Daughter arrested in mother's 2009 murder

Posted in Related Deaths

9-12-2011 Texas:

HOUSTON—Police say they have solved a 2009 murder after arresting the victim’s 19-year-old daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend.

"This is really one of the saddest cases I have ever worked," said Sgt. Ora Chandler with the HPD Homicide Division.

The body of 39-year-old Undra Williams was found on a vacant lot in the 5300 block of Briscoe in southeast Houston in June of 2009. Months later the Harris County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide when they determined Williams had been stabbed to death.

Investigators now believe they can prove that Ejjetta Williams, the victim’s youngest daughter who was 17 at the time, masterminded her mom’s killing because she and her mom fought over whom Ejjetta was dating.

That boyfriend at the time was 29-year-old James Bishop, a convicted sex offender. Houston Police arrested Bishop in February on a charge of sexual assault of a child. Ejjetta Williams was just 16 when they began dating.

Investigators believe Williams and Bishop carried out the act together to get rid of the woman who stood in the way of their relationship.

"I kind of figured she had something to do with it anyway," said Eligah Williams, Undra’s father and Ejjetta’s grandfather, "because of the way she was hiding and covering up stuff."

Her grandparents said Ejjetta even wrote in diaries about wanting to violently end her mom’s life. But they thought it was just talk. They never thought she would go through with it.

"For Ejjetta’s sake, I hope it’s not true," said Ejjetta’s stepmother, Gayle Williams.　"Because she would hurt my heart...again."

"No one wants to believe that somebody really wants to murder their mom," said Sgt. Chandler. "I mean it’s the most far-fetched thing. It’s just like something that’s taboo. But unfortunately this is what’s happened in this situation."

Both Ejjetta Williams and James Bishop are being held in the Harris County Jail. ..Source.. by KHOU.com

Bethany man jailed in wife's death says wife caught him watching pornography

Is related because of "Sexual Circumstances" which we also document.

1-10-2011 Oklahoma:

Reginald Scott Bartlett, 58, told Bethany police he “snapped” when Cathy Bartlett, 57, caught him watching pornography Saturday at their home.

BETHANY — A Bethany man jailed on a murder complaint in the Saturday stabbing death of his wife said he attacked the woman because he “snapped” when she caught him watching pornography on his computer, according to an affidavit filed today in Oklahoma County District Court.

Reginald Scott Bartlett, 58, is being held without bail in the Oklahoma County jail in the death of Cathy Bartlett, 57. He has not been charged.

Police were called about 6:35 p.m. to the couple's home at 7600 NW 25 and found Reginald Bartlett rolling around on the living room floor groaning, officer Angelo Orefice wrote in the affidavit. Cathy Bartlett was partially clothed on the floor with stab wounds to much of her body. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Reginald Bartlett was taken to a hospital due to his “distraught demeanor” and was interviewed Saturday following his release, according to the affidavit. Bartlett told police he was “a sick individual” and that he was addicted to pornography.

He told officers his wife came into the computer room, saw he was looking at pornography, slapped him and began to yell at him about a bank statement because she thought he was ordering pornography, Orefice wrote. Bartlett said he snapped, grabbed a knife and stabbed her repeatedly.

Bartlett told police he pulled some of her clothes off to make it look like his wife had been raped, then emptied a drawer out on the floor to make it look like the house had been burglarized, according to the affidavit. There were no signs of forced entry at the house.

Bartlett took the knife used in the attack along with a computer and his clothes and put them in a black bag, which he threw into Lake Overholser, Orefice wrote. After that, he went to a sporting goods store to look at golf equipment and then to Southern Nazarene University to watch a basketball tournament before returning to the home to call 911. ..Source.. MICHAEL KIMBALL

Man Killed In Retaliation After Sex Assault Alleged

11-22-2010 Texas:

Shawn Phillips Is Accused Of Killing Mark Gabler

SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio police said a man accused of killing another man in retaliation for an alleged sexual assault of one of his family members while they were all living together was arrested over the weekend.

Police said 32-year-old Shawn Phillips is charged with murder in connection with the killing of 33-year-old Mark Gabler.

According to the arrest affidavit, Phillips was upset over an alleged sexual assault and told a woman that was "going to take care of it his way."

"Obviously, we don't want people to take matters into their own hands," said Linda Tomasini, a spokesperson with the Bexar County Sheriffs Office. "That's why we have law enforcement here."

Gabler's badly decomposed body was found on May 20 in a hayfield off of the 13400 block of Donop Road in Southeast Bexar County, the affidavit states.

Man says sex taunt triggered homicide

Posted in Related Deaths

4-14-2005 New York:

Suspect: Photos, abuse led to actions

ORISKANY -- Sexual comments about female family members preceded the bludgeoning that killed a North Bay man, according to statements made by the Rome man charged in the death of his uncle, authorities said.

Authorities also said Ricky B. LaGasse told them after his arrest Friday that his uncle, Paul W. Jansen, 61 -- whom LaGasse referred to as a "pedophile" -- had raped him about 30 years ago.

These statements, discussed by attorneys and Oneida County sheriff's investigators during a felony examination Wednesday in Oriskany Village Court, revealed some of the details surrounding a possible motive for Jansen's death.

Following the hearing, Judge Richard Montgomery referred the matter to an Oneida County grand jury, finding reasonable cause that LaGasse, 44, of West Embargo Street, Rome, should be charged with second-degree murder.

Jansen's body was found shortly before 5 a.m. Friday on the living room floor at his residence on Route 49, deputies said. An autopsy later concluded that Jansen was killed by blunt force trauma to the head.

As a shackled LaGasse wiped away tears, Sgt. Robert Nelson described the comments LaGasse reportedly made to investigators that morning.

When LaGasse -- who along with his brother had called 911 to report Jansen's condition -- learned of his uncle's death, he told investigators, "I hurt my uncle, man. Don't you understand. I hurt my uncle. I didn't mean to hurt him," Nelson recalled.

According to statements LaGasse made to Nelson, Jansen showed LaGasse photographs of LaGasse's sister and mother, then taunted LaGasse with sexual comments about the two women, LaGasse proceeded to hit Jansen three times.

LaGasse also said Jansen attacked him with knives, Nelson said. LaGasse's arms and body were covered with "superficial lacerations" -- still visible Wednesday as he sat in court -- when he was apprehended later that morning following an hour-long standoff at his Rome apartment, Nelson said.

LaGasse is being held in Oneida County jail without bail. ..more.. by ROCCO LaDUCA

Man Says He Killed His Father To Stop Sexual Abuse

Posted in Related Deaths

7-14-2005 Washington:

FEDERAL WAY - Police knew from the beginning that David Jaber was the main suspect in his father's murder.

