners, Wilson told Joanna to take him to the murder location. Joanna knew the first two roads she directed Wilson to drive on were incorrect simply because Wilson was very agitated. As she knew there was only one road left, Joanna said she lied when she said, I knew this was the road all along. She knew where to stop on this road because Wilson was silent the whole time on this road, but he just was completely silent, so she knew she must be near the right place. She said she was lying when she pointed out to Wilson different areas where she did things and where she saw things the night of the murder. Joanna testified that she lied in 1990 when she signed the declaration stating that her trial testimony was true. She claimed, however, that her 1992 recantation was truthful.
Joanna testified that, for a period of a week or two weeks after she found Debbie's clothes, she checked the Mountain Democrat newspaper for articles on petitioner's case and learned about Ferrari Mill Road from two articles, dated August 13 and 22, 1984. She agreed neither article gave directions to Ferrari Mill Road. Joanna volunteered that the only reason she was able to find Ferrari Mill Road was because she saw a road sign. She said she had never noticed the road before November 1984. Once on Ferrari Mill Road, she guessed which direction to go when the road forked before they reached Four Corners. Joanna claimed her clothes were not soiled or dirty at any time when she was with Bruce Nesthus. She claimed she never told Fay Harnage I was there. Nor was she hysterical when she told her story to Fay Harnage; she was just talking about the case to her. She agreed, however, that Fay Harnage was a complete stranger and she met her by accident. Joanna also said she lied when she said she recognized the tree stump with the yellow markings. Joanna was reminded that in her 1992 recantation statement, she had acknowledged that after telling Darlene that she found Debbie's clothes, Darlene replied that she and petitioner had just been to Camp Creek, even though Joanna had not mentioned that Camp Creek was where she found the clothes. Joanna was then confronted with her reference hearing testimony that she did tell Darlene she found the clothes at Camp Creek, and Darlene gasp[ed] because she and petitioner had just been there. Joanna said she could not recall which version was truthful. Joanna said she did not recall telling Officer Dannaker on August 12, 1984 that she had been drinking with Denise, that she had walked with Denise to the Locust Street underpass, had watched Denise walk through the underpass towards the foster home and, at that same time, had seen petitioner drop off Darlene at the foster home. (See People v. Cox, supra, 30 Cal.4th at p. 929, fn. 2, 135 Cal.Rptr.2d 272, 70 P.3d 277.) Joanna agreed, however, that if she made that statement to Officer Dannaker, she would have been telling him the truth.