Opinion ID: 1349797
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence adduced at May 1992 evidentiary hearing

Text: The evidentiary hearing focused primarily on whether Fitzgerald and Oglesby had a working relationship from which it might be inferred that the government used Oglesby to deliberately elicit incriminating information from petitioner. Other factual allegations raised in the petition were shown, on closer scrutiny, to be benign or insignificant, and still others were simply never proved by the evidence. For example, as explained in the referee's factual findings, post, at pages 588-593, the testimony concerning the 1978 tape recording shed little light on the question whether Fitzgerald used Oglesby to solicit information from petitioner a year later. The evidence showed merely that Oglesby contacted Fitzgerald to secure his help when Oglesby thought that he was going to be used by, and falsely implicated by, Leslie White. Most important, however, petitioner offered no evidence to support his final two (and most significant) factual allegations, both of which involved startling allegations by Leslie White. As noted above, in the 1979 tape recording, White asserted that Oglesby had told him, inter alia, that Fitzgerald and Allender had induced him to lie. And in the October 1989 declaration, White claimed Oglesby told him several times since 1981 that he had, at the request of the authorities, fabricated incriminating information  including the escape plan  and attributed it to petitioner in an attempt to reduce his own first degree murder charge. Although petitioner planned to call Oglesby as a witness, Oglesby did not testify at the hearing because he died in prison one day before the hearing was scheduled to begin. [5] As explained below, most of petitioner's other scheduled witnesses  including Leslie White  refused to testify, invoking their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves. (See post, pp. 602-609.) Accordingly, at the evidentiary hearing petitioner failed to produce evidence supporting the most significant of the allegations that prompted issuance of our order to show cause and our order compelling an evidentiary hearing. The evidence presented consisted primarily of testimony by Officers Fitzgerald and Allender, and the prior testimony (from the initial evidentiary hearing) of Oglesby. We quote below our referee's factual synopsis following the hearing: The answer to [the] two questions [propounded by this court (see ante, p. 587)] can be found in the history of George Oglesby and his relationship with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. This relationship commenced in 1976 when [then-] Sgt. Fitzgerald was informed that Oglesby [might] be privy to information respecting a murder involving the Mexican Mafia [in the] Bracero case, a matter which Fitzgerald was investigating. Fitzgerald went to a bail bondsman's office to meet with Oglesby respecting his knowledge. Oglesby was working for the bail bondsman as a bounty hunter or skip tracer. Prior to this, Oglesby had been an informant for several months for the United States Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, but had not as far as it can be determined worked for any other agency within Los Angeles County. At this point in time, Oglesby had not been arrested or convicted of any felony. Oglesby informed the Sheriff's Department through Fitzgerald the information which helped to obtain a conviction in the Bracero case. Oglesby also had given Fitzgerald two check protector plates which were subsequently introduced as evidence at the Bracero trial. Prior to the Bracero trial, Oglesby had contacted Fitzgerald and informed Fitzgerald as to the location of a gun which was the subject matter of another of Fitzgerald's investigations. The information regarding this gun turned out to be correct. There is no record that[,] during these investigations by Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald paid Oglesby or gave anything of significant value to Oglesby. Fitzgerald was aware there was a social relationship between Leslie White and Oglesby. White was even then known as a notorious and unreliable informant. The knowledge of the relationship between White and Oglesby did not deter Fitzgerald from continuing to use Oglesby as an informant. During this period of time and pending the trial of the Bracero-Mexican Mafia case, Oglesby contacted Fitzgerald and told him of a purported scheme of White, who was confined to the Los Angeles County Jail, to be transferred to the Ventura County Jail in order to implement an escape plan. White further sought to implicate Oglesby as a possible suspect in his case in order that White could testify against Oglesby in Ventura and thereafter execute his own escape plan. Oglesby told Fitzgerald he did not wish to be implicated in such a scheme because of the threat to his own safety, the potential damage to Oglesby's own credibility and his desire to cooperate with the Sheriff's Department. Oglesby asked Fitzgerald to set up a telephone conversation between White and Oglesby. Oglesby was not in