Opinion ID: 1254168
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Weller's Testimony.

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.
On December 29, 1981, appellant told Dahl and Weller to rent a four-door sedan, with Dahl signing as the renter and Weller as the second driver, for the drive to Santa Cruz. He ordered Dahl and Weller to get knit caps, gloves, a saw, and a hatchet. He explained that he was going to cut up the corpses of MacVicar and de Laet so the bodies could not be identified if found. After they had obtained the items and Dahl had left, appellant told Weller to wear gloves and the stocking cap with all of her hair underneath it. She was also told to bring a change of clothes to wear after the killings, to shower, and to avoid use of deodorant or perfume. Appellant and Weller left the motel at noon on December 29 with the hacksaw and plastic garbage bags in one suitcase, the remainder of the money in a briefcase, the gun with silencer in a second briefcase, and the change of clothes in a second suitcase. All of these items were put in the trunk of the rental car, and the couple drove to the San Francisco Airport Hilton Hotel where they met de Laet and MacVicar in the parking lot. The four then drove to Santa Cruz in the rental car, de Laet at the wheel. In Santa Cruz, the group met Garcia in the parking lot of a doughnut shop at 3:00 p.m. Appellant had told Garcia earlier that he would say she was a teacher, to put de Laet and MacVicar at ease. Weller was told to refer to Garcia as Bebe, as de Laet and MacVicar knew Garcia by that name. Leaving the others in the rental car, appellant spoke with Garcia at her Bronco automobile for 10 to 15 minutes. He then told Weller, de Laet, and MacVicar to join Garcia. They would use the Bronco because Garcia knew the way and to avoid getting stuck in the mud as it was raining. Appellant brought the luggage to the Bronco. The five then drove in Garcia's Bronco to a place on Empire Grade Road where Garcia parked on the shoulder. Garcia and appellant walked into the woods adjacent to the road, appellant explaining they were going to check out the exact location of the house where the cocaine transaction would occur and to see if they could walk or drive in. Appellant took a suitcase and a briefcase with him. Garcia returned in about 10 minutes and told MacVicar he could get out, but when de Laet started to follow, Garcia told her that appellant wanted MacVicar to come by himself. Weller and de Laet waited in the Bronco. Before Garcia returned again to the Bronco about 10 minutes later, Weller heard a single gunshot which sounded like a branch breaking. Garcia then told de Laet she could get out and went with de Laet into the woods. After another 10 minutes Garcia again returned and told Weller she could get out. Weller told Garcia she really did not want to, but Garcia said appellant wanted to see her. Weller believed she was going to be killed because she knew what was to happen to the two people ahead of her. When Weller reached appellant, he was holding the gun in his hand and was standing over the bodies of MacVicar and de Laet, each of whom had been shot in the head. Appellant told Weller and Garcia that they were really good girls, and told them that they were never to discuss the matter with anyone, even themselves, and that he owed it to each, of them to kill the other if either did so. Garcia and Weller were ordered to take the clothing off the bodies and to place the clothing in one of the garbage bags and the victims' jewelry and any metal objects in another with the expended shells. As they were doing so, appellant tried to use the hacksaw to cut off MacVicar's head, but the blade broke. Commenting that they don't make them like they used to, he then used the hatchet to chop off the heads and hands of both victims. The body parts were placed in a third garbage bag. The women were ordered to place MacVicar's body into the larger of the two holes Garcia had previously dug. The three then placed de Laet's body in the second hole. Each hole had water in it and had to be made deeper. Garcia then opened a bag of lime and poured half of the lime over each body before the holes were covered. Appellant said the lime would decompose the bodies. The holes were filled with dirt and the area was then covered with leaves and branches so it looked like the rest of the forest area. The three garbage bags were placed by a tree deeper in the woods. The hacksaw and hatchet had been placed in the bag with the metal objects. Appellant, Weller, and Garcia then drove back to the doughnut shop. The guns Weller brought from Hawaii were in the console of the Bronco with the envelope of money for Garcia. The three changed clothes in the Bronco and put the clothes they had removed into a garbage bag which was placed in the trunk of the rental car. Garcia did not have a second pair of shoes and wanted to keep hers on, but appellant did not allow that. Appellant and Weller then followed Garcia who drove the Bronco to the Dream Inn Motel in Santa Cruz where Weller registered in her name at appellant's direction and paid for the room with money he had given her. She did not report the murders at that time because she was terrified. She believed appellant would kill her if she did so. On the way to the Dream Inn appellant told Garcia to call Garcia's mother, Mrs. Diane Edwards, and have Edwards join them at the motel. He told Weller that Edwards knew some old school people of respect in Las Vegas. She understood this to be a reference to Mafia people. Garcia called her mother, asked her to come over, and asked her to bring shoes for Garcia. Garcia assured appellant that her mother did not know what they had done that day and Weller assured him that no one knew what she had done. He again told them they were never to talk about it, even to him. Garcia's mother then arrived, with the shoes. Garcia and Weller remained in the Dream Inn room for one or two hours. Appellant was consuming cocaine which he had in one briefcase. Before Garcia's mother arrived at 6:30 p.m., appellant, who had been in the bathroom with Garcia, told Weller that Garcia had lied about whether Garcia had stopped drinking and directed Weller to go into the bathroom and slap her. When she went into the bathroom Garcia was crying and said I'm sorry. Appellant's treatment of Garcia was similar to his earlier treatment of de Laet. Appellant then went back into the bathroom to talk to Garcia. At 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., appellant said he wanted to be alone with Edwards and directed Weller and Garcia to take a room at another Santa Cruz hotel and return to the Dream Inn the next morning at 9:00 or 9:30 a.m. Weller and Garcia left. Garcia took the guns out of the Bronco, which belonged to Edwards and put them in a knitting basket in the trunk of Garcia's small sports car which Edwards had driven to the Dream Inn. Garcia drove the pair, in her car, to a Holiday Inn where Weller again registered in her name and paid for the room with money provided by appellant. Garcia brought the knitting basket with the guns. Weller believed that Garcia was guarding her. She was terrified. During the evening, Garcia told Weller that she had recently married an armored truck driver and was not taking drugs or drinking anymore. Weller did not tell the hotel manager or call the police to tell them of the day's events because she was afraid.
