Opinion ID: 2575291
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Events on February 16, 1988

Text: On Tuesday February 16, 1988, at approximately 8:00 a.m., defendant entered the accounting department of Covalent and asked for his paycheck. Linda Emerson, the accounting manager, testified she told defendant the checks would be available at 10:00 a.m. When defendant was asked why he needed his check at 8:00 in the morning, he replied that he had to go buy a gun. Early in the afternoon, defendant visited the Santa Clara County public shooting range. Imas testified that he mentioned to the range owner and the supplier that defendant had been looking for .22-250 ammunition, and defendant showed them he had since acquired several boxes of the ammunition. [4] About 2:50 p.m., defendant arrived in the Coachman motor home at ESL's offices in Sunnyvale. He walked to ESL's two-story M-5 building with a shotgun in his hands, rifles strapped over his body, and approximately four bandoliers of ammunition strapped to his body. He shot and killed ESL employee Lawrence Kane in the parking lot. He then fired at Randell Hemingway, who safely ducked behind his car door. Defendant shattered glass in the Mardex security doors to M-5 by firing one of his weapons. Inside the building, he shot and killed six persons and wounded four others, including Black. The precise sequence of events is unclear, but the evidence established that defendant generally walked slowly and deliberately through the building, shooting his victims at various locations in the facility. In addition to committing these assaults, defendant fired at computer equipment and parts of the building. [5] The first report of the incident to a 911 operator was received at 2:53 p.m. At approximately 3:15 p.m., a man identifying himself as Richard Farley placed a call on an inside emergency telephone line. He told Robert Mancebo, an ESL security hardware repairperson, I'm the one who has been wasting all these people. Mancebo testified that defendant also said he was calling to let us know why he was doing it, and that he wanted a recorder so there would be a permanent record. Defendant said he was doing it . . . because of Laura Black and because of her lawyer and what they were doing. Mancebo asked if defendant was going to kill anyone else, and he said no, he was just shooting up equipment. Defendant terminated the call, but placed a second call on ESL's emergency telephone line a few minutes later. He wanted to talk to the police, but no officers were in the security room at that time. Mancebo and defendant had one or two more separate telephone conversations. During the last call, Mancebo could think of nothing else to say, so he handed the telephone to ESL security officer Devin Matlock. Defendant told Matlock that he had told Black he would do something like this if her attorney obtained a restraining order. Defendant also said he had a high-powered rifle, and that Matlock should keep people 300 yards from the building. Matlock testified defendant did not sound depressed or agitated, but seemed as if he was anticipating that something interesting would be happening. At approximately 3:20 p.m., facilities engineering manager John Kitching received a call on an ESL emergency telephone line from a man who identified himself as Rich. The caller said, Tell Mei Chang I'm sorry. I just got Laura. He also said, I've got plenty of ammunition. It will all be over at 5 o'clock. At approximately 3:30 p.m., Captain Albert Scott of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety spoke to defendant. Defendant seemed to him to be a little bit excited. When Scott asked defendant whether he had killed anyone, defendant said he had shot three or four individuals on the top floor but did not know how many were dead. Defendant also said that Black had gone too far and that he had done this to make a point. He said she had belittled him, and he was getting even. At one point, Scott asked whether defendant would surrender his guns and come down, and defendant said, No, I'm not ready yet. I want to gloat a little bit. At approximately 3:35 p.m., a caller who identified himself as Rich told ESL telephone installer Robert Costanzo, who was assisting in answering the telephones, that he had an assault rifle, a shotgun, and some handguns, and enough ammunitionif he fired continuouslyto last for two hours. According to Costanzo, the caller was very clear and calm. During one of defendant's telephone conversations on the afternoon of February 16, Linda Walden, defendant's longtime friend and former landlady, who also worked at ESL, was hiding under the desk at which defendant was standing. Defendant pulled out the chair, and said, Oh, there's someone here. You can come out