Saturday, February 27, 2016

Grim Sleeper Trial Coverage: Even Reputable Newspapers are Getting The Facts Hopelessly Wrong!


I don't often read newspapers and choose to watch the news on television instead.  Today, I decided to read what has been written in the Grim Sleeper Case and to see what the papers are saying about the Trial.
Mentioning no names, I was shocked to see the blatant mistakes in some well respected Newspaper publications.  To make matters worse, the same 6 or 7 mistakes are the exact same mistakes that are in the other Newspapers and online magazines!  Now, I may not be great with my grammar, punctuation or even keeping the continuity with spacing, quotes, itallics etc, but I do the job I am paid/commissioned to do ~ GET THE FACTS OUT THERE AND SPEAK FROM MY OWN WORDS.  Meaning that once my book is completed, I am assigned to an 'on staff' editor to fix the mistakes I will probably be making, from time to time, and to also make my writing flow better. However one thing you can be sure of with me is that I won't be changing the facts, or sugar coating anything.  Most of all, I won't be 'copying' anyone else's writing out of respect to my fellow 'writers' and their hard work.

To mention only a couple of mistakes of today, I will write them below:


Various Newspapers stated that:  


1. Washington said that during the attack she lost her purse containing her driver’s license 


This is very wrong!  When Enietra Washington rolled out of the Pinto after being shot almost to death, she did have her purse with her.  She very clearly stated this on the stand 2 days ago that she had it when she was taken to the hospital.  However it was not returned to her (by the Hospital) when she was released from the hospital to return back home.


2. "That's what's wrong with you black women.  Men can't be men to you."  


According to the Newspapers this was the 'exact' quote of the words quoted by Franklin to Enietra Washington when she kept tying to reject his suggestion of driving her to her friends house.

This is wrong!  The correct quote was in fact: "That's what's wrong with you black women, people can't be nice to you."

Ok, maybe you don't think these mistakes aren't really that bad even though there were quite a few other errors made like this that I read this morning on a number of other online publications, including getting the ages wrong for some of the victims.    I won't mention them here as I certainly don't want to appear petty.  



However, the most outrageous of all is this next one:


3.  After Franklin was arrested, police searched his property and say images of Enietra Washington were found inside.


This may be true but this hasn't even been mentioned in the Trial yet.  This is very damaging indeed for the Prosecution.  Yes, District Attorney Beth Silverman put a picture of Enietra on the Elmo (the Projector) showing when she lay dying in the assailant's car.  However she made no mention of the fact that this picture was taken from Franklin's home during the search!  This was written in one Newspaper and then blatantly copied to a whole load of other publications.  I do hope that Seymour Amster doesn't read this or he'll have a very good reason to say that the Jury might be 'tainted'.



The moral of the story, according to me ~ Victoria ~ is:  

"If you are going to copy another persons' hard work, make sure you have the correct facts and you don't also copy their inaccuracies too."





 ***






Friday, February 26, 2016

Grim Sleeper Trial February 25th... The Star Witness and Only Known Living Survivor testified today!

February 25th

I got to Court a little later today, about 10.45am.  It was the morning recess so everyone was in the corridor.  I had a chat with a homicide detective that I recognized who I'd helped with some information on the Chester Turner case but I had forgotten his name though.  

Also Detective Dupree, one of the nicest detectives I've ever met in my life, was in the corridor and he 
always says hello and has a chat with me.  Usually we have a long chat, of which none of it will I post here, nor in my book, out of respect for him.  However, I will detail a lot more about the person Detective Dupree is in my book.. but just to say here that he is as honest as the day, incredibly hard working and shows respect to everyone even when they don't deserve it.   After knowing him over the Pre-Trial motions for the past 5 years 7 months and 3 weeks, I can safely say that he is a truly outstanding human being and I would challenge anyone to tell me I'm wrong about that!

