Kelly Soo Park, Day 4, Part II

Continued from Day 4, Testimony Continues....

Continued Coverage of Day 4, Kelly Soo Park Trial

UPDATE 6/1: clarity
UPDATE 5/21/13:
The transcript of the audio recording of the serving of the search warrant for Park's fingerprints has been uploaded to T&T's SCRIBD account. You can find it, HERE.
UPDATE 5/17 8:30 AM Corrected witness numbering.

1:19 PM
The DA’s clerk, Mandana is wearing an absolutely beautiful patterned jacket with her black skirt. It’s brown, shades of rust and black.  I have to complement her on it.

1:35 PM
Inside Dept. 109. Judge Kennedy states that Juror #6 has some kind of surgery on a future date (which I miss) in Huntington Beach and she will have to inquire as to what that’s about.

The jurors file in.

11. Jennifer Zychowski
Is back on the stand under cross.  Testified about the science of fingerprint identification.

Does that tell you when it was made?
No it does not.
When you looked at the crime scene, did it look like it had been cleaned up?
Yes it did.
Explain.

She describes the broken pieces, the cord under the table, the lamp.  Did spray the room with forensic spray, Blue Star (did not say luminol). She believes that a towel was collected from the scene, but she would have to refer to her notes, which she does. A pink washcloth had been recovered from the bathroom.

Were any thrown away paper towels collected?
No. 
No towels from kitchen?
No.

Asks about the latent print collected by Leslie Funo. 

Did anyone draw your attention to a blood spot on an orange plate? 
No.
Did anyone at the crime scene draw your attention to blood on a latent print at the crime scene?
No.

March 17th, 2008 the latent print was entered into AFIS.

How did you become aware of the blood spot?
In January 2009, she was re-reviewing the case evidence. No one in all that time, called her attention to the latent blood spot.

Why was she reviewing the case in 2009?
She doesn’t know specifically.

Defense asks which cabinet the case file documents were filed in. She’s not positive, and explains the locked cabinets within her unit at Santa Monica PD.

How many usable latents were found?
I believe there were 16 usable latents found. Some found by myself, some by Funo, some by Dye.

Park watches her attorney as he questions the witness.

There was a miscalculation earlier as to the number of usable prints, but she is confident now there were 16 usable latent prints recovered from the crime scene.

Of the 16 latent prints recovered, five belonged to the victim and one to Park. No others were identified to a person.

So, out of the entire crime scene, only six were identified.
(Correct.)
Did you find any purple plates at the crime scene?
No.
Why do you collect hair?
Hair can potentially have DNA extracted.

Question about how many individual hairs were collected.
I don’t know how many pieces, there were clumps of hair, but I would have to refer to my report.

A 3 clump of hair, recovered from kitchen floor
A 4 clump of hair, recovered from K floor
A 18 from bedroom floor
A 20 from bathroom drain
A 25 clump of hair, recovered from the threshold between the kitchen dining room around the nail.
A 59 clump of hair bedroom floor near the foot of the bed

I note that there are seven young girlfriends of Juliana’s in court.

Took multiple DNA swabs from the crime scene?
Yes I did. I would have to look through the property report.
Would you do that?

A26 spot on kitchen wall
A 28 spot on kitchen living room door
A 30 swab on spot found on living room floor
A 32 living room (hutch? couch?)
A 34 on spot on living room door
A 36 interior door
A38 interior door
A40 hallway light switch outside bedroom
A 42 spot on bedroom floor
A44 spot on foot of the bed on the floor
A46 bathroom drain
A48 spot in kitchen floor
A58 living room floor near end table
A55 Back interior screen door
A56 back interior door handle
A57 interior back door handle
A58 another door swab
(?) Another swab
A78 spot on living room hallway door near the bottom of the door

You didn’t do swab contacts on the outside of the door?
No
Front door exterior?
No I did not.
Exterior knobs on back of kitchen door.
No I don’t believe so.

Did you take any from the apple laptop found at scene?
I may have will have to refer to my report as well. ... Yes, did swab computer for contact DNA.
A 87 & A 88?
Yes that’s correct

What did you collect?
A 87 the exterior, the top and bottom surfaces.
A 88 was the keyboard?
That’s correct.
Is A86 what you designated the DNA swab from the cell phone?
Yes, that’s correct.

Were any gloves found out on the street?
Yes, some were found days later.

She collected them.  They were black neoprene gloves on the street in front of the address.

How many times did you change gloves?
In-between each swab that I collected.