Neighbors at Fred Jaber's retirement apartment complex found the 79-year-old with a butcher knife in his back.

"Residents or neighbors were comforting him at the time. He was conscious. He was able to talk. As police were talking to him, checking on him, he identified his son as the assailant," said Commander Greg Wilson with the Federal Way Police Department.

What detectives didn't know was, why would a son kill his father?

New court documents may provide the answer. In them, David Jaber claims he suffered years of sexual abuse by his father that continued until the day he died.

Jaber claims "His father had been molesting him since he was 4 or 5-years-old. Part of the condition of David moving in was that he'd perform oral sex on his father."

In February 2005, Jaber moved in with his father at the Willamette Retirement Apartments.

In the court documents, David Jaber told police on June 26 he snapped. He talked to his mother on the phone to tell her about the years of alleged abuse. Court documents say she told him she didn't care.

KOMO 4 News tried to talk to Delores Jaber, but there was no answer at her SeaTac home. Delores was divorced from her husband and clearly afraid of her son. Since the beginning of the year, she's had a protection order against David. In the order she wrote: "I can see the rage in his eyes. I am fearful of his behavior. He is a totally different person since his depression." ..more.. by Leslie Knopp

Man fatally stabbed in Bell Gardens after fight involving teen girl

Posted in Related Deaths

5-11-2008 California:

Officials say the man was stabbed during a confrontation with the father and brother of the girl, 15, who said he had made sexual advances toward her.

A man was fatally stabbed Friday afternoon after he was confronted by the father and brother of a teenage girl who told them he had made sexual advances as she walked on a busy Bell Gardens street, authorities said today.

The stabbing took place about 3:43 p.m. in the 7700 block of Eastern Avenue near Clara Street shortly after the 15-year-old girl ran home and told her family she had just been accosted, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.

Shortly after, they said, the girl's father and brother went out in search of the man. They apparently located him quickly and a fight broke out. During the fight the man was stabbed, authorities said.

He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Sheriff's Deputy Rick Castro said no arrests had been made. Investigators have not determined who stabbed the man, he said. Bell Gardens police officers initially responded to the scene, Castro said.

The name of the man was not released pending notification of next of kin, county coroner's investigator Betsy Magdaleno said today.

It was unknown how the father and brother had identified the man as the one who allegedly accosted the teenager. Bell Gardens police declined to answer questions about the incident. A sheriff's deputy in the department's media relations office said she did not have more details to release. ..more.. by Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

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The Homicide Report

Ricardo Cortez, 40, a Latino man, was stabbed in the 7715 Eastern Ave. in Bell Gardens about 3:45 p.m. Friday, May 9. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said Cortez was stabbed after he was confronted by the father and son of a teenage girl who told them that he had allegedly accosted her. Authorities said the 15-year-old girl was walking on Eastern Avenue when the man made "sexual advances." The girl ran home and told her family.

The father and son found Cortez and a fight ensued, during which Cortez was stabbed, authorities said. It was unclear how the father and son identified Cortez as the one who accosted the girl. Deputy Luis Castro said no arrests were made because investigators had not determined who stabbed Cortez. Bell Gardens police officers were the first on scene, Castro said. ..News Source.. by LA Times

Freese sentenced to 5½ years, likely to serve 3½ for killing man

Posted in Related Deaths

PORT ANGELES -- Andrea Freese, 34, was sentenced Thursday morning to 5½ years in prison for second-degree manslaughter in the July 28, 2007, stabbing death of William Boze, 73, of Port Angeles.

She will get credit for time served, which will be about 20 months, depending on whether she is eligible for time she spent in custody on a probation violation for fourth-degree assault, county Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said.

That means she will serve about 3½ years for killing Boze.

Freese, the mother of a 13-year-old girl she hasn't seen for three years, also will serve 54 months' probation, Clallam County Superior Court Judge George Wood decided in setting a prison term twice the standard range due to her lack of remorse and Boze's vulnerability.

She will serve her time at the Washington Corrections Center for Women at Purdy, north of Gig Harbor.

Her mental health also will be monitored during probation.

Freese has been diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder and said she hears voices, according to trial testimony.

No remorse

Freese showed no remorse for stabbing Boze while she was staying in his west Port Angeles home, Wood said.

"Nothing in her personality disorder prevents her from displaying normal sympathy and empathy for an individual she has hurt," he said.

She remained placid during her sentencing, as she did throughout her trial, which ended on March 21.

Boze, who walked with a cane and had emphysema and heart disease, had offered Freese temporary shelter two years earlier while volunteering at the Dream Center teen facility in Port Angeles.

Before she was sentenced, her lawyer, public defender John Hayden, argued to Wood that Freese acted in self-defense, though her actions were "imperfect," because Boze died.

Freese said she attacked Boze in retaliation for his having punching her in the nose and repeatedly molesting her, a charge that was never proven but which she told her boyfriend was occurring, according to the boyfriend, Marty Marenstein of Seattle.

Freese's mental health "is not an excuse; it's an explanation," Hayden said, noting Freese had tried to get admitted to Western State Hospital a month before she killed Boze but was turned away.

She was given cab fare to another mental health facility, her mother, Charlene Logsdon of Silverdale, said Thursday in an interview.

Kris Flowers, Western State spokeswoman, said Thursday the hospital admits only patients referred by a court, not off the street.

In her argument before Wood, Kelly said Freese had unfairly sullied Boze's reputation and treated him like "a piece of trash."

"It is clear that Andrea Freese, the defendant, is a dangerous individual," Kelly said.

"She will do it again when she is released, and we know she will be released."

Family members were distraught she did not receive a longer sentence but also said Freese needed help.

Veteran, volunteer

In his victim impact statement, William Boze's son, John Boze, said his father was a Vietnam veteran who served three tours, raised four grandchildren on his own after their mother died and was a deacon in church.

Despite a crippling limp, he delivered food in the Meals on Wheels program.

"It was an act of kindness that would lead to the end of his life," said John Boze, who cleaned out his father's house after the killing.

"The larger lesson is that this tragedy provided my family was just how disposable our society views those with mental illness."

Logsdon said it was only during the trial that Hayden learned his client had a daughter.

The girl lives with her father in Bremerton but doesn't know yet that her mother, who was married to her father, is going to prison, Logsdon said.

Marenstein, 36, said that in killing Boze, Freese was protecting herself and can't understand why she would be sentenced to prison.

