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

February 24^th

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 10^th 1987 at 12.30am, just after midnight, were you called to an alley located in the 1300 block of East 5^th 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 77^th Division for 3 ½ years.   He responded to a homicide call on August 12^th 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 10^th 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 12^th 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..........

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......

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

February 22^nd. 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 9^th 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......

Day 2 of The Grim Sleeper Trial

I arrived at 7.45am and met, as planned with Lonnie's neighbours ~ Richard 'Ricky' Harris and Paul Williams.  Ricky is a tall black guy with a very jovial happy go lucky personality... a very gentle soul who I'm sure is religious but I hadn't asked him that yet.  I had met Ricky for the first time yesterday morning on the 9th floor.  I was there at the same time, just after 7.40am, when not even the deputies had arrived in their area by then and when they did, they hadn't even woken up completely.

Ricky and I chatted a lot yesterday, off the record and he told me in no uncertain terms that "Man I don' care if a whole load of those Juror people come back with him being Guilty, I know for a fact 'e ain't done none of those crimes.  He wern' like that.   Lonnie he'ped all the elderly in the neighbourhood, he was a good family man.  I know coz I lived right next door to him'".   Ricky goes back over 26 years with Lonnie and knew him well.  I was surprised as to the reason he was there but he said he just wanted to see Nick Broomfield and punch him in the face for lying to him and made him look so bad in that documentary. Either way, I know Nick, and that the last place on earth Nick would be is at Lonnie Franklin's Trial.  Despite being one of the best Documentary film makers in the world, he tends to piss off a few people - me included.   However, I hold no grudges and Nick and I have remained friends to this day.  I did have to legally extract myself from his documentary though for the same fear that has just happened to Richard Harris.  (I know I touched on this subject yesterday).  

As soon as I arrived, I called Ricky from outside of the building and he said he was already there, on the 9th floor waiting for me!  I waited the usual long wait for the elevator (not all go to the 9th floor mind you), and finally met up with Ricky who was stuffing his face with some Ramen noodles.... at 7.40am in the morning no less!!!!

So, after saying my hello I wanted to sit down with him and record him before we had to enter the Courtroom.   Before I had a chance to ask my first question, speaking through the noodles, he said to me, "I have changed my mind!  Wooahh that evidence they presented in court yesterday, oooooooohhhhhh the picture of that lady who was shot and got away, he can't get out o' that...that's.... noooooo.. that ain' right."   

Me: "But yesterday you led me to believe that you felt he was 100% innocent and now you've changed your mind?"

Ricky: "No I never said he was 100% innocent, I just said it was hard for me to believe... somebody you b'in knowing for damn near 30 years... and this happened? It's hard for me to believe, like I said in the past, Lonnie was buying cars and stealing other cars just like it and he'd put the parts on it.  That was his life, and you see the police used to always raid his house but they never found nuttin'."

Me: "Why did they never find anything?"

Ricky:  "Coz, coz... to our opinion he wasn' stoopid!  He didn' leave no stuff layin' aroun' to incriminate hisself but they went in his house and got all that shit out that we saw yesterday.  He was very stoopid!"

Me:  "So if you've known him over 26 years and you're his next door neighbour, then how do you think he went about getting these women?  When were the times you weren't with him?"

Ricky: "He was a roamer at night.  He roamed the streets at night."

Me: "Oh you knew that?"

Ricky: "Everybody knew that.  Everybody knew."

Me: "Walking or driving?"

Ricky: "He was driving."

Me: "Did he ever have an orange Pinto?"

Ricky: "Yup... years ago!

I just struck gold when he confirmed this.  I have asked Lonnie countless times if he ever owned an orange pinto and he said he didn't.  He told me he owned a pinto, a few of them, but not an orange one.  Hmmmm was he lying to me or did he steal it in one colour then repaint it?  That's one way of semi-telling the truth.  I'd like to think Lonnie didn't lie to me over all the years I interviewed him, but, if he is 'the most prolific serial killer in Los Angeles history', with a few prior arrests for car theft etc, why should I think I'm so special that he would tell me the absolute truth.  Time will tell and the truth will come out in the end.

Me: "Wow, really?  He really did have an orange pinto? Well I didn't know that.  That means he lied to me then.   So what was his wife doing all this time while he was 'roaming' the streets?  And his son, what was Christopher doing?"

