Opinion ID: 1195356
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Murder of Detective Williams

Text: Detective Williams was killed in a spray of gunfire in front of his son's daycare center in the early evening of October 31, 1985. Defendant (along with codefendants Duane Moody, Ruben Moss, Voltaire Williams, David Bentley, and Reecy Cooper) was charged with the murder of Detective Williams and with conspiracy to murder Williams. [2] The evidence regarding defendant's involvement in the conspiracy and the murder of Detective Williams came primarily from the testimony of immunized witnesses  David Bentley, Jeffrey Bryant, Aladron Hunter, and Tyrone Hicks. Their testimony, in addition to testimony from persons who witnessed the shooting, or to whom defendant made incriminating statements, or who were involved in the disposal of the murder weapon, as well as ballistics evidence and telephone records, established that defendant directed various plans for others to kill Williams, and ultimately that defendant himself killed Williams. Defendant solicited Jeffrey Bryant to murder Williams, telling him that he wished to prevent Williams's testimony at the Carpenter robbery trial. Defendant engaged in some planning activity with Bryant, but when Bryant found out Williams was not a security guard, as defendant had declared, but instead was a police officer, Bryant announced he would not participate. On October 24, 1985, codefendant Voltaire Williams solicited Aladron Hunter to perform the murder, for the announced purpose of preventing the detective's testimony in court. On October 25, 1985, Voltaire drove with Hunter to defendant's home. Voltaire entered the residence and returned with a weapon. Voltaire got into an automobile identified by a witness to the shooting of the detective as being similar to the vehicle from which the shots were fired. Hunter followed Voltaire to a location a few blocks past a school and was instructed by Voltaire to wait for an orange-and-white Toyota pickup truck with a camper shell on the back. Voltaire instructed Hunter to drive by the pickup truck and shoot the intended victim in the head after the latter, whom he described, had picked up his child from the school. Voltaire stated he needed to get instructions from defendant regarding when the victim would arrive. Voltaire then retrieved the weapon from his automobile and gave it to Hunter. Hunter found himself unable to shoot the victim when he arrived. Hunter met Voltaire later in the evening, informing him that he had not carried out the shooting and observing that he thought the intended victim was a police officer and not a security guard. Two persons who lived near the Faith Baptist Church School in Canoga Park, where the shooting of Detective Williams occurred, testified that on October 25, 1985, they observed codefendants Moody and Moss in an automobile parked near the school. A third man seated in the rear of the vehicle may have been defendant. Defendant also approached David Bentley two or three weeks before Halloween in 1985, for assistance in finding a contract killer. Bentley solicited Tyrone Hicks, who conferred with Moss, Bentley, and defendant regarding terms. Defendant directed Hicks to come to his home. Two or three days before Halloween in 1985, Moss, Cooper, and Bentley picked up Hicks, informing him they were going to show him what he was supposed to do. When the men arrived at defendant's home, Hicks was introduced to defendant as the driver. Defendant went with Bentley to a lookout point and instructed him to look for a small orange Toyota or Datsun truck with a camper shell on it, stating that the man in the truck was the person he wanted to have killed, and that Bentley was to contact Moss when Bentley saw the truck and inform him of the direction the truck was headed. Bentley waited 20 minutes, did not see the truck, and received no response when he activated Moss's pager. In the meantime, Moss had driven Hicks and Cooper to the church school, where he gave them instructions regarding the murder. While they waited, Moss stated that previous attempts on the victim's life had failed, in one case because the gunman had lost his nerve. Hicks observed the orange-and-white truck arrive at the school, but it departed before the plan could be executed. Defendant later berated Moss, and complained that now the victim would be able to testify against him the following day. Moss assured him they would kill the victim before then. On the way home, Bentley informed Hicks that it was improbable that defendant would pay him more than a few hundred dollars for his participation in the crime. Hicks announced his reluctance to participate further. An acquaintance of Hicks's recalled that Hicks had said to him that he was part of a plan to shoot a person near a school, that (as Hicks had testified) he had been picked up in a limousine and had seen the victim and the cars that were to be used, but that he had gotten scared. Additionally, Hicks's girlfriend recalled that Hicks