Weller and Garcia returned to the Dream Inn the morning of December 30, 1981. Edwards opened the door. After two or three hours, the four left the hotel. Garcia drove her own car. Her mother drove the Bronco. Weller drove appellant in the rental car back to the Millbrae Travelodge. The garbage bags of clothing, the suitcases, and the briefcases were all taken into the original room where appellant, using a hunting knife, cut up the soiled clothing, clothing MacVicar and de Laet had brought down for the Santa Cruz visit as well as de Laet's soft luggage bag, and the items used to wrap the money, all which was put into trash bags. Weller was directed to call Dahl from a nearby phone. When Dahl arrived a few hours later, appellant gave him and Weller detailed instructions about disposal of this clothing in various Dumpsters around town using the rental car. He also directed them to purchase ammonia and rubber gloves. Dahl told Weller he did not want any blood leaking from the bags. They completed the tasks and returned in about two hours. Weller called the airport and made a reservation in her own name for a December 31, 1981, flight to Minneapolis. Sometime before December 29 appellant had told Weller that he had directed de Laet to write a letter to him in Hawaii. The letter was to arrive after her death and cover up her murder, referring to Lauren and Don in Florida having a wonderful time and preparing to leave the country. Weller saw appellant hand a letter, wrapped in tissue to avoid fingerprints, to Dahl on December 31 and heard him ask Dahl to mail the letter from Florida. Using the ammonia and rubber gloves, appellant, Weller, and Dahl cleaned the hotel room to remove any trace of hair or fingerprints. Later that day, Weller drove to the San Francisco Airport Hilton, where Dahl was staying, to return the rental car. Dahl and appellant followed in a rental car Dahl had driven from Minnesota. They stopped on an access road and Dahl joined Weller. After returning the California rental car, Weller and Dahl took a taxi to the waiting Minnesota rental car, and, with appellant, drove to the airport to drop Weller off for her 1:00 p.m. flight to Minneapolis. Appellant had asked Weller to reserve the room at the Millbrae Travelodge for three more days, but the management would not do so. Appellant said he and Dahl were going to drive up to Washington and that he would fly back to Hawaii from Washington. Before she left, on appellant's instruction, Weller had called Jim Johnson, whom appellant had often referred to as a friend, and who was to pick her up at the Minneapolis airport. She was told to identify herself as Big Red. She was to stay with Johnson long enough to tell him how the silencer worked. She made no attempt to notify authorities of the murders after appellant and Dahl dropped her off at the airport or during the two or three stops on the flight to Minneapolis. She was still afraid that appellant would kill her and simply wanted to be away from him.