confinement. The subsequent phone conversation was initiated by White to Oglesby with Fitzgerald and his partner listening and taping the conversation. Additional dealings between Fitzgerald and Oglesby consisted of Fitzgerald seeking information from Oglesby as to a murder which had been committed in a parking lot of a Hollywood hotel where Oglesby was employed as a night clerk. This proved fruitless to Fitzgerald. Prior to the Bracero trial and Oglesby having to testify, Oglesby disappeared from the local scene and only after Fitzgerald consulted with White was Fitzgerald able to determine that Oglesby was located in New Mexico. Although Oglesby did not want to testify in the Bracero case, he returned voluntarily to California. The night of the day of testimony, Fitzgerald and the Sheriff's Department paid for Oglesby's motel room. The referee finds Oglesby attempted to maintain his relationship with Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald reciprocated during the balance of the years 1977-1978. Fitzgerald testified he had visited Oglesby's house on several occasions and further had purchased books, cigarettes and other types of amenities for Oglesby. Fitzgerald's testimony characterized his relationship with Oglesby as business-like. Oglesby described the relationship as friendly, social and business-like and he thought of Fitzgerald as a friend. Oglesby had an apparent need to be associated with law enforcement and actively sought out Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald's fellow officers in the Homicide Bureau characterized Oglesby as Fitzgerald's snitch and commented on the frequency with which Oglesby would call Fitzgerald and stop in at the office to see Fitzgerald. Oglesby and Fitzgerald differed as to the frequency of contacts. The Referee finds the contacts between the two men to be approximately two or three times per month. Sometime prior to February 20, 1979, Fitzgerald was notified by his fellow homicide officers [that] Oglesby was under investigation for murder. The act constituting the crime included dismemberment of the victim. Fitzgerald was informed the arrest of Oglesby was impending. Shortly after Oglesby's arrest, Fitzgerald was informed of that fact. Immediately, Fitzgerald contacted the inmate reception center at the Los Angeles County Jail and requested special handling for Oglesby. Fitzgerald indicated in his testimony the request for special handling of Oglesby was made for the purpose of preserving the safety of Oglesby due to his activities as a witness in the Mexican Mafia case and because of his friendship with Oglesby as a human being. Exhibits ... introduced in the 1992 hearing indicate the three reasons documented on the records of the Los Angeles County Jail for special handling of Oglesby were inconsistent with the reasons testified to by Fitzgerald. Petitioner questions Fitzgerald's statements of motivation for requesting special handling and placement of Oglesby in the high power cell block. Petitioner argues the real reason for the request for special handling was to place Fitzgerald's informer in a position to give valuable information. Oglesby was placed in the high power section of the jail which was an area reserved for the dangerous and those who had committed serious crimes. The housing arrangement of this section was composed of single cells, but allowed communication between prisoners. One method of communication between the prisoners was during exercise or `freeway' periods at which time a single prisoner would be released to exercise in the walkway or freeway running in front of the cell block, which provided an opportunity for communication between the exercising prisoner and other prisoners in the block. On February 20, 1979, when Oglesby was initially placed in this block, the Petitioner was not in custody and the crimes for which he was charged had not yet been committed. On February 20, 1979, Fitzgerald made a visit to Oglesby at the jail wherein Oglesby `poured out his soul' to Fitzgerald respecting the injustice of the charges against him and his claim that murder in the first degree with special circumstances was not the proper charge for the crime and he should have been charged with second degree murder or manslaughter. Oglesby also during this visit described the acts for which he was charged and begged Fitzgerald to assist him by reading the murder book and the coroner's protocol to determine the proper charge. Fitzgerald never informed his department of this confession. It is unclear, but the Referee believes there was a conversation between Fitzgerald and Oglesby in which Fitzgerald indicated there was nothing he could do for Oglesby. There is evidence of a conversation between Fitzgerald and Oglesby on March 6, 1979, which Fitzgerald indicated was a short conversation in which he reiterated he could not do anything for Oglesby. Sometime in March, 1979, Petitioner was housed four to five cells from Oglesby in the high power cell block and communication between Petitioner and Oglesby was possible. Communication was possible during freeway time ... by speaking with a raised