Ricky had called me early yesterday morning saying that the Defense had subpoenaed both him and Paul to be in Court that day and for me to hurry up and get there. I arrived by 9.45am as I knew that we weren't going to be in session until 9.30am yesterday due to the Judge having other cases.
As soon as I got there I see Ricky and Paul were talking to the Defense Investigators. I'm not going to say anymore here as I've been asked by certain people not to. But what I can say is what happened next with Ricky!
Ricky came bouncing down the corridor to greet me in his usual way and then we sat down to talk quietly when he told me that he is not going to accept the subpoena due to the fact he doesn't want to be a witness for someone who probably committed the crimes. He was very serious about this and wanted to go in to the Courtroom with me. As you know he has already been banned from the Courtroom by the Defense due to him being a potential witness. He doesn't want to be a witness of any kind.
So, I told him that we could go in and sit together and see if he can stay. As we walked down the hall, he pointed to a man and started laughing and then he said "Hey, hey Vic.. I want you to meet someone... This guy here, this guy.. this guy is me, he's me!"
I didn't know what he was on about as an elderly light skinned black man was sitting hunched up next to a pillar, clearly also not knowing what was going on. I held out my hand to the man and introduced myself, he then said his name was "Richard.... Richard Harris".
Ricky laughed and said "See I tol' you he's me! I'm Richard Harris and this man here's Richard Harris an' he don' know nothin' about this case or why he's even here. He got subpoenaed coz of his name and he din't even live near none of us in South Central LA, he's from the West side!" Laughing in his flamboyant way, he then said, "The Defense subpoenaed the wrong guy!"
I was still holding out hope that the Defense might be improving and before I had even walked in to the Courtroom yet, I found out that the Defense, probably Seymour Amster, called in (subpoenaed) the wrong guy. Clearly Mr Amster hadn't done his homework again and called this poor bugger to testify as a Witness in a case which he knew nothing about.
And the day begun.
I went in to the Courtroom and Lonnie was sitting there in a lime green shirt and beige trousers, looking straight ahead.
Rafael Garcia was one of the Criminalists searching Franklin's house over the period of time from July 7th through July 9th 2010. He was testifying about the ballistics and the 22 calibre gun which was used in the killings. On the Elmo were 3 different photographs of the gun, the magazine and the bullets along with a ruler to measure the length and width of the gun. It was 5 inches long and 5 inches in height which can be easily concealed in a pocket, which are often called 'pocket pistols'.
Marguerite Rizzo was asking the questions.
There were 4 live rounds of ammunition found.
The DA approached the Witness (Garcia) with a large white envelope with red tape around it. She asked him to carefully open the envelope and explain what he was doing. Garcia then pulled back the red seal which is known as the LAPD evidence seal, he reached his hand inside and pulled out the Titan 22 calibre gun which was tied with a zip tie to prevent it from being discharged along with another small envelope inside.
The Judge then explained to the Jury that the reason for the zip tie is for safety any time a weapon is brought in to a Courtroom so that there is no way of it being accidentally discharged.
Garcia had also found an Army jacket in the hallway and inside was a drivers license, business cards, a Vons club card amongst other items. The drivers license was placed on the Elmo and it said: A0612197. Lonnie David Franklin Jr, DOB 08.30.1952. 1728 W. 81st, Los Angeles 90047. 5ft 7". 170lbs.
After a short recess, we all came back in to Court, Paul was sitting next to the Defense Investigators and Ricky and I were sitting only a few seats away. Seymour Amster looked over at Ricky and kept shaking his head and whispering to his co-Defense lawyer ~ Dale Atherton, getting redder and redder as he spoke. Something was about to happen and it did.
"One second your Honour, I have a Mr Paul Williams in the Courtroom today who has been subpoenaed by the Defense and I've placed him on call." Amster stated
Judge Kennedy then looked at Paul and said "Sir, Mr Williams, do you understand what it means to be placed 'on call'?" To which he responded that he did. She said that if he changes his phone number he must let the Defense know and that he is on call for the duration of the Trial. "Ok thank you" she said and he was free to go.
Then Mr Amster said "Your Honour we also have here in the Courtroom Mr Ricky Harris, we were unable to serve him with a subpoena and I don't want to get in to it, but he is a potential witness in this case. He's in the Courtroom right now and I..."