Ricky: "Christopher, like you said yesterday, Christopher in't even in this state no more."

Me: "No I'm talking about back then, decades ago when Lonnie was out at nights?"

Ricky:  "Christopher was always going to school he wasn't, he din't hang with Lonnie no."

Me:  "What about his daughter Crystal?"

Ricky: "Crystal was barely seen coz she was a young girl.  Young girls do what young girls do, chase young boys"..... He then cracked himself up... Ricky is such a character.  "I'm tellin' the truth!  You see Crystal and my nephew were a couple for a while and...."

The elevator doors opened and I always panic in case a Juror is in the vicinity.  Ricky is sooooo loud, way louder than me and that's really saying something!

Me: "Excuse me, you're not a Juror are you?"

Unknown person: "No I'm not."   I still didn't feel safe as more people were coming up in the elevators so we stopped talking until the deputies were set up to let us through the metal detectors.   

As we walked down the hallway, I sat with Ricky right at the very first place on the bench next to the door of Dept. 109, same place as we were yesterday.  Again no one was around us, the people huddling around the elevator all went to the left down the hall and some sat in the middle area, he and I went to the right and sat at the end.  I even said to Ricky that we (I meant him) should lower our voices as we must be so careful that no Jurors can hear us.  He obliged.

We then started again and I turned my recording device back on.

Me: "So how did you meet Lonnie?"

Ricky: "When he moved in the neighbourhood almost 30 years ago.  He had real young kids at the time.  Crystal's younger than Chris."

Me: "What did you do with Lonnie?  When you hung out with him?"

Ricky: "I din' really 'hang out' with Lonnie, nobody 'hung out' with Lonnie.  Lonnie was a loaner.  We did do what neighbours do tho', he came to our barbecues and our parties.  I used to make money with Lonnie...Like I told you... Lonnie would like go to insurance sites and get cars.. he'd get his crew to go and steel a car just like that and then he'd take the parts off the stolen car and put it on the bought car.. then he would pay me $100 bucks to drive it away for him.... the stripped car.....

This interview went on for another 30 minutes and I also have a few more interviews to add but I'm going to save the rest for my book... I just wanted to give an idea of the types of neighbours and friends that Lonnie would be around, whenever he was around anyone.

Flash forward to when we all entered the Courtroom:

8.52am

Lonnie was already sitting in his seat at the Defense table, staring straight ahead, in the same shirt and and black rimmed glasses.  You'd think he hadn't left the chair since yesterday.  He was staring straight ahead rarely even blinking.

A motion was made, by the Defense again, so they all huddled around the Judge before the Jury came in.  From the little that I could hear Marguerite Rizzo, the other District Attorney besides Beth Silverman, confirmed that she is "not intending to introduce DNA reports or Coroners reports when a witness testifies.

The Judge then confirmed that "the witness who testifies in court is testifying to their opinion and their opinion alone.  They may testify on objective facts that were recorded at the time.   They will be given the facts, photos, raw documentation and will be forming their own independent opinion."  

Judge Kennedy was very upset that a Deputy's radio was loud enough for her to hear so she said if she hears it again she will ask him to leave her Courtroom.

Testimony began with Dr Raffi Jabourian (spelling?) who is a doctor a the Coroners office.  He was testifying and explaining about blunt force trauma and the meaning of that.  He had guessed the victim to be between 15-18 years of age as she arrived at his office as only a Jane Doe.  He had found know defense wounds on the victim, which is very telling.

The specifics on this are written in my book....



The second witness to testify was Dr. Mark Fajardo who is the Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner at the Coroners Office.  Dr Fajardo is in charge of a department with 216 employees, a budget of 32 million, he has 28 doctors on staff and a team of investigators and toxicologists.  His job is to investigate sudden and violent deaths in Los Angeles County, and determine the time and manner of how they died.  He is Board certified by the American Board of Pathology and Anatomic, Clinical and Forensic Pathology.  Not a dumb man by any stretch of the imagination.
After he spoke for the first few minutes I could tell that he is a very highly energized and flamboyant man.  He seemed very eager to make a great deal of eye contact with the Jury.  Knowing his profession uses complicated wording, he made sure to speak in layman's terms for the Jury and the rest of the Court to understand, myself included.  I found him much easier to understand than Dr Jabourian (spelling) who testified right before him.