"I will do everything I can to let her know she is loved, and let her know she has someone waiting for her when she gets out." ..News Source.. by Paul Gottlieb, Peninsula Daily News

Accused killer says Roseville mom molested him

12-2-2010 Michigan:

Family members call claims ‘absurd,’ say he used her money for drugs

The brothers of a Roseville woman allegedly murdered by her adult son scoffed at claims by the son that he killed her because she molested and picked on him.

Art and John Bush, brothers of murder victim Mattie Foresi, countered Charles “Chuck” Foresi’s statement to police that she “needled him” about his “fatherhood” and molested him since age 12.

“It’s ridiculous, it’s absurd,” Art Foresi said. “He actually broke her of all the money she had, for drugs and getting him out of jail. It wasn’t because she molested him.”

Roseville police Detective Sgt. Steve Kostenko testified Wednesday about what Foresi told him during an interview at the Macomb County Jail.

“His explanation was that she had picked at him and was needling him about his fatherhood,” he said. “And he said from the time he was 12 years old, his mother had sexually molested him.”

The comment prompted a gasp in the courtroom from about 10 family members and relatives of the victim.

Living in the house in addition to the defendant and his mother were Charles Foresi’s girlfriend, Dawn Nixon, and their young son.

The Bushes said their nephew killed his mother because she wouldn’t give him money to buy crack cocaine. They said Foresi, 38, has had a drug problem since his early teens and has often stolen from people and for years has drained his mother’s finances to support his habit.

“He would guilt-trip her,” he said, referring to the fact that Foresi often used his late brother as a tool to gain sympathy from his mother. His brother was killed in a car crash in the 1980s, he said.

Foresi was ordered Wednesday to face a charge of first-degree, premeditated murder in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens. Judge Marco Santia made the ruling in 39th District Court in Roseville following a preliminary examination. The ruling, however, was approved conditionally pending the outcome of a forensic psychiatric exam that has been completed, but which had not yet been received by the attorneys or judge. Dec. 15 was set for a potential final approval of the bind over.

A friend found Mattie Foresi, 62, dead in a pool of blood on the living room floor of her Loreto Street home the morning of Aug. 11, the victim of more than 43 stab wounds — 34 to the chest, nine to the head and more to her hands. Paul Shrum is a friend of the family who was asked to stop by the house due to suspicions. Police believe Charles Foresi killed his mother about 10:30 or 11:30 p.m. Aug. 10 and fled in car kept at the home to get drugs.

Santia dismissed a second charge, auto theft, which prosecutors attempted to secure based on Foresi driving away a Saturn car that was at the home.

Santia rejected the argument by Foresi’s court-named attorney, R. Timothy Kohler, to reduce the charge to second-degree murder, claiming that if Foresi did commit the murder, he didn’t plan it but acted out of emotion.

But assistant Macomb prosecutor William Cataldo noted that premeditation can occur in “seconds,” and Santia noted Mattie Foresi’s defensive wounds.

“The defendant would’ve had a chance at some point to say, ‘I’m not going to do this,’” Santia said from the bench. “He made a conscious decision to say, ‘I’m going to stab her until she is dead.’”

The night of Aug. 10, Foresi first went next door to Corinne Schutz’s house to ask her to give him a ride to the area of Gratiot Avenue and Six Mile Road in Detroit — an area known for drug proliferation — and to borrow her vehicle to drive there. But she said no.

Schutz described Foresi as “kind of anxious … like something was wrong.”

He immediately went to his next-door neighbor on the other side, Sherman Mace, and asked for a ride. Mace said yes, but Foresi quickly jumped off Mace’s porch and returned to his home. Mace was discussing the matter with his wife, who along with his daughter over the telephone begged him to change his mind, when Mace saw through his front window the burgundy Saturn speed away.

Police believe Foresi killed his mother during the approximately 10 minutes from when he left the Mace house to driving away in the car.

Mace said after he saw the car drive away, he went to the Foresi house to tell Charles he couldn’t drive him, but there was no answer.

Police also found a palm print on one of two knives found in the living room near Mattie Foresi’s body, Cataldo said, reading from a police report. ..Source.. by Jameson Cook, Daily Tribune Staff Writer

Vigilante justice: So, is it murder?

10-20-2006 Connecticut:

Jonathon Edington allegedly kills neighbor to avenge harm to daughter

Jonathon Edington, a 29-year-old patent attorney, allegedly snapped after his wife told him their next door neighbor had molested their 2-year-old daughter.

Edington’s wife and daughter were out of town when she broke the news to him over the telephone. After Edington hung up the phone, he allegedly went next door, climbed through a bedroom window, and stabbed 59-year-old Barry James to death while his elderly parents were in the house.

Police reportedly found Mr. Edington back in his home, talking on a phone, standing at the kitchen sink, washing blood off his hands, a bloody knife on the counter nearby.

When the story first broke a few months ago, the media seemed to have labeled this a case of “vigilante justice,” almost endorsing the defendant’s actions by seeming to cheer and applaud and say, “If someone did this to your kid, wouldn’t you kill him too?”

But from the very beginning, when this story broke, I countered this approach saying the taking of a life is homicide, no matter what the reason, except for legally justified homicides such as self-defense or defense of another.

Murder is not an option
It is never okay to kill, no matter what you think someone did to “deserve” it. But the law in Connecticut does recognize that sometimes a homicide is a manslaughter rather than a murder if the person acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance. This is also known as the “heat of passion” defense. It is most typical in cases where a spouse catches a spouse in the act of adultery, flies into a rage, and kills. In some instances, this would be manslaughter rather than murder.

In Edington’s case, a prosecutor could offer a plea to manslaughter rather than murder, or a jury could find Edington guilty of the lesser included offense: manslaughter rather than murder. While murder is punishable by life in prison without parole, manslaughter is a 20-year felony. But make no mistake: even if convicted of manslaughter under extreme emotional disturbance, Edington still faces 20 years in prison for taking Mr. James’ life.

The key to understanding the extreme emotional disturbance defense is in the statute itself. In order to say someone acted under extreme emotional disturbance, first you have to find a reasonable explanation or excuse for those actions. Second, those actions have to be reasonable from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant’s situation under circumstances as the defendant believed them to be.

If the jury thinks that killing a child molester is a reasonable excuse, then they also have to find that it was reasonable for Edington to believe James molested his daughter, whether he had or not. The question isn’t whether it happened, but rather was it reasonable for Edington to think that it did.

And this is where the going will get tough for Edington. Once the jurors learn that yes, Edington really thought James molested his daughter, but no, James never touched his daughter, jurors could stop siding with Edington. And here, Edington’s justification, or provocation, could morph into cold-blooded murder for no reason at all.

Rage destroys two families
What was going on in the Edington family that a remark from a 2-year-old to her mother sparked a phone call to her husband, that ignited a homicidal rage in Edington such that he allegedly snuffed out the life of an innocent man?