"Ok, who's Mr. Harris?" The Judge asked as Ricky raised his hand "Mr Harris? Ricky Harris?"
"Richard Harris." Ricky said to which the Judge apologized and called him Richard Harris. This entire time, Lonnie had turned around fully in his chair and nodded to me very subtly and then looked over to Ricky and then back to me again. I didn't respond in any way.
"I don't feel I have control over him to make sure he stays out of the Courtroom, we will do our best to serve him a subpoena."
The Judge then said "Mr Harris, the way it works that when someone is a Witness and not one of the Detectives testifying in the case, are not permitted to be in the Courtroom when other Witnesses are testifying. Mr Amster has identified you as a potential Witness for the Defense... I see you are shaking your head but it's up to him not you to decide. So you are not going to be allowed to remain in the Courtroom. You can remain in the hallway if you like but you cannot be in the Courtroom."
"Ok, I'll go, bye bye." Ricky said to the Judge.. He then turned to me and said "Call me later." I of course acknowledged to him that I would.
I did call him later, as I do every day, to give him the updates of the Trial and to remind him (as I always do) to please not to talk to any media!
I know Paul won't, he's a very private man and I trust him a lot, but Ricky just looovvvvvesss to talk, very much like me. I just don't want to lose his exclusivity (on his story and Lonnie for over 3 decades) which he's given to me.
(Garcia's Testimony will be in my book)
The next Witness to the stand was an a tall attractive black lady with very short hair, Tracey Benjamin. She was sworn in and started to explain her job as a Chief Detective with the LAPD when Amster interjected with something I couldn't quite hear, but he was asking if he could have a few more minutes to review something.
D.A Beth Silverman was asking the questions and asked how long she'd been with the LAPD which was 26 1/2 years and she's been with RHD for about 10 years.
T.B: Yes
D.A. What area were you responsible for searching?
T.B: The dining room.
Det. Benjamin found her items on the china cabinet in the dining room. The picture shown on the Elmo was of a person (from her investigating team) wearing a mask pointing to something at the top of the china cabinet with 2 notebooks of 2 of the field officers placed in the air next to the item. One of the items she collected was a box of photographs.
Amster cross examined the witness about the official police note books that were in the picture which were in the picture as part of the evidence collected. He wanted to know if she'd looked inside the notebooks, who's hand writing was in the notebooks, who provides these notebooks? How the notebooks are purchased by the LAPD? Who else could manufacture them and how they were manufactured. He wanted to know if anyone tried to swab or take latent fingerprints of those notebooks. Amster ask this question to a lot of witnesses regarding evidence collected. After he had to withdraw his question at least 4 times in this one short cross examination he went on to ask if there were any other documents that she might have seen on the Credenza that she had been searching in the dining room. She replied that she did not.
No further questions
The next witness was called to the stand. Lisa Mowery was sworn in.
D.A. Silverman: Could you tell us how you are employed please?
L.M: I work for the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation. I've been employed by the City for 24 years and with the Bureau of Sanitation for 17 years.
D.A: What is your position with the Bureau of Sanitation?
L.M: I am theChief Financial Officer with oversight of our financial, administrative and personnel programs.
This includes all Personnel records everything from employment applications, to reviews, to emergency appointments as well as assignments for Personnel. The D.A. asked her if she reviewed the Personnel records of an individual by the name of Lonnie David Franklin Jr. She replied that she did. When the DA read out the information belonging to Franklin she confirmed that it was correct but the Judge would not allow her to read out the social security number belonging to Franklin.
According to the D.A., there were 3 address in Franklin's Personnel file including his main residence of 1728 W. 81st in Los Angeles.
There was also an address of 1707 W. 85th street in Los Angeles and 443 W. 111th Place in Los Angeles. The Witness confirmed that these 3 addresses were in Franklin's file. She also confirmed that the first date of Franklin's employment with the City was in April of 1981 until June 30th 1982 and his job title was a Garage Attendant. He was assigned to the LAPD Central facility downtown LA in the central garage. Franklin's duties included vehicle maintenance and towing disabled vehicles. On July 1st 1982 Franklin had a new job title of Maintenance Laborer which is unskilled labour, picking up bulky items riding with a truck operator on any of their refuse trucks. From June 1985 until February 1989 Franklin was a trash truck driver in the City of LA.
