Opinion ID: 2697172
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Murder of Koen Witters on December 9, 1995

Text: Koen Witters was in California as part of his work for a Taiwan-based company called Free Free Industrial Corporation. He lived in a company-leased apartment in the Pheasant Ridge apartment complex. Witters was scheduled to return to Taiwan on the night of December 9, 1995. His coworker, Sheree Chen, dropped him off at his apartment at 4:00 p.m. Chen arranged to return later that evening to collect Witters‘s apartment key and company-owned cellphone. When she returned at about 9:30 p.m., Witters did not respond to her knocking at the door and calling his name. The airport shuttle driver arrived and also tried knocking. When there was no response, he tried the door and found it unlocked. He and Chen entered the apartment. The apartment was ―a mess,‖ according to Chen. The driver looked into the bedroom and got Chen out of the apartment, telling her, ―He‘s dead, he‘s dead.‖ They called 911 from the complex‘s security office. Police found Witters lying facedown on the bedroom floor, clad only in a pair of swim trunks. His feet were tied at his ankles with a pair of athletic socks. His hands were tied behind his back at his wrists with athletic socks and videotape. His mouth was 3 gagged with another athletic sock secured by a plastic bag. There were large cuts to his forearms and a black luggage strap around his neck. In the living room police found a black flight bag missing its strap. A steak knife was found wedged between the mattress and the box springs in the bedroom. The medical examiner determined that strangulation was the cause of death. Witters‘s apartment had been ransacked. A suitcase on the bed had been forced open and its contents strewn on and around the bed. Missing from the apartment was an Apple computer, a videocassette player (VCR) and the company‘s cellphone. Just before Christmas that year, Michael Drebert told Gladys Santos he, defendant and Pritchard had robbed Witters and that defendant had murdered him. Following this conversation, Santos asked defendant if it was true that he had ―kill[ed] someone with a belt?‖3 Defendant laughed and said, ―. . . Mike told you, huh?‖ Santos denied Drebert had told her and again asked him if it was true. Defendant said, ―Yeah.‖ Although at first unwilling to talk about the murder, defendant eventually admitting killing Witters, even demonstrating how he had strangled the victim. Defendant told Santos that he, Drebert and Pritchard had been ―scoping‖ out Witters‘s apartment to rob it. Defendant told her he killed Witters because Witters saw him without a mask. He strangled rather than shot him because a gun would have been too loud and ―shanked‖ Witters because Witters ―wouldn‘t die.‖ In a later conversation, he told her he had asked Drebert to help him strangle Witters, and he strangled the victim 3 As noted, defendant and Drebert were tried simultaneously before different juries to avoid Aranda/Bruton issues. (People v. Aranda (1965) 63 Cal.2d 518; Bruton v. United States (1968) 391 U.S. 123.) (See post, pt. II.C.2.) When Santos testified before defendant‘s jury—Drebert‘s jury having been excused from the courtroom—she did not use Drebert‘s name but testified only that she had a conversation with someone other than a police officer who claimed to have been present at a murder. She testified further that after this conversation, she then had the conversation with defendant, who revealed the details of the murder. 4 three times before cutting him. Santos testified further that after the Witters murder, defendant asked her if she knew anyone who might want a large computer. She also testified that after defendant was arrested he told her that if she talked to the police, he would kill her children. c. Robbery and Sexual Assault Offenses Involving J.S. and E.G. on December 15, 1995 About 9:30 p.m. on December 15, 1995, J.S. and her husband, E.G., returned to their Whittier home after visiting E.G.‘s family. E.G. pulled into the garage and got out while J.S. remained in the passenger seat. A man inside the garage wearing a ski mask pointed a gun at E.G.‘s face and said, ―Give me your money.‖ J.S. heard her husband yell and saw a man with his hand outstretched toward her husband. A second man was standing behind the first one. One of the men came over to her, pointed a gun at her and motioned to her to get out of the car. One of the men told her husband, ―We‘re gonna go in the house.‖ The men led J.S. and E.G. into the master bedroom and tied their wrists behind their backs. The men also used belts and ties to bind the victims‘ ankles and knees, then laid them on the bed. Two other men joined the two men who had brought them into the house. All the men wore gloves and their faces were covered; two of them carried guns. Despite their masks, J.S. later identified two of the men from police lineups as Eric Pritchard and Anthony Jason Vera. The man who appeared to be the leader of the group was over six feet tall and had a ―good build.‖ At trial, a police detective testified that defendant is six feet four inches tall and weighs 210 pounds. (The fourth man was not identified at trial.) One of the men asked J.S. if they had children, were expecting anyone or owned firearms, and what their neighbors were like. Two of the men, including Pritchard, put guns to the victims‘ heads and repeatedly asked, ―Where‘s the money?