Opinion ID: 1277356
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Brown Toyota With the Message Have a Nice Day

Text: Riverside County Sheriffs Department Sergeant Ronald Wade testified that on May 4, 1986, approximately six weeks after Diane and Amy were attacked, he observed a vehicle that appeared to be similar to the description of the suspect vehicle involved in the Diane Harper homicide. The vehicle, a brown Toyota Corolla, was parked next to a mobilehome in the Mead Valley area. Wade returned the next day and observed that the vehicle bore certain distinctive markings, ineluding decals on the rear bumper and a license plate frame that read, Have a Nice Day. Wade proceeded to the mobilehome on May 6 and spoke with an individual who identified himself as Joe Hart. (At trial, Wade identified the individual with whom he spoke as defendant.) Wade asked defendant where he was working on March 24, 1986. Defendant replied that he was working in the Riverside/La Sierra area at McKinley and Magnolia Avenues; defendant checked his pocket calendar to verify his recollection. The location was not far from the spot where Diane and Amy had been picked up that day. Detective Lackie subsequently testified that the distance between the locations was 1.9 miles and required approximately four minutes of travel time by car. Upon returning to the Riverside Sheriffs Department headquarters, Wade contacted the California Department of Justice in Sacramento for the purpose of obtaining Hart's criminal history and fingerprints. Michael Renney testified that he subsequently examined these known fingerprints of defendant and matched that of defendant's right ring finger to the latent print Renney obtained on March 26 from the Budweiser beer bottle found in the white plastic sack at the crime scene. Joe Sypnicki, a latent print examiner employed by the California Department of Justice, testified that he, too, compared the two prints, concluding [t]here is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the latent impression lifted from the Budweiser beer bottle is that of defendant's right ring finger. On cross-examination, Sypnicki acknowledged that no known method exists for ascertaining the date a particular fingerprint was made, and he therefore could not render an opinion as to the age of the print found on the beer bottle. Having been informed of Sergeant Wade's observations, Detective Michael Lackie traveled on May 7, 1986, to the Mead Valley address occupied by Hart and obtained consent from Hart's wife, Linda, to examine the brown Toyota parked in the driveway. Lackie brought photographs of the tire impressions found at the crime scene, and determined that each of the vehicle's tires had a different tread design and that each appeared to match the impressions depicted in the photographs. The license plate frame read Have a Nice Day. The vehicle had other distinctive features similar to those Amy had described to law enforcement officers. A fairly fresh, torn portion of a bumper sticker depicting the letters, I E R, lay on the ground; it appeared to partially match the SKIER bumper sticker Amy had recalled seeing on the vehicle. Lackie also observed, strewn about in the yard adjacent to the residence, Budweiser beer bottles siniilar to the type that Amy described defendant as having purchased on March 24. Lackie also saw Marlboro 100 cigarette butts in the vicinity; Amy had informed officers that defendant had smoked Marlboro 100's. Similar beer bottles and cigarette butts had been recovered at the crime scene. Lackie also saw an orange towel located in a planter attached to the residence.