Opinion ID: 2630185
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Defendant's activities in the days following the murder

Text: Defendant left the compound in Gitmed's car. Michelle Keathley testified that around 3:30 on the morning following the night defendant and Gitmed had left her house, defendant came to her house to retrieve his bicycle, which he had tied to a tree near the front door. Keathley asked defendant where Gitmed was, and defendant initially said he was down the street and would arrive in a couple of minutes. When Gitmed failed to appear, Keathley again asked: What happened to Ron? Defendant then stated there was a little bit of a scuffle, and Gitmed had gotten a little scared and might have gone home. At the compound a day or two after Gitmed's murder, Mercurio again saw defendant going through the items in Gitmed's car. He saw a small handgun on the car's hood. Several days later, Mercurio, at defendant's request, accompanied defendant to Gitmed's storage locker in Riverside to pick up some furniture defendant said he owned and wanted to give to Mercurio. Defendant drove Gitmed's car, and Mercurio followed in the red pickup truck. Defendant entered the correct code in the box at the storage facility's security gate, and it opened. The two went to the storage locker and loaded several small furniture items into the truck, including a television, a videocassette recorder, and a television stand. They took the items to Charlene Triplett's dwelling at the compound. After defendant and Mercurio returned with the furniture, Charlene saw them at the dumpster burning papers. Defendant was cleaning a gun, and Mercurio asked Charlene for some lighter fluid, which he gave to defendant to clean the gun. Later, outside defendant's presence, Charlene confronted Mercurio about why they were burning papers, and he told her defendant had shot Gitmed at Canyon Lake. Later, when Charlene was in the bedroom of her mobilehome, she overheard defendant and Mercurio talking outside. Defendant told Mercurio: Whatever you do, you've got to get your girlfriend and her family to go along with our story. Defendant asked Charlene whether she wanted to buy the car stereo from Gitmed's car or knew anyone who did. Eventually, Dalton sold the stereo and split the money with defendant and Mercurio. Charlene deduced that the furniture was Gitmed's and asked Dalton to get rid of it. Dalton did not do so and instead stored it in his camper. On learning that, Charlene asked for the television back. A few days after taking the furniture from the storage locker, defendant was back at the compound trying to figure out how to dispose of Gitmed's car. Defendant tried to give the car to Dalton to strip at his chop shop, but Mercurio advised Dalton not to have anything to do with defendant or the car. Finally, defendant, along with Mercurio and Dalton driving in a separate vehicle, drove Gitmed's car to some hills near the compound, where defendant set fire to it. Sometime during this period defendant said something to Barbara Triplett about a person floating in Canyon Lake who was not able to make decisions for himself, which made her feel very uncomfortable and uneasy. Defendant also started boasting to Dalton about leaving someone floating in the lake, but Dalton told him to shut up because he did not want to know anything about it. When Dalton learned that defendant had told Barbara and Charlene about the floating man, Dalton became angry and told defendant to leave the compound. Barbara gave defendant a ride to the Corona Motel in Riverside, which was the last anyone at the compound saw of him.