Opinion ID: 1801948
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The killing of Jewell Francis Russell

Text: Jewell Francis Russell, also known as Shafter Bobby, lived in Shafter, about 25 miles from the Mercks' home in Bakersfield. In September 1984, Russell was about 55 years old. He carried his money in his front pocket, folded neatly in half, with the smallest bills on the outside. His daughter Mitzi was Gerald Cowan's girlfriend. About 9:30 p.m. on September 7, 1984, Russell's son Danny was driving by his father's house and noticed that all the lights and the television were on. This seemed not right to him, so he decided to investigate. He entered the side door, which was unlocked. In the kitchen, he saw blood on the floor and blood leading into the next room. In the living room there was more blood leading to the hall area. The house was hot and smelled bad, and the television was on full blast. Danny left and returned with family members, and the police were summoned. Paul Petersen, a sergeant and watch commander in the Shafter Police Department, responded to the scene. Entering the house through the kitchen door, Petersen noticed bloodstains on the floor, what appeared to be dried blood spatters, and drag marks leading from the kitchen to the rug area. In the living room, Petersen noticed shoes, cowboy boots, socks, a guitar, a stained towel, and dried blood on the rug. Following the strong odor of what he believed to be a deceased person to the northeast bedroom, he found a body under the bed. He called the coroner's office and summoned a technical investigations team. Jerry Grimes, the supervisor of the Kern County Sheriff's Department Technical Investigations unit, arrived to investigate. In the bedroom, he found drawers opened and their contents lying about. Investigators moved the bed, revealing Russell's body lying prone with the head resting on the right cheek. The pockets of Russell's pants were turned inside out. Russell's throat had been slit on the right side and he had been severely beaten; bruising in the facial area appeared to match the stock of a shotgun. Petersen later seized from the house a knife and sheath, a cigarette butt, a golf club and a shotgun. A postmortem examination of Russell's body revealed numerous bruises around the face and a bruise on the chest wall, apparently inflicted using a blunt object such as a fist or a shoe. A large slashing incised wound on the right side of the neck from the midline to the back had severed the sternocleidomastoid muscle, jugular vein, carotid sheath and artery, and everything down to the spine, trachea, and larynx. There was also a superficial incised wound on the left side of the neck. Russell died from exsanguinationhe bled to death. The wound to his neck probably rendered him unconsciousness almost immediately, and he died in less than 10 minutes. Defendant's girlfriend in 1984, Gerry Tags, died before trial, so her 1994 preliminary examination testimony was read to the jury. Tags testified that she had lived with defendant for three to four years, ending in 1986. Defendant was using crank (methamphetamine) every day and did not have a steady job. Tags also used methamphetamine on a daily basis if she could get it. Sometimes the drug made her stay awake for several days at a time. She worked as a prostitute, giving the money she earned to defendant. She had stopped using drugs about six or seven months before her testimony because she was being treated for cancer. Tags was acquainted with Russell because his son Danny was the father of her child. She had seen Russell many times at the pool hall carrying a large amount of money in his pocket. The night before Tags learned that Russell had been killed, Tags and defendant were playing cards with defendant's brother Gerald and his girlfriend Mitzi, who was Russell's daughter (and who later married Gerald), at Mitzi's apartment. Tags and defendant got into an argument because defendant wanted Tags to go out and make some money so defendant could buy drugs, but Tags did not want to go. Tags allowed defendant to use her car; defendant did not say where he was going. She then went upstairs and went to sleep. A while later, she was awakened by Gerald's voice yelling. Gerald (who apparently had left the apartment at some point) had returned by himself. Defendant returned separately around daybreak wearing different clothes than he had worn when he left the night before. Defendant and Gerald were arguing. Defendant and Tags then left Mitzi's apartment. Tags did not question defendant because she feared he would beat her. A week or two later, Tags saw, in the trunk of her car, the clothes defendant had been wearing the night he left Mitzi's apartment after arguing with Tags. There appeared to be blood on defendant's beige pants. A knife Tags had seen at Russell's house was wrapped in defendant's pants and shirt. When defendant saw Tags looking at the clothes, he said Bitch, don't you touch anything of mine. After Russell's funeral, Tags, defendant, and Gerald drove to Oklahoma and Florida on a two- or three-week trip. One night in Oklahoma, Tags asked defendant if he had killed Russell. Defendant responded, Yeah bitch, and if you say anything, I'll cut your throat, just like I did his. At trial Mitzi Cowan gave an account of the early-September card-playing evening and subsequent events that was similar to Tags's account, but with additional details. Her testimony is discussed in greater detail below in part II.C.8. Tags's mother, Emma Foreman, testified that sometime after Russell was killed, defendant and Tags were at Foreman's house. They were arguing because Tags was resisting defendant's demand that she go out to prostitute herself. According to Foreman, defendant said to Tags, if you don't go out, I'll cut your damn throat, and I'll do you like I did motherfucking Bobby. One time Foreman saw some bloody clothes in the trunk of Tags's car. Tags's stepuncle Roy Davidsona heroin abuser with a felony conviction for forgeryworked for Russell for 12 years. Davidson claimed to have seen a knife and some bloody boots in defendant's car sometime in September of 1984. Defendant also had a roll of bills, some jewelry, and a man's watch that Davidson recognized as Russell's. A few days later, defendant said something like he had done away with Bob or Bob won't be around no more.