Two families have been destroyed. The elderly James family has lost their beloved son. Attorney Edington will likely end up with a lengthy prison sentence, Mrs. Edington has lost her husband and their daughter has lost her family, which is forever shattered.

The moral of the tale is that no matter what you think someone has done, do not take the law into your own hands. Call the police. Lodge a complaint. Let the justice system do its work to punish and protect.

And if you hear of someone avenging a loved one whom they think has been harmed, do not clap and cheer for the vigilante. Whether the vigilante turns out to be right or wrong, vigilante justice is always wrong. And in this case, there is a gentle victim who did not deserve the death sentence Edington allegedly bestowed on him.

Edington, a lawyer himself, was judge, juror and executioner. And an innocent man has allegedly died as a result. ..more.. by Susan Filan, Senior Legal Analyst

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Barry James exonerated in civil trial

11-13-2010 Connecticut:

The family of Barry James can now feel that his name has been cleared. A jury in Bridgeport Superior Court told Jonathan Edington that he must pay the James family $315,000 for having stabbed James several times, causing his death.

Four years ago, Jonathan Edington, believing that his neighbor had molested his two-year-old daughter, leapt through his neighbor’s window on Colony Street and fatally stabbed him a dozen times. Barry James’ 87-year-old mother looked on in horror.

After a seven-week investigation, Fairfield police cleared the murder victim, 59-year-old Barry James, of any molestation charges. Among other things, they said the disabled man could not have climbed into the two-year-old’s window and they found no handprints, fibers or other evidence. They also found no pornography or other materials in the James’ home that would have pointed to a child molester.

Edington, a former patent attorney, ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2007.

The family of the victim may not see the money that has been awarded, but a jury has cleared their son and brother’s name.

“It was a public vindication of Barry James’ name and a clear repudiation of the salacious comments by Edington that Barry James was ever involved,” said Richard Meehan, Jr, attorney for the James family, who spoke to the Minuteman by phone.

“He even admitted on the witness stand that what he believed then, he doesn’t believe now,” said Meehan of Edington.

However, Edington never apologized. “He said he just didn’t see how it would matter to apologize for what he did; it couldn’t bring James back,” said Meehan.

Meehan said he then asked Edington in court, “Did you ever think it might have mattered to Rita James, who stood there while you stabbed her son to death? Or to Charles James who you called a good man over and over?”

Before the criminal trial, Edington’s lawyer filed a report from a psychiatrist that said he was obsessive-compulsive and had a borderline personality disorder and that mitigating factor lowered the charges to manslaughter from murder, Meehan said.

However, the attorney feels that minus the sex, and minus the multiple victims, this home invasion was brutal as the one in Cheshire. The seven-inch knife was plunged as much as nine inches into the victim.

According to Meehan, the family includes his elderly parents, Charles and Rita James, with whom he lived, and his sister Charlene Benoit, and her husband, who are parents of Barry James’ nephews.

The three members of the James’ family, who lived on Colony Street, were close-knit and best friends, according to Meehan.

At the trial, Edington, a former patent attorney, represented himself and besides Meehan, attorney Peter Ambrose represented the family. ..Source.. by Meg Learson Grosso

Police arrest 18-year-old in fatal stabbing

11-26-2006 Idaho:

Police have arrested an 18-year-old suspect in the alleged stabbing death of a 77-year-old Garden City man.

After a telephone tip, police located and took 18-year-old Buck Pickens into custody on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Arthur Clarkson, whose body was found by a family member about 1 p.m. Friday inside his trailer on the 3900 Block of Adams Street.

Garden City Police Capt. Cory Stambaugh said Saturday that Clarkson died of stab wounds to the neck. Investigators have recovered a knife that may be the murder weapon and have sent it to the Idaho State Police crime lab for fingerprint and DNA analysis.

Pickens was arrested about 1:30 a.m. Saturday at an apartment complex on the 5800 block of Grissom Street, north of State Street and Ellen’s Ferry in Boise, after a tip to police dispatchers led them to his location.

The suspect gave up without incident and was taken into custody, with no bond set, Stambaugh said during a press conference at Garden City Police headquarters.

Officers also arrested 23-year-old David Gloria of Garden City at another location later Saturday. Gloria, who authorities said claims to be Pickens’ brother, was charged with harboring a wanted felon in the case. He was also served an agent’s warrant for felony probation violations.

Both Pickens and Gloria were held in the Ada County jail, awaiting arraignment at 1:30 p.m. Monday. At that time, a judge will read the indictments against the two men and schedule preliminary hearings for them.

Clarkson’s body has been sent to the Ada County Coroner to determine an exact cause and time of death.

After the preliminary hearings have been set, the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office will gauge whether the suspected homicide meets the standards for a first-degree murder charge, punishable by death or life imprisonment.

According to police investigators, the two younger men were family friends of the victim and considered the elderly man a “grandfather figure.”

“Right now, just in a nutshell, the motive has something to do with an argument, some kind of disagreement, that Buck and Mr. Clarkson had,” Stambaugh said.

Although investigators are aware of the reasons for the argument, which happened a few days before the murder, they have not yet released those details.

Clarkson’s body was discovered midday Friday by a relative and a member of Gloria’s family who stopped by to check on him. Garden City Police arrived on the scene after an assist call from emergency medical responders.

“Upon their arrival, they found a deceased male in the front room of the trailer,” Stambaugh said.

In a cooperative effort, Garden City Police, Boise Police, Ada County sheriff’s deputies and the Idaho State Police crime lab searched Clarkson’s manufactured home, interviewed friends and neighbors, and determined that Pickens was a “person of interest” in the case.

Pickens, who turned 18 in October, has a sealed juvenile record, and Gloria may have a criminal record, Stambaugh said, adding that it is too early in the investigation to determine if Pickens is involved in any other Treasure Valley crimes.

Investigators believe Pickens acted alone in Clarkson’s murder, and no other arrests appear likely at this time, Stambaugh said.

“It’s always possible,” he said. “We don’t see that, but you never know what may come up.”

Investigators continue to check into the criminal histories and backgrounds of the two arrested men and their relationship with Clarkson, who lived alone. ..more.. by

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Possible motive in stabbing death emerges
Friend says Buck Pickens thought 77-year-old victim was molesting a child
1-19-2007 Idaho:

A friend of murder suspect Buck Pickens said Thursday Pickens told her the night before Arthur Clarkson was found stabbed to death in his trailer home that he was going to kill the 77-year-old because he suspected Clarkson molested a 6-year-old girl.