now. Oh, it's Linda. When she emerged, he calmly told her she could leave. Christine Hansen, who was hiding nearby, assumed it was the police evacuating the building. She left her hiding place and encountered defendant. She asked, Can I go, too? Defendant said, Yes, you can go. Hansen testified that defendant's tone was regular, and he was not angry or crying. Lieutenant Ruben Grijalva of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, an expert in hostage negotiations, negotiated by telephone with defendant from approximately 3:30 p.m. until he agreed to surrender at approximately 8:30 p.m. Defendant terminated the telephone communication with Grijalva several times to prevent the police from tracing the call. The initial portion of the negotiations was not recorded, but Grijalva took notes. According to Grijalva, in the initial conversations defendant was quite excited, but his voice was not incoherent or slurred. After approximately 30 to 45 minutes, his demeanor was much more calm, much more deliberate . . . . Defendant asked Grijalva to tell Black that her attorney and Bob Peterson had given her bad advice, and that he was sorry that they weren't there, too. Defendant told Grijalva that he was due to appear in court the next day, that Black had filed a lawsuit against him, and that all he wanted to do was date her. According to defendant, Had she gone out with him one time, none of this would have happened. He said he had gone to the second floor and shot Black, and he wanted her to live and to remember what had occurred. He said he knew what he had done was wrong and that he had to die because of it. He constantly spoke of killing himself, or having the police kill him, but expressed fear the police only would wound him, and he didn't want to suffer. Grijalva testified defendant indicated that he was real good with guns and had several pistols and a high powered rifle and a shotgun with him. When defendant mentioned target shooting, Grijalva inquired whether he was interested in hunting. Defendant replied, I'd rather kill people than animals. It's not sporting to shoot animals. When Grijalva asked how many individuals had been shot, defendant said there were three or four lying around the first floor and that everybody on the second floor was dead. Defendant said he was not crazy and that he knew what he had done but he had to do it, he had to make a point. He told Grijalva that he almost changed his mind when he arrived at the parking lot, but that it had to be done and he didn't want Laura Black to think that he was a wimp. He told Grijalva he had thought about doing this when he first received a notice to appear in court. Defendant asked Grijalva to tell his mother and father he was sorry. He stated he was not sorry he had shot these victims; the only thing he was sorry about was shooting Black, because he wanted her to live and remember what had happened. He also was sorry that Chuck (Lindauer), who had terminated defendant's employment, was not there. Defendant told Grijalva that he did not plan to leave ESL alive, and had changed the beneficiary on his life insurance from Black to Mei Chang. Defendant said he had rented the motor home with a bad check and thought that was kind of funny. He also told Grijalva that he had brought approximately 1,000 rounds of ammunition and gasoline in the motor home to blow up ESL, but that when he arrived, he could not carry everything. At approximately 4:30 p.m., defendant agreed to allow officers to enter the first floor of building M-5 to rescue injured individuals. At some point thereafter, Grijalva's negotiating team obtained a tape recorder and recorded the remainder of the negotiations until defendant surrendered. This recording was played for the jury. Defendant declared, [T]here's no more reason to harm anybody. I've run out of enthusiasm for things really. Defendant stated that he shot up a lot of terminals; I guess it's better than shooting people, . . . `cause it punishes ESL at the same time. . . . I need to get back at somebody, basically. Defendant said that he told Peterson he would just cause a lot of trouble . . . and cause Laura to do things . . . she would regret; and this kind of stuff `cause I tried telling her that, you know, I wouldn't take this. She got me fired and, . . . I wasn't going to let her do anything more to me, really. Defendant told Grijalva, I never really wanted to hurt her. I just wanted her to know that I was serious and, as I say, if we just could've talked, and we hadn't got this court thing and she didn't try to sue me for $1,000and then this last letter, you know, that says bring all this stuff: it was just the final straw; I just had it. Grijalva inquired, So when you got up today, did you decide today that you wanted to