More specifics on this are written in my book.....

During the lunch break I interviewed with Conan Nolan who is a reporter for NBC 4, the video is below.   NBC are covering the Trial along with Phil Shuman with Fox 11 and ABC 7 to name but a few.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Serial-Killer-Grim-Sleeper-Trial-Continues_Los-Angeles-369172211.html

To be continued.....

THE GRIM SLEEPER TRIAL DAY 1.... Opening Statements:

The corridor along the 9th floor of the Criminal Courts Building was full of sheriffs, homicide detectives in suits, news reporters, cameramen, family members of the victims.  There were also a number of the general public who had all heard about this prolific case which was starting today.

I sat in the very back as my regular seat was taken and so were all of the benches.  Most were filled with the family members of the victims, the rest were taken up with news reporters who had 'media passes'.  I was worried that I might not get in the Courtroom as I didn't think of getting myself a media pass when I started my book over 5 years ago.  I had never needed one before as being an author doesn't usually require a media pass and I'm not currently working 'exclusively' with any Network either.  However, I made it into the room and it was a squeeze and I think I sat in the last seat in the place.  Anyone else would have had to sit on my lap!

To my right, I sat next to a very nice female producer for ABC world news called Sherene Tagharobi who was typing away at the speed of light.  I gave her as much information (for the past 5 years and 7 months) as I could on Franklin and also the media circus that's been going on in the Courtroom over the years.

Just after 9.15am Lonnie Franklin was brought in wearing a baby blue dress shirt and black glasses.  I've certainly never seen him looking like that before, but it was for the sake of the Jurors of course.

The Bailiff called the Court to order and Judge Kennedy asked Counsel to state their appearances:

Kristen Gozawa, Seymour Amster and Dale Alterton were representing the Defense and for 'The People' were D.A's Marguerite Rizzo and Beth Silverman and Daryn Dupree with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Right out of the gate Seymour Amster had filed a motion, as always.  This time he had an issue with handcuffs and ID badges and he wanted to make sure that the case is going to be tried only on merits alone... it was a muffled conversation as they all gathered around the Judge's bench.  When they broke away, Judge Kennedy came back 'requesting that The People do not mention anything about the pictures of any of the other potential victims', to which Beth Silverman retorted in her usual way that they have no intention of mentioning the other victims.

Within a few moments, 17 Jurors filed in.  There were about 3 Black females, a few Asians, about 7 were ethnically ambiguous and about 4 were White.  9 women and 8 men made up the Jurors.

At 9.26am Judge Kathleen Kennedy began speaking, firstly welcoming the Jurors to her Courtroom.  She stated that there were 11 Jurors and 6 alternates present.  One Juror had to drop out so she selected the alternate Juror to stand in by selecting a random number out of 6 numbers.  She chose number 68, an Asian gentlemen and asked him to move to his new assigned seat for the Trial.  She told him that "You've just won the lottery!" (Relating to now being appointed as a Juror on this Trial).  Poor bugger I thought!

She then stated she wanted to give the Jurors some instructions and the procedures of the Trial.  After about 16 minutes she finished talking to the Jurors and addressed the Court saying how hot it was in the Courtroom.  It's true we were all sweating and a lot of the females were fanning themselves with books.  One lady asked for me to tear a page out of my note book so she could fan herself, so I obliged.

District Attorney Beth Silverman gave a very good and powerful opening statement explaining to the Jury that
"The evidence in this case will tell a story, a story of a serial killer who stalked the streets of South Los Angeles.  A serial killer who is responsible for the murders of 10 women and the willful, deliberate, pre-meditated attempted murder on an 11th. All of these crimes occurring between 1985 up until 2007."
She went on to say that in South Central in the 80's there was an epidemic of crack cocaine.  It is a highly addictive and very destructive drug.  It was cheap and extremely potent and, when it first came out, had a higher purity than powder cocaine.   It's distribution and use exploded in 1980's in South Central Los Angeles.  It left a path of destruction in this area, people lost their jobs, homes, their families and their lives by overdosing.  Some women would risk everything to acquire more of this drug.  Some women were willing to sell their bodies and their souls to get their next high.  This drug made people extremely vulnerable and those that wanted to take advantage would do so.   It was perfect for someone who lived there, knew these kinds of women, knew the area and where prostitutes would congregate, someone who knew the alley ways and could prey on these types of women, someone like the defendant.  It was a perfect place and time for a serial killer to roam the streets without detection.