I sat with the same girl I always sit with ~ M.W.  She's a writer for television and I always give her as much tips as I can because she wasn't covering this case from the beginning.  I told her that  Enietra Washington, the star witness, is sitting 2 people away from us on the bench.  She subtly looked over and I said that this will mean she will be the next witness to testify.  I made it in perfect time this morning.  I was told that Paul has also been 'excused from the Courtoom' only that morning.  What?  I thought!  Now both Ricky and Paul have been excused, they are both Lonnie's lifelong friends.  It seems the reason is they both will be called as a witness.  Well, I won't say anymore here as I've been asked not to and I will respect that, but I do know that Ricky won't talk to any of them anymore and certainly will not be a witness for the Defense.

Enietra Washington was sworn in at 11.08am


Enietra is a big lady and carried herself with confidence.  She breezed in to the room wearing a short dress, her hair was up, long blue fingernails, blue dangly earrings and a blue bag to match.  She was wearing glasses and had an air about her that you knew not to mess with a lady like this.  Lonnie kept his gaze fixed to the back wall of the room and didn’t look over at her, not even once. 


I know and I know of most people in the Courtroom now, but I didn't recognize a man and a woman who were sitting in front of me holding each other tightly when Enietra began testifying  I do know that at least one of them were her children.

D.A. Beth Silverman opened the questioning:

DA: Ms Washington can you please tell us how old you are?
E.W: I am 57 years old....

(The complete testimony will be in my book)...

Thursday, February 25, 2016

The Grim Sleeper Trial. February 25th. The 'Mystery Woman' in the Courtroom. The Defense acting like they are in a bad sitcom.

February 24th

Lonnie was wearing the same blue shirt and beige slacks as yesterday, his trousers seemed way to big for him due to the weight he’s lost by being in jail.

Cristina Gonzalez was still on the stand from yesterday afternoon testifying about her collection and research with the DNA taken from the victims.  She's basically having to defend her professionalism and the correct procedures and protocol she used in collecting and analyzing the DNA. Same as she did yesterday.

In the lunch break, my goal was to get Ricky back in to the Courtroom as I had promised him yesterday.  So, at about 1.10pm, long before we were due back, I very graciously went up to Seymour Amster who was doing his usual pacing of the corridor.  I asked him if Richard Harris could please be allowed back in to the Courtroom, he had said yesterday that he’d ‘let me know’. 

Well because he had an audience in the corridor, he immediately raises his voice, flapped his hands (in his usual out of control way) and shouted, "Would you stop interfering with my procedure.?  His face was all red as if he was just about to explode, that that's normal for Mr Amster as he does this every time he speaks.  I responded with the fact that I am sorry, however I am speaking on Ricky's behalf as ('you have clearly told him that...') he is not allowed in the Courtroom.
"After all", I continued to say "he has flown here from Atlanta for the Trial and he blatantly refuses to be a witness for you.... the Defense."   Amster just shouted back at me in his flustered way, “Mr Harris has been excused and that’s all there is to it.  Now stop interfering with my process.”  Ok well, after that I certainly don't want to get myself in trouble so I sat back on the bench waiting to go in.

I find it strange that every time we wait in the corridor, on each recess and on lunch, we are sitting next to all of the Jury members, victim family members, Lonnie's friends, reporters, etc.  In my humble opinion I feel there is some kind of danger to that as Jurors aren't deaf and everyone is talking to each other.

We all walked back in at about 1.38pm followed by Lonnie Franklin, who again was putting his tie on in his seat.  Wearing the same blue shirt and beige slacks as yesterday that seemed way to big for him due to the weight he’s probably lost being in jail.

The Bailiff was in a very heated discussion with a black woman who was seated in front of me.  She was sitting where the victims’ family  members usually sit.  The Bailiff was asking her nicely who she is and her association with the Trial.  Was she a family member of a victim or the Defendant?

Bailiff: Would you please identify who you are?  I am coming at you nicely and professionally and asking you who you are here for?  If you don’t tell me who you are I will have to remove you from the Courtroom.”
Woman:  I don’t have to tell you nothin’ I’m a family member of someone.  I was a kid when she died. I ain’ telling you who she was”
Bailiff: “You are being uncooperative and I’m going to have to remove you from my Courtroom.  This is my Courtroom and I need to know who is sitting here.”
She sat there with her arms folded as the Bailiff lent in to her very closely and said “Ok step out of the Courtroom right now.”  She resisted and I could see all the other Sheriff’s closing in, including the Defense and Detective Dupree.  It looked like a takedown was about to happen but she got up and stormed out being escorted with no less than 4 Sheriffs, one of them being the Bailiff. 

