Doubts cast on investigation

The attorney for the 14-year-old boy accused of killing 87-year-old Gerald O'Malley last February questions interrogation methods and police handling of evidenceBy Leslie GriffyThe TribuneThe defense strongly challenged investigative procedures Friday during the trial of a 14-year-old boy accused of killing Gerald O'Malley, 87.
Defense attorney Rod Williams probed investigators on their dealings with juveniles and police on their handling of evidence.
In questioning designed to throw doubt on the boy's guilt and ability to understand his Miranda rights, Williams questioned police handling of a skateboard seized from another boy's home and investigators' respect of the boy's rights.
The skateboard
San Luis Obispo police seized two skateboards.
In the hands of someone, police believe and children testified, a skateboard was used as a weapon to strike the 87-year-old man in the head five times late Feb. 26.
Police took a much-used skateboard with green wheels and the label for Copeland's Board Shop -- CBS -- on the back from the bathtub of the suspect's house.
It was sent to a crime lab in Sacramento where no DNA or other evidence linked it to O'Malley.
From the other boy's home, a skateboard with flames on the bottom was seized March 5.
That board was never sent to a crime lab, San Luis Obispo evidence technician John Lehr testified Friday. Lehr said he examined the board for evidence, such as traces of blood, Thursday -- 327 days after police seized it -- and found none.
San Luis Obispo Police Lt. Steve Tolley said the amount of evidence collected in a homicide makes it difficult to examine every piece.
"We have to prioritize what we get in," said Tolley, who is in charge of investigators at the department.
Two of the children who testified that they'd heard O'Malley was beaten with a skateboard said the other boy told them he, not the suspect, killed the man.
But most others testified that they had heard the suspect killed the man -- either from others or from the boy himself -- or at least saw the suspect had access to O'Malley's SUV in the days following the death.
The interrogation
Williams also went after investigators for continuing to interrogate the suspect after he filled out a form during his 5:48 a.m. booking at Juvenile Services Center requesting an attorney.
Retired district attorney investigator Larry Hobson testified he didn't know that the form existed, although he knew children booked into Juvenile Services Center were apprised of their rights -- including the right to have an attorney present during interrogation.
When officials booked the boy, Hobson and police investigator Russ Griffith had already interrogated the boy for an hour at the San Luis Obispo police station.
But, Hobson said, officials at Juvenile Services Center were reluctant to allow a second interrogation because his mother told them she wanted to get an attorney for her son. Juvenile Services Center officials relented after a 5- to 10-minute argument.
Williams questioned the ethics of interrogating a boy who asked for an attorney and whose mother said she wanted him to have legal representation.
"Were you trying to be fair to this 13-year-old boy?" he asked Hobson.
"Yes," Hobson answered.
"Wouldn't it have been fair to tell him: 'Your mother called and she wants you to have an attorney'?" Williams asked.
"That's not my job," Hobson answered.
"Your job is to get incriminating statements from a 13-year-old boy?" Williams asked.
"I'm in law enforcement," Hobson answered. "My job is to find the truth."
Tolley, the police lieutenant, said he wasn't surprised that neither Hobson nor Griffith knew about the form, because so few juveniles are actually booked.
He added that it is police procedure to call a minor's parents as soon as possible.
"But you don't want to jeopardize the investigation, especially a homicide investigation," he said.
Williams has requested that Superior Court Judge Teresa Estrada-Mullaney suppress statements the boy made during interviews with investigators -- including one in which he said he accidentally hit
O'Malley with his skateboard while trying to steal the man's keys -- because he said the boy didn't understand his rights.
Estrada-Mullaney will rule on that request after cases are presented. The most she can sentence the boy to is incarceration in a juvenile detention facility until his 25th birthday.

EiP Comments:

* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.

Other related articles:

Article sourced from

San Luis Obispo Tribune - San28 January 2006

Doubts cast on investigation

EiP Comments:

San Luis Obispo Tribune - San
28 January 2006