Silverman explained in great detail how these women were dumped like pieces of trash in filthy alleyways with dirty mattresses on top of them.  Some were left to rot.  Most were shot at close range, one was strangled and also shot.  One of the youngest victims, Princess Berthomieux was only 15 when she was brutally murdered.  All victims were in a state of undress and some were completely naked when they were found.  None had Id's on them, most had cocaine and alcohol in their system, most had a history of prostitution.  All were African American and all were shot with the same firearm.  All were shot with the same .25 caliber automatic firearm and they were shot at a different location then dumped at another location which is called a 'body dump'.  Every single one of them is connected to the same serial killer either by DNA evidence or firearm evidence or both.

"And that serial killer ladies and gentlemen, is the Defendant, Lonnie Franklin".  Silverman said in a very slow and controlled manner.

The killings seemed to end in 1988 when Enietra Washington survived, but they resumed in 2002, 2003 and in 2007.









Using the Projector, we were shown very graphic slides of the dead women and close ups on the bullet holes in their skin.

The first murder happened on Saturday August 10th of 1985 when 29 year old Debra Jackson was found dead in an alley... Silverman described how the body was found and in what state.
We saw all 10 of them in various states of undress and decomposition.

It was so sad because right in front of me was the bench filled with Monique Alexander's direct family members.  Her father, Porter Alexander, now in his mid 70's was only in his 40's when his daughter was murdered.  Her brothers and father and mother have been coming to the Court hearings over the past 5 ++ years like clockwork, rarely ever missing a day.  Yet today Monique's mother broke down in tears when her daughter's naked body was enlarged on the wall of the Courtroom showing how badly she was decomposed and the shocking way in which she was left.  Porter, her father, had to leave the room.  Words don't express how sorry I am as one cannot truly understand their pain.  I can handle seeing crime scene pictures of any degree, however I was silently overcome with tears when Mrs Alexander suddenly broke down in uncontrollable tears.  That part I was not strong enough to handle.

I sat next to two of Lonnie Franklin's neighbours who had known him for over 26 years.  One of them, Ricky, he was there today as he wanted to "punch Nick Broomfield in the face", he said, for twisting his appearance in his Documentary.  This is precisely why I had to legally extract myself from Broomfield's documentary, after shooting with him for days, because I did not want to get twisted again by the media.  Ricky had trusted Broomfield to portray him correctly but, what he told me today, is that his part was spliced so badly in editing that it made him look like he said the complete opposite of what he was meaning.  Ricky is not very trusting with anyone but he has said he will interview me for my book, so fingers crossed that tomorrow I can put him on tape.

Detective Kilcoyne was the first witness called to the stand.  Kilcoyne is retired from the LAPD and had served 36 years with the force.  He's investigated over 1000 investigations and of them, 4 to 500 were murder cases.  He was the lead investigator and supervisor in the task force that was formed in 2007 for the purpose of investigating a series of murders in 2002, 2003 and 2007.  There were 8 people on his task force.  They made a DNA connection of these murders in the 2000's also to murders in the 80's - 1985 -1988 to be exact.   DNA wasn't even thought of in the 80's but at that time they did have sexual assault kits, blood work and forensic evidence which was all tested again later when DNA came out.

Outside of the Courtroom I spoke with a number of family members of the victims and other news stations were there getting their stories too.  I won't mention names of those I spoke to outside of the Courtroom (as I was asked not to do so) so I will wait until I have permission.

To be continued....

FINALLY THE GRIM SLEEPER TRIAL IS ABOUT TO BEGIN TOMORROW......

After 5 years and 7 months we are finally going to Trial on the 'alleged' Grim Sleeper ~ Lonnie Franklin.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raOJMnO08s8

Over the first few years since his arrest on July 7th 2010 I had been interviewing Lonnie Franklin every week at the Men's Central Jail, along with numerous recorded phone conversations and written correspondence.   Franklin gave me permission to write a book regarding his life story from when he was a baby, to a teenager, to an adult and his time spent in the Army.  In my book, I will also be exposing the escapades he got up to since he became an adult.   I was given the 'exclusive' permission by Lonnie Franklin himself, to write this book and he has given me his exclusivity that he would only be speaking to me and not anyone else besides his wife and family.  He has honoured this promise.

