Opinion ID: 1254168
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events preceding December 29, 1981.

Text: Weller met appellant in Minneapolis in 1977. She became infatuated with him, and he moved into her apartment. Appellant dressed well, had expensive jewelry, and seemed to be a big spender. He initially told Weller he was a real estate salesman, but spoke about his relationship with the Teamsters Union and the Mafia. At that time Weller believed appellant's money came from connections appellant had with the Mafia. He told her he could have people followed and could make things happen to them. He did not like snitches and people who stole from him. Weller felt she would be killed if she did either, but was not afraid of appellant at that time because she did neither. Appellant and Weller moved to Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawaii late in 1977. He now claimed that he was connected with the Hawaiian Mafia where he was a man of respect. He told Weller that a person should never argue with a man of respect and screamed at her if she talked back to him. Appellant used the code name Penguin. His credit cards bore a Central States' Properties logo. He used other persons' names for two telephones and had a post office box registered to Mr. Church. He told Weller not to ask questions about his business and said he was having her followed for her own personal safety. She believed appellant because he was aware of things she had done about which she had not told him. Early in 1979 Weller left appellant's house because appellant required her to report everything she did. Appellant told her again that he was having her followed for her own safety and she saw persons she thought were following her. In April 1981 appellant was living in a small one-bedroom house across the road from the beach on Alii Drive in Kailua. Deborah Garcia had been living with appellant at that location. Weller first met Garcia at a time when Garcia was living with appellant, sometime before January 1981, and saw her again that month when Garcia was living in the Alii Drive house. One of appellant's telephones was in Garcia's name. Garcia left for the mainland United States in April 1981. Appellant called Weller. He said Garcia had left, told Weller that he was ill and unhappy, and asked her to visit him. At appellant's request, Weller, who was then living in a small trailer on the beach, moved back in with appellant. When Weller moved back in with appellant, appellant was using cocaine on a regular basis. For two months both Weller and appellant used two to three grams of cocaine daily. They left the house only for necessities. Appellant often spoke gibberish and Weller believed he was having a mental breakdown. In the summer of 1981, appellant began to speak of connections with the CIA and continued to talk about connections with the Teamsters Union and the Mafia. He said that Penguin was a code name from the CIA, and told her that two of his friends who came to the house during this period and used cocaine with them were CIA agents. He also showed her purportedly secret documents. Appellant, who stayed awake and talked for days during the two-month period of heavy cocaine use, told Weller that the head of the Teamsters Union was to have a physical examination at the hospital and would never leave the hospital. When the official died on the day appellant said he would, Weller was afraid and believed that appellant did have something to do with the Mafia. At the time they were living on Alii Drive, appellant often used pay phones to make and receive calls, explaining that his own telephone was probably tapped. Weller began to doubt her own sanity because appellant often accused her of forgetting instructions. He was then receiving and selling cocaine regularly and she helped him cut it. Lauren de Laet mailed a package of cocaine to appellant during the summer of 1981. He hid the cocaine, which may have been a quarter of a pound, in a lava-rock wall in the garden. Appellant told Weller he had met de Laet on the beach during the summer of 1980 when she was living in Hawaii. De Laet wrote cards to appellant and Weller. Weller talked to de Laet often on the telephone when de Laet called to speak to appellant, and, at appellant's direction, Weller wrote to her weekly. Weller did not meet de Laet in person until Christmas Eve, 1981. In late June or early July 1981 appellant and Weller stopped using cocaine. The decision to do so was appellant's. They both began eating normally and appellant worked out and jogged daily to get back in shape. His mental state did not return to normal, however. He was tense and easily became angry. He continued to speak of the CIA and about his phones being bugged. He spoke of bombs in the cars. In August 1981, appellant told Weller that he was going to the mainland to spend more time with de Laet, and that he expected de Laet to move in with him in Hawaii. He told Weller to remove items that would clash with de Laet's nonviolent character from the home. He specified a plastic handgun, handcuffs, a knife, and a picture of appellant wearing a bandoleer of bullets. He told Weller she was to live with Tonya Tate, to whom appellant had introduced her. Weller moved out of the Alii Drive house. Appellant was with de Laet in San Rafael for about a month in August and September 1981, but de Laet did not accompany