Opinion ID: 2517801
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Mishell assaults and their aftermath

Text: On January 31, 1988, Robert Mishell (Robert), an immunology professor at the University of California in Berkeley and his wife Barbara, a high-ranking technician who managed Robert's laboratory, were brutally bludgeoned in their Berkeley home. Robert sustained two depressed skull fractures and 12 head lacerations. His injuries were life threatening, but he largely recovered, though he suffered memory problems, could not continue teaching, and took a disability retirement. He suffered from posttraumatic amnesia and did not remember everything that occurred before the assault. Barbara received six distinct blows to the head, resulting in compound skull fractures and brain damage. Her injuries rendered her severely and permanently disabled. At the time of trial, as a result of the damage to her brain, she remained behaviorally erratic, and she still could not speak. The trial evidence, including defendant's own testimony, conclusively established defendant as the perpetrator of the assaults. The prosecution's evidence was as follows: Defendant, a contractor, had done remodeling work on the Mishells' home. Robert and defendant shared an interest in computers, but the Mishells had no other social relationship with defendant. They knew nothing of his personal life. In July 1987, defendant, a married man, began an affair with Celebration Oberman. In September 1987, defendant, members of his family, and Oberman began receiving anonymous telephone calls that exposed the affair. Defendant was upset by the calls and suspected someone was trying to break up his marriage. Nonetheless, he continued to see Oberman. Defendant told Luis Reyna, a fellow member of the Berkeley Waterfront Commission, about the calls. Among others, defendant said, he suspected a Berkeley professor's wife who, he claimed, was in love with him. Ultimately, defendant indicated that a private investigator had traced the calls to this couple. Reyna advised defendant to take his information to the authorities. More than once, however, defendant said he would handle the matter his way. On Sunday morning, January 31, 1988, around 11:00 a.m., defendant appeared unexpectedly at the Mishell residence. He and Robert chatted on the pool deck, where Barbara joined them. All three then went inside, drank coffee, and talked politics. At some point, Robert took defendant into the dining room to demonstrate his new computer. At trial, Robert recalled that defendant was standing behind him, next to a toolbox he had brought with him. The next thing Robert remembered was waking up in bed several hours later. His head was bleeding. He looked for his wife. He found her on the kitchen floor, bleeding, unconscious, and unresponsive. He called the police. Berkeley Police Officer Emberton arrived within minutes after Robert's call. Robert was dazed and bleeding, but able to speak. Barbara was unconscious on the kitchen floor, with coagulated blood all around. Robert recounted to Emberton his recollection of the events leading to his injuries, but did not mention that defendant had a utility belt or toolbox with him. The house showed no signs of forced entry. Defendant's fingerprints were found on a half-full coffee mug in the kitchen, and on a book in the kitchen or dining room. Robert had purchased the book the day before. Officers went to defendant's home on the night of January 31. When they told him they were investigating an assault against the Mishells, he left the room to make a telephone call. Upon his return, he said his lawyer had advised him not to speak. He spoke nonetheless, claiming he had not been at the Mishell home in two weeks. Asked to name a possible suspect, defendant mentioned another contractor to whom, defendant said, the Mishells owed a lot of money. Asked to recount his movements for the day, defendant said that, after dropping off his daughter at 11:00 a.m., he went to the Berkeley Marina around 11:30, and spoke to Dave Shelley, who was working there. Then, defendant said, he went to Reyna's home to watch the Super Bowl. Defendant described the clothes he was wearing, and specifically mentioned athletic shoes. Defendant did arrive at the Berkeley Marina sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on January 31. According to Shelley, defendant stayed about 45 minutes. He made a telephone call and wrote a note to Chuck Roberts, the Berkeley Waterfront Commission's secretary, about an agenda item. The note included a notation of the ostensible time it was writtennoon. Defendant later called and asked Shelley to make a copy of the note and send it to him. Shelley did so. Roberts found the note when he came to work the next day. According to Roberts, defendant had written him notes before, but had never included the time. Given the note's subject matter, there was no reason to do so in this case. Defendant arrived at Reyna's home about 1:00 p.m. on January 31, freshly groomed and wearing boots. Defendant volunteered that he had dropped off his daughter, then gone to his boat at the marina, and to the marina office. Reyna thought it odd that that defendant wore boots on his boat. Defendant did not stay to watch the Super Bowl, but left after about 20 minutes. On February 2, Reyna saw a newspaper article about the Mishell assault. Realizing that defendant had worked on the Mishells' home, Reyna contacted defendant and told him about the article. Defendant said he did not want to talk, but that his problem was solved. On February 3, defendant asked Reyna to come to his house. Despite his reservations, Reyna went. Defendant took Reyna onto the deck, saying the police had just been there to search, and he did not want to speak inside. Defendant told Reyna the following: He had gone to the Mishells' home on January 31 to confront them about the harassing telephone calls. They laughed at his accusations and said he could do nothing about it. He then picked up something and beat the Mishells over the head. He took the unidentified weapon with him and discarded it where it would never be found. When Reyna said that the Mishells could identify him, defendant responded that they never saw or knew who attacked them. Defendant asked Reyna to falsely tell the police defendant had telephoned him at 9:00 a.m. on January 31. That evening, at a commission meeting, defendant again made this request, explaining that the police believed the assaults had occurred before 11:30 a.m. To Reyna, defendant never expressed remorse or regret about the Mishell assaults. Defendant said he was only sorry he was caught with another woman, and was just protecting his family. Reyna did not immediately advise the authorities that defendant had confessed to him. Moreover, he initially did comply with defendant's request that he lie to the police about when defendant called him on January 31. Members of Reyna's family testified that he was fearful, distraught, confused, and in turmoil about whether he should tell what he knew. Ultimately, on April 5, 1988, Reyna gave a taped statement to the police. Defendant was arrested two days later. Thereafter, defendant wrote Reyna letters from jail, urging Reyna to lie for defendant about the Mishell assaults, and to recant his police statement. Defendant enlisted Oberman in efforts to persuade his own defense team of his innocence. At defendant's request, Oberman falsely told a defense investigator she met defendant at the Berkeley Marina at 11:00 a.m. on January 31. She gave the investigator additional false information, supplied by defendant, that Reyna was angry with defendant over a debt, and thus had a motive to fabricate defendant's confession. Oberman also told the investigator, again falsely, that she was hiding under defendant's deck on February 3, when defendant supposedly told Reyna he had assaulted the Mishells. The surgeons who operated, respectively, on Robert and Barbara after the assaults both testified that the victims' head injuries were inflicted by a blunt instrument like the head of a hammer.