Grim Sleeper Trial. Week 7. Still the Defense are comparing the DNA!

April 4th.

It has been a few days since I last wrote but the events of the Grim Sleeper Trial have been very much the same day after day after day.  This is not only because Seymour Amster, the lead Defense, likes to play games and drag his feet.  This is also because comparing the Defense's DNA results from the 11 victims (one was an attempted murder) from the Sorenson Lab to the DNA results from the State approved Lab is a very tedious and time consuming process.  As I stated in my blogs before, it's not just blood and sperm that is tested at great expense, it is also hair, swabs, slides, fibres, etc, etc.. tested to the most infinitesimal details.

It seems to me that Mr Seymour Amster has called in each and every person from this Sorenson Lab in Utah to each testify on their findings.   Highly unnecessary, but in his mind, it all helps to delay the process of a slam dunk Trial.

On a side note,  because of the repetitive nature of the Grim Sleeper Trial, I have also been able to cover a Trial down the street at the Federal Building in which I have a personal involvement.  To make it short, it is the Trial for the ex-Under Sheriff of Los Angeles County Sheriff Dept by the name of Paul Tanaka.

He is accused of many things, some of them being 'Conspiracy to Obstruct an FBI investigation.'  The FBI brought the case to Trial and I have been there every day and will continue to cover it until it ends in the next few days.   This Trial finishes every day at 1.30pm with no lunch break.  The Grim Sleeper Trial (a few buildings up the road) comes back after lunch at 1.30pm, hence I have managed to make every afternoon at the Trial in which I am being commissioned, by my Publisher to complete my book.
The reason for my attendance in the Tanaka trial is because this is a matter I am very close to as I've been involved with the LASD, in various capacities, since I moved to America as a teenager.  It's devastating that so many innocent Sheriffs, who were in positions subordinate to Paul Tanaka, have now lost their jobs, been convicted of crimes they didn't commit, by simply 'following orders from above' and/or made a plea.  Hence their lives have now all been ruined.

I have heard many retired Captains testify, all were very powerful in their testimony.  I've heard the sleaze-bag Gilbert Michel testify.  He was the Deputy who smuggled the cell phone in to the jail to Inmate Anthony Brown, after making a cash deal with an undercover FBI Agent.  Not only did he commit this disgusting crime, still wearing the LASD badge,  but when he was caught he took down other Deputies with him accusing them of 'excessive force'.  This very bad apple slipped through the net of one of the best Law Enforcement Agencies in the world, and I'm ashamed that he was ever given the title of Deputy Sheriff.  Thank God it was only for a short time.

Today and Friday we heard Tanaka testify.  On Friday his Defense ~ Dean Steward and Jerome Haig ~ put him on the Stand.  He quivered, lied, had selective memory loss and basically looked like a complete phony to all and sundry in the Courtroom.  He buried himself with his testimony on Friday and that was with his own Defense questioning him.  Today matters became much worse when he was cross examined by AUSA Brandon Fox and Ed Hardy.   AUSA Fox didn't mince his words when asking about Tanaka's association with the well known Deputy Gang that he presumably ran when working as a Sergeant in Lynwood by the name 'The Vikings'.  This lasted a number of grueling hours and we heard more of Tanaka's untruths and placing blame on the one person above him ~ Lee Baca, along with his close subordinates.

I started to write my book on this a year ago, but I put this on hold pending a Trial.  It's just a bit of a coincidence that both the Grim Sleeper and the Tanaka Trial came began around the same time.  I can only focus on one book at at time, hence I am continuing on with The Grim Sleeper.  My book on the LASD and the FBI will have to wait a few more months.

After the day ended today, I walked over to CCB (the Criminal Courts Building) and rode the elevator to the 9th floor.  I hadn't even walked in the door to sit down when I heard Amster's scream come through the double doors, this time screaming at the Judge... yet again!  I walked in right after lunch recess had ended and the Jury weren't back in the room yet.  Here's how it went:

....."You'd be screaming bloody murder Mr Amster if they'd done that to you!"  What a pun I thought, but what on earth could they have been talking about.  I realized immediately that, yet again, Amster had not given the name of a Witness that he had wanted to call up next.  He was screaming that he just handed the Prosecution the name of the Witness which he had written on a small Post-it note.  The Court erupted as we all thought 'he just cannot be serious'!  But he was and in his warped mind, he is.
As Judge Kennedy showed her disdain for Amster's lack of professionalism by scribbling the name of the Witness (who he was calling on today) on a Post-it note to show the Prosecution.  He piped up 'Well I respectfully disagree your Hounour, because we have had to deal with with so many surprises from the Prosecution's side and they ....."

"Stop, stop!  I'm not asking you what they.  You're like the kid that deflects everything when they're in trouble by saying, 'well my brother did this and that when questioned about something.. you know what I mean'.  But right now we are talking about you Mr Amster!"

She went on to say: "You are not going to ever do this again Mr Amster.  You're not going to write a note in the middle of the day, of what Witness you are calling up next.  You have to give 30 days notice and that's the rules.  You could have even told them on Friday, or told me as I know you two don't communicate well.  Now lets bring the Jury in."

I couldn't believe that I'd just come out of a highly professional Courtroom and walked up the road to the CCB right back in to the never ending Circus of the Grim Sleeper Trial.  What a contrast!  Amster has not improved at all.   Believe it or not, today there was yet another (different) Witness on the stand from the Sorenson Lab, testifying about the DNA.  Even Detective Dupree almost fell asleep, he told me, with this highly repetitive and unimportant testimonies that have gone on for well over a week.

When the Witness was allowed to continue, with the Jury present, the same questions were asked of him as they have been asked of all the Witnesses before:
"Was the DNA tested done in a competent manner to the best of your knowledge"?  And the Witness answered in the same way as all the other Witnesses: "Yes it was".  Along with "Yes DNA was found but there were too many contributors to determine whether we could determine a match".

To be continued soon.....