Atkins says police were biased

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

“Bias.”
That’s one of the words Deputy Public Defender Karen Atkins used to described the investigation of a March gang melee on State Street that left a 15-year-old dead and her client, Ricardo “Ricky” Juarez charged with murder. Juarez, 14, has pleaded innocent to the charge.
“It is our position, that with all do respect, there was a bias and preconceived notion that our client was responsible for the death of the victim,” Atkins told Superior Court Judge Brian Hill yesterday during day seven of the preliminary hearing for Juarez.


Atkins’ comments came during her cross examination of Santa Barbara Police Detective Mike Brown, who is one of the lead investigators in the case.
Many of Atkins’ questions to Brown focused on a boy named Ricardo R., who some witnesses have said had a knife on the day of the stabbing and who’s DNA was sampled on May 22, the same day as Juarez’s.
However, the glaring difference between the two Ricardos thus far in the hearing is that Juarez’s DNA was found on the handle of a knife recovered in a State Street garbage can on the day of the fight, while Ricardo R’s DNA was not.
Also found on that same knife was the DNA of Luis Angel Linares, 15, who, according to a forensic pathologist’s testimony last week, sustained eight knife wounds before collapsing and dying in a planter in the Saks Fifth Avenue valet parking lot on Carrillo Street.
On Tuesday, Brown described pictures obtained from more than a dozen MySpace accounts, including Juarez’s, that he said show the defendant draped in gang related clothing, flashing gang hand signs.
On Tuesday, as well as yesterday, Brown said he placed Juarez in the same police interrogation room as a boy referred to in court as Jose M. just hours after the stabbing.
Neither the prosecution, which is being headed up by Senior Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer, or Atkins know all of what was said between the two boys because they whispered. But Brown said about 40 minutes -- the entirety of the first tape -- of the two boys’ conversation has been transcribed.
The remaining two tapes have been sent to the FBI, Dozer said.
Dozer said he has reviewed all of the tapes, but said “It’s as difficult to hear as almost anything I have ever attempted to hear.”
Brown said Juarez can be heard on the first tape telling Jose M. that he remembered “sticking” Linares by the MTD Transit Center.
“What he remembers was being more by the transit center,” Brown told Dozer on Tuesday. “He remembered sticking him [Linares] and blood coming out of his mouth.”
Dozer said on Tuesday the “sticking” statement made by Juarez is significant because, combined with previous witness testimony, the defendant was seen with the knife at four different locations; the intersection of Carrillo and State Streets, the entrance to the Saks Fifth Avenue parking lot, near the MTD Transit Center and on State Street throwing the knife into a garbage can.
But another segment of Juarez’s whispered discussion with Jose M. was highlighted yesterday by Atkins, and the subject of those whispered statements brought Ricardo R’s involvement back into question.
Reading from the transcript, Atkins said Jose M. told Juarez in the interview room that “Stomper [Ricardo R’s moniker] got him [Linares].”
She then said Juarez asked Jose M., “Stomper got him? He stabbed him?” Atkins then said Jose M. is described in the transcript as nodding his head yes.
Jose M. then says “They’re looking for Stomper,” then Juarez responds “nah,” according to the transcript.
While Juarez and Jose M. were inside the interview room, Brown said the two were audio recorded and video recorded.
Atkins asked Brown about one segment of the video recording where she said Jose M. stands up and points with his right hand near his right armpit to show Juarez where “Stomper” stabbed Linares.
Brown said he recalled the scene of the video recording.
Atkins said Jose M’s depiction of the stabbing was prompted by Juarez asking the question: “Where did Stomper get?” After showing Juarez the spot, Jose M. tells Juarez the victim was “some kid named Nacho.” Nacho was a moniker used by Linares.
Last Wednesday, Dr. Robert Anthony, a forensic pathologist for the Santa Barbara County Coroner, said Linares suffered eight stab wounds, but the one that ended the boy’s life entered his body near his right arm pit, penetrated Linares’ chest wall, where it went between his ribs and punctured a lung, which caused severe internal bleeding.
Though the video and audio tapes seem to bring into question just who inflicted the fatal stab wound, Dozer remains confident the person who did has been charged with the crime.
“There’s nothing in the whisper discovery that indicates to me that Ricardo R. is responsible for what the defendant admits to doing,” Dozer said.
Dozer’s reference to an admission stems from an interrogation of Juarez conducted by Santa Barbara Police Detective Gary Siegel after the stabbing. During that interrogation, Siegel said Juarez admitted to wielding a knife on State Street and swinging it at subjects.
Atkins repeatedly asked Brown about when he and the rest of the officers became aware that there were two Ricardos involved in the incident.
Brown said he wasn’t sure of the exact time, but admitted there was “some initial confusion.”
Dozer discounted Atkins’ claim of bias on the part of the police department investigation and commended the police for quickly making sense of a chaotic scene.
“We know from the evidence presented in the preliminary hearing that there were a lot of people and we certainly know that there were more knives present,” Dozer said. “I think the police department did an exemplary job investigating a gang assault that had as many people that were involved in this case.”
The preliminary hearing, which will determine if a formal trial should be held, resumes today at 1:30 p.m. in Department 14 of the Jury Services Building on Santa Barbara Street.