Opinion ID: 2101401
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events leading to the killing.

Text: Defendant apparently spent most of July 16 and 17, 1982, at the apartment shared by James Croft, Ronald Back, and Adam Andazola, men whom she had known for some time. The amount of alcohol and marijuana she had consumed that day and evening is in dispute. She claims that she and her companions, Croft and Back, were intoxicated. Sometime during the evening defendant, Back, and Croft went for a ride, with defendant sitting in the front seat between the two men. All three smoked marijuana as they rode. Croft drove to the home of an ex-roommate whom he had a grudge against and smashed his car twice into the back end of his ex-roomate's car, which was parked in the driveway. The three drove away and later returned to the scene but left immediately because the police had arrived. At approximately 11:30 p.m. the trio returned to the apartment and apparently resumed drinking and smoking marijuana. Defendant claims to have been so intoxicated at this point that her memory was very foggy, but actually she recalls a fair amount of detail. The three then decided that they would go shooting in a field. Either Croft or Back put the cased rifle, which defendant recalls was either a .44 or a .45, and two boxes of ammunition into the back of the car. Defendant claims that she doesn't know how to shoot a gun and has never shot, loaded, or carried bullets for a gun. No evidence was presented to controvert this assertion. The trio took another car on the drive this time. Defendant recalls it was a light brown Buick, with a black top, about a '73, four-door, that was pretty beat up. Once again she was seated in the front seat between Croft and Back, with Croft driving. The men then switched places so that Croft could fire the weapon and Croft began shooting at street signs, houses, and cars. In neither of her two statements did defendant assert that she tried to restrain this behavior in any way or that she was upset by it. At trial she stated that she didn't say anything to him [Croft] because [she] didn't want to make him mad or get him upset. No other evidence was presented to show she was afraid of Croft, and at trial she said that he had never shown any violence before or given her any reason to fear him. She also testified that she did not try to stop Croft because I was just there for the ride and I didn't want to get involved in what was going on and I couldn't stop Croft from doing anything like that anyways. At one point, while driving in Brooklyn Center, Croft got angry at a driver who passed him or something and he sideswiped the other car. Defendant remembered in her second statement that it was a dark blue or black El Camino pickup, that the incident happened near the Super America store, and that Croft hit the other car once or twice. She recalled that some of [the sideswiping] was on a highway and some of it was on a street and further that the car chased them for awhile and then we lost him. Shortly before 1 a.m. on July 17, 1982, someone (defendant doesn't remember who) suggested shooting at the victim's son's home. She stated: I don't think I said anything like that but then she also said [m]aybe I did say it, I don't remember. Croft asked defendant where the victim's son lived. At trial defendant professed to have blacked out at that point and to have no idea how Croft found the victim's home. In her second statement, however, defendant stated that Jim said something about where does that    kid live and then I told him and we went there. At the omnibus hearing she also admitted that she told them how to get there. All the evidence presented at trial indicated, as the State argues, that neither Croft nor Back had ever been to the victim's son's house or knew where he lived, whereas defendant had been there on a number of occasions. The three drove to the home and Croft began shooting. In her first statement, defendant recalled that the car was moving when some of the shots were fired and was parked in the middle of the road in the opposite way of the Dupont bridge when the rest of the shots (about 5) were fired. But at trial she claimed that she blacked out and was awakened by the sound of the gunshots. At that point, Croft was shooting at the door of the house and someone told Croft to shoot at the windows instead. Defendant, in her second statement, said, some . . . I think it was me, said shoot through the windows or something, not through the door. [1] One of the shots mortally wounded the victim, a 32-year-old woman who had turned on the porch lights and had laid down to sleep on the porch in the front of her house to escape the heat. Neighbors witnessed an older model Buick idling outside the home. Then, three or four loud noises and flashes of light were heard and seen coming from the Buick. The victim's husband heard shots or firecrackers and then a choking, gurgling sound. He ran to the living room and found his wife standing in the doorway between the porch and the living room, bleeding heavily from a bullet wound that had entered her back and exited through her shoulder. Glass fragments were found embedded in her back. The victim died of excessive blood loss shortly after being transported by ambulance to the hospital. Investigators found three .44-caliber bullets at the scene and determined that at least four had struck the victim's home. The bullets were admitted into evidence. Ned Austin, the medical examiner, testified that it could not be determined to any degree of certainty which of the four shots fired was fatal. According to defendant's second statement, at one point during the shooting spree, the trio returned to the apartment for more bullets. After some drinking they left with the additional ammunition. Defendant testified at trial that after the shooting she told Croft she wanted to go home, although in her first statement to police, she had said, Well, I wanted to go home, but I didn't say anything to them guys about it. Croft insisted on shooting at one more place and defendant suggested the Earle Brown Elementary School. Defendant claims she suggested the school because it was empty, no one was likely to be hurt, and it was nearby, and she was anxious to get home. One of the shots at the school hit the master clock, which stopped at 1:22 a.m. One more home was shot at on Lilac Drive. The three then returned to the apartment, and defendant claims that she was carried in, too drunk to walk, and that she got sick and passed out for the rest of the night. Defendant eventually went home. In the morning she learned that the victim had been killed. According to the testimony of Adam Andazola, the roommate who did not participate in the shooting spree, defendant brought the newspaper clipping to their apartment and they discussed disposing of the vehicle and the rifle and fleeing the state. All four then hid the rifle at Back's parents' house. It was later found by police, was determined to be the weapon that fired the bullets found in the victim's home, and was admitted into evidence. The Buick was taken to Back's estranged wife's residence, where it was found by the police. Defendant returned to the apartment that evening, and the trio, along with Adam Andazola, attended a party together.