had told her the plan was to kill a police officer, and that he had been shown where the officer picked up his son after school. Hicks told her he was supposed to be the driver, but that when the victim arrived from an unexpected direction, they abandoned the plan. Telephone records disclosed prolific telephone contact between the homes, residences, and pager numbers of Bentley, Moss, Cooper, Moody, and Voltaire Williams in the week preceding October 31, 1985. When defendant's briefcase subsequently was seized from his sister's home, it contained notations of the names and telephone numbers of Hicks, Moody, and Moss, as well as Voltaire Williams's telephone number and the names Tyrone and Reecy. The prosecution's evidence established that defendant ultimately took matters into his own hands. As noted, in October 1985, defendant was on trial for the robbery of Carpenter, and Detective Williams, as investigating officer, sat at counsel table during the trial. Defendant paid his friend Steve Ballow a nominal sum to testify in his behalf on October 30, 1985, and to provide defendant with a false alibi at the trial. Defendant explained to Ballow that he had not committed the robbery but had lent his car to a cousin who had committed the offense. He was upset about the trial and said he wished the police officer were dead. Ballow observed that Cooper, Moody, and Moss accompanied defendant to and from court, and Moody and Moss were detailed to drive Ballow home. Elihue Broomfield, an acquaintance of defendant's from many years before, was at the courthouse on October 31, 1985, and happened to observe defendant's trial. Defendant approached him and invited him to go home with him during the lunch break. Defendant told Broomfield that he had not committed the robbery and that he had been set up by Detective Williams and Carpenter, but that defendant's car had been used in the robbery. Defendant stated he would not tolerate being set up by a police officer and would not incur a conviction without securing revenge. Defendant said he would get the officer and would have someone armed with a weapon get Detective Williams that evening. He said he had had Williams followed and knew his routine. He showed Broomfield a weapon that appeared to be an Uzi and said it fired 10 to 20 rounds per second in rapid succession. He said he had more than one contract killer to do the job. Broomfield subsequently identified the murder weapon as similar to the gun that defendant showed him. While they were at defendant's home, defendant made a telephone call, during which Broomfield overheard defendant say that everybody had to be together at 1600 hours or it would not work. Over lunch, defendant said he could not bear to be in jail while the man who had set him up would be at a picnic enjoying life. He said he would eliminate him. Upon their return to the San Fernando courthouse, Broomfield overheard defendant on the phone complaining that someone could not be located, and stating that he and others had to be at his home at a certain time and that it had to occur about 4:00 o'clock. Broomfield went to testify in another case around 3:00 or 3:30 that afternoon, and then he and defendant left the courthouse together. Telephone records corroborated Broomfield's testimony regarding defendant's telephone contacts. Detective Williams signed his son out of the Faith Baptist Church School at 5:40 p.m. and was gunned down as he and his son approached their parked vehicle  an orange pickup truck with a camper shell. Williams was hit by eight bullets, two of which proved fatal. His truck also was riddled with bullets, as were nearby walls and even the interior of the school structure. A woman who was present picking up her son from the school shortly before 6:00 p.m. on October 31, 1985, heard the gunfire. The boy reported that it sounded like a machine gun. The mother and child took cover, but eventually emerged to see Detective Williams slumped against his vehicle with his son weeping nearby. Other witnesses heard the gunfire and observed the victim's body slumped against the truck. The police received the first call reporting the killing at 5:44 p.m. Various witnesses saw a grayish automobile go up and down the street in front of the school several times at approximately 5:30 p.m. that evening. One of these witnesses heard the gunfire and saw the same vehicle come up the street and rapidly accelerate to 60 or 65 miles per hour. The brother of this witness approached the vehicle to advise the driver that his headlights were not on. The witness was not certain whether the driver  apparently the sole occupant  was African-American, Hispanic, or White, though he reported to the police that the driver was White. A person on the grounds of the Faith Baptist School on the evening of the murder heard what he thought were firecrackers exploding and saw an Oldsmobile, possibly white, speeding down the street in front of the property with its lights off. A husband and wife driving near the school after 5:30 