N.H.I.
by Clifford Mosby
There are secret whispered codes that police and
law enforcement use for certain crimes. One code is "NHI". This
mean "No humans involved". This is usually used in a racial sense,
referring to Black on Black crime, but in a recent crime I investigated
for the defense, it sadly, very sadly seemed to be the case.
John R. is on trial for his life for murder in
Torrance Superior Court. He is accused of one count of murder, three
counts of attempted murder, escape, felon with a fire arm, robbery
and auto theft. He is Black, 23 years of age, single, a high school
drop out and a one-time honor student. He is a member of a Los Angeles
Crip gang and is known on the street as "Baby Psycho".
He is slight and unassuming in stature. Fairly
attractive, with a childlike face and short cropped hair. His father
was a Black Muslim of the 60's who enforced a strict discipline
in the home. However, John rejected it. His father left and his
mother took up with a boyfriend who abused both her and John. John
hit the streets at age 14. His mother is now a heroin and cocaine
addict, now in a rehab center. His younger brothers and sisters
are model children and good students. They are being raised by the
maternal grandmother.
Last year in January, John was on parole, living
in a halfway house. He had served time for shooting at a police
officer. While living in the halfway house he was working part-time
installing cellular telephones. He was enrolled in a career training
school and apparently doing well in both. He was to be fully released
from the half way house and supervised custody within a month.
Blocks away form John's home turf lived Ronald
G., his two cousins and a friend known as Vera. They stayed in an
extremely small one bedroom apartment building near Watts. Ronald
held dice games at his apartment and is suspected of being a smalltime
drug dealer. He met John while attempting to get an illegal cellular
telephone hookup. John had visited the address several times, and
was accepted and liked by Ronald, Vera and the cousins. The prosecution
contends that John had visited Ronald's apartment to reprogram the
illegal cellular telephone. He allegedly saw the money being generated
in the dice game and the drugs. He is accused of returning to the
apartment with the telephone and, once inside, producing a gun and
a roll of duct tape. He gave the tape to Vera and forced her to
secure the hands and feet of Ronald and the two cousins. He then
duct-taped Vera. He then took their money, jewelry, drugs, and car
keys. He had them lay face down on the floor, in a row.
He allegedly walked out of the door and then turned
around and said: "You all know who I am, so I am going to have to
kill you". He then walked behind Vera and shot her point blank in
the back of the head. He then attempted to shoot the other three;
however, his cheap pistol jammed and the three men were able to
get up and hop out of the house and hop away. Allegedly, Ronald
and the two cousins (one dressed only in his undershorts...he had
been in the shower when John came) climbed a seven-foot chainlink
fence with their hands and feet taped. (These days, criminals facing
"Three Strikes" are less inclined to leave witnesses even to petty
crimes.)
John became a fugitive for several months. He
is accused of not returning to the halfway house, which legally
is called escape. He was later captured and brought to trial. He
faced the death penalty at age 23.
To career Black criminals and those of us involved
in criminal defense, there is a rating for the various branches
of the Los Angeles Superior Courts. Worst is Norwalk. It is referred
to as "No walk". Second is Torrance, considered to be all white
and racist. Third is Santa Monica known for wealthy liberals who
see poor, homeless and Black people as being the root of their fear
and discomfort. These are the sentiments of Black and white attorneys
alike who are involved in criminal defense. This is primarily why
there is an uproar that O. J. Simpson was not tried in Santa Monica
where the pool of jurors would be less sympathetic to him.
Defense attorneys, who like to win, take these
things into consideration when considering a court where their client
is to be tried. At the time of the preliminary hearing, in July
of 1995, the only victim the prosecution was able to locate was
Ronald. The two cousins did not want to be found. Authorities found
Ronald by accident and had to postpone the preliminary hearing twice
because he would not come to court, although ordered to do so. They
had to arrest him and hold him for the preliminary hearing and force
him to testify. By the way, he came to court in a wheelchair because
since the incident involving John R., Ronald had been shot in the
back while standing in a liquor store. He testified that it was
John who killed Vera and attempted to shoot him and the two cousins.
Now it is January of 1996 and time for trial in
Torrance. The jury had one Black, who was an elderly, timid, conservative
woman. There were no prosecution witnesses to testify. There were
no victims to testify. Ronald and the two cousins could not be found
and Ronald's testimony from the preliminary hearing was read to
the jury by a white male in a suit and tie resembling Phil Donahue.
The law says the reading of the transcript is to be treated as if
the person is actually there on the witness stand, but psychologically,
it is not. Psychologically, it is the transcript reader who appears
to be actually testifying or, at the very most, the individual juror's
imagination of Ronald, which could range from choir boy to Charles
Manson.
John had no clothes to wear in court. For his
appearances at trial, he wore a pair of pants and white shirt that
had been left in the inmate lockdown area by another defendant who
had gone on to his new home in Folsom. The pants were too large
and had to be rolled up at the cuff several times. No belt was allowed
to hold up the oversized pants. The clothes are left with the bailiff
after each court session. There were no family members of Vera.
No family members of the other victims in court. There were no friends
or family members of John in court. No audience. The Deputy District
Attorney who tried the matter had only received the case one week
prior to trial. The officers who investigated the case and arrested
John were not called to testify, and did not even come to court
to assist the prosecutor with the court trial, which is the normal
routine.
There was no evidence. None. Nothing. No gun.
No bullet from Vera (it was unidentifiable). No Ronald, to say "he
tried to kill me." No Ronald to say "he killed my friend." No fingerprints
in the house. No fingerprints in the recovered car. No cellular
telephone. Just the coroner saying that he examined the body of
a black female who had been shot in the back of the head. And the
transcript of Ronald from the July preliminary hearing, being read
by a clerk, saying John did it. For the defense, I located three
witnesses who told me that John was with them at a party in San
Bernardino at the time of the murder. One failed to respond to trial
after I served him with a subpoena ordering his appearance. Two
young women did testify that John was with them at the San Bernardino
party. Thier testimony had some minor inconsistencies. I testified
that I could not scale the seven foot chain link fence with my hands
and feet taped (although I never actually tried). And I testified
that a police diagram was inaccurate.
After a day of deliberation, the jury came
back deadlocked. Ten for guilty, two for not guilty. The prosecution
now has to make a decision whether or not to retry John. One more
hung jury and he goes free. The District Attorney's Office has to
make the decision...if there are any humans involved.
Clifford Mosby is a licensed private
investigator in Los Angeles
This piece is copyright by the author. It
may be forwarded electronically, provided this notice is kept with
it, but may not be otherwise reproduced without permission from
the author. Thanks
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