Leslie Burton, who was with Pickens at Clarkson's Garden City home for Thanksgiving dinner Nov. 23, said Pickens was upset that night and was hiding a knife under his leg.

Pickens, 18, "said he was getting a bad feeling ... Art was messing around with (the little girl) and he had to take care of it," Burton testified Thursday during Pickens' preliminary hearing. "He was angry ... I had never seen him angry before that day."

Thursday was the first time a suspected motive in Clarkson's murder was publicly released.

The 6-year-old's mother testified Thursday that there was never any evidence Clarkson molested her daughter, and she didn't suspect anything happened — an opinion shared by Burton during her testimony.

Clarkson was found dead and covered in blood Nov. 24 in the doorway of his trailer in the 3900 block of Adams Street.

Pickens is charged with first-degree murder. His older brother, David Gloria, is charged with accessory to murder. Police say Gloria helped Pickens hide from police until Pickens was arrested a day later at a home on Grisson Lane.

Police and prosecutors accuse Pickens of stabbing Clarkson several times in his neck Nov. 24 and leaving him to die. Police say Gloria got to the trailer a short time later, saw what happened, and helped Pickens leave. He told detectives he did not want to "rat on his brother," according to court documents.

Both Pickens and Gloria were in court Thursday for their preliminary hearing. Fourth District Magistrate Richard Schmidt heard about six hours of testimony before determining there was enough evidence to bind the cases over to District Court.

Pickens and Gloria are both scheduled for arraignment hearings Jan. 29, where they will be able to enter pleas in their cases.

Burton testified Thursday that she, Pickens, Gloria, Clarkson, his adult granddaughter, and three small children were all at the trailer for Thanksgiving dinner when she saw Pickens hide the knife under his leg.

Burton said after talking to Pickens, she thought it was a good idea to get him out of the trailer to avoid a confrontation with Clarkson, so she got everybody to leave. Burton said she was with Pickens for several more hours that night, and he kept asking to borrow her car because he needed to take care of something for "people he cared about."

She also testified that she knew Clarkson and the 6-year-old girl's mother well and had never seen any evidence of molestation.

"I didn't see what he saw," she said.

Burton said Pickens slept at her apartment that night and drove her to an appointment the next morning, keeping her red car.

Clarkson's next door neighbor, Connie Schofner, testified Tuesday she saw a red car parked in her driveway around noon Nov. 24 and saw Pickens get in the car and pull away in a hurry a short time later. She said she briefly saw Gloria at the trailer around the same time. ..more.. by Patrick Orr

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Possibly Motive Emerges in Stabbing Death of 77-year-old
1-17-2007 Idaho:
The man suspected of stabbing 77-year-old Arthur Clarkson to death in his Garden City trailer in November told a friend he was going to kill Clarkson because he believed the man was molesting a 6-year-old girl.

That's according to murder suspect Buck Pickens' friend Leslie Burton, who testified at Pickens preliminary hearing in Fourth District Court Thursday. Burton said the 18-year-old Pickens told her - quote - "he was getting a bad feeling...Art was messing around."

It's the first time a motive has come out in the case since Clarkson was found dead and covered in blood in the doorway of his trailer in late November, after being stabbed several times in the neck.

Pickens, of Garden City, has been charged with first-degree murder. His brother, David Gloria, who also appeared in court Thursday, is being charged as an accessory to murder.

Police say Gloria helped Pickens hide from police before he was arrested a day after the stabbing.

Both Pickens and Gloria are scheduled to appear in court again January 29, when they will enter pleas in their cases. ..more.. by Local News 8

Father of slain inmate sues state

There is confusion between articles as to whether "they thought he was a sex offender" or whether "he was a sex offender," see wording in both articles. However, given they fired employees over the incident, likely he was NOT a former sex offender.

9-19-2007 Arizona

The father of a Florence inmate killed with a homemade prison shank has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the state.

The prisoner, William Lee Harris, was classified as a nonviolent inmate on a three-year drug charge at the Eyman Unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex.

According to the complaint filed Sept. 10, Harris was falsely labeled by a prison employee as a sex offender and then improperly housed with a Class 5 inmate — the most violent type.

Leslie Rakestraw, the lawyer for the Harris family, said the claim will ask for $2.5 million in damages.

“We would be willing to settle for that, or less even,” she said Monday. “But we have gotten absolutely no response from the state.”

The complaint cites the death as “a direct and proximate result of the negligence of the employees of the Department of Corrections.”

Calls this week to the Arizona Department of Corrections were not returned.

An internal investigation by the department noted that prison staff made mistakes that led to the death of Harris. After the slaying, 12 prison employees were reprimanded or fired.

Michael Gaston is accused of slaying Harris within hours after he moved into Gaston’s cell on Sept. 17, 2006. Prison records show Gaston stabbed Harris with a nine-inch shank, which was found protruding from his chest as he lay covered in blood.

Gaston was serving a prison sentence at the time for killing a man over a car loan.

The prison report indicates that a guard who quit the department soon after the incident falsely told inmates that Harris was a sex offender.

Rakestraw said Harris’ father, L.V. Harris, lives out of state.

According to Rakestraw, no trial date has been set for the case.

“The state has 20 days to file an answer,” she said. “We get lots of delays based on technicalities. They will do anything to keep us from getting our trial it seems.” ..more.. by Devon Hersom, For the Tribune

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Human Errors Added To Inmate Death At Florence Prison
1-24-2007 Arizona:

12 People, Including Warden, Disciplined For Mix-Ups, Wrong Paperwork

A series of blunders were committed by personnel at a state prison in Florence that resulted in the killing of an inmate, an Arizona Corrections Department investigation has revealed.

Twelve employees, including John Ontiveros, the warden of the Eyman Complex in Florence, were disciplined in the case, according to the report released Tuesday.

William Harris was killed Sept. 7, just hours after he was transferred from another facility and placed in the same cell as Michael Gaston, who was charged in the case. Gaston was serving a life sentence for murder, while Harris was in prison serving time for drug and sex offenses. advertisement

"Proper procedures were in place. What we ran into was human error," said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katie Decker.

The errors included a variety of mix-ups, from not filing proper forms on inmate classifications in a timely manner to simple mistakes on the forms.

In one instance, a guard announced to other inmates that Harris was a sex offender. Sex offenders typically are segregated from the rest of the prison population to protect their safety.

Decker said cells were not searched properly and medical records were not transferred on time.

The report said Gaston may have been improperly allowed on a work detail, which might have enabled him to have access to materials he could use to fashion a weapon.

Of the 12 employees who were disciplined, Decker said:

One was fired.
One was demoted.
Four were suspended.
Three received written reprimands.
One resigned.
Two retired.