Did you know if anyone touched the cell phone (before you arrived?)
I don’t have any knowledge of that.
Did you know if anyone touched the interior door knob?
I don’t have any knowledge of that.
Did you have any knowledge about the stove knob being touched prior to your arrival?
I was told about that prior to my arrival.

Cross finished.

Redirect

Counsel asked you about processing the candle.

It was a burning candle, so the surface wasn’t viable. This candle is one of the surfaces that is least likely to get prints out of. People don’t leave a print each time you touch something. May not have enough oils, hands could be dry, gloves could be on, etc.

Found different pieces of plate, and

Objection! Misstates evidence!
Over ruled!

In your opinion, where there pieces of a plate missing?
Yes.
Question as to her procedure in swabbing an item.
She would swab as much of the surface as possible, and that’s how she was trained. That procedure has not changed.

Det. Henry was in charge of the crime scene.

Sprayed with Blue Star forensics almost like Luminol.  It does have some other agents besides blood that it reacts to. It’s a chemical luminescence reaction. They did it in certain rooms. Did it in hallway and the bedroom and a few other areas. Refers to notes.

The areas that luminesced. Living room floor near kitchen; living room kitchen thresh-hold; living room in front of couch; and living room floor near the bedroom.

When you looked at the fingerprint card, you how big was the drop of blood on the fingerprint card.

It was about the size of the end of the eraser on a pencil. (I think I have that right. I don’t think she meant the pencil writing end.) She advised someone, Det. Thompson that this might be blood.

She believes she recovered 68 prints. The remaining 10 unidentified came back to AFIS. The gloves located at 1522 Centinela, when were they located?
They were recovered on March 18th at about 9 PM.
Where is 1522 Centinela in relation to the crime scene?
I believe north of 1521 Centinela. I believe on the opposite side of the street.

No recross. Subject to recall.

12. Cathy Kuwahara
Lead forensic specialist for Santa Monica PD for six years. The witness gives her CV for fingerprint comparison.

Compared over 200,00 prints in her career.  It’s common to peer review a colleagues work. It’s done to check for accuracy and errors. Actually the forensic lab has a three tiered review process.  After herself, a supervisor will review and come up with their own conclusion.

What happens if supervisor review conclusion is different from initial examiner?
They would sit down and discuss the case and see why there are any differences. If that doesn’t work, bring in a third party before bringing in a supervisor.

If a disagreement between supervisor and fingerprint examiner, then it would not be signed and not (included?) in the (?)

Sometimes it has to do with the experience of the examiner. She has over 20 years experience.  She worked with City of Santa Monica for 12 years and then also for another agency for 12 years prior to that. Testified as an expert for fingerprints, approximately over 200 times.

Puts up Park’s fingerprint card People’s 55.
She recognizes that fingerprint card from AFIS system, and recognizes. her initials on the card. For this fingerprint, she was the second level of comparison. She did comparison on June 28th, 2010.

Did she have an opinion after comparison?
They were one and the same.

A group of students entered 109 and sat in the rows behind the bailiff's desk.

She describes the system, she works under for examining fingerprints: A C E Verification.(Analyze, Comparison, Evaluation, Verification)

Were there certain things that you looked at to determine that it was a match?
I’m basically looking to see what type of ridge detail is available and the clarity.

Identifies it as a whorl print, and then explains other different characteristics that determines that it’s a match.

CROSS Kassabian

When you did the comparison after specialist, Zychowski (did you know her end result)? She did not know that Zychowski had made a comparison when she made her comparison.

That’s it.

 13. Michelle Dimas

Dimas is a jailer at Santa Monica PD. Employed seven years in August. As a jailer, do paperwork when arrestees are brought in. She documents the arrestees date of birth, etc.  For the intake, it can be written on paper or it could be on the computer. It can be done both ways.

Was she working on June 17th at approximately 4:30 PM?
Yes.
Did you book an individual by the name of Kelly Soo Park?
Yes.

Identifies her for the record. Booking sheet is up on the screen for Kelly Soo Park, People’s 64.

Created how? Generated through the (Lieschool?) machine.

Form on the left is the front the form on the right is on the back.
Her name is towards the center as the booking officer. Uses laser to show on the screen.

Is this the type of form that used each time you books someone in the jail. Used at time of booking. Arresting officer gives her the information. She would put theinformation at the booking time so the arrestee would be present.They take that photo of them ,on the jail. The computer generates those additional photos at the bottom of the second pge. There is a camera connected to the computer.

Did you have the suspect review the information ? Not at that point, no.
IF they are released for court, they will review their property and released.
they also take fingerprints of the suspects.  Is at the same time as when the photos are taken.