This case is also unique in that Franklin was arrested based on Familial DNA.  The DNA from his son Christopher Franklin was a familial match to the 'alleged' Grim Sleeper.

Over these past 5 + years I have attended numerous 'Pre' Trial Arraignments and have blogged on only some of them.   These stalling tactics were caused by the Defense and not the Prosecution.  The family members of the victims showed up to each and every Pre-Trial Arraignment like clockwork.  There seems to be very little 'Justice' in the Justice System here in the United States especially the effect it has on the families of the victims, law enforcement and the tax payers!  

This media circus of delays, obnoxious behaviour and disrespect shown towards the Judge and 'the other side' was shocking to everyone in the Courtroom over the past 5 + years.   In fact it is a book in itself.  I will certainly be covering everything from my 'exclusive interviews,  the media circus before the Trial and the events during the Trial in my book which will be released after the the Verdict is read.

To be continued.......

Lonnie Franklin Pre-Pre-Pre Trial Arraignment..

At 9.16am Seymour Amster, the now sole defense lawyer to Lonnie Franklin (the 'alleged' Grim Sleeper) walks stumbles in the door.. always at approximately 75 mph looking as windswept and as out of sorts as ever.
Beth Silverman and Marguerite Rizzo, on the Prosecution side, had walked in and taken their seats only about 10 minutes beforehand.  Silverman was in a loud altercation and making subtle threats to a lawyer from a previous case which was being heard in the same Courtroom.  Detective Dupree was seated in the same seat he always sits in, quietly and respectfully just assessing the situation in the room.
I always sit next to the family members of one of the victims, she will remain nameless for now out of respect for the family.  However this is the same family that all come to every one of these 'pre-pre-pre Trial Arraignments' which never seem to end and have been  going on for 5 1/2 years.

I mentioned to the brother of one of the victims today how shocking it is that they have had to wait for over 5 1/2 years for justice for their sister and how sorry I am for them.  To which he responded, "actually we've been waiting over 25 years for justice since he killed her" motioning over to Lonnie Franklin who had been led in to the Courtroom without me even noticing.

How devastating I thought, the two brothers, mother and father have been coming religiously over 1/2 a decade every single time Lonnie Franklin has these short Pre-Trial Arraignments.  Yet never once have they had an outburst of frustration.  I'm sure they'd like to jump up and do some real damage to who is delaying this Trial, but they all hold it together and just shake their heads in disbelief and mutter under their breath how unfair it is.  I agree 100%.  A total breakdown in the Justice system at the expense of these families.
Ms Ware, mother of Barbara Ware, was not in the Court today which is a concern as she has come every Arraignment without fail.  She is a gentle soul and getting on in age, it also takes her a long time to take the public transport to get her to the Criminal Courts Building... I do hope she is ok.

At 9.17am Judge Kennedy called the Court to order and we waited for Amster to start ranting his usual unprofessional rant, as he always does.
Now the fact is that the lead defense attorney, Louisa Pensanti, in this case has just been suspended indefinitely by the State Bar, a new 2nd Counsel has to be appointed.

Amster starts with:  "Norm Callen and the 987.9 Judge are having further discussions as of yesterday so it's out of my hands."
Judge Kennedy: "So I take it that the 987.9 Judge hasn't made her decision whether to appoint Mr Callen yet?"
Amster: "Yes, also Mr Callen is sick right now.. he is eating chicken soup.." nervously laughing "as we speak".. "I have just got the order yesterday authorizing the transcripts so I do have the dockets of the cases but will have to do a bit of work on that.  I think by Tuesday I will have that and we can come back to Court on Wednesday of next week."
Silverman said: : "Well we are still giving out the questionnaires to the potential Jurors on December 15th."
Judge Kennedy agreed to all this going ahead and also said that after the questionnaires are given out, then we will all break for the Holidays and the earliest we can come back for Jury selection would be on January 4th, or 11th or the 19th (as there is a Holiday on the 18th).

After that, Silverman was telling everyone where she would be allocating seats for the victims families, the media and the public who win a lottery seat.  It's a very small Courtroom so I'm not sure how everyone is going to fit in.

After about 15 minutes that ended the day... to be continued....