Opinion ID: 2575291
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Events prior to February 16, 1988

Text: Laura Black testified concerning defendant's efforts to establish a personal relationship with her. She recalled that they met in the spring of 1984. Soon thereafter, defendant invited her to socialize with him, but she declined. Defendant continued to extend social invitations to her without success, to call her on the telephone, to leave her gifts, and to attend her aerobics classes and company softball games. Black testified that she changed her residence three times between July 1985 and February 1988, but defendant obtained her new address each time, and surreptitiously obtained a key to one of these residences. Between the fall of 1984 and February 1988, she received approximately 150 to 200 letters from defendant, including two letters he sent to her parents' home in Virginia where she was visiting in December 1984. She had not provided him with her parents' address. Various employees of ESL attempted to stop defendant's harassment of Black, and defendant reacted either defiantly or by threatening to commit violent acts. Jean Tuffley, who was employed in ESL's human resources department, testified that she met with defendant in October 1985 regarding Black's complaints of harassment. Defendant agreed at the meeting to cease sending letters and gifts to Black, following Black home, and using her computer terminal, but in December 1985 he again wrote to Black, threatening to visit her and her roommate. Tuffley testified that she and defendant's supervisor, Charles Lindauer, met with defendant in December 1985 and January 1986, and ESL issued defendant a written warning after each meeting. After the January 1986 meeting with Tuffley and Lindauer, defendant confronted Black at her residence's parking lot. Black testified that defendant mentioned guns, told her he no longer was going to ask Black what to do and said he was going to tell her what to do. Black further testified that the weekend after this encounter, she received a letter from defendant stating he would not kill her, but referencing a whole range of options, each getting worse and worse. The letter warned, I do own guns and I'm good with them, and asked her not to push him. It indicated that if neither of them yielded, pretty soon I crack under the pressure and run amok destroying everything in my path until the police catch me and kill me. It also stated, You know I'm serious when I show you a letter like this. In mid-February 1986, Tuffley testified, defendant stopped by her office and told her that ESL had no right to control his relationships with other individuals. Tuffley responded that sexual harassment is illegal, and that if defendant did not leave Black alone, his conduct would lead to his termination. Tuffley testified that defendant calmly said, if we terminated him . . . he'd have nothing to live for, and that he had guns and he wasn't afraid to use them, and . . . it would be over for him and he'd take people with him. Tuffley asked, Rich, are you saying that you would kill me? Defendant said, Yes, but I would take others too. Tuffley spoke to her supervisor, John Allen about her meeting with defendant and her fear of what he might do. Thereafter, Tuffley explained, she did not interact with defendant; instead, Allen communicated directly with defendant. In late February or March 1986, Evor Vattuone, an ESL laboratory manager, met with defendant at defendant's request. Vattuone testified that defendant was concerned about the possibility that Black would obtain a restraining order. Vattuone told defendant he understood defendant had been bothering Black, and it would be good if defendant stopped. Defendant told Vattuone he had every right to see Black anywhere, and described following Black home, driving by her home, and attending her softball games. Vattuone told defendant this conduct was jeopardizing his job, and that Black was on the verge of getting a restraining order. Defendant said he would be very upset if he received a restraining order, and did not know how he would respond. Vattuone testified that he asked defendant what he meant, and defendant said, he had guns and he wasn't afraid to use them. Vattuone understood that defendant was telling him he was ready to use guns, and he was going to get his own way no matter what. In March or April of 1986, Lloyd Bass, defendant's supervisor at ESL, told Dennis Elliott, defendant's former supervisor at ESL, that Bass had a problem with defendant leaving his work area and chasing some girl. Elliott testified that Bass asked him to speak to defendant. A few days later, Elliott told defendant he had learned that the human relations department was involved in a situation in which defendant was `hassling' a girl over at [ESL building] M-5 during working hours. Elliott told defendant that it could cost him his job, it could cost him his clearances . . . . He needed to be at his duty station and he should just do his job. Elliott testified that defendant was really angry and claimed, I don't care. They can't hurt me. I'm not afraid of them. On May 2, 1986, ESL terminated defendant's employment, effective immediately. Following his termination, defendant continued to write and place telephone calls to Black and to attend Black's softball games and aerobic classes, and he frequently was seen in or near the ESL parking lot. At the end of the summer or early fall of 1986, defendant began dating Mei Chang, but he continued to harass Black. On July 10, 1987, he wrote to Black, warning her not to obtain a restraining order. His letter stated, It might not really occur to you how far I'm willing to go to upset you if I decide that's what I'm forced to do. In early October 1987, he wrote to Black, I've nothing else to lose now but my life, so don't try pushing me any further. In November 1987, Thomas Burch, a longtime friend who had worked with defendant at ESL, spoke with him. Burch testified that defendant was upset and worried, but not depressed. Defendant told Burch that he owed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) between $25,000 and $30,000 and that the IRS was about to attach his wages. [2] He also said that if the IRS was not willing to give him some slack, that he didn't have anything or he didn't have much to live for. Defendant brought up the shooting massacre at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, and said, I wonder what they would do or what they would think if I did something like that. Burch interpreted they to mean ESL, and