Opinion ID: 844172
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Background of the relationship

Text: Defendant and one of the victims, Connie, began dating in 1980. During their relationship, defendant had his own residence, but stayed at Connie‘s condominium frequently. Connie had a teenage son, David Navarro, and she shared joint custody of him with his father, her ex-husband, James ―Mike‖ Navarro. David became close to defendant and regarded him as a trusted friend. In the fall of 1982, defendant‘s relationship with Connie began to unravel, with frequent breakups followed by brief reconciliations. In January 1983, Connie firmly decided to end the relationship and no longer wanted to see defendant. Over the next two months, defendant had difficulty coping with the breakup and began stalking Connie. On March 3, 1983, he killed Connie and her friend, Sue Jory. During the two-month period, defendant appeared uninvited at restaurants where Connie was dining and at dinners at her ex-husband‘s house. Connie received multiple phone calls, but the calling party would hang up after she answered. On some occasions, defendant followed Connie and her friend, Marilyn Young, to a fitness center, and stood outside staring at Connie through the center‘s picture window while she exercised. Defendant also began making midnight phone calls to Young, to inquire about Connie and to express his despair. Connie became frightened by defendant‘s behavior, avoided going anywhere alone, and had an alarm system installed at her residence. Defendant, who enjoyed a secret life as a burglar, would later put his burglary skills to use at Connie‘s home. 2 Several witnesses testified regarding specific instances of defendant‘s stalking of Connie during the two months leading to her death. b. The George Hoefer incident and other incidents in January 1983 In early January 1983, George Hoefer, an executive for an advertising agency, met with Connie at a restaurant to discuss a job opportunity. After the dinner, as they parted ways in the parking lot, George and Connie shook hands and Hoefer kissed Connie on the cheek. The following morning at his hotel room, Hoefer received a telephone call from a man with a New York or New Jersey 2 accent who identified himself as Connie‘s boyfriend. The man was enraged and demanded to know why Hoefer had been kissing his girlfriend. The man warned Hoefer that if he did not stop seeing Connie, the man would ― ‗break her knees.‘ ‖ Hoefer tried to calm the man by explaining that he was happily married and that he had no romantic involvement with Connie. The following day, Hoefer received a second telephone call from the same man. The man revealed that he knew Hoefer‘s flight itinerary back to Connecticut and his home address there. The man asked how Hoefer would like it if he paid a visit to Hoefer‘s wife in Connecticut. Hoefer again explained that he was not romantically involved with Connie, and assured the man he was returning home. The man became calm and asked Hoefer not to tell Connie about the conversation. Hoefer testified that papers in his rental car contained his personal information, address, and his flight itinerary. Upon returning to Connecticut, Hoefer told Connie about the threatening telephone calls. 2 Defendant is originally from Yonkers, New York and has an accent reflecting that region. 3 After this incident, defendant‘s stalking escalated. According to Connie‘s friend, Marilyn Young, in mid or late January 1983, defendant broke into Connie‘s condominium and forced her to sleep with him. He spent the night holding her and refused to allow her to leave the bed. Near the end of January 1983, according to Young, Connie‘s vehicle failed to start, and defendant suddenly appeared and told Connie he had tampered with the wires. On January 31, 1983, based on an entry in her day planner, Connie had her locks changed. c. The weekend “kidnapping” and other events in February 1983 According to Young, in early February 1983, Connie agreed to meet with defendant to discuss his behavior, but only if their meeting took place at a public restaurant. Young was to pick Connie up from that meeting, but before Young arrived, defendant brandished a gun and demanded that Connie go away with him for the weekend. Connie, fearing for her life, agreed, hoping to calm defendant. She convinced him to rent a hotel room in the Los Angeles area, where she felt it was less likely that he could harm her without anyone else hearing. During the weekend with defendant in the hotel room, Connie made telephone calls to her friends and family explaining where she was and who she was with. In those telephone calls, Connie sounded nervous. At the end of the weekend, defendant allowed Connie to leave. In their testimony, Young and Connie‘s ex-husband, Mike, characterized this incident as a kidnapping. In mid-February 1983, Connie invited defendant to dinner at a restaurant with Young and her boyfriend. According to Young, both she and Connie pleaded for defendant to leave Connie alone. Defendant said he would leave Connie alone, but, according to Young, he had an angry smirk on his face. Soon after this incident, Connie and her friend, Sue Jory, were having breakfast with their friend, Craig Spencer, when defendant suddenly appeared and 4 sat down at their table uninvited. According to Spencer, defendant said nothing and merely stared at Connie for three to four minutes. Because Connie and Sue became visibly agitated and nervous, Spencer tried to break the silence by introducing himself to defendant. Defendant said nothing, but shook Spencer‘s hand, stood up, and then made a gesture with his forefinger and thumb, in the shape of a