Witnesses testify early in bid to prevent intimidation

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

In an effort to prevent witness intimidation in the murder trial of a 15-year-old Santa Barbara boy, the prosecutor in the case yesterday called three juvenile witnesses to the stand several days earlier than planned.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer said he felt the witnesses needed to testify before they could be swayed by intimidation.

“I rescheduled a number of witnesses today to minimize that possibility,” he said. So that “hopefully there would be no intimidation before their testimonies.”
An 18-year-old scheduled to testify on Tuesday was stabbed during an upper State Street gang assault on Sunday, according to Santa Barbara police reports examined by the Daily Sound. (See story titled “Two more suspects arrested in stabbing” below for more on this story.)
Dozer cited the stabbing as justification for moving up the juvenile witnesses. He also said an incident that took place in court on Wednesday contributed to his decision.
Dozer said the incident in court involved a person who left the courtroom shortly after a juvenile witness identified the defendant, Ricardo “Ricky” Juarez, as the person who wielded a knife on State Street. After exiting the courtroom, Dozer said the person made a phone call and “the word was passed on the street that our witness had identified Ricardo Juarez.”
Before the jury entered the courtroom yesterday, Dozer and legal counsel for Juarez, Deputy Public Defenders Karen Atkins and Jennifer Archer, discussed the acts of intimidation with Judge Brian Hill.
Archer said the defense is concerned the jury could catch wind of the intimidation and judge Juarez unfairly as a result.
In response, Hill barred the jury from looking at any local newspaper or watching any local television news program.
But Archer also fears the jury could be improperly influenced when a witness, who for one reason or another, does not appear to be forthcoming with information. When this occurs, as it did several times yesterday with the juvenile witnesses, Dozer regularly asks them why.
Though no witness yesterday said they were outright afraid to testify as a result of being classified a “rat” by the Eastside “Traviesos” gang, which police have said Juarez belonged to, Archer said bringing the concept up repeatedly could be problematic.
“The concern for the integrity of what goes on in the courtroom is a valid concern, but the danger of expressing that concern to the wrong audience is it might have an impact on jurors or forthcoming witnesses,” she said Thursday in an interview with the Daily Sound.
One example of what Archer appears to be concerned about came yesterday while Dozer was questioning a 17-year-old witness, who said on the stand he once was a member of the Eastside “Traviesos.”
When this witness didn’t appear to be answering questions accurately, Dozer asked, “You really don’t want to testify?”
To which the witness said “no.”
“Is there a consequence for testifying,” Dozer asked.
The boy said he didn’t know, but when asked if he’d heard of the term “rat,” he said answered yes and said it was a person who “tells on someone.”
Dozer said asking why a person is reluctant to testify in front of the jury is legitimate, and furthermore, a jury can use such information in reaching a verdict.
“The simple fact is intimidation can be considered by the jury,” he said.
The three juvenile witnesses admitted to being present when the gang fight broke out, but would not name anyone who participated.
A valet parking attendant at Saks Fifth Avenue, who saw Linares collapse in a planter and several witnesses run away from the scene, also testified.
The trial will continue on Monday with the testimony of Linda Compat, who said she was at her vehicle in the parking lot at Saks when she saw Linares get hit over the head with a baseball bat and stabbed.
“I saw them smack him in the head,” she said. “It looked like a bat. I saw him get stabbed. I saw things getting thrown. I will never forget that day.”