He would have worked at the South Central Collection Yard. Including picking up trash, debris and large objects from alleyways and all other areas in non-commercial areas of Los Angeles.
In the 1980's they went from 2 person teams to 1 person teams. 1 man Truck Operator was the title given to a one man truck. The location of the land fills, that were open for operation at that time, was in the San Fernando Valley called the Lopez Canyon Landfill. This was where the trash truck operator would make their dumps at this location.
The D.A. showed a photograph on the Elmo of a few truck operators standing amongst refuse at the Lopez Canyon landfill.
Nothing further.
Judge: Cross
Amster: Good afternoon Ma'am. Do you have the Personnel records of Mr Franklin from June 1985 until February 1989?
L.M. No
Amster: Do you have any record of where Mr Franklin was traveling at that time?
L.M. No
Amster: Do you have any record of who he was traveling with at that time?
L.M. No
Amster: Do you have any.... I'll withdraw the question.. Do you have any record of what hours he worked on any given shift?
L.M: No
Amster: Would the driver have been given a designated route if he worked for the sanitation department between the time of June 1985 until February 1989?
L.M: Yes
L.M: Yes
Amster: So how many people worked at Lopez Canyon Dump on any given shift?
L.M: I don't know
Amster: What is the procedure when someone drives a truck to the Lopez Canyon Dump and how do they unload it?
L.M: At that time there would be someone directed to a portion of the landfill that was active on that particular day so that they would know where to empty the load.
Amster: At that time was the City of Los Angeles concerned about potential health problems on a load that a sanitation truck driver unloaded?
D.A. That's irrelevant
Judge: Overruled
L.M: No
Amster: So the City of Los Angeles would not be concerned if an individual truck driver would bring a dead body and have it contained in his truck?
D.A. Objection
Judge: Sustained
Amster: Are there standard operating procedure for the City of Los Angeles to have an inspection concerning the items dumped at a particular location?
L.M: I don't know
Amster: Are there any procedures done to ensure that a dead body had not been dumped at the Lopez Canyon Dump during the period of June 1985 until February 1989?
L.M: I don't know
Amster: During the period of June 1985 until February 1989 did the City of Los Angeles maintain a log of what driver would check out a truck that they were utilizing and and then check back in when they were done using it?
L.M: I don't know. I know we have similar procedures today but I cannot speculate what exactly they were doing back then.
Amster: Were you employed by the City of Los Angeles during the period of June 1985 to February 1989
L.M: No
Amster: Are you familiar with how Personnel records were maintained by the City of Los Angeles for the period of time between June 1985 until February 1989?
L.M: No
Amster: Are you familiar with how Personnel records were maintained by the City of Los Angeles for the period of time between April 1981 to June 30th 1982?
L.M: No
Then, Amster suddenly got very red in the face, waved his hands around more frantically this time and shouted:
Amster: So all the information you've given us today has been based upon information and procedures that you do today but not procedures that even existed back in the 1980's?
L.M: The information was based on the information contained in the documents that I reviewed.
Amster: But you are not familiar with what the record keeping procedures were back in the 1980's, were you?
L.M: No
Amster: So all your information is not based on personal knowledge it's just what you reviewed in that file?
L.M: Yes it is from my personal knowledge of what is in that file.
Amster: So you are just speculating that the procedures used today are the same way they were used in the 80's correct?
L.M: No, I never stated that.
Now, he was getting to a fever pitch and raising his voice as loud as he could with spit flying out of his mouth from all angles, his head was protruding out from his neck and his hands were now placed firmly on his hips and he continued to basically scream at the poor Witness.
Amster: Are you familiar that from time to time your department is required to maintain records in a different way depending upon what the Controller's Office wants by the City of Los Angeles?
D.A. Objection ~ Irrelevant
Judge: Sustained
Amster: You have absolutely no idea what the requirements were, or how records should have been maintained, or how they were even preserved back in the 1980's do you?
Amster: No further questions!
D.A. Beth Silverman asked her final questions to the Witness about the records in a much clearer and more concise manner. The Witness was able to explain clearly how similar all the procedures and documentations were from current day to back in the 80's just that a different person was conducting the checks back then and she was reviewing those documents in the Courtroom as the person who had documented everything has since passed away.