gun, pointed it at Connie, and dropped his thumb, as if he was pulling a trigger. He then quietly walked away. In late February 1983, Connie had difficulty operating the sliding glass door in her bedroom, which opened onto a second-floor balcony. Her neighbor, Carl Rasmussen, discovered that the sliding door‘s bolt latch had been damaged, and, when he removed the latch to inspect it, he realized it had been sawed almost all the way through. According to Rasmusson, the damage to the latch could have been made only by someone inside Connie‘s bedroom. Rasmussen attempted to fix the latch and reinstalled it. At about this time, Connie expressed her fears of defendant in a draft letter addressed to defendant dated February 18.3 Connie wrote: ―I‘m so sorry that you‘re still so angry and you feel a need for vengeance and punishment. You‘re accomplishing your goal. I feel like a walking dead person going through the motion of life. Like a small wild animal who knows it‘s surrounded by a pack of wolves. The smallest sound or movement makes me jump. The sound of the phone now is frightening. Another hangup. . . . I‘m so locked up in my own house afraid of every sound the walls have 3 Mike discovered the draft letter on a notepad while cleaning Connie‘s condominium after her death. According to Mike, Connie had a habit of writing rough drafts of her letters on a notepad. 5 probably always made. I walk out of my house, a coffee shop, a gym, looking. Terror. Until I get into my car and I know that the doors are locked and I can breathe again until I get out. Then it starts all over again. How long is it going to go on?‖ d. The break-in incident involving David Navarro Sometime in the last week of February 1983, defendant broke into Connie‘s home while Connie‘s 15-year-old son, David, was home sick, instead of being at school. According to David, after his mother left on her routine morning jog, he heard the sound of someone trying to enter the sliding glass door to his mother‘s bedroom. David caught a glimpse of defendant outside on the balcony trying to remove the sliding glass door from its track. David became frightened and hid in the bathroom behind the shower curtain. David heard defendant enter the bathroom in which he was hiding, then exit the bathroom and walk downstairs. He then heard the sound of the answering machine being played back. David saw that a gun had been placed on the bathroom floor near the door. He left the bathroom and called out to defendant, asking if he or his mother was home and if someone was ―trying to break in.‖ Defendant went upstairs, showed David the sliding door, which was back on its tracks, and assured him that no one had broken in. Out of fear, David pretended to go along with defendant‘s assurances. While sitting at the edge of Connie‘s bed, defendant told David that he was very upset that his mother did not want to see him anymore and said he was going to kill himself but wanted to talk with David‘s mother first. Defendant then pulled out a gun from under the bed and pointed it at David, but said he was going to kill himself. Defendant apologized and told David that he was not going to hurt him, but then produced a pair of handcuffs and handcuffed David in the bathroom. 6 Defendant left the bathroom, saying that he had to deal with David‘s mother, and closed the door behind him. A half hour later, when Connie returned home, David could hear defendant and his mother arguing loudly, and heard his mother demand to know where David was. The argument lasted 20 to 30 minutes, and, at one point, David heard the sound of someone being slapped. Defendant, sobbing, returned to the bathroom, uncuffed David, and begged him not to tell his mother. Defendant later left without further incident. Because David was afraid of defendant, he did not tell his mother what had happened earlier, but a few weeks after his mother‘s death, he described the incident to a deputy district attorney. e. The weekend before the killings Young described the circumstances surrounding Connie‘s decision to leave her home the weekend before the killings. On approximately February 25, 1983, one of Connie‘s friends warned Connie that defendant‘s astrological ―signs‖ showed that he was in a ―rage‖ and was going to ―erupt‖ during that weekend. Donnie Clapp, a mutual friend of Connie‘s and defendant‘s, also warned her that defendant had been breaking into Connie‘s home and that he appeared to be in a ―rage.‖ Clapp advised her to leave. Because Connie no longer felt safe in her home, she and Young decided to stay out of town for the weekend. Before they left, Connie told Young that defendant had called wanting to know where she was going that night. When Young arrived to pick up Connie, defendant was outside Connie‘s home, staring at them. According to Young, defendant had a ―very kind of frightened look on his face.