him on his return to Hawaii. Appellant asked Weller to move back in, stating that de Laet was just a good friend. Appellant brought LSD back with him. Weller and Tate used LSD with appellant once a week at the Alii Drive house. Appellant had become edgy and short-tempered. He struck Weller in the face twice. He told her the importance of respect and claimed that because people were afraid of him they would be afraid of her. He said he would tell people that she was capable of killing and that he had taught her to kill and shoot a gun. She never disagreed with appellant in front of anyone because that would be disrespectful. In October 1981 when she told him that his lies about her were not a good idea, he repeatedly struck her, saying she should never disagree with him and threatened to kill her if she told anyone he had struck her. Although appellant's attitude toward Weller had changed from understanding and kindness to violence, she stayed with him because she was afraid to leave. She also thought that appellant needed help because something had happened within him and she could not just leave him. Appellant flew to California a week before Thanksgiving in 1981. He told Weller he was tired of Hawaii and was going to buy a house and move to California. Weller was going to Minnesota for Christmas, but appellant asked her to stop in California and meet de Laet. Weller flew to San Francisco on December 21, 1981. Appellant and MacVicar met her at the airport and the group traveled to the Millbrae Travelodge. At appellant's direction, Weller rented a room for 10 days. While they were at the motel, MacVicar visited and the three ingested cocaine daily. In MacVicar's presence, Weller gave appellant two guns, one of which was a .45-caliber Colt Combat Commander appellant had instructed her to bring from Hawaii. The second gun was a .22-caliber derringer. Appellant had told her that the guns, which had been in the possession of Tommy Pyne in Hawaii, were registered to Garcia. Appellant appeared to like MacVicar, put his arm around MacVicar, and called him his brother. He told Weller that MacVicar was a wonderful person. Appellant did not leave the room during their 10-day stay at the Millbrae Travelodge. De Laet arrived at the motel with MacVicar on December 24. While MacVicar was away on December 26, appellant became angry with de Laet, accused her of partying with cocaine he had given her, and hit de Laet several times, demanding that she apologize on her knees to Weller, who was a lady. He also ordered Weller to hit de Laet. Later he put his arms around de Laet, told her she was a good girl, and told her that everything would be all right. On December 27, 1981, MacVicar brought $160,000 in cash in a black bag to the motel room where he counted it and packaged it for appellant. The money was payment for cocaine. Appellant stated that he thought they had agreed on $250,000. MacVicar replied that he could get the remainder in a day or two. Following appellant's instructions Weller, de Laet, and MacVicar, wearing gloves, washed the money using towels and rubbing alcohol to remove any fingerprints, and then repackaged the money in thousand-dollar packs. By this time it was obvious to Weller that appellant was not pursuing a real estate transaction. Appellant had mentioned going to Santa Cruz and at this point Weller thought she knew what was going to happen to de Laet and MacVicar. Weller was directed to address packages of the money she had put together. One envelope containing $20,000 was for Deborah Garcia. After MacVicar left, appellant told Weller that he planned to kill MacVicar and de Laet in Santa Cruz on December 29 and she was to go with him. A friend in Minnesota had a gun and had made a silencer for him. They were to be delivered on the 28th. He had set MacVicar up for $250,000 promising MacVicar the best cocaine he ever had. MacVicar and de Laet had been led to believe that to make the deal, they had to go to Santa Cruz because people who did not want their names disclosed were going to deal with appellant on their farm in Santa Cruz. The $20,000 for Garcia was for going to Santa Cruz with them. Weller did not go to the police because she did not believe she could stop the killings and feared that appellant would kill her if she did so. Larry Dahl, a friend of appellant, arrived from Minnesota with a pistol equipped with a silencer on December 28. Minutes before Dahl arrived, Weller had taken a telephone call for Penguin from a caller who said: Tell him it's L.D. Appellant told Weller that Dahl was a man of respect whom she was to hug when he entered. Appellant and Dahl embraced, spoke of old times, and Dahl showed appellant how to attach the silencer and use the gun. The silencer looked like a car muffler and was about a foot long. Dahl stated that Jim Johnson could not guarantee that the silencer would work because appellant had not given him much time to work on it. Appellant hid the gun before MacVicar returned. MacVicar and Weller left to mail the packages of money, except that for Garcia, at different post offices and purchase food. After they returned, MacVicar left to get an ounce of cocaine for appellant. While he was gone, appellant told Weller that he was going to pay Dahl $5,000 for delivering the pistol and silencer. Appellant also offered to pay Dahl's hotel expenses at the San Francisco Airport Hilton.