hurt her? Defendant responded, I didn't decide that I wanted to hurt her until I got that letter in the mail that said, you know, now you're going to bring this evidence and now we're really going to, you knowI took it as a real threat, where I was [in] real serious trouble now. So until 10 o'clock this . . . morning time, I really hadn't given any thought to hurting her. Grijalva asked, When you came down here this afternoon, . . . did you have anybody in mind that you wanted to shoot or just because they were a threat to you? Defendant said, They were a threat to me; I wanted to destroy a lot of equipment at ESL. . . . I came down to destroy, do as much damage to ESL equipment as I could. Grijalva asked, And you didn't intend or plan on shooting any persons? Defendant said, Yeah, some people popped out from around corners and stuff like that, um, and I just shot. Grijalva continued, Was there anything in particular that you wanted to destroy here at ESL? Defendant responded, No, I just want Laura to know I was serious. . . . I wanted to do as much damage to their computer equipment and just cause them a lot of money loss. He later noted, I'm tired of shooting equipment and I'm tired of shooting terminals. They just explode, spread glass on me. It's not any fun anymore. Grijalva asked defendant about the victims, inquiring, Other than Laura, do you know any of the people you shot today? Defendant responded, No. Grijalva asked, So you don't even know them personally? Defendant confirmed, I don't know them personally, no. In fact, I have no idea who half of them were. . . . [¶] . . . [¶] I have to tell you, though, that if I'd recognized Peterson, I think I would have shot him, realistically. Because I was pissed at him. I mean, him and [Black's attorney], . . . if they had come into my sights, I would have got them. Defendant described how he went up to Laura's office, yeah, and then she tried to shove the door thing, so I fired around . . . through the door. And then . . . she fell against it. Defendant asked whether Black had survived. When Grijalva said he did not know, defendant responded, I hope she's doing good. . . . [I]f the slug did catch her, or the whatever it was that I hit her with, she can't regret it if she doesn't live. And that was . . . my feelings at the time. During his conversations with Grijalva, defendant never expressed any remorse for the seven individuals killed. At approximately 8:30 p.m., defendant surrendered to the police after requesting and receiving the promise of a sandwich and a soft drink. Toxicology analysis of his blood did not show the presence of either alcohol or drugs. Inside M-5, the police discovered a Benelli riot configuration semiautomatic shotgun, a rifle with a scope, a pump-action shotgun, a Sentinel revolver, a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum revolver, a Browning semiautomatic pistol, a Smith & Wesson pistol, a smoke bomb, a leather glove, a belt with pouches filled with ammunition, other bags containing more than 200 rounds of ammunition, and a vest containing more than 800 rounds of ammunition, wooden matches, a foot-long buck knife and sheath, and ear protectors. A search of the motor home found in the ESL parking lot disclosed four gallons of gasoline, a loaded semiautomatic pistol, and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition. A search of defendant's residence revealed a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun barrel, a Ruger .22-caliber carbine, a gun clip, a gas mask, ammunition and empty boxes of ammunition, a reloading press, three cans of gunpowder, and gun-cleaning equipment. Various documents including the TRO, the notice in lieu of subpoena, and the motor home rental agreement, were on the dining room table. Defendant's will was in plain view on top of a computer terminal. On February 23, 1988, defendant said to another prisoner, I think they should be lenient since it's my first offense. After the other prisoner made a comment, defendant replied, If I did it again, then they should throw the book at me. The tone was conversational, and not joking or agitated. In March 1988, defendant wrote to Black, When I go to the gas chamber, I'll smile for the cameras and you'll know that you'll have won in the end. In April 1988, he wrote to Chrysler Credit Corporation, I'm in jail and will no longer be able to make payments. [¶] I would like the previous bank to know, its harassing letters and failure to allow me to purchase the car were contributing factors to the death of seven innocent people. It was signed, Rich Farley [¶] mass murderer. On March 11, 1989, defendant wrote to his friend Tom Burch, I'm glad Laura's ok. . . . I hope she understands if I'd really wanted to hurt hershe wouldn't be here today.