‖ When they drove away, defendant initially followed them in his car. After returning from her weekend away, Connie decided that she and David should stay at her ex-husband Mike Navarro‘s residence. When Connie and David 7 briefly returned home to pick up clothes, they discovered someone had disabled the front door alarm. According to Young, Connie later learned from Clapp that defendant was inside the condominium, hiding in a closet, while she and David picked up their clothes. According to Young, Clapp told Connie that defendant admitted to him that he had broken into her home through a skylight. f. The days leading to the killings On the morning of March 1, 1983, two days before the killings, Mike‘s answering machine recorded a telephone call between Connie and an unidentified female in which Connie asked questions about how to obtain a restraining order. Later that day, Connie met with an attorney, whom Mike had recommended, to 4 discuss obtaining a temporary restraining order against defendant. On March 2, 1983, the day before the killings, Connie, her friend Marilyn Young, and Sid Young (Young‘s ex-husband), were eating breakfast at a restaurant when defendant appeared uninvited. Defendant persuaded Connie to move to an empty table where they could speak more privately, but Young heard Connie accuse defendant of breaking into her home and disabling her alarm system and heard defendant admit that he had done so. Defendant then admitted that he had taken something from Connie‘s home, and showed Connie a letter she had written to him but had not yet sent. He claimed that ―there are no locks that 4 Although the tape does not identify a date and no witness directly established the date of Connie‘s call or her appointment with an attorney, the date of these events can be inferred from other evidence. In this recording, Connie states she is scheduled to meet with an attorney later that morning about obtaining a restraining order. Mike Navarro testified that he recommended an attorney named Gerald Sherman to advise her about obtaining a restraining order, and Connie‘s day planner for March 1, 1983, lists a 9:30 a.m. appointment with a person named ―Gerry.‖ 8 could keep me out of anyplace‖ and that, if he had wanted, he could have hurt her anytime. He also stated, ―I could hurt you right here and nobody would do anything.‖ Defendant explained that he wished Connie had sent him the letter earlier because he had not believed that she cared about him until he read it. Defendant promised Connie that he would not bother her anymore and that she could return home. As defendant was leaving, Young observed that defendant looked ―horrible‖ and ―scary,‖ as if he had not been able to sleep. She suggested to defendant that he admit himself into a hospital, but he rejected the idea with a laugh. After defendant left, Connie decided to return to her home that night, against the advice of her ex-husband Mike, but she agreed to let David stay at his father‘s house. g. The night of the killings On March 3, 1983, the night of the killings, Connie, Sue Jory, and Young planned to go out for dinner and drinks, but Young‘s plans changed and she was unable to attend. Just hours before the killings, defendant met Stephanie Brizendine, a former girlfriend, and her friend, Toni Natoli, at a restaurant. Even though Brizendine did not know Connie and could not remember the last time she had seen defendant, defendant seemed interested only in telling her about the problems he was having with Connie. When discussing Connie, defendant sweated profusely and appeared to be nervous and agitated. At one point, defendant showed Brizendine a letter Connie had written him. Brizendine was stunned to read Connie‘s description of how she was ―absolutely living in fear‖ due to defendant. In the letter, Connie mentioned defendant breaking into her residence, and begged defendant to leave her alone. Defendant seemed nonchalant about 9 Connie‘s fears. Brizendine told defendant that he should leave Connie alone and move on with his life. When they left the restaurant, defendant led Brizendine to a pay phone and, before dialing the phone, instructed her that if a boy answered, she should tell him that Dean loved him, and if a woman answered, she should ask for Dave. When they called, no one answered, and an answering machine activated. Defendant told Brizendine to hang up and then said, ―That fucking bitch, Connie, is not answering the phone.‖ Brizendine accompanied defendant to his car, and thought that she saw a 5 gun in his trunk. After saying goodbye, defendant drove away sometime between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. As defendant departed, he seemed agitated and angry, and said nothing about leaving town the next day. Connie‘s residence was only four miles away. Sometime between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m., Connie‘s neighbors heard the sounds of gunshots and several muffled thumps. Approximately 15 to 20 minutes later, a neighbor saw a large man, whom she could not identify, leave Connie‘s residence and drive away in Connie‘s vehicle. h. The scene of the killings On March 4, 1983, Mike found Connie and Sue shot to death in Connie‘s home. Connie‘s body had been stuffed into the second-floor linen closet with a pillow over her face, and Sue‘s body was found facedown in Connie‘s bedroom. 5 Brizendine acknowledged that, when she first talked to police about her meeting with defendant, she did not mention seeing a gun in his trunk. But she also explained that the police did not ask about any gun, and it was not out of character for defendant to have a gun in his possession. 10 From bloodstains and drag marks on the carpet, it appeared that Sue‘s body had 6 been moved from David‘s bedroom to Connie‘s. Connie had received two gunshot wounds. The first bullet entered the left side of her chest, passed through her left lung, and exited her back. The second bullet entered on the right side of her chest, passed through the aorta and the spine, and stopped at the back of the left chest near the fifth rib. Sue was shot once at close range, possibly as close as two inches. That bullet penetrated through her left hand at the base of her thumb, exited, and then entered her jaw area, tore through her left carotid artery, and exited through the back of her neck. The injury to Sue‘s left hand may have been a defensive wound, because it was consistent with her raising her hand to defend against the assailant. The bullets recovered 7 from the scene were .38 or .357 caliber and were most consistent with having been fired from a .38-caliber Colt handgun. Connie‘s and Sue‘s purses had been stuffed into a closet in Connie‘s bedroom. The only items that were identified as missing from the residence or the victims were their car keys. Both Connie‘s and Sue‘s vehicles had been moved from outside Connie‘s home and parked two blocks away in opposite directions. Connie‘s condominium bore no signs of a forced entry. A skylight in Connie‘s bathroom, however, appeared to be askew and slightly off its frame. 