At 1.43pm the Jurors walked in the main door.

Amster gets up for cross examination with Ms Gonzalez who is still on the stand.

Amster:  So are you saying that it’s not at all possible in the entire world’s population for there to be the same….
Judge Kennedy cut him right off sternly and said “Mr Amster we’ve been through all this the last time you cross examined”.
With that, he didn’t say another word, he gathered his papers and stormed back to his chair sliding his feet as he does with his neck protruding forward at least a foot ahead of the rest of his body.

Finally the poor lady was released from the day.

1.52pm   The LAPD Seargant Allan Seeget came to the stand. 

Sgt. Seeget currently works out of Rampart Division and oversees the training Unit.  He’s been with the LAPD for 32 years.  He used to work at Newton station in South Central Los Angeles where he was a patrol officer.

This crime scene is where Barbara Ware was found.  At 1356 East 56th Street.

DA: Sgt Seeget On Saturday January 10th 1987 at 12.30am, just after midnight, were you called to an alley located in the 1300 block of East 5th Street? (Later I spoke with Cliff Shepard who said there is no such address, it was in the 1300 block of 56th street and not 5th street... him that's 51 blocks discrepancy, oh well I'll just leave it as what Cliff said as he was there from the very start of this case).

Sgt: Yes I was
DA: Was it a call for a dead body?
Sgt: Yes it was a call for a 'possible' dead body?
DA: What were the weather conditions?  Was it dark out?  What did you see?
Sgt: It was very cold that night and it was still dark, in fact me and my partner had to use our flashlights and walk up the alley. Robert Diaz was my partner at that time.  We saw lots of trash and debris all over the alley.
Judge:  Sgt Seeget you can say what ‘you’ saw but you cannot say what ‘we’ saw.  He turned to look over to the Judge who was sitting directly to his right.
Sgt: Yes your Honour I understand.

Turning back to Beth Silverman again he said:
Sgt:  I then saw a dead body?
DA:  Could you show us? (motioning for him to use his laser pointer on the monitor)
With his pointer he showed us the position the body was found which was to the right of the picture on the side of the alley.  He pointed to a leg wearing a pair of jeans.  He explained that the debris was stacked up on top of her.  He called for additional units to come to the crime scene and put up the yellow tape so that no one else could enter that area without signing in and signing out of a log.  At least one Coroner, one Criminalist and at least one Investigator always shows up to a crime scene that appears to be of a homicide.

Every day, by the way, Lonnie Franklin looks straight ahead.  He never looks left or right when he is seated on his chair, he also never looks at the monitor.

DA:  Did a serial killer task force arrive at the scene?
Sgt: Yes at least 8 officers arrived at the scene.

Whattttt??  Hang on a minute, I thought, the serial killer task force wasn’t even formed until 2007, so how could it have been possible for ‘a serial killer task force’ to be on hand all the way back 2 decades before?  Something doesn’t make sense here and I planned to ask Detective Dupree about this in the afternoon recess.   Plus I will also ask Cliff Shepherd about it today too.   More to come on this later……

More horrifically graphic crime scene pictures were shown of Barbara Ware and her lifeless body.  We saw close ups on her face which had blood all over it even though she was shot in the chest, my guess is the blood on her face came from when she was fell to the ground somehow after being shot.  I am so glad that Ms. Diana Ware wasn’t in the Courtroom today, she was noticeably missing.   I’m sure she was advised not to come in today as it would have been too difficult for her to see.  God Bless that lady, I’m sure her daughter is looking down at her from heaven knowing how much her mother loved her and has dedicated these past 3 decades to putting her daughter's killer away.

Silverman asked Sgt Seeget how many homicide crime scenes he’d been called out to over the years, to which he responded, “Well over a hundred, but that’s a tough one to be exact on that!”