She declined to provide the employees' names.

Ontiveros was one of those who left the department. ..more.. by Michael Clancy, The Arizona Republic

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Convict in Wickenburg area murder found dead in cell

2-26-2008 Arizona:

A man convicted of murdering a Wickenburg resident and awaiting trial in another murder case has been found dead in his prison cell in what authorities described Tuesday as a hanging.

The body of Michael Gaston, 23, who was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, was discovered Monday during a routine security check at the Eyman Complex in Florence, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.

"He left a suicide note," the agency said in a prepared statement. As per department policy, a criminal investigation has been launched, the agency said.

Gaston was sentenced March 3, 2006, after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the 2004 death of Bret D. Smalling, 21, who was taken to the desert and killed on the pretext of hunting for rocks.

Gaston also was awaiting trial in Pinal County Superior Court for the Sept. 7, 2006, murder of fellow inmate William Harris, 45, a death that prison officials later blamed on a series of blunders by agency workers.

Harris, who was serving time for drug and sex offenses, was killed just hours after he was transferred from another facility and placed in the same cell as Gaston.

Twelve employees, including John Ontiveros, the warden of the Eyman Complex, were disciplined in the case.

In the earlier slaying, Maricopa County sheriff's investigators described Smalling's death as part of scheme by Gaston and two other men, supposedly friends of Smalling, to scare him into repaying a loan.

Instead, Smalling was cut down with a 12-gauge shotgun and his body was dumped in a remote grave near Arizona 74 and Castle Hot Springs Road, about 10 miles southeast of Wickenburg, deputies said.

His body was found March 25, 2004, nearly three weeks after family members had reported him missing.

The other defendants, two brothers, were convicted in the case on lesser homicide charges and sent to prison for terms of 10½ and 16 years, respectively. ..Source..

IN- Man who killed two, himself was ex-con

Posted in Related Deaths

10-23-2008 Indiana:

PORTAGE | The man who police say came to Portage early Tuesday morning and killed his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, then got in a car crash that killed himself and his 2-year-old son had a prior criminal record.

Lawrence K. Hill, 40, was a registered sex offender whose most recent address was 301 E. 12th St., Apt. 7, Mendota, Ill.

Hill was required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault in Cook County, Ill. According to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, the crime occurred 15 years ago.

Hill registered as a sex offender in Mendota on Sept. 5, and during the six and a half weeks between the time he registered and his death, he had no run-ins with police in Mendota.

Mendota police Lt. Lonnie Kent said the only contact police had with Hill was when Hill's home was vandalized. Kent described the area where Hill was living as a combination of apartments and mobile homes.

Portage police said they had not received any prior complaints involving Hill and his ex-girlfriend, Sonya Kerr, who lived at Park Place Apartments in Portage.

But at 12:50 a.m. Tuesday, police said Hill came to visit his ex-girlfriend after having some heated phone conversations with her.

Police said Hill climbed onto his ex-girlfriend's third-floor balcony, entered through her sliding glass door and began arguing with her about their 2-year-old son, who was in the apartment sleeping. Hill then tried to abduct his ex-girlfriend at knifepoint.

The woman's new boyfriend, Dennis R. Williams, 29, of Gary, who had been living with her at her Portage apartment, intervened but was stabbed to death by Hill, police said.

Hill fled in his Buick Regal and, without his ex-girlfriend's knowledge, grabbed their son, Keahn, from the apartment.

Police put out a bulletin asking police agencies to look for Hill and the child.

Beverly Shores police located Hill eastbound on U.S. 12, near Ind. 520, about 1:30 a.m.

Beverly Shores police, soon joined by units from several other departments, followed Hill onto Ind. 520 and then westbound on U.S. 20. Neither Hill nor the officers were going fast, police said.

Indiana State Police set up tire-deflating stop sticks at U.S. 12 and Mineral Springs Road in Porter. One of Hill's tires hit a stop stick. Hill continued eastbound, seeing a Porter County police car and seeing Officer Ryan Fenters getting ready to deploy more stop sticks at U.S. 12 and Beam Street in Porter. Hill accelerated and crashed head-on into the unoccupied police car, killing himself and his son, who was on his lap.

Toxicology tests are being conducted to determine if Hill had drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death, but Indiana State Police Sgt. Ann Wojas said there was no immediate indication that either were a factor. ..News Source.. by KEN KOSKY

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CASE UPDATE: Ex-Ottawa sex offender kills 2, self in Indiana

11-11-2008 Indiana:

A sex offender, formerly of Ottawa, recently killed two people and himself in Northwest Indiana.

Lawrence K. Hill stabbed to death his former girlfriend's male friend in late October at an apartment in Portage, then took the 2-year-old boy he and his 21-year-old former girlfriend had together and left in a car, police said. Police were trying to stop Hill's car when Hill, with the boy on his lap, accelerated and slammed his car into a stopped, unoccupied police car. The boy and Hill were killed.

The 40-year-old Hill lived in Ottawa until moving to Mendota in late August. That move led to Hill's arrest Aug. 26 by Ottawa police because, as a registered sex offender, he failed to tell police he moved and changed jobs. He was released from the La Salle County Jail in early September on $1,500 bond. Trial had been set for next Monday, with the public defender's office representing Hill. As a result of Hill's death, the bond money, minus $150 in administrative fees, was returned Thursday to the former girlfriend.

Hill was a registered sex offender because he was convicted of aggravated sexual assault against a 35-year-old victim in the mid-1990s in Cook County. Indiana State Police reported they believed Hill had been last living in Chicago. In recent years, he also lived in Mississippi. The former girlfriend told the Merrillville, Ind.-based Post-Tribune she moved to the Midwest from Mississippi following 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

Another former girlfriend, an Ottawa woman, obtained an emergency order of protection against Hill Aug. 26, saying Hill threatened her and her two children. However, at a Sept. 15 hearing about extending the order, Associate Judge James Brusatte — who issued the order — dismissed further proceedings because Hill showed but the woman did not. ..News Source.. by Dan Churney

AZ- Eighth suspect arrested in A.J. slaying

Note: Here killers believed that Charles Thomas Snyder's son molested a little girl; Charles Thomas Snyder was not a registered sex offender and was killed by mistake.

9-16-2003 Arizona:
Detectives have arrested an eighth suspect Wednesday in the slaying of an Apache Junction resident, and continue to investigate if the attack was because the suspects believed his son molested a 9-year-old girl.

Michael Daniel White, 25, of Apache Junction was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit armed burglary, kidnapping and aggravated assault, said Apache Junction police Sgt. Dick Virgil.

