Opinion ID: 2633199
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Testimony Witnesses Would Have Provided

Text: We turn to those witnesses a competent investigation would have located and what testimony they might have provided. Claus von Wendel: Von Wendel lived on a boat near Rainbow Village. During the evidentiary hearing, he testified that he found a bag on his boat the morning of August 16. He looked inside and saw shoes, books, a blanket-like object, and an out-of-state license for a dark-haired male. Later that day, a blond man came to claim the bag. Von Wendel was upset because the man said he had spent the night on the boat and because he had left the bag without permission. When von Wendel described the man to Deadheads James Berney Royster and Marie Marino, they recognized him and said his name was something like Bo. Von Wendel did not know Bo. At the evidentiary hearing, von Wendel identified two photographs of James Bowen as the man who appeared on his boat. A defense investigator spoke with von Wendel in 1986 and learned of this incident. The investigator's notes describe the uninvited visitor as a White male but do not include the name Bo; they also indicate von Wendel recalled the name on the license as Bryan or Bryant. In the same interview, von Wendel also told the investigator of an incident in which Thomas had threatened to kill a woman and her dog. When von Wendel intervened, Thomas appeared to snap, left, and returned with a machete. When Thomas was distracted, von Wendel escaped unharmed. Chaffee made a tactical decision not to call von Wendel, reasoning that calling him would allow the prosecution to introduce this incident. Thomas does not challenge that tactical justification. Thus, the failure to call von Wendel was not a prejudicial consequence of the defense's limited investigation. [11] Randy Turley: As discussed, Randy Turley was a traveling Deadhead. Chaffee could have traced Turley as the registered owner of the Dead On bus. However, Turley had no personal information about the murders; as Thomas acknowledges, Turley left Rainbow Village several days before the murders and did not rejoin the Grateful Dead tour until a week or two after. Thus, Turley would not have been able to provide testimony directly corroborating Cercy's account. At the evidentiary hearing, he testified that he knew several people named Bo, one of whom frequented Grateful Dead shows and, like the person Cercy described, was tall, thin, and blond. Turley did not know whether this Bo was in Rainbow Village at the time of the murders. Jong Cheol Cho: Cho was a traveling Deadhead. The referee found Chaffee knew of Cho, whose name and address were disclosed in a police report. Cho testified that he knew someone named Bo, but no one named James Bowen. Cho identified pictures of James Bowen as the man he knew as Bo. Cho was in Rainbow Village the night of the murders. The morning after, he had a conversation with Bo and another man he knew as Weston about the previous night. Bo said either I or we went swimming into the bay last night. In response, Weston jabbed Bo in the ribs and gave him a look. The conversation ended. Cho spoke briefly with police that day, but did not mention the conversation. Cho did not recall seeing Bo again. The referee's findings concerning von Wendel's, Turley's, and Cho's prospective testimony are supported by substantial evidence, and we adopt them.