Silverman asked the question which she has asked most first responders, ‘What exactly is a body dump’?  She wants to drive this answer home for us, the Jury and everyone in the Courtroom to be perfectly clear on what it means.  It will prove that, without a shadow of a doubt, that each of these bodies were killed somewhere then transported to the various crime scene locations.

Seeget answered the same way as everyone else – She was killed elsewhere then brought to the dumping location, our investigators did numerous tests that would confirm this.

Amster was due to take the stand, we waited and we waited and we waited while he was banging around on his desk with all his large, overly full, manila envelopes he had piled on top of each other.  He was making a heck of a lot of noise yet saying nothing.  So we waited, and we waited and we waited.  Then he started looking under the desk for something, then he was slapping heavy documents down on the desk, clearly making a spectacle of himself, however none of us knew why.  No one said anything, we just looked at each other, the Judge rolled her eyes subtly as she often does, when Mr Amster does something that is so out of character for a normal professional lawyer.  If Stan Laurel, from the television show Oliver and Hardy, were to be re-incarnated as a lawyer, his name would be Seymour Amster.   He is a caricature of Stan Laurel.  

Then he stayed at his seat, he didn't go to the podium, he just stood up from his seat and shouted to the witness on the stand in his typical rude manner:

Amster:  Did you receive a call to go to that location?
Seeget: Yes I received a radio call which was a possible 187 (penal code for murder). The P.R. (person reporting) stated that it was the dumping of a body.

Amster wanted to focus on the graffiti on the wall near the body and ask if the graffiti appeared to be fresh graffiti.  We all know what he was implying and the Sgt responded with a definitive ‘no’.  

Graffitti was everywhere all over almost every wall in South Central Los Angeles, especially in the 80’s.

DA Silverman then cross examined the witness with only a few ‘to the point questions’
DA: Did the graffiti appear fresh to you?
Seeget: No
DA: Did the graffiti appear to be typical of all the other graffiti in South LA?
Seeget: Yes
DA: Thank you, no further questions.


Donald Hrycyk was called to the stand.  A Detective who’d been with LAPD for 42 years.

Hrycyk was stationed at 77th Division for 3 ½ years.   He responded to a homicide call on August 12th 1986.  His partner was Jay Johnson.  He responded to the scene at about 1.15pm.  The victim turned out to be Henrietta Wright.

He described the scene to be filled with trash, trash bags, mattresses, looks like a transient could have been sleeping there.   It was clearly a ‘body dump’.
Hrycyk has covered well over 60 homicides.

Right before we took the afternoon break the Judge got a little irate with Beth Silverman saying she didn’t want her to use the names of the victims.  To which Silverman responded that “But every time a slide is shown, the victims' name is always at the top so the Jury see it anyway.”
Judge:  I'm not going to argue with you Ms. Silverman, when I make a ruling, it stands.  That’s it.
DA: Fine!

And with that heated exchange we were released on a break.

I saw Detective Dupree in the hallway and went up to him.  He is so easy to talk to and always has time for people.  I told him that I was confused that a ‘serial killer task force would show up to a crime scene in 1987 yet as far as I knew the serial killer task force wasn’t formed until 2007?   He knew why I was confused and stated, “That’s what Margaret Prescod would like you to think,  but we had various ones formed earlier on." 

Hmmmm, ok I didn't know about that.  So I needed to get to the bottom of this as I have never heard of one being formed before 2007… I’m calling Cliff Shepard tonight!

The 'mystery woman' that was thrown out of the Courtroom was sitting right outside the whole time we were on break.

We came back after the break and Hrycyk explained that he responded to a crime scene at 9.15am at 9414 South Western Avenue, South LA a parking lot adjacent to an alley way, with his partner Jerry Collins .
When he showed up there were already uniformed officers on the scene.  There was a dumpster on the south east corner was adjacent to the alley with two lids, one lid was open and one was closed.  It was an overly full dumpster.  He saw a foot with a grey sock on the open side of the dumpster.
They made sure to always wear gloves to preserve the integrity of the crime scene.  There were ligature marks on the right side of her neck.