She took the fingerprints of Kelly Soo Park. They are taken after everything is completed. There isn't ink, but there is live scan. It’s a booking system. So when she prints someone it automatically puts into the system. There is information that she adds into the live scan that is different than the booking form. Those fingerprints on the bottom of the form are through life span. Within that system, there is the ability to pull up a 10 print fingerprint card.

Has her identify people’s 55, the fingerprint card.
This isn’t something that they regularly print out and use in the jail.

What they use is the same information but generated into a different form.
Those are the fingerprints that she took from the defendant on June 17th?
Yes.

I know that this form is something that is available through the live scan system.  Describes the image. It’s a palm print. and a side print. It’s something that she takes as part of the booking process.

Cross Beuhler

No questions.

SOW: May I call Ms. Dimas back for one question?

People’s 95, additional photograph of a palm print.

Do you see in the upper left hand of peoples 95. It says MM Dimas. How does that info get into the business data?
I also list myself as the booking officer.
It isn’t your palm print?
No it is not.

It looks like her name is the name of the person printed.

She printed the defendant, in the jail.  This is a different system. It’s not the system, it’s the format. It’s not something that we print out in the jail, that we use. The first sheet, that you printed out, that’s what we use.

This item, people’s 95, do you generally attach this to your documents, or do you not see that at all?
We do not see that at all.

Buehler looks over photos Wiese is referring.

Defense: No questions. 

I think I hear Buehler ask to approach counsel at bench.  Then he speaks to Stacy and I must have heard wrong because the next witness is called.

14. Stephen Bevan
Deputy sheriff of LA County. Assigned to the Santa Monica (area) identification system, AFIS. The witness gives his background. The system he manages is a (computer storage?) depository of criminals who are live scanned and are fingerprinted.

I’m in charge of making sure the system is operating properly.  System works by ingesting or receiving fingerprints by a live scan.  Send it through the system, either find a match or not find a match. Explains about latent prints and how that’s different. All incoming live scan transmissions are searched against that live data base. If possible matches are found, it’s submitted to that agency that submitted it, and then a manual comparison.

System automatically compares it to all the unsolved latents in the system.  As of April of this year, there are approximately 200,000 unsolved latents in the data base.

No cross of witness.

15. Margaret Kaleuati
Senior criminalist with Los Angeles County Corner's Office. Physical evidence collection and at autopsy, GSR analysis, (on?) tools and biological tissues.  Gives her CV.

She went to crime scene at Centinela Ave. Arrived around 4:45 in the morning.

I entered the scene and was briefed by detectives and then led to the room where the decedent was in.

In the room the decedent was in, first off, it was kind of dark. But there was bare bulb in the corner.  The ceiling fan, had light, but someone told her it didn’t work. Then she put on her headlamp.

Peoples 26.
Is that the individual you processed?
Photo of Juliana on the bed.  Juliana's friends in the gallery get upset seeing Juliana again.

She was wearing a white tank top with a graphic on it and a type of shorts. She removed her clothing for sexual assault kit.

Were you wearing gloves?
I was wearing gloves.
Why is that?
First and foremost to protect myself. I wear two pairs of gloves. So that I doesn’t transfer to what I'm collecting.

She explains her collection procedure. She indicated that she took off Juliana's clothing.
Explains a sexual assault kit. It’s swabs and slides, different ways to collect physical evidence, where we might be able to collect DNA “entry” evidence. They follow a certain protocol. We work from head down, top to bottom. Collect oral, nipple samples, vaginal and anal, rectal samples.
We’re taking swabs. Our swabs have a (?) cotton tip. I have an exemplar.

This is an example of a set of swabs from our department. Just take out two cotton swabs and rub on every area that you’re interested in. Generally do wet swabs, apply it with water.

She gets those tubes from the coroner’s office. Coroner’s report number, have their own case numbers. Coroner's case number is 2008-02159.

Explains how she packages her evidence, then puts everything in a box. At the coroner's they have a drying area, so that it doesn’t become contaminated by mold, because these are wet swabs. Then go back into sexual assault kit, that gets sealed.

There were three additional swabs she took that were going to be put into the protocol (in the future).  Someone had suggested, that she might have been strangled, so they swabbed that area.

She also took wet and dry swabs.  At the time, that, if you’re looking for saliva, you may not collect as much on a wet swab, than if you go over with a dry swab.  It wasn’t protocol back in 2008 to take neck swabs, but it is now.

I took basically 10 of these swab tubes so 20 swabs in total.