voice and through utilizing the plumbing fixtures. (Apparently, the prisoners could use the toilet as an apparatus of communication after it had been pumped dry.) Fitzgerald indicates he was not aware except generally of the murder charges filed against Petitioner and was not in any way connected to the investigations. Fitzgerald denies ever requesting Oglesby to interrogate or to obtain any information from Petitioner respecting the murder charges facing Petitioner. There is evidence Oglesby communicated with members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department jail unit and probably with Fitzgerald regarding other inmates. On May [21],[ [6] ] 1979, Fitzgerald received a message from Oglesby stating he wished to see him. The tenor of the message was [that] it was a matter of importance. The substance of the ensuing conversation between Fitzgerald and Oglesby concerned the developing friendship or relationship of Oglesby and Petitioner. This relationship developed as a result of Oglesby's activities as operator of a canteen from his cell. Oglesby told Fitzgerald that in late March or early April 1979, he was conversing with a cell neighbor about the subject of guns and their identification by their projectiles. Petitioner apparently interjected into the conversation and inquired of Oglesby, who was also known as Gunner, as to whether Oglesby had any information as to the ability of the police to identify a gun by used shotgun shells and pellets. In this conversation or in a later conversation, Oglesby claimed Petitioner told him Petitioner had used a shotgun to kill three of his victims and Petitioner indicated with gestures how he used the shotgun. During the initial conversations between Petitioner and Oglesby, the Petitioner apparently expressed an interest in the possibility of escape from the State Hospital institutions at Patton and Atascadero and was advised by Oglesby it was general knowledge Atascadero was difficult to escape from and escape from Patton was easier, but very few prisoners were ever sent to Patton. Petitioner additionally, in one of these conversations, confided to Oglesby it was his desire to escape from the Los Angeles County Jail and he was developing a plan of escape and desired Oglesby's advice. The plan consisted of a scheme to escape from the transportation bus as it approached the Torrance courthouse and he (Petitioner) had a drawing depicting the layout of the Torrance courthouse. It was these topics of information, the admission of the shooting of the victims and the plan of escape, [that] Oglesby sought to impart to Fitzgerald. Subsequent to receiving this message from Oglesby, on May [21], 1979, he visited the jail and after talking with Oglesby about the above matters, Fitzgerald requested Oglesby bring the documents Oglesby said he obtained from Petitioner to their next visit. On the following day, Oglesby produced the documents of escape and verified they were prepared by Petitioner. During this visit, Oglesby again told Fitzgerald the verbal admission made by Petitioner to Oglesby that Petitioner killed three of the victims with a shotgun. Fitzgerald thereafter introduced Oglesby to Sheriff's Department Deputy Allender who, Fitzgerald told Oglesby, would head the investigation of the escape plans. The subsequent escape investigation developed the information through Oglesby that Petitioner planned the escape by blocking the progress of the transportation bus at the sally port of the courthouse with a car containing individuals with guns to kill the two deputies accompanying the bus. Allender then continued with the investigation by talking with Oglesby and enlisted Oglesby's help in obtaining further details of the escape plan including prospective dates and accomplices. Oglesby further informed Allender [that] Petitioner inquired of Oglesby whether Petitioner should wait to effect his escape plan until after Petitioner's brother was released from county jail. Petitioner apparently thought Oglesby would be a participant in this escape attempt and Oglesby did not dissuade Petitioner from this surmise. There is testimony that both Allender and Fitzgerald encouraged Oglesby to feign his cooperation in the escape plan in order to gain as much information as possible. As a result of the information given by Oglesby to Allender, Allender learned Petitioner solicited the cooperation of his girlfriend in the escape. Oglesby had suggested to Petitioner that his (Oglesby's) wife contact Petitioner's girlfriend. Mrs. Oglesby was wired by the Sheriff's Department for recording, but the effort was unsuccessful. In June 1979, Oglesby became concerned Petitioner was aware he was not a co-conspirator, but something else. The relationship between the two then chilled. The escape plan was inchoate at all times and never went beyond the planning stage. After the initial investigation of the escape plan, Allender became aware the Petitioner was a member of the south central Los Angeles gang known as the Crips. This latter information caused the Sheriff's Department to take extra precautions to prevent the escape of Petitioner.