DA:  Were there similarities between this crime scene of Bernita Sparks and the homicide we spoke about before, Henrietta Wright?
Seeget:  Yes, both were shot in the chest.  Both were African American women. Both were dumped in the South Central area location.  Both were dumped in trash or covered in trash.  Neither had any identification.  Both were either in or adjacent to an alleyway.  Both were covered to disguise the body and there were no 25 calibre casings at either crime scene.

Amster:  Good afternoon Detective.  On January 10th 1987 you were responding to the crime scene of….. oh… no wait…. Ha ha ha….” Seymour exploded again in hysterical laughter leaving all of us sane people in the Courtroom trying to piece together where the potential joke was.  “ha ha ….I must’ve gone back too far.. sorry about that.   Ha ha ha....  I meant on August 12th 1986 you went to a crime scene with your partner Detective Collins, correct?  

Seegret:  Yes
Amster:  Part of your duty is to request a latent fingerprint analyst to come to the scene. Correct?
Seegret:  I don’t recall
Amster: Well do you recall seeing an examiner there?
Seegret: I don’t recall
More hysterical laughter as he rummaged through his paperwork frantically searching for something that nobody besides Mr Amster himself could have any idea what he was looking for.  What could possibly be so funny?  This is not a joke!
Amster: So you mentioned that when you arrived on the scene that a transient might have been sleeping there? 
Seegret:  Yes it’s possible that that area might be an area where a transient might sleep there.
Amster:  Are you familiar with the types of people that frequent that area?
 After much of a mess going around and around in a circle so that he could make his question more clear, the Sgt responded with:
Seegret:  Well yes it’s an area where there are people on drugs, it’s an African American area, there are transients there and a lot of graffiti..

That was where we adjourned for the day.  As we left, that 'mystery woman' was still sitting on the bench with her earphones in right outside the Courtroom, very strange.

Once I arrived home to write up my events of the day, I decided to call my friend Cliff Shepard to clarify my confusion regarding this ‘serial killer task force’ and when it all began.

Cliff:  In 2007 I was working for Homicide supervisor Rob Bub in the cold case unit at that time, he was aware of cases that occurred in the 80’s.  When Janecia Peters murder came in (in 2007) Cliff was on a day off and Captain Jackson was told that the same DNA matched 6 0r 7 other victims, Kilcoyne overheard this conversation and they all decided to form a task force from that day forward, which began at approximately the end of April in 2007.


Where my confusion was is how come a 'serial killer task force' was also around in the 80’s?  Cliff let me know that that was the ‘Southside Slayer task force’.  (The Southside Slayer is another serial killer I have interviewed extensively by the name of Chester Turner, he is currently on Death Row.  Yet the twist here as that in some of the Franklin murders, Turner's DNA was also found on/in the body, that hasn't come up yet so I'm just waiting for that.   
Turner was also killing women in South Los Angeles at the same exact time as the Grim Sleeper so this would make sense.   So yes, there was a serial killer task force that came to the scene of the murder of Barbara Ware, however it wasn’t the ‘serial killer task force’ that was assigned to the Grim Sleeper.  This is very interesting as I had no idea that there were 2 serial killer task forces.  We will see what transpires next....

Off to Court for another long day.

To be continued..........

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Grim Sleeper Trial.. February 23rd

I had planned to get to the Courtroom later today as I had a busy morning... however I received a frantic call from Ricky at 11.10am saying that he'd been 'thrown out of the Courtroom and isn't allowed back'! And can I get there sooner than the 1.30pm time that i had planned.   I couldn't believe it, that he of all people would have been thrown out.  He did explain that he was sitting there, minding his own business as he usually does, and the Defense just laid in to him telling him that he can no longer be there as he is a 'witness for the Defense'.  Well, apparently that is the very first time Ricky heard of that.  In fact, he feels so strongly that if Ricky, his friend for almost 3 decades, really committed these atrocities, then he wants them (the State) to 'fry his arse/ass'!  His words entirely.
Sad but true.  Ricky cared about Lonnie for many years, he trusted him as a friend and a neighbour, but if he did the crimes in which he stands accused, then Ricky would be the first one to make sure he receives the Death Penalty.  This is a far cry from Lonnie's other neighbour and friend from the other side.  Paul Williams will stand by Lonnie all the way to the end.   We will see what happens over these intense next few months.

