Opinion ID: 2608463
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Abstract of testimony of Alberta Burns

Text: February 2, 1963, Alberta Burns and Tom Patrick, riding in Patrick's car, stopped for gas in Hoquiam; afterwards they stopped at a tavern called the Wigwam; and then made a stop at the Oxbow Tavern for hamburgers and coffee and then drove to a tavern at Amanda Park where they met defendant Nelson around 4 or 4:30. They had quite a few beers at the tavern and played shuffleboard. While there, Patrick and Nelson left her alone for about 5 minutes, and when they returned, all three left the tavern and drove to Nelson's cabin on Lake Quinault. The three went into the cabin where they stayed for a few minutes and then returned to the car, one of the men bringing a rifle with him from the cabin. She saw one of the men put the rifle on the floor behind the front seat where she also knew there was another rifle once belonging to her father. She asked what the gun from the Nelson cabin was for, and one of them said, Something was up. They then started out in Patrick's car from the Nelson cabin, driving toward Aberdeen and stopping again at the Oxbow for coffee. After leaving the Oxbow, they proceeded toward Aberdeen, stopping another time at the Midway Tavern for coffee. It was now dark. Leaving the Midway Tavern, they drove toward Montesano, and while en route, Patrick, in Nelson's hearing, asked her if she had any nylons to which she answered, No. Patrick stopped at the Safeway store in Montesano and said, I want you to get some nylons, and she went across the street and bought two pairs of nylon stockings. After she returned to the car with the nylons, the three, with Patrick driving and Mrs. Burns in the middle, drove toward Elma. It was now quite dark. They drove through what she described as a cedar field on the main road and turned off into a side road. Just as they turned off onto the side road, she heard a conversation between Nelson and Patrick concerning a car in a garage with no lights on. They continued driving down the side road for about a mile when Patrick stopped the car, and she heard the two men have a conversation concerning which would be the best to go in. While the car was stopped, Mrs. Burns took the bag containing the purchased nylons from the glove compartment, opened the sack, and laid the stockings on her lap. Nelson picked up one of the stockings and stretched the top of it with his hands. She saw him put it around  trying to stretch it around his head or doing something with it around his head. She said they stopped at a service station, and Nelson and Patrick got out of the car. Just before they stopped, and while Nelson was still in the car, Patrick told me to keep in the car and keep the motor going, and if a car came along, to drive until I passed the car and then turn around and come back. She said that a car did come by, and, following these instructions, she pulled out until the car passed, turned around, and came back, being headed finally toward Elma, opposite from the direction from which they had approached the service station. Before doing this, the two men had left the automobile, but Patrick came back to get a flashlight. It was dark while she waited in the car for the two men, there being no lights in the store or the Damitio home. A little while later, the two men returned, Patrick arriving first. He got in on the driver's side. Nelson reached the car about a minute later. As he reached the front of the car, he leaned over the front fender; then, getting into the automobile, he said, I am shot! A little while later Patrick said he was shot, too. With Patrick at the wheel, they drove toward St. Joseph's Hospital in Aberdeen. Before reaching the hospital, Patrick stopped the car, told her that his hand was hurting him, and Mrs. Burns took over the driving. She drove them straight to St. Joseph's Hospital in Aberdeen. Mrs. Burns drove the car, with the two wounded men, up to the emergency entrance, and hospital attendants helped Nelson out of the car and put him on a stretcher. They arrived at the hospital about 10 o'clock, and she heard Patrick make a telephone call to the police station in Aberdeen. Mrs. Burns says that, in response to the telephone calls, some deputy sheriffs and the Aberdeen police arrived at the hospital; the sheriff's deputies took Mrs. Burns to the sheriff's office in Montesano. [Adverting to the earlier testimony, she testified] she saw two men get out of the car after they stopped at the service station, but she did not see whether either had anything in his hands. She waited for them; she heard nothing. She remembered that Patrick came back once to the car to get a flashlight, 10 or 15 minutes after he had left the first time. She says she did not see them remove the nylons from the car, but would have been unable to see them if they had done so.