did not take defendant seriously. That same month, defendant wrote to Black, warning, This is going to escalate, because, he believed, she thought he was a joke. He advised her not to show his letters to anyone, because they might do something stupid which would make me do something stupid and it would spiral beyond any hope of recovery. In December 1987, he asked in a letter to Black, [D]o you believe I can make you pay attention to me? That same month, the topic of shoot[ing] up ESL was discussed during a conversation defendant had at a delicatessen with Gerald Hirst and homicide victim Lawrence Kane. Hirst believed he was being forced to resign from ESL, and the three men discussed ESL's management practices. Hirst testified that defendant inquired whether his girlfriend Black was still at ESL and where her office was located, and Kane provided him with directions. The conversation returned to ESL's management, and Hirst said, What's it going to take to wake them up, some madman to come in there to shoot the computers, shoot the place up? Hirst testified that as he left the table to get more coffee, he heard defendant say, I might do it. When Hirst returned, Kane asked him whether the glass in the ESL Mardex security doors was bulletproof. Hirst said he did not think so. Defendant said, Then double-aught buck would take care of that glass, wouldn't it? Hirst agreed. According to Hirst, the three of them fantasized and laughed and joked, about how funny it might be to go in [to] the company and shoot up the equipment. Hirst was interested in investigating job opportunities at defendant's current employer, and gave defendant directions to his office at ESL. [3] In January 1988, ESL employee Robert Peterson confronted defendant, who was parked outside of ESL, and asked him to stop harassing Black. Peterson testified that he told defendant something to the effect, If you continue doing this, you may have to go to jail. Defendant responded that Peterson was only making things worse. On January 23, 1988, approximately three weeks before the attacks, Black received a letter from defendant describing his encounter with Peterson and instructing her, You'd better tell him to mind his own business. . . . [¶] He doesn't have any idea what he's getting into. You'd better tell him, I'd better never see any police around me. On February 2 or 3, 1988, Black obtained a TRO against defendant. The hearing regarding a permanent injunction was scheduled for February 17, 1988, the day after the crimes were committed. Black also sought $1,000 in attorney fees. Black's attorney, Mary Bird, and Bird's receptionist and office manager, Ruth Day, testified that on or about February 9, defendant delivered a letter to Bird, claiming that, contrary to the declaration supporting the TRO, he had a relationship with Black. He claimed to possess proof of this relationship, such as photographs of Black and defendant on dates, a garage door opener to Black's house, and hotel and credit card receipts. On February 10, 1988, Bird prepared a notice in lieu of subpoena, requiring defendant to bring these items to court on February 17. In the meantime, defendant visited Bighorn Sporting Goods and asked Frank Janik, the store manager, to see something with high-capacity fire power. Janik further testified that approximately one week later, on February 11, defendant returned to the store and purchased a Benelli riot configuration semiautomatic shotgun and ammunition. He paid by check, which later was returned for insufficient funds. According to Janik, defendant was very calm when he purchased the weapon. The same day, according to David Walker of Target Masters West, defendant rented a shooting lane at the shooting range, requested six silhouette or man-shaped targets, and purchased 13 boxes of shotgun and pistol ammunition. Walker further testified that the next day, defendant purchased 1,000 rounds of .357 magnum handgun ammunition, one box of nine-millimeter hollow-point handgun ammunition, and three boxes of .380 hollow-point handgun ammunition. Approximately one week before the commission of the crimes, defendant spoke to Carolyn Gagnon, a secretary for Father Rewak, the president of Santa Clara University, where Black was enrolled. Gagnon testified that defendant provided his name, and insisted upon seeing Father Rewak. Gagnon told defendant that Father Rewak was not in, and asked him whether he wished to leave a message. Defendant declined, stating it did not matter anyway, because Father Rewak was always going to remember his name. Gagnon testified that defendant was cocky when he said this, and displayed a sarcastic smile. Anthony Thurman of Homes Away From Home testified that on February 12, four days before the commission of the crimes, defendant visited the business and discussed renting a motor home. Defendant returned that afternoon to fill out rental forms. Catherine Mary Evangelista, the personnel supervisor for defendant's employer, Covalent, testified that, also on February 12, defendant eliminated Black as a beneficiary of two life insurance policies, and made Mei Chang the sole beneficiary. Defendant was adamant the change had to be completed that day. Chang testified that very shortly before defendant was arrested, she and defendant rented a storage locker in Chang's name. Defendant and a friend, Jerome Kaercher, moved some of defendant's belongings to a storage locker on either February 14 or 15. Kaercher testified that defendant seemed extremely happy. That same weekend, defendant moved belongings from the home of Lora Glaser, a former rental property that he had vacated in October 1987. Glaser testified that defendant seemed upbeat, busy, productive, like he was getting something done. On February 15, defendant was seen by off-duty Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriff Larry Imas at the Santa Clara County public shooting range, where Imas was employed on a part-time basis. Imas testified that defendant asked to purchase .22-250 ammunition, but there was none in stock. The same day, defendant completed the paperwork for the motor home he had rented, and took possession of it. Thurman testified that defendant did not behave out of the ordinary on this last visit to Homes Away From Home. He also testified that defendant's check for the rental subsequently was returned for insufficient funds. San Jose State University Professor John Avila, Jr., testified that on the evening of February 15, defendant told him that he was going to Southern California and would not be in class on Wednesday, February 17.