Take them back to coroner’s let them dry and then book them.

All the tubes are placed in one box, and the box is sealed.  There are also slides in the box that are wet mounts of the swabs. Anal cervical and rectal, will also have slides from that swab. The slides are made at the time they are collected. 

We make slides for someone at the crime lab to be looking for sperm.

Explains how slides are packaged.  In individual slide card holders. There are a couple more things that they do. They do a pubic hair combing that is looking for trace material. They will collect hair from various areas of the body. They will also take fingernails.

Is there a standard kit?
It is simply an envelope that has smaller envelopes in it, and papers, so you can collect and fold each one back up in an envelope.

At the time (2008) they used to do scrapings. So there would be a little bamboo stick that you could scrape under neath, if you couldn’t get far enough back, under the fingernails.

Photo of Juliana's hands again. Those are the nails that she collected evidence from.  They then book the items directly into their evidence department. She doesn’t have any other contact with the items once they have been booked into evidence.

Asks her to describe the envelope. This witness does not use gloves or a mask when directed to open the envelope. Describes whats inside.

It’s a swab that I collected. I know I collected because my initials are on it.  Shows her the swabs for the jury.  The two swabs have a little less cotton on them and shows that to the jury. It’s obviously been utilized since she took it.

Now take the break at this time, 2:57 PM

2:58 PM
Afternoon break is called.

Witnesses who have testified so far in the afternoon.
10. Jennifer Zychowski (forensic criminalist for Santa Monica PD who collected evidence at the scene)
11. Cathy Kuwahara (supervising criminalist who verified the fingerprint analysis of the latent print taken from the orange plate in the kitchen)
12. Michelle Dimas (Santa Monica PD jailer who booked Kelly Soo Park for murder and took her fingerprints and scanned them into LiveScan)
13. Stephen Bevan (LA Co. Deputy Sheriff assigned to Santa Monica area AFIS (fingerprint) identification system)
14. Margaret Kaleuati (Senior criminalist with LA Co. Corner. Collected evidence off of Juliana's body.)

Kaleuati is still on the stand at the break.

During the break, I get up to stretch to try to stay awake.

After the break, cross begins by Kassabian.

Do you recall how many were at the crime scene when you arrived?
I do not.
Did you do fingernail scrapings at the crime scene?
Yes I did.
And you clipped the nails?
Yes.
What are the procedures for determining time of death?
That’s outside my experience.
Are decedents usually disrobed at the scene?
They can be.
Was anyone supposed to touch the body of a crime victim before you arrive?
No.
Do you know if anyone had touched the victim before you arrived at the crime scene?
There’s no way for me to know.

Questions about the sexual assault kit.

Did you take any other samples from the remains of Ms. Redding?
I took various samples for trace samples.
I recovered things that might be paint chips, hairs or fiber. I don’t know what they were.
My notes would only give a description as to what I thought it was, not what it actually was.

Goes over her notes of the list of items she collected from the body.

Nothing further. No redirect.

16. Hee Seok Ahn
Detective for the city of Santa Monica. He's been an officer 22 years. Working on the date June 2010.  Took a DNA sample from Kelly Soo Park.  Identifies the defendant. Detective Thompson asked him to take an oral swab.

The defendant was under arrest at that time?
Yes.

He took the sample inside the jail facility. Details his procedures for taking the DNA sample and how he packaged the evidence.

Has the defendant identifiy people 66. It’s the envelope he placed the swabs in.   He opens up the boxes and describes them and describes the process. He’s brought a sample kit to show the jury how he collects a DNA sample.

JK: Cross? 
MK. No questions.

17. Michael Bambrick
Police Officer for city of SM. currently assigned to Robbery Homicde. 18 years police officer.

He went to a Ventura County animal shelter, to execute a search warrant. There were several detectives with him. Arrived at the lot, parked his vehicle beside the defendant's vehicle. Five minutes later, she exited the animal shelter.  He was given information on the vehicle prior to event. It was a gray Range Rover. Eventually made contact with the defendant.  Witness identifies the defendant.

When he made contact with her, he identifies the other officers on the team, and which detective was parked in the driveway. There were other personnel in the area.  When he made contact, he identified himself.

I told her my name and my badge number. Told her why they were there. They were under a court order to obtain her fingerprints and then release her. Told her my partner and I were investigating a homicide and that her name had come up in an investigation into the death of Juliana Redding, but that she was not under arrest.

I had prior knowledge of the defendant long before the event. I had viewed photos of the defendant prior to arriving at the animal shelter.

