Opinion ID: 2639434
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: June 22, 1985 Trip

Text: Sergeant Wilson testified at the reference hearing that on the June 22, 1985 trip, Joanna described, as we left the [Four Corners] intersection, that we would go over a small rise and drop down off this rise and it would level out, the road would level out as we went down off the rise. Wilson stated that that did happen. He added: Before we got to the [third] landing, actually, we went into a small draw and she seemed like she was getting, for lack of a better word, excited. She was scooting forward in the seat. [¶] She said, `slow down real slow here,' when we were in this turn .... kind of an S effect, and as we came around the top part of the S, the road widened out into this landing. She got very excited and started telling me to stop. Sergeant Wilson stated that when he asked Joanna why she wanted to stop, she replied: `That's where [petitioner's] car was parked the night Denise was killed.' This spot was, in fact, within 75 yards of the murder scene. The referee found this testimony to be true and probative of the fact that Joanna witnessed Denise's murder. The referee rejected Joanna's reference hearing testimony that she knew where to stop the car on the June 22 trip because in observing Sergeant Wilson's demeanor, he went from being silent to completely silent. We accept this finding as true.