Opinion ID: 2600593
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence concerning defendant's background, character, conduct, and habits

Text: Defendant did not testify at trial, but evidence concerning his life and character was presented by psychologist Edward Fischer, who examined defendant, and by defendant's family and friends. Defendant was born in 1951. He had two brothersKenneth, born in 1949, and Kevin, born in 1963and two sistersDeborah, born in 1954, and Brenda, born in 1957. The five siblings were raised by defendant's mother and stepfather, who struck his wife and children with his hands, spanked defendant, and hit defendant with a belt. As a child, defendant was timid, shy, and passive, and had no close friends. He was taunted and called retarded by his siblings and other children. He received poor grades in school, and was in special education classes from the seventh grade until he left high school during his junior year and enlisted in the Army at 17 years of age. As an adult, he remained passive and avoided confrontation. Defendant served in Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea. While in the Army, he worked as a wheeled vehicle mechanic, and became sergeant first class in charge of a small motor pool. Defendant met his future wife, Kwang Lee Chong, in Korea. Their first child was born in 1976; they wed in 1978; the family moved to the United States in 1979, and their second child was born in 1980. In 1981, the Army transferred defendant to Allentown, Pennsylvania. In Allentown, Kwang purchased a convenience store, and when the Army transferred defendant to Hawaii in 1984, Kwang remained in Allentown with their children to operate the store. In 1987, the Army transferred defendant to Fort Irwin. Defendant and Kwang remained friends, and their children visited defendant once after he was transferred to Fort Irwin, but Kwang and defendant did not reside together after 1984, and they divorced several years prior to his arrest. They remarried after his arrest. Kwang testified that defendant was a wonderful father and a good husband. Defendant became depressed after his marriage failed, and began drinking alcoholic beverages more than he had in the past. While serving in the military at Fort Irwin, defendant began drinking during the day, and sometimes would leave work after lunch and go out into the desert and become intoxicated. Defendant received a bad efficiency report after an officer discovered his alcohol-related activities, and defendant then was given the option of retiring from the military. He chose to do so in July 1988, after 20 years of military service, rather than face further military discipline. When defendant retired from the military, he became a firing range maintenance supervisor at Fort Irwin for DynCorp, a military contractor. His supervisor at DynCorp, Larry Blaine, testified that defendant was a hard worker and an exacting supervisor to the 15 employees who worked under him, and performed his job extremely well. In 1992, when DynCorp was awarded a five-year contract to continue managing Fort Irwin, the new contract's listing of job titles that were funded pursuant to the contract did not include defendant's job title. Thereafter, despite Blaine's reassurances, defendant had a fear, bordering on the abnormal, of losing his job. Blaine also testified that defendant was generally quiet and withdrawn at work. Blaine did not believe that defendant attempted suicide because of job concerns, and also did not believe he could have committed the crimes with which he was charged. When defendant's apartment was cleared out after his arrest, Blaine was shocked to learn that defendant had been taking property from DynCorp and the Army. [11] Vicki Evans, whom defendant supervised at DynCorp, testified that defendant was very concerned about job security and spoke of that frequently. In 1991, when Evans underwent chemotherapy and could not work, defendant visited her once or twice a week to ask whether she needed anything. During those visits, he always was a gentleman to her daughter, who then was 12 or 13 years of age. Evans testified that defendant was very passive, and in her view would not commit the charged crimes. Manuila Cahill testified that she and her daughter, Monique, commuted with defendant to and from Fort Irwin, where she worked and Monique attended school. Sometimes she and Monique watched movies at defendant's apartment, and he always was very nice and a very good friend. Cahill was surprised that defendant was interested in the sort of pornography admitted into evidence, that he might attempt suicide, and that he would steal from his employer. Monique testified that she met defendant when she was 11 or 12 years of age, and that he was a sweet, caring, sensitive, calm, polite, and respectful person who never would scream at a child or grab a child who was riding a bicycle. Deborah Wartenbe, the manager of the Rimrock Apartments, testified that defendant complained about loud children riding their bikes, climbing on the fence by the satellite dishes, and playing around his apartment, which was in a building of the complex that housed only adults. She also testified that he usually washed his laundry on Saturday morning. Defendant's former girlfriend, Sylvia Twiford, met defendant in 1987, and resided with him for one and one-half years in 1991 and 1992. Sylvia testified that on Saturday mornings, defendant would wash his laundry, vacuum, dust, and do any other cleaning. She also testified that when children played around the satellite dish by his apartment, he would shoo them away, sometimes yelling at them. She saw him lose his temper and scream and yell at a man who angered him, but she described him as a hard-working, kind, considerate, introverted, shy, and overall nice person who would not commit the charged crimes. DuWayne Vandruff worked with defendant and became friends with him at Fort Irwin when both men were in the Army and they began to work for DynCorp. Vandruff described defendant as an all-around nice guy. Vandruff resided at defendant's apartment for two or three months, and remembered children being near the satellite dish outside defendant's apartment, but never saw defendant yell at the children. Vandruff did not believe defendant was capable of committing the charged crimes.