Amster went up one final time and asked a number of redundant questions to which her answer was 'No' on every one of them.
Nothing further and the Witness was excused.
At 2.19pm the next Witness was called to the stand. Detective John Luke who has been employed by the LAPD for 28 years and has been with the RHD for 7 years.
D.A Silverman: Did you assist in a search warrant at 1728 W. 81st street in Los Angeles on the dates of July 7th, 8th and 9th of 2010?
Det: Yes
This testimony was similar to the other Detectives from the Robbery Homicide Division of the LAPD and he explained his findings and what he booked in to evidence.
Then the next witness was called at 3.03pm by the name of Sharlene Johnson. She's been with the LAPD for almost 21 years and with RHD since 2006.
She was also part of the team of about 20 that searched the home of Lonnie Franklin over the 3 days starting on July 7th through July 9th of 2010.
Det. Johnson searched the western garage at the residence on July 8th 2010. In this garage was a Toyota Corolla. There was a photograph of the western garage placed on the Elmo.
The Witness explained to D.A. Rizzo that the moment she entered the garage all she could see was "It was total chaos! The hood of the car was partially open, there was stuff under the hood, there were things all over the car, under the car, on the trunk, on the walls, things hanging from the ceiling, bicycles, bicycle tires, a refrigerator, cabinets stacked on top of things. There was stuff everywhere."
She found a polaroid camera on top of one of Franklin's cars and a box of bullets on an open cabinet. A photograph of the polaroid camera was placed on the Elmo for us to see.
D.A. Rizzo walked up to the Witness and handed her an envelope for her to describe to the Jury what was inside. Det. Johnson explained that it has her name, her serial number and the usual red LAPD 'evidence seal'. Inside was the polaroid camera that she had seized at the location on 81st street back on July 8th 2010. She confirmed to all of this.
On cross examination, Amster asked if she was a Detective with the LAPD, despite her explaining this in great detail in her testimony with the D.A. previously.
After withdrawing his questions a number of times, he asked, "Did you direct the Criminalists to collect the biological evidence when you were in the garage?" To which she responded that she did. He asked if she directed anyone on the team to collect any latent fingerprints which she had not. He asked if she had moved anything from the roof of the car to see the camera. She said that she didn't remove anything but it's possible someone else in the team might have removed items to make the camera more visible. Amster asked if there were items on top of the polaroid camera or if it had any stuff on the camera. She placed the camera back in the envelope and was released.
At 3.37pm the next witness was called to the stand. Lieutenant Michael Oppelt was sworn in. He is a Lt. with the LAPD and has been with the LAPD for 35 years next month. He's been a Lt. for 6 years. He is the acting commanding officer for criminal gang homicide division in South LA. He's worked the same position in other divisions and for 8 years he's been in charge of the homicide division.
D.A. Silverman: On July 7th through July 9th of 2010 did you have a role to play in a search warrant that was performed at 1728 W. 81street in Los Angeles?
Lt. : Yes
D.A: And what was your role?
Lt: My role was to be the officer in charge of the event directed by the two main detectives that had the case ~ Detective Kilcoyne and Detective Coulter.
The centre of the photograph showed the arial shot of the location of Franklin's residence on 1728 W. 81st street. It showed the LAPD's 'easy up' and the command centre which was an RV. He explained the reason for having a command centre, the RV, so that there was a main point of contact to take and examine property taken from the residence, from vehicles and from the garages. A lady by the name of Doreen Hudson was the commander and the person in charge, with Lt. Oppelt, of assigning the tactical team to carry out the search warrant of various areas of the residence on that Monday morning. They decided to have a team of 3 searching outside of the residence and a team of 3 searching inside. (Of course there were many others, this is just the 2 teams of Investigators that Hudson and Oppelt assigned). On top of that there were someone from fire arms unit, component unit, photographers, SID support person and an RHD detective.
There were 8 vehicles on Franklin's property in his garages at the back of the house, including a Winnebago, outside of the garages and also on the street. These were all impounded and subsequently searched in order to accommodate the actual searches of the various garages. This occurred more so on July 7th and 8th so that Investigators could navigate around more easily when searching inside the garages.
D.A. Silverman went on questioning the Witness for a while longer until we adjourned for the day just after 4pm.
To be continued.... (This is an example of the details of the Trial which will be in my book. More detailed testimony will there too)
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