White is suspected of being in Charles Thomas Snyder's home when he was shot and stabbed to death Sept. 10, Virgil said. Allen Pacheco, 15, and Johnny Pacheco, 17, told detectives they went to Snyder's home looking for his 23-year-old son to "rough him up," detective Ralph Cornejo said.

Most of the other suspects didn't know the girl or the Snyders and were only there as "backup," Cornejo said. "Once the first shot was fired they were gone like cats fleeing from a dog," Cornejo said.

Allen Pacheco told detectives he decided to seek revenge against Snyder’s son when the girl told him that the son — a family friend — had sneaked into her home while Pacheco was babysitting her Sept. 9 and molested her, police said.

On Sept. 10, the group drove to the Snyder home in the 1400 block of South Grand Avenue to look for the son, who sometimes lived in a residence in back, Cornejo said. Unable to find him, seven of the eight suspects entered the main house about 11 p.m., Cornejo said.

Snyder was shot and stabbed after confronting the Pacheco brothers upon awakening, police said.

Arrest warrants were obtained for the Pachecos as a result of numerous tips. The teens then implicated the others, who also confessed, Cornejo said.

Johnny Pacheco and Allen Pacheco were charged Monday with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and aggravated assault.

John Ransom, 18, Dave Michienzi, 22, Henry Mitchell, 21, and Fredrick Wayne Besenhofer, 21, could face conspiracy to commit armed burglary, kidnapping and aggravated assault charges. Cindy Johnson, 29, may face conspiracy to commit armed burglary and kidnapping charges.

The girl was interviewed Wednesday and authorities expect to question Snyder’s son soon, Cornejo said. ..more.. by Kim Smith

IN- Griffith man charged in brutal killing of sisters

9-18-2009 Indiana:

Affidavit: Suspect admitted to raping one, stabbing, choking both

CROWN POINT | Lake County prosecutors on Wednesday filed multiple felony counts against 35-year-old David Flores in connection to last week's slaying of Jennifer Evans, of Griffith, and her sister, Kristen Kennedy, of Chicago.

The sisters were found dead by their father Friday night in the bathroom of Evans' smoke-filled home on Lindberg Avenue.

Flores, of Griffith, was charged with two counts of murder, murder in the perpetration of rape, two counts of murder in the perpetration of arson, rape and arson. He faces a maximum sentence of 130 years in prison if convicted, the prosecutor's office said.

He is being held without bond in the Lake County Jail.

A probable cause affidavit states Flores, on parole after serving time on a previous rape charge, told police he had attended a small gathering Sept. 10 in the garage of Evans' home.

Police said Flores admitted to drinking and falling asleep on the couch, later waking up and making sexual attempts against Kennedy, 25. When rejected, Flores raped Kennedy before stabbing her multiple times, according to statements he made to police.

After choking 28-year-old Jennifer Evans until she was unconscious, Flores moved both bodies to the bathroom, covering them with bed linens he ignited after disabling smoke detectors, according to the affidavit.

Autopsy results showed smoke was present in the victims' lungs, according to the affidavit.

Flores told police he obtained two knives from the 'kitchen, stabbed the victims repeatedly and choked both to ensure they were dead. He put the knives and other items he touched into plastic bags that he disposed of in an alley before leaving the home sometime Friday afternoon.

Detectives wanting to question Flores went to his mother's East Chicago apartment. Police said Flores attempted to flee before being apprehended in a stairwell. ..Source.. by Susan Brown

IL- Murder defendant takes a gamble -- and wins

7-18-2009 Illinois:

How do you stab and slash someone 61 times, not just killing but slaughtering him, then walk free?

That's the lingering question in the wake of last week's acquittal of Joseph Biedermann of Hoffman Estates, who admitted to inflicting numerous fatal wounds on Terrance Hauser during an early-morning altercation in March 2008 in Hauser's apartment in the complex where both men lived.

The answer, in this case, is that you cast yourself as the victim of an attempted homosexual rape, then you throw in all-or-nothing with the jury.

Biedermann, now 30, testified that he first met Hauser, 38, at a tavern shortly before the incident. After the bartender refused to serve Biedermann any more alcohol, the two, both drunk, repaired to Hauser's apartment. Biedermann said after some conversation he passed out, then awoke to find Hauser holding a sword to his neck, ordering him to disrobe and submit to a sexual act.

"It's the most bizarre case I've ever been a part of," said Biedermann's defense attorney, Sam Adam Jr., whose strangeness threshold is high as he represented rapper R. Kelly in his sensational rape trial and now represents former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Biedermann described the subsequent melee in which he gained control of a dagger and used it to stab Hauser repeatedly in an attempt to escape. Cook County prosecutors and other skeptics say that story doesn't add up: Biedermann was slightly larger and slightly less drunk than Hauser, and couldn't possibly have had to stab him five dozen times in order to escape.

The scene showed almost no signs of a life-and-death struggle, suggesting Biedermann simply attacked Hauser.

In the bloody overkill of the stabbing frenzy some see the hallmark of "gay panic" cases -- ones in which defendants suggest, sometimes successfully, that homosexual overtures are themselves sufficient provocation for acts of extreme violence.

Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois, said he was "disgusted" by Biedermann's acquittal. "The gay panic defense is passé but, unfortunately, it still works in some places. It seems to me that this jury based its verdict not on the facts but on deep seated anti-gay sentiment."

Adam, not surprisingly, disagrees. "This verdict wasn't anti-gay, it was anti-rape," he said. "Hauser threatened to kill my client. He simply fought back."

With 61 thrusts of a knife? "During the fight, Hauser fell on top of [Biedermann] on the couch," Adam said. "So [Biedermann] just kept stabbing and stabbing trying get him off."

Believers say Biedermann's account adds up. He had no history of violent behavior (nor did Hauser), the weapon he used belonged to Hauser, and he, Biedermann, also suffered wounds in the altercation, albeit comparatively minor.

Adam said he thinks jurors might have voted for a compromise verdict -- second-degree murder, which, under Illinois law, means that the killer believed his actions were justified, but that belief was objectively unreasonable.

Prosecutors didn't want to give the jury that option, even though it might best fit the boozy, horrific mayhem that left Hauser dead and Biedermann covered with blood.

"Our view was the evidence showed [Biedermann] never actually believed his life was in danger," said Joe Magats, deputy chief of criminal prosecutions for the Cook County state's attorney's office. "We couldn't then turn around and argue to the jury that he did believe that ... ."

Biedermann didn't want to give the jury that option either, even though second-degree murder is a probationable offense that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and first-degree murder, the original charge, carries a 20-year minimum. The charge of first-degree murder does not require premeditation and can include killings committed "under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance," so it was a huge risk.