Jim Johnson's wife, Sondra Johnson, and Sondra's daughter met Weller at the Minneapolis airport at 10:00 p.m. on December 31, 1991, and took Weller to their apartment in Edina. Weller met Johnson, who had just returned from Florida, the next day at another person's home. Later in the day, at the Johnsons' apartment, Weller told him that the silencer did not work the first time, but did work for the second and third rounds. Johnson indicated he knew what she was talking about. Weller did not go to authorities at this point as she was terrified by appellant's threats to kill her. She believed that the Johnsons were watching her for appellant. When appellant called and asked if she was going to return to Hawaii, she told him she would do so in a month, after seeing relatives. She did not intend to return, but did not tell appellant that, as she feared appellant would come to Minneapolis and kill her. Appellant began calling repeatedly in the middle of the night asking when she was returning, saying that he missed her, and saying he was lonely. She thought he was trying to lure her back in order to kill her. Dahl appeared a few days after Weller arrived in Minnesota and had a private meeting with Jim Johnson. Weller then saw the Johnsons in possession of a number of guns she recognized as having belonged to appellant, including what appeared to be the gun used to kill de Laet and MacVicar. One gun described to her as a Datonic firearm looked like a gun that had been in California. Appellant had told Weller that Johnson was a cocaine dealer, and Johnson himself told her that he had been to prison, that he dealt drugs, and that he manufactured firearms and firearms parts. He showed her a machine gun. Weller decided not to go home as she believed appellant was going to kill her and she did not want to present problems to her family. After being with the Johnsons for two weeks, she trusted them more. She became fond of Jim Johnson and a sexual relationship developed between them. This occurred notwithstanding her knowledge that Johnson himself had killed a man and was a cocaine dealer. She believed Johnson could help keep her from being killed. Weller then told Johnson that appellant had gone crazy and had killed two people in a drug setup and that she was certain he would kill her because she was a witness. Johnson seemed surprised and said he thought he had made the silencer for appellant to kill snitches. He had originally gotten the parts for the gun and silencer from appellant for use in a robbery, but he was later asked to get the gun ready immediately because appellant had to kill some snitches in California. Appellant and Garcia arrived at the Minneapolis airport on February 19 or 20. Jim and Sondra Johnson, Weller, and Dahl, all armed because they feared appellant, met them at the airport in the Johnsons' van. Garcia had a black eye. Garcia said a karate opponent caused it. Garcia was quiet, appeared to be very scared, and throughout her stay was robot-like, doing what appellant told her to do. At the apartment appellant accused Weller of calling him a punk and became angry when she denied the accusation. He demanded that she apologize to Johnson for being disrespectful in his house and ignored Johnson, who protested that Weller was not disrespectful. Appellant followed Weller into the bathroom, grabbed her, slapped her into the tile wall, twisted her arm, and held a comb to her throat as if to slash it. He stopped only when Johnson intervened. Weller finally apologized to Johnson in response to appellant's demands. Appellant then threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the California murders and told her to consider herself hunted. When she opened a vitamin bottle, clicking off the safety cap, appellant ran toward her, pulled a gun, and pointed it at her. He put the gun down at Johnson's direction. Appellant and Garcia left the apartment shortly afterwards. Weller did not see them again until the murder prosecution commenced. Early in March 1982, Weller moved into an apartment with the money supplied by the Johnsons. She did so because she believed Johnson could no longer protect her from appellant. The apartment was rented in the name of Tonya Tate. Johnson stored cocaine and equipment used for cutting, pressing, and packaging the drug, which had previously been kept in Dahl's apartment, in this apartment. Weller remained in the apartment until April 22, 1982, when she surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Minneapolis. She did so on the advice of an attorney, although still afraid of being killed by appellant or his associates, after learning that the Johnsons had been arrested, appellant had been arrested, and a warrant had been issued for her arrest. When contacted by Santa Cruz law enforcement officers a day or two later, she refused to talk to them because she was afraid. At the end of June 1982, having been charged with being an accessory to murder, she agreed to talk to them after her Minnesota attorney explained her options and she was promised immunity from prosecution for anything in her statement. The only exceptions to the grant of immunity were perjury and if the prosecutor discovered that she had actually shot someone. Weller agreed to make a statement even though she still feared that appellant would have her killed either in or outside of jail. Weller first talked to California authorities on June 30 and July 1, 1982, giving taped statements while in the Hennepin County (Minnesota) jail. She had been advised that the charges against her would not be dismissed until she arrived in California. She was returned to Monterey County in protective custody and held in the county jail, first in Santa Cruz and then in Salinas under another name, until August 2, even though the charges against her had been dismissed earlier. The Johnsons pleaded guilty to state and federal charges in Minnesota and Weller did not testify against them, but she did testify against Dahl in Minnesota. For three months she received funds from the California Witness Protection Program during which time she found a job. The Federal Witness Protection Program rejected her request for an identity change. Weller conceded that she had initially told representatives of the district attorney's office that she did not know that MacVicar and de Laet were going to be killed until the murders occurred. She also testified to that effect at the preliminary hearing and denied that she had seen the hatchet, hacksaw, and garbage bags in the Millbrae Travelodge. Although she had originally denied seeing Dahl in California, because she did not know where he was and was afraid, at the preliminary hearing she testified that she had seen him. On cross-examination at trial she conceded that she had not been truthful in her preliminary hearing testimony when she denied involvement in and knowledge of many of the Johnsons' unlawful activities. The defense also brought out occasions during which Weller was in proximity to law enforcement personnel and could have alerted authorities to the criminal conduct of appellant and the Johnsons, but did not do so, and the many occasions on which there was no impediment to her leaving appellant.