Video Blog is here and below:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hys8wg9R_ug

I knew what I had to do before I went in to the Courtroom after lunch break at 1.30pm and that was to talk to whoever could get Ricky back in to the Courtroom.  As I rode the elevator to the 9th floor I knew that I wanted to talk to Detective Dupree first and foremost.  I could see that he was on the phone, once I had made it through the metal detectors, so I walked down the corridor and sat with the victims family members and shared pleasantries with them.

As soon as I saw Detective Dupree off the phone I went up to him and explained the situation about Ricky.  He told me that he's been trying to get hold of Ricky for years and hadn't heard back.  I told him that he'd been living in Atlanta for the past year as his Aunt is dying, but he's here now and he wants to be 'no part of the Defense!'  I told Det. Dupree that he really wants to get back in to the Courtroom and he told me that it's the Defense who through him out and not him.  I knew that but I certainly didn't want to talk to the Defense.  
I saw Dale Atherton (part of the Defense team) coming towards me as I waited by the door to go in and when he gave me a smile I felt that I should speak to him, as it was for Ricky anyway and not myself.  
"Dale, could you please let Ricky Harris back in to the Courtroom as I can assure you he won't be a good witness for you by any means.   He came here from Atlanta and needs to be here and sit in on the case.  Even though before he might've thought Lonnie was innocent, now it's a very different story."
Dale responded that Seymour is the main guy to speak with.  I said that he's not a balanced human being and it's hard to have a conversation with him, so could he please do it for me. So, Dale went off back down the hallway to speak to Seymour Amster on behalf of Ricky to get him back in the Courtroom.  Dale then came back to me and said I"m sorry but Mr. Amster is in a conversation with someone and he cannot butt in.  Minutes later Amster comes storming down the hallway and I had to grab my opportunity.... "Mr Amster, could I just ask you to please reconsider your decision to ask Mr Richard Harris to leave the Courtroom today, he would not be a good witness for you at all and he came all the way here from Atlanta to sit in on this case as he's known Lonnie for almost 30 years?"   In his usual flustered way, with his big lips open and protruding out of his face, he said "Well I"ll just have to see about that by the end of the day." He answered in his usual flustered manner.  Well that gives some hope to the situation of Ricky being let back in soon.

At 1.30pm we went in after lunch break.
Lonnie was walked in and was wearing a dark blue shirt, beige slacks and a tie which he awkwardly placed over his head so he could make it look like a real tie before the Jury walked in.

At 1.36pm the Jurors walked in, still coming through the main door that we all walk in.

Supria Rosner was the witness testifying and confirming that the DNA found on the bodies of both Bernita Sparks and Barbara Ware were indeed that of the Defendant Lonnie Franklin.  The Defense, Seymour Amster was doing his best to mitigate this claim by saying that "You have no idea how many cousins or relatives Mr Franklin might have that might not be in the Database do you?"  Even the Judge almost chuckled to herself with his outrageous question.  He went on to try to convince the Jury that the policies and equipment for testing the DNA might not be quite up to par.   Most of what he said didn't even make sense and a number of times the Judge had to say.

"I don't understand your question Mr Amster."  And then turning to the witness, "Do you?"

The witness explained that after thorough testing the chance that the DNA might be someone other than Mr Franklin is  1 in 81 quadrillion or 7 times the population of the earth.  Only then did it seem that he understood.  

A number of times, Mr Amster seemed frantically searching for something, walking back and fourth from the podium to his chair and back again, looking under his papers, knocking the DA's chair as he went.   He was clearly out of sorts.

The next witness called to the stand was Cristina Gonzalez.   Gonzalez is a senior criminalist for Los Angeles County and she has been there for 26 years.  She explained how she came to the conclusion that the DNA found on the body of Princess Berthomieux was in fact the Defendant Lonnie Franklin.