p.m. on October 31 saw a light-colored full-size automobile, possibly a Chevrolet or Oldsmobile, speeding away at between 45 and 60 miles per hour. When they arrived at the school, they observed Detective Williams slumped against his truck, dead. The woman thought the vehicle she had seen speeding away resembled a photograph of the automobile identified as the one defendant had been using with Broomfield that same day. This automobile was a two-door blue-and-white Oldsmobile that had been stolen in Sepulveda on October 22, 1985. The automobile had been parked for an extended period before October 31, 1985, in a residential neighborhood in Canoga Park. A resident noted the license number and testified that the automobile was parked on the street on the morning of the murder, but that when she returned from work around 5:00 p.m., it was gone. When the automobile was recovered (after a tip from codefendant Moody) on November 7, 1985, the ledge of the driver's door was covered in gunshot residue of the type that the murder weapon emitted profusely. The front part of the automobile also contained nine expended shell casings. Further evidence recovered in the period following the crime was offered to prove defendant's culpability for the shooting. Defendant announced to David Bentley on the evening of October 31, 1985, that he got down hisself and ... took care of that ass hisself [sic]. When Bentley asked what he meant, defendant said Bentley would see it on the news that evening. At defendant's request, Bentley went to defendant's home about 8:00 p.m. Defendant appeared excited and repeated that he had taken care of that ass. While Bentley worked to repair Moody's automobile, he heard defendant tell Moody he was surprised at how many shots the Uzi had fired with one light pull of the trigger. Defendant stated he had test-fired the Uzi in his backyard earlier that day. Defendant repeated that he got that ass myself. I had to do it. I mean. I had to do it myself. Guys won't take care of business. I had to take care of this ... myself. Ali Woodson received a telephone call from his friend Moody between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on October 31, 1985. A couple of hours later, Moody arrived at Woodson's apartment. He seemed disturbed and said he wanted to drop off some skates. He was carrying a large green duffel bag, which Woodson directed him to place in the closet. This testimony was confirmed by Mrs. Woodson. A few days later, Moody's girlfriend telephoned Ali Woodson and told him to take everything out of the duffel bag except the Uzi and that the police were on the way. Woodson examined the duffel bag, which contained several weapons, including a modified Mac M-10 assault pistol and a clip for the pistol. He turned the duffel bag and gun over to the police. Ballistics evidence indicated that the pistol was the murder weapon. Arvie Carroll, who had been convicted of burglary and escape, became acquainted with defendant while both men were incarcerated in the Los Angeles County jail. Defendant told him that he had shot Detective Williams several times and then sped away to a Kmart store and talked to a salesperson in order to establish an alibi. Defendant told Carroll that he then returned home, where he gave Moody the murder weapon. Defendant announced that he was going to place the blame for the shooting on Moody. Defendant explained that he had shot Detective Williams because Williams had arrested him. He described the details of the shooting, noting how the body had jerked while he fired, and stating that his car stalled while he was trying to get away, so he pumped some more bullets into his white ass, knowing that the officer already was dead. He also stated he would have killed the officer's son if he had come into the line of fire, because the child probably would grow up to be a police officer like his father. Carroll stated that defendant smiled and laughed as he related his story. David Bentley testified that he spoke with Reecy Cooper about the crime while they were incarcerated together, and that Cooper said that he was in the car and at the house, because he was supposed to be the shooter, but that he became frightened and did not want to do the shooting. In anticipation of a possible alibi defense mentioned by several witnesses, involving defendant's presence at a Kmart store soon after the shooting, a police officer testified that he had driven the route from the San Fernando courthouse, to defendant's home on Cantara street, to the Faith Baptist Church School in Canoga Park, and found that defendant could have committed the murder and still arrived at the Kmart at the time indicated by potential alibi witnesses. Telephone records confirmed that there was telephone contact between the telephone numbers of defendant, Moss, Cooper, Bentley, Hicks, and Moody during the afternoon and evening of October 31, 1985. The briefcase seized from defendant's sister's home contained a piece of paper bearing Elihue Broomfield's telephone number.