‖ The men 5 rummaged through the dresser and the closet in the bedroom, and J.S. heard doors and boxes being opened elsewhere in the house. One of the men removed a bullet from his gun, put it on the bed between the victims and asked, ―Isn‘t it big?‖ Two of the men, one of them Pritchard, asked both J.S. and E.G. if they would ―suck dick‖ to save their lives. The tall man who appeared to be the leader eventually took J.S. into the bathroom where he twice forced her to orally copulate him and then twice raped her. The second time he ejaculated into her. Afterwards, he took her into a second bedroom where Pritchard also forced her to orally copulate him. After Pritchard left, a man with a gun came in and stood guard. The tall man came in and out of the room. He pulled down J.S.‘s pants, fondled her buttocks and made sexual comments about her husband. At one point, after ascertaining that J.S. was of Mexican descent, he told her that he would not kill her because she was Mexican. E.G., meanwhile, remained tied up in the master bedroom. Eventually the men left and the victims were able to free themselves and call 911. The victims‘ home was ransacked. The robbers took stereo equipment, a VCR, two telephone answering machines, jewelry, small appliances and a Scepter brand laptop computer, among other items. They also took the victims‘ 1989 Honda Accord. J.S. was taken to a hospital where a sexual assault examination was conducted; oral and vaginal swabs were taken and later subjected to DNA testing. Blood samples were obtained from J.S., defendant, Drebert, Pritchard and Vera, and also subjected to DNA testing. Testing performed on the vaginal swab indicated that defendant‘s blood sample was consistent with sperm from the vaginal swab. 4 Gladys 4 Defendant refused to provide a blood sample voluntarily, and it had to be obtained by a court order. Similarly defendant refused to participate in the series of lineups at (footnote continued on next page) 6 Santos testified that defendant brought to her house an answering machine and laptop computer matching the description of the computer stolen from J.S. and E.G. Drebert later removed the computer from Santos‘s apartment. After defendant‘s arrest, Santos gave police an answering machine with the same serial number as one of the machines stolen from J.S. and E.G. d. The Weir Robbery on December 23, 1995 About 5:30 p.m. on December 23, 1995, Ruth Weir arrived at her Conlon Street home in West Covina after grocery shopping. She pulled into her garage, which was detached from her house, and took groceries from the trunk into her house. When she returned to the garage she was accosted by two men wearing ski masks, one of them armed with a gun. The armed man told her to go into the house. Once inside, the men asked her if she was expecting anyone and asked about her neighbors. She told them she was expecting her husband. She heard her husband‘s car pull into the driveway. She glanced out the window and saw a third man standing in the backyard. One of the men told her to go into the dining room and lie down on the floor. She complied. She heard her husband, Patrick, come in the house and say something like, ―What‘s going on?‖ She was taken from the dining room to the family room, where her husband was lying facedown on the floor. There were three intruders in the room; two of them wore ski masks while the third concealed his face by lifting his coat over it. One of them told her to lie down next to her husband. While one of the men sat on the couch with a knife, the others brought wrapped Christmas presents into the room. One of the men asked her if she had money and, when she said, ―No,‖ threatened to kill her if money (footnote continued from previous page) which J.S. identified Pritchard and Vera. He was ordered to participate at a later lineup, but J.S. did not identify him. 7 was discovered. Another one found her senior citizen volunteer badge for the West Covina Police Department and asked her where she kept her gun. She explained she was not a police officer but only a volunteer. One of the men went through her pockets and her husband‘s pockets while another asked her where she kept her car keys and then took them. The men also took the Christmas packages. When she protested, one of them put a gun to her head and said, ―Would you rather have your Christmas gifts or your life?‖ Angela Phillipson, a neighbor of the Weirs, saw an older two-toned beige fourdoor American-model car and Ruth Weir‘s Taurus parked on the nearby cross-street. The Taurus drove away quickly while the other car drove away at a normal speed. She later saw the same two-toned car in the vicinity of the Weirs‘ home after the police had arrived. After the robbers left, Ruth Weir called 911. When the police arrived, she inspected her house and found numerous items missing in addition to her Christmas presents. These included jewelry, cash and two sets of three ceramic angels. Her Taurus and a Ziploc bag containing commemorative coins were also missing. The police found the Taurus the next day in the parking lot of an auto parts store near where Gladys Santos lived. The car‘s stereo had been taken. Santos testified that on the day of the Weir robbery, defendant called her and asked her to pick him up at a location near where he was staying. When she did, and she asked him what he had been doing, he said, ―Well, we just robbed somebody.