Did you ask her for her name?
No, I showed her the warrant that had her name on it.
When you told her that her name had come up, what was her response?
When you showed her the warrant, did she say she was the person, or did she say anything?
I verified the information on it with her. Then she gave alternate responses as to whether we were really the police and if this was a joke.  I read her the drivers license number on the warrant.
When you (told her) what was her demeanor like?
At first, she seemed a little surprised as it went on she became quite nervous.
Did you bring up the name Juliana Redding?
Just verbally.
Did you show her a photograph of Juliana Redding?

The last photograph taken of Juliana when she went out to dinner with her friend is put up on the overhead.

That's the photograph I showed her.
What was the defendant's response when you showed her the photograph?
She looked shocked.
Did she have a verbal response.
(Yes.)
What was that?
It was something to the effect of, "Oh my God." She began shaking.
Did she remain standing in front of you? ...  At that point, after the photo of Ms. Redding, did she do anything else?
(She/we) moved from the passenger side, (of the car). We just kept moving positions, and she repositioned herself.
Did she have any other physical response that you could see?
She tried to take her phone out of her purse.
Did you let her do that?
No.
Did she let her you take your fingerprints.
(No.)
Was there a point where your partner put his hands on the defendant?
My partner held out and grabbed her left arm. ... It looked like she was a bit staggered, and he was attempting to hold onto her.
Did you ask to take her fingerprints?
She didn’t allow it.
Did you advise her what would happen?
She would be arrested and her fingerprints would be taken anyway.
What would she be arrested for if she didn’t?
Yes.
What for?
Violating a court order.

She didn’t let them take her fingerprints.

At one point she didn’t believe that I was police and she wanted a real police.

He got a Ventura County police officer. Then in the Deputy's presence, he asked the deputy to place her under arrest. She was transported to a local lock up and jail. Her prints were taken there.
Did you record that contact with her?
I did.

We'll get the audio recording.

The prosecution is missing the copies of the transcripts of the audio recording for the jurors. Judge Kennedy asks if we should put the jurors in the jury room. Bailiff Sean jumps up to save the day and says he will use the courts copy machine to make copies of the transcript. To save time, Wiese continues questioning the witness while waiting for the copies.

Peoples 59  Photos that were taken at the animal shelter.
That is a photograph of the animal shelter and the rear of the vehicle, a Range Rover, the defendant, and the back of Detective Leoni (sp?) on the right.

A Ventura County sheriff, who was in the lot, took the photos.

Another photo. Same parking lot. Myself in the center, Detective Leoni to his right and the defendant when we first approached her at the animal shelter.

Another photo of Park under arrest, leading to the Ventura County Patrol vehicle.

At any time, did she start crying?
Pause.
No, I don’t believe so.
When you showed her the warrant, did she tell you who she could call, her attorney? ... Did she try to use her phone again in your presence?
She made several attempts to get to her phone, and his partner took her purse or her phone.

They provided her with their credentials.
When you first made contact with her, and she didn’t believe who you were, and you showed her a photo of Ms. redding?
Yes.
Did her demeanor change from when you first made contact with her?
Well as I stated, she had a verbal and physical reaction to the photo. And then she became uncooperative the entire time.

Question about whether she was shaking.
The shaking was a little bit before, but when I showed her the photograph she really had a reaction.

3:49 PM
Judge Kennedy instructs the jurors on going back into the jury room then leaves the bench.

DDA Beth Silverman, who is prosecuting Lonnie Franklin, Jr., enters 109 and takes a seat near the door. Silverman starts to look through some papers. Two of Juliana’s friend who testified, Kelly and Jessica are sitting in a row with the other girlfriends.  Silverman leaves Dept. 109.

3:56 PM 
Back on the record.   Jurors enter.

The transcripts are passed out to the jurors.

Judge Kennedy gives the jurors cautionary instructions about transcripts and that they are only a guide.  "There are portions in the transcript that say uninteligible. ... As a jury, you may actually determine what is said on the audio. You’ll have ample time to listen to this back in the jury room." As a jury, they will make their own determination as to what the audio is on the tape.

I'm hoping I can get an actual copy of the transcript. If I can't I'll put up my rough draft notes later. Sprocket

Judge Kennedy addresses the jury. "Tomorrow, I have other cases so, we will not be starting with you folks until, wait for it, 10:45." She gives the admonition to the jury.

SOW: People have subpoena. Is it okay to open and make copies for the defense?
Defense: No problem your honor.
JK: Okay.

And that's it. I call Mr. Sprocket who tells me he can pick me up at the train station.