6 During the presentation of defense evidence, a forensic pathologist, Dr. Irving Root, examined the deputy coroner‘s reports and photographs of discolorations on Sue‘s body and concluded that her body had been moved hours after her death. The prosecutor presented a witness in rebuttal, Dr. Eugene Carpenter, who stated that the discolorations may have occurred while Sue‘s body was transported to the coroner‘s office. 7 Despite the label, a .38-caliber bullet is not .38 inches in diameter but has the same diameter as a .357-caliber bullet. 11 Because of its height from the floor, the police at the time believed it was unlikely the perpetrator could have entered the residence from the skylight; accordingly, they did not check it for fingerprints and did not photograph it. Defendant‘s fingerprints were located on the linen closet door where Connie‘s body was found. In addition, on the kitchen counter were some wine glasses and a glass pitcher. One of the wine glasses and the pitcher bore Connie‘s fingerprints, but a print obtained from a second wine glass was too incomplete for 8 matching. With the exception of three prints, all the latent prints lifted from Connie‘s household matched either Connie or defendant. The three remaining prints — those lifted from a dining room telephone, Connie‘s bedroom door, and the doorjamb of the linen closet — did not match Connie, David, Sue, Mike, or defendant.
Defendant left Los Angeles immediately after the killings, abandoning his car, his motorcycle, his apartment, and virtually all of his possessions. At defendant‘s apartment, the police found ammunition, three handguns, a shotgun, and a box for a .38-caliber Colt handgun, but they did not find a .38-caliber Colt handgun or .38-caliber ammunition. In addition, the police recovered four sets of handcuffs. Later in March 1983, a warrant was issued for defendant‘s arrest. Defendant was apprehended nearly eight years after the killings, following a nationwide broadcast of a televised program detailing defendant and the 8 In 1983, however, a different analyst concluded that some of the prints from the wine glasses were sufficient for matching but did not match Connie, David, Sue, Mike, or defendant. By the time of trial, a different analyst disagreed and concluded that these same prints matched Connie‘s. 12 9 homicides. At the time of his arrest in January 1991, defendant was living in Houston and making a living as a burglar using various aliases. According to the FBI, defendant was a suspect in more than 100 burglaries in the Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York areas. He had undergone plastic surgery to his face, having his nose shortened and a mole removed. Evidence found inside defendant‘s Houston home showed that, a few days after the killings, he had obtained documents instructing how to change his identity, and by the end of the month he had applied for a passport under the name of another person. In April 1991, while at a hearing in a federal court in Houston, defendant tried to escape by kicking out a 10th-floor window. Defendant remained on the 10th-floor ledge for almost 12 hours, threatening to jump, but was eventually coaxed back inside. j. Defendant’s admissions Defendant‘s occasional burglary partner-in-crime, Samuel Sabatino, testified that, before the homicides, defendant told him that Connie had left him, and he ―felt like he was going to kill himself and that he was going to kill her.‖ Several weeks later, defendant admitted to Sabatino that he had committed the killings. According to Sabatino, defendant explained that he broke into Connie‘s home through a skylight and waited for her to come home. When she arrived home, her friend, Sue Jory, was with her. Connie went upstairs, where defendant confronted her. During an ensuing argument, defendant shot Connie. When Jory came upstairs, defendant shot her as well. Defendant told Sabatino he used either a .38- or a .32-caliber weapon and bragged that he hid the weapon under law 9 A videotaped recording of the program was found in a VCR at defendant‘s Houston residence. 13 enforcement‘s ―noses‖ by concealing the gun under some roofing material on the roof of his apartment. Sabatino confirmed that he had suffered three burglary-related felony convictions and was testifying against defendant pursuant to a plea agreement in return for a reduced sentence. Sabatino also admitted that he wanted to ―get even‖ with defendant because defendant had never repaid a $100,000 loan and because defendant had provided information to the FBI that led to Sabatino‘s arrest. Defendant‘s stepmother, Rosemary Riccardi, testified that soon after the killings, defendant admitted to his father that he committed the homicides. Defendant‘s father died in 1986. Rosemary claimed that, in addition to relaying this information in a meeting with an FBI agent only three weeks prior to her testimony, she also had disclosed defendant‘s admission to the FBI during the 1980‘s. She denied writing a story about the killings, but admitted she had expressed some interest in writing about defendant‘s upbringing because she thought it would make an interesting book.