(See Illinois law --second-degree murder; and first-degree murder and justifiable use of force)

"He gambled," said Adam. "He felt the jury would have reasonable doubt about what happened in that apartment that night. The state gambled too."

Biedermann won. The state lost. How did justice do? We'll never know for sure. ..Source.. by Eric Zorn

CA- Defense opens in Magalia murder trial

Darrin Lee Pacheco killed: Paul Prestridge 28 because he called him a "chomo lover" (i.e. means child molester lover in prison jargon). See case on appeal!

3-10-2008 California:

OROVILLE -- The defense is scheduled to open its case today in the Darrin Pacheco Magalia murder trial.

On Friday, an autopsy surgeon testified that allegedly during a fight with the defendant's brother, Paul Prestridge, 29, of Magalia suffered stab wounds to the back, leg and chest — the latter thrust done with enough force to puncture all the way through his heart.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Thomas Resk said the wounds were "consistent" with having been made by a steak knife, which at least three witnesses claimed Pacheco, 39, of Auburn had grabbed that night from the kitchen in his brother's home.

Pacheco's attorney, Robert Marshall, has argued that whatever his client did, he was lawfully justified in protecting the life of his brother, Rick Pacheco.

Witnesses at a barbecue in the brother's home on Sept. 3, 2006, have testified that Prestridge, who like Darrin Pacheco had served time in prison, punched the defendant's brother several times in the face, after accusing him of being a "chomo-lover."

A former prison official called by the defense attorney told the jury on Friday that is inmate-talk for someone who befriends a child molester.

Outside of the jury's presence, Marshall asserted that by that statement Prestridge had, in effect, "marked (the brother) for death."

But because there was no evidence what was in the defendant's mind, or even whether he knew what the term "chomo" meant, deputy district attorney Kurt Worley objected to the defense using the phrase to try to "create a defense" to the fatal stabbing.

Butte County Superior Court Judge Gerald Hermansen agreed with the prosecutor, and would only permit the prison expert to testify that child molesters are reviled by inmates and must be placed into protective custody to prevent being attacked.

The Magalia homicide case is expected to go to the jury later this week.

The prosecution rested Friday, after calling Resk, who conducted the autopsy on the slain man.

The county pathologist said the fatal attack could have occurred as testified earlier by the brother's girlfriend, Amanda Baum.

She told the jury her boyfriend had the other man in a headlock on the floor, and heard Prestridge say, "I'm done, I'm going home" when the defendant made what appeared to be "punching motions" toward Prestridge.

Moments later, she claims she saw a steak knife on the floor near the combatants and placed it on a table.

Although a fingerprint expert was unable to obtain any usable prints from the steak knife, he testified to finding the defendant's bloody left thumbprint on a larger butcher knife, also recovered from the scene.

Baum alleges that Darrin Pacheco had the larger knife in his hand when he tried to return to the fight moments later, but that she managed to take it away from him.

The stab wound to the heart caused extensive internal bleeding, resulting in Prestridge's rapid death, Resk told the jury Friday.

He testified that the slain man also suffered numerous scrapes and bruises to his head and body, and what appeared to be a shallow cut to the back of one hand.

The prosecutor asked whether someone stabbed through the heart could have stood up, punched Rick Pacheco once more in the face and walked several feet toward the front door before finally collapsing, as witnesses have testified.

Resk agreed that while that might not be possible for some people, for a man of Prestridge's age and strength, it was "not unlikely."

The defense attorney got the pathologist to concede that because he couldn't determine the precise angle of the fatal attack, he couldn't rule out the possibility of the stab wounds being inflicted by the defendant's brother with his free hand, while he had Prestridge in a headlock.

Although the prosecution had the defendant's brother under subpoena, Worley chose not to call him as a witness during his case.

Last week, Pacheco's attorney had the judge direct the brother to be in court today, as a potential witness for the defense. ..more.. by TERRY VAU DELL - Staff Writer


Trial begins in alleged murder during altercation at party in Magalia

3-5-2008 California:

OROVILLE — Testimony got under way Tuesday in the trial of an Auburn parolee charged with a Magalia murder.
Darrin Lee Pacheco's attorney told the Butte County Superior Court jury the defendant was acting in lawful defense of his brother when Paul Prestridge, 28, was fatally stabbed with a kitchen knife during a physical altercation on Sept. 3, 2006, at a family barbecue at the brother's Crescent Drive Magalia home.

In his opening remarks to the eight-woman, four-man jury, deputy district attorney Kurt Worley acknowledged Prestridge initiated the fight by accusing the brother of befriending a child molester and throwing the first punch that night.

The prosecutor said witnesses will testify the defendant's brother had Prestridge in a headlock on the floor, when the 37-year-old suspect began "flailing his arms" over the combatants after retrieving two kitchen knives.

A woman at the party suffered a cut to a hand taking one of the knives away from him, according to Worley.

The mortally wounded man tried to punch the defendant's brother at least once more before collapsing and dying near the front door from a stab wound to the heart, said the prosecutor.

In asking the jury to acquit Pacheco of murder and assault charges, Chico defense attorney Robert Marshall contended the defendant was legally justified to prevent his brother from suffering death or serious injury.

Marshall said he would prove Prestridge, who had also spent time in prison, had a history of punching people, including a motorist and a fellow employee.
Witnesses will testify that when the name of a man came up from whom they might be able to purchase some marijuana that night, Prestridge claimed he was a "chomo," which is prison parlance for child molester, said Marshall.

When Prestridge questioned how Rick Pacheco could allow his daughter to go over to a child molester's house, and called him a "chomo lover," Marshall told the jury the defendant tried to mollify him by saying "I never saw any paperwork" to that effect.

The defense attorney alleges that when told to leave, Prestridge rushed at the defendant's brother, punching him several times in the face and drawing blood.

He said a reasonable person under that situation would also have believed Pacheco's brother was in "imminent danger of death or serious injury."

Among those present during the start of the fight, was Prestridge's fiancee, Mindy Johnson, who told the jury he had proposed marriage to her earlier that night.

She testified to only seeing her boyfriend slap the defendant's brother once with an open hand, after backing him against a wall.

She said she jumped on Prestridge's back at that point to try to pull him off, but he was able to fling both her and Darrin Pacheco off him.

Under questioning by Marshall, Johnson testified she took her oldest child across the street to her mother's home at that point, because she didn't want the tot to see Prestridge fighting, and also because "he is strong and I knew he could take care of himself."

She was getting ready to return to the party when she heard someone speeding away from the mobile home, the wail of an ambulance and arrived to find her fiancee not breathing on Rick Pacheco's front porch. ..more.. by TERRY VAU DELL-Staff Writer