‖ He had her drive by a house in West Covina and told her a police officer lived there. He said he had stolen Christmas presents, a white car, and groceries. He directed her to another location where he said he had hidden some coins. He got out of the car, but when he returned he told her there was nothing there. Defendant brought some jewelry to Santos‘s apartment, which Santos later gave to the police. The jewelry belonged to Ruth Weir. 8 On January 6, 1996, police stopped a beige-and-brown Buick being driven by defendant‘s cousin, Jessica Rodriguez. Drebert and Vera were passengers. 5 The car was impounded and searched. In it, police found three ski masks, a pair of cotton gloves, and three knit gloves. e. The Attempted Murder of Mike Martinez on January 19, 1996 In January 1996, Mike Martinez lived in Lido Garden Apartments, the same apartment complex as did defendant‘s cousins, Joanne and Jessica Rodriguez, with whom defendant, Drebert, Pritchard and Vera were staying. Also living with Martinez was Amy Benson, the pregnant daughter of a friend. Defendant and his confederates ―hung out‖ with Benson at Martinez‘s apartment almost every day. The owner of the apartment building told Martinez that if defendant and his friends continued to come to his apartment, he would be evicted. In late December or early January, Martinez told Benson and defendant that defendant and his friends could no longer come to Martinez‘s apartment. They ignored him. Martinez did not say anything more to defendant, whom he believed to be a gang member, because he was afraid of him. On January 13, 1996, Eric Pritchard was detained by police investigating a report of a suspicious person loitering at the apartment complex. Martinez saw the detention take place. Pritchard was taken into custody because he had been reported as a runaway and was ultimately released into the custody of his mother. Six days later, on January 19, Martinez returned home from work around 6:30 p.m. and ate dinner. He left the apartment for a while, returning around 8:00 p.m. to take 5 In a bench conference before the testimony of the officer who detained Rodriguez, the prosecutor noted the car had been detained because it and the occupants matched the description of the vehicle involved and the people who had committed a series of street robberies in the City of Montebello. Neither Vera nor Drebert was charged with those robberies because the victims were unable to identify them. Consequently, the reason for the stop was not revealed to the juries in defendant‘s and Drebert‘s trial. 9 a shower. When he emerged from the bathroom, defendant, Pritchard, Drebert and Vera were in the apartment. Drebert and Vera were rummaging through Martinez‘s closet and desk. Someone had closed the curtains. In an angry and aggressive tone, defendant told Martinez to sit on the couch. Drebert locked the door. Defendant accused Martinez of calling the police on Pritchard, which Martinez denied. Drebert held up a set of keys and asked Martinez which were the keys to his car. Martinez told him. He also noticed his pager, a watch and some change were missing from the top of the dresser. Defendant struck Martinez in the jaw with such force it tore his lower lip and knocked him backwards. He asked Martinez how much money he had in the apartment and, after Martinez told him a few hundred dollars, said he would kill Martinez if he found more. Defendant told Drebert to get some belts from the closet. Defendant used them to bind Martinez‘s arms behind his back and to bind his legs. Martinez saw Drebert take a baseball bat out of the closet and hand it to defendant. Defendant placed a shirt or a towel over Martinez‘s head. He felt a blow to his head. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital. The officer who responded to a neighbor‘s 911 call found Martinez lying face up on the floor in a pool of blood, unconscious and gasping for air. Martinez‘s eyes were swollen shut and some of his teeth lay on the carpet beside him. A bloody bat was leaning against the couch. When the paramedics rolled Martinez onto his stomach, the officer saw puncture wounds on Martinez‘s back. A bloody screwdriver was found on the couch. Martinez had surgical staples placed in his head, he lost some of his teeth, and he was treated for stab wounds to his back. The staples were removed after about a month. Martinez endured 12 root canals, the loss of his sense of smell and a 60 percent loss of hearing, which lasted for three months. Martinez identified defendant, Drebert, Vera and 10 Pritchard as his assailants from photographs. Martinez‘s vehicle was stolen but was recovered a few days later. Defendant and his confederates went to Gladys Santos‘s apartment after the attack on Martinez. Defendant told Santos he had ―played baseball‖ with Martinez‘s head. Two patrol officers who received a radio call about the assault on Martinez at the Lido Garden Apartments were told that a red Camaro spotted there three days earlier may have been involved. Their search for the car took them to the apartment complex where Santos lived, about a half-mile from the Lido Garden complex. Eric Pritchard was detained as he attempted to drive out of the complex in a red Camaro. Pritchard ultimately led the police to Santos‘s apartment, where defendant, Drebert and Vera were arrested. Santos was also arrested because she lied to the police about knowing Pritchard and about who was in her apartment. No charges, however, were filed against her. A subsequent search of Santos‘s apartment yielded several items belonging to Martinez.