Opinion ID: 2629770
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Cordeiro's second trial

Text: The principal evidence introduced by the prosecution against Cordeiro at his second trial was Freitas's eyewitness testimony. Freitas's testimony was corroborated, inter alia, by (1) the testimony of witnesses who were either aware that Freitas was attempting to assist Blaisdell in purchasing marijuana or had observed the two together on their way to skid row, (2) latent fingerprints, which partially matched Freitas's, on the E-Z Glider exercise machine, and (3) Dr. Manoukian's testimony regarding the gunshot wound that killed Blaisdell. The prosecution was never able to establish, by direct evidence, that Blaisdell had arranged to purchase a pound of marijuana from Cordeiro, but it did succeed in introducing evidence showing that Cordeiro was widely known, including by Blaisdell, to use and sell illegal drugs and, therefore, according to the prosecution's theory, to be someone whom Blaisdell would be likely to contact were he seeking to purchase marijuana. Cordeiro denied murdering Blaisdell or even being present at the scene of the murder. He testified that, on the afternoon of August 11, 1994, he and a friend, Curtis Diment, had driven Diment's truck to Makawao Feed and Lumber to pick up some lumber, with which Cordeiro planned to build some shelves in his garage. They purchased the lumber around 4:00 p.m. and returned to Cordeiro's house, where Cordeiro insisted that he had remained for the rest of the evening, eating pizza and constructing shelves for his garage. Diment testified that he had departed Cordeiro's house after the two had unloaded the lumber, but that Derek Sakoda was present when he left. Sakoda testified that he was present at Cordeiro's residence when Cordeiro and Diment had returned from the lumber shop and had assisted them in unloading the lumber from Diment's truck. Sakoda did not remember whether he had taken a break to eat, but he admitted that, during Cordeiro's first trial, he had testified that he had not done so. He remembered leaving Cordeiro's house at approximately 8:30 p.m., but conceded that his memory of the events of August 11, 1994 was kind of foggy. Shawn Takahashi testified that he had been present at Cordeiro's house on August 11, 1994 between approximately 5:30 to 5:45 p.m. and 9:30 to 9:45 p.m. He recalled observing Cordeiro construct shelves and working on his dirt bike, although he admitted that Cordeiro was not in his presence the entire time. [10] Cordeiro's sister, Denise, testified that she had arrived at the Cordeiro residence at around 5:00 p.m. and recalled observing Cordeiro, Sakoda, and a friend (Hank DeCoite), lounging around the house. She did not recall seeing Cordiero leave the garage area, though she was not in his presence the entire evening. Cordeiro admitted that he was aware that Shirota, who lived across the street from him, habitually kept the keys to his truck in its ignition and that he had borrowed Shirota's truck from time to time, but denied borrowing Shirota's truck at any time during 1994. He estimated that only a few minutes were required to drive from his house to skid row. Cordeiro also denied that he had ever attempted to hire anyone to kill Freitas. Indeed, Cordeiro denied ever discussing his case with anyone incarcerated at the MCCC. He did testify, however, that, during November 1994, when his attorney sent him three hundred pages of police reports and discovery material to review, the envelope had been unsealed when he had received the material at the MCCC. Apparently, it had been mistakenly delivered to Brian Cordeiro, another MCCC inmate, who stated to Cordeiro that both he and his roommate had read the reports.