More of these details will be in my book....

We adjourned for the day at 4.08pm and when the Jury were released, we then were free to go.

I walked from  CCB only a few blocks to meet my friend Terri over at the Bonaventure for a well earned glass of wine.  She recently retired from the LAPD and was the very first female helicopter pilot to be hired, now she is in charge of the Retirees.  It was great to finally relax and chat about everything under the sun and not this heavy Trial.

To be continued......




Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Week 2: The Grim Sleeper Trial. Monday February 22nd...

February 22nd. Monday morning

I arrived at 7.35am which was way too early but that’s usually when I get to talk to Lonnie’s friends and neighbours.  I’d spoken to Paul and Ricky over the weekend to make sure that they would be 'exclusive' to me with regards to giving anyone else any information in the media.  I am not 'the media' therefore they are starting to trust me, however I don't want someone else taking what they have said (and continue to say) only to me before it goes in to my book.  They both have promised me that they will not be talking to any media.
  

We all walked in at 8.35am, I held the door for Diana Ware who walked with her cane so very slowly as she has done for the past 5 and a half years.  God Bless this dear lady who has come to the Court so diligently over the years to get justice for her step-daughter, Barbara Ware, who was so brutally murdered by the ‘Grim Sleeper’.  Like most days, Ms Ware had been sitting outside the Courtroom on the bench right next to the door, just waiting to go in and see, who could quite possibly be, her daughter’s killer.

At 8.55am the Prosecution walked in and Beth Silverman went up to the family members, mainly the Alexander family, “How was your weekend?”  To which they responded with their pleasantries.

At 8.58am Seymour Amster waddled in at the very fast pace he always does.
At 9.15am Lonnie walked in wearing a grey dress shirt and slacks.   This time he looked straight at me and nodded a ‘hello’.  
I certainly didn't want to mention it here except for a reporter from the Daily Beast, who was sitting next to me that asked me, “Was he saying hello to you?”  
I let him know that he was correct and he could see that I certainly didn't respond.  

I told him about the fact that Lonnie had/has trusted me with sharing with me his life story over the years and that might have been the reason he acknowledged me this morning in the way that he did.  However, I really don’t know why Lonnie would acknowledge me today after so many years of just looking straight ahead.
I certainly didn’t respond with any reaction at all, as I don’t ever want to be thrown out of another Courtroom in my life.

At 9.17am Judge Kennedy took her seat at the bench.

There was some discrepancy with a person in the room by the name of Sonya Mogul (spelling?) she sat two seats away from me and had a very sour look on her face and made eye contact with nobody. 

Seymour jumped in by saying that he wanted Margaret Prescod as a witness and the Prosecution retorted with the fact that wasn’t going to happen and she must be ‘excluded’!  Prescod is the leader/spokesperson for the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders.
Seymour responded that she wasn’t going to be a witness for the guilt phase and would only be called upon during the penalty phase.

Amster: But I can make it without her”, Amster said with his very false sense of confidence.

Judge Kennedy addressed Ms Mongul (spelling?) and said in no uncertain terms that she can ‘leave the Courtroom now’.

At 9.21am the Jurors came in.  It was rather strange as they all came in the regular door of the Courtroom, the one we all use, not the usual Jurors door which is by the Judge's Chambers.  The Judge apologized for keeping everyone waiting and how cold it was in the Courtroom today.

At 9.27am Dr Denise Herold took the stand.   An elderly lady with what I would consider to be a Chicago accent (I’m not certain on this), with long brown hair.

Silverman opened with the first statement.

DA: Good morning Dr. Herold  

Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book.......

Cross examination from the Defense.

Amster:  Can you find blood type in hair fibres?
Dr Herold said: Not to my knowledge.
The Judge then interjected with a very important question.  She asked: “Is that the correct word, Hair fibres?”
Dr Herold stated that the word ‘hair’ is the correct word to use and not ‘hair fibres.  Amster followed suit by saying that he apologized and would start using the word ‘hair’ from now on.

So another blunder from Amster, many more are to come.  Not to mention that, as usual, he dropped his paperwork all over the place and proceeded to laugh as he always does.


Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book.......

11.28 am  Amster continued with the testimony of Dr Harold this time they started to discuss Alicia ‘Monique’ Alexander.  I felt so sad as about 8 members of the Alexander family were sitting in front of me as they usually do, the parents and the brothers and I think even the daughter or son in law too.  I prayed there would be no crime scene pictures of their daughter and there weren’t thank God.  However we were told that her body was also so decomposed so had to be put in a decomp freezer.  Tests were taken on the body and given to the LASO ~ The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office. 

11.32am Heidi Robbins was sworn in.  A very attractive lady with blonde hair, in her mid to late 50’s

She has been working as the director of Administration at the Sheriffs Crime Lab for 11 years.  She runs the latent print and the CSI Unit for the County.  Latent prints are prints that cannot be seen and therefore have to be lifted by dusting and analyzed back at the lab. She has 5 teams and has worked with the LASD for 31 years.  She was a Criminalist with the Coroners Office in 1985 and then transferred laterally to the LASD 31 years ago.  She works in the firearms and narcotics Unit.  In 1980 she was a senior Criminalist at the Coroners. 
She explained what ‘body dumping’ means.  


Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book.......


At approximately 12 noon we broke for lunch and my friend Burton had invited me to his new office which is across the street from the Criminal Courts Building (CCB) in the Hall of Justice.

Burton had transferred from Crescenta Valley Station to SIB ~ Sheriffs Information Bureau ~ and had invited me to come over and see his new office in my lunch break.  CCB, which is where I am every day, is located at 210 West Temple Street and the Hall of Justice, where SIB is located, is right across the street at 211 West Temple. 
It was great to just walk across the street and see Burton plus numerous other people I know were also there today.  

As I was waiting in the lobby for my friend, Chief Beck came down in the elevator with his entourage and in to the lobby area where I was standing.  He said hello to me with a smile, however I’m sure he says that to everyone that’s in his path. 

Right afterwards, I then bumped in to a Sheriff who used to be Lieutenant in West Hollywood when I lived there, over 14 years ago.  Lieutenant Johnson.  Now he’s promoted very high up the ranks to Chief.  He remembered me from all those years ago which was nice and I congratulated him and his numerous promotions.  We had a chat for a few  minutes then he went up to the 9th floor where Headquarters is located.  A Chief is 3 ranks above a Lieutenant in the Sheriff Dept. ranking system.  
I told ‘Chief Johnson’ that I knew when he promoted to Captain and he transferred to Marina Del Rey station (after going back to the Jails first of course), then I had lost track of him when he promoted to Commander and now Chief.  Anyway now he’s a working at the Hall of Justice which is the new Sheriff Headquarters and what a beautiful building it is. 
After I spent most of my lunch break visiting with Burton and going around SIB an seeing the fabulous office, we then bumped in to one of my all time favourites ~ James Hellmold.  It was nice to see so many people I know and that was only in my lunch break today.

We all went back in the Courtroom at 1.31pm followed by the Jury members who were coming through the main doors that we all walk through who came in about 1.34pm.

Cross examination from Seymour Amster:

Amster:  So you obtained a sexual assault kit from the victim?
Robbins:  ‘Obtained?’ I think you mean I ‘collected’ it?  Yes I took nipple swabs, oral, anal and also inside the vaginal cavity area swabs.

Another blunder coming from Amster, 'obtained'...Really?


Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book.......

Robbins was excused at 1.50pm

Miss Supria Rosner was then called to the stand and sworn in.   A younger looking lady with long brown hair, about 36 years of age.  She is a Criminalist with the LAPD assigned to testing DNA evidence in the forensic science Unit.  She’s a technical leader and overseas all the training.  She has 30 DNA analysts and 60 DNA technicians.

A person’s DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and consists of half of the mother’s DNA and half of the father’s.  DNA is in almost every cell in our bodies, especially in muscles and other soft tissue.  Everybody is made up of their own unique DNA except for identical twins.


Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book.......

Court adjourned at 4.04pm in the afternoon..

To be continued......