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p. 149 "…the respected detective…"See Transcribed Videotape Interview with Karen Boudrie-Evers, Corpus Christi Television Reporter in Dallas, Texas (Feb 28, 2005) at 02:59:38–03:00:38 ("I knew [Detective] Eddie [Garza]. He was a nice guy. He had a good reputation just as being a good guy and a good cop . . . . [Detectives] Paul [Rivera] and Eddie [Garza] were like Batman and Robin. At that time, they were the greatest detectives ever."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 06:22:16–06:24:02 ("The two gentleman in the picture with Carlos there, to his left and to the right of the picture [are] Eddie Garza, and just behind Carlos is Paul Rivera, now I believe Chief Deputy of the Nueces County Sheriff's Office. They were the top murder investigators for the CCPD at that time"); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 06:24:24–06:25:40 ("Eddie and Paul were conscientious. They were very good investigators. . . . They were the city's top murder investigators. . . . [T]hey were tough, but in the end, they tried to be fair."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 06:25:40–06:27:36:
Eddie [Garza] and Paul [Rivera] were the two top investigators for the Corpus Christi Police Department. There were even people senior, but if you had a serious murder case, and you wanted it investigated seriously, you wanted Eddie and Paul. They were considered the top people. I mean, if there were others involved they usually were on the periphery, and Paul and Eddie would do the serious, on-the-ground investigation. . . . I dealt with them in numerous cases. . . . [T]heir reputation was that they were fair men. And that, if shown, or if they came upon evidence that would harm their case, but actually, they thought, led to a different result, they wouldn't hide it.
Tamara Theiss's Notes on Interview with Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases (Feb. 27. 2005) at 1 ("I worked under [Detectives] Paul Rivera and Eddie Garza. . . . [T]hey taught me how to investigate a crime. . . . They really acted as my mentors . . . [and] taught me to go down every rabbit hole to see where it led, no matter what the result . . . [and] investigate every angle and every lead in a case, even if it didn't pan out.").p. 149 "He felt....seasoned investigator."Bruce Whitman and James S. Liebman's Notes on Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective (Aug. 25, 2004) at 3 ("I think it was a screwed up damned case. Required a more seasoned investigator. Just because he's arrested under the car, they thought it was open and shut. But where's the evidence?"); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:34:31–01:35:35, 01:37:08–01:39:04:[I]t all goes back to the person that's in charge of the crime scene, the person that is collecting the evidence. If he is not properly trained or has [not] had enough experience in a big homicide like this, they're going to miss some [finger]print area, they're going to miss something in the crime scene. . . . My opinion is all based on experience, experience that I have had and the experience that the investigator in charge of the case has. To me, the investigator that was assigned to this case did not have the ample knowledge of the criminals involved in this deal, had no knowledge of what the people involved in this crime were capable of. She didn't have the proper experience of how to investigate a major crime. The identification person did not have the proper experience in how to deal with a high-crime scene like something that would lead to a capital murder case.
p. 149 "'If you're convicting…at the crime scene.'"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:11:06–00:13:37 ("If I would have been investigating this case, I would be [sic] extremely careful of how the crime scene was processed . . . ."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:45:19–00:45:51 ("The evidence is important because if you're convicting somebody of a capital murder case you better be well sure that you have enough evidence that that person was at the crime scene. The person they have charged, I'm talking about. That person, you have to link him with witnesses' statements, with the physical evidence that is found at the scene, whether it be footprints, fingerprints, palm prints, anything.").p. 149 "Escobedo was green...other detectives had."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:34:31–01:35:35 ("[I]t all goes back to the person that's in charge of the crime scene, the person that is collecting the evidence. If he is not properly trained or has [not] had enough experience in a big homicide like this, they're going to miss some [finger]print area, they're going to miss something in the crime scene."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:40:40–01:41:21:Q. And the investigator investigating this case [Escobedo]: how much experience had the investigator had in major crime scene investigations or major case investigations? A. I believe that this was her first or second major crime scene that she had investigated. Most of the cases that she handled were rape cases and simple assaults and things like that. But a major, major capital murder case like this, I think this was really her first or second case that she had handled.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 07:09:12–07:10:22 ("[Olivia] Escobedo I remember. I'd leave it to other officers to talk in terms of her qualifications. I don't remember her on major cases before [the Wanda Lopez killing]. . . . I don't remember her, Escobedo, being an important part of [investigating murder] cases before. If she's chief investigator [on a case], she got promoted. For what? I don't know."). Compare Transcribed Videotape Interview with Karen Boudrie-Evers, Corpus Christi Television Reporter in Dallas, Texas (Feb. 28, 2005) at 02:58:46–02:59:38 (answering a question about Olivia Escobedo's reputation among criminal courts, beat reporters, and the police and court personnel they worked with: "Olivia Escobedo? Terrible. . . . They said she was awful. I had some dealings with her down the road, but most people said she was not a good detective. . . . But there was a lot of talk of incompetence with Olivia that I recall. Then [at the time of the Wanda Lopez killing], and then in later cases as well."); and James S. Liebman's Notes on Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez (Aug. 24, 2004) at 2 ("In regard to Olivia Escobedo: Nobody thought well of her in the department."); and Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 06:58:58–07:02:25 ("The people I think, I heard were involved [in conducting the DeLuna investigation] were people that I don't think were that good. Q. And when you say 'those people' you mean the investigators that IDed him? A. Cops. Yeah . . . ."; "And it was at night when [Detectives] Eddie [Garza] and Paul [Rivera] weren't working, yeah. If Eddie and Paul were there, they might have viewed it differently."); and Bruce Whitman and James S. Liebman's Notes on Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective (Aug. 25, 2004) at 2 (discussing another homicide case involving a killing in a bar that Escobedo handled by herself and in which he did not believe she charged the right man with the killing); and Bruce Whitman's Notes on Interview with Glenda Ruggles, Corpus Christi Police Department 911 Operator (Nov. 17, 2005) at 1 (on file with author) (reporting that "it was common knowledge [in the Corpus Christi Police Department in the late 1970s and early 1980s] that Olivia [Escobedo] held her position in detectives not because she was capable of performing the duties of a detective but because of [favoritism from a superior officer]"; describing Olivia Escobedo as 'totally useless' [as a detective], 'she didn't . . . know enough about her job to know . . . how to do it'") with Transcribed Videotape Interview with Karen Boudrie-Evers, Corpus Christi Television Reporter, in Dallas, Texas (Feb. 28, 2005) 02:59:38–03:00:38 ("I knew [Detective] Eddie [Garza]. He was a nice guy. He had a good reputation just as being a good guy and a good cop . . . . [Detectives] Paul [Rivera] and Eddie were like Batman and Robin. At that time, they were the greatest detectives ever."); and Tamara Theiss's Notes on Interview with Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases (Feb. 27. 2005) at 1 ("I worked under [Detectives] Paul Rivera and Eddie Garza. . . . [T]hey taught me how to investigate a crime. . . . They really acted as my mentors . . . [and] taught me to go down every rabbit hole to see where it led, no matter what the result . . . [and] investigate every angle and every lead in a case, even if it didn't pan out."); and other sources cited supra note 1.p. 149 "She'd just been promoted…specialty was rape."Eddie McConley, Corpus Christi Police Lieutenant, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 15, 1983) at 288–89 (describing McConley's role as commanding officer at the crime scene and explaining that Escobedo was assigned to take charge of the investigation because she happened to be the "detective on duty" on "[t]hat particular night"); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:16:20–00:16:38 ("Q. Now, who was the detective in charge of that investigation, the Carlos DeLuna investigation? A. The detective that was in charge of the case was Olivia Escobedo. She worked mostly rapes and was assigned a couple of homicides during the time."); Tamara Theiss's Notes on Interview with Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases (Feb. 27. 2005) at 1:In 1983 [at the time of the Wanda Lopez investigation], I had been promoted to the position of investigator, and was on the rotation of officers who responded to calls for violent crimes. Although I specialized in investigating sex crimes, I became the lead investigator on the Wanda Lopez case because I just happened to be working as the lead investigator on the night shift when her 911 call came in. I remember that I had only been at work for a few minutes when her call came in. I recall that it was a "robbery in progress" which justified sending an investigator and a lot of police to look for the suspect.
Steve Mills & Maurice Possley, The Secret that Wasn't: Violent Felon Bragged that he Was Real Killer, Last of Three Parts, Chi.Trib. (June 27, 2006), available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/eedition/chi-tx-3-story,0,761635.htmlstory (interviewing Escobedo and noting she, "primarily had investigated sex crimes [for the Corpus Christi Police Department] and handled the De Luna case alone"). Archived at: http://perma.cc/WHS3-YPQSp. 149 "You have to dig deeper."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:11:06–00:13:37 ("If I would have been investigating this case, I would be extremely careful of how the crime scene was processed, and, to me, the person assigned with the identification division that went to this scene did not do a proper job, especially on a capital murder case. There was [sic] many pieces of evidence that could have come into view that were probably completely ignored and overlooked."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:45:19–00:45:51 ("The person they have charged, I'm talking about. That person, you have to link him with witnesses' statements, with the physical evidence that is found at the scene, whether it be footprints, fingerprints, palm prints, anything."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:34:31–01:35:35:Again, it all goes back to the person that's in charge of the crime scene, the person that is collecting the evidence. If he is not properly trained or has [not] had enough experience in a big homicide like this, they're going to miss some [finger]print area, they're going to miss something in the crime scene. That's why it's always good to protect the crime scene for as long as it may take, whether you need to call in other expert identification people to go to the scene and process the scene, more time would have been needed. What they should have done is they should have secured the scene completely for at least 24 to 48 hours until everything had been gone over to identify the offender that they had to the crime scene.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:52:06–01:53:28:Not everybody has a photographic memory to remember what they saw, especially in a violent crime scene. So you have to piece the identification together with the evidence, physical evidence, tying that particular person to that crime scene and to the crime itself. If you don't have both, then you've got to look at the identification that the person that identified it made, and you've got to look at it real hard and real good because it might not be the proper identification if you don't have the physical evidence to go along with that identification.
p. 149 "That's why Garza liked…especially in capital cases."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:44:45–01:46:29:At least three detectives should have been involved in a capital murder crime. Just to have one detective in charge, I don't think that that's right. Because there are so many things that you look into on a major crime, on a capital murder. It's just better to have—two or three heads is better than one. You can think of something, but the other person is already thinking of something else that might be there. . . . There should have been at least three or four [lab technicians] . . . . to process a scene like that and make sure that the proper evidence is gathered and the proper evidence is looked through. It's not only just one technician looking at everything else, you have to have a team of at least three to four technicians looking at different areas of the crime scene. . . . And if you get one person working a capital murder crime, I'm sorry, there's a lot of paperwork that's involved with it and a lot of reports that you have to write and everything else in order to put your case together. One person working at it alone—I have worked alone at a capital murder case, but it's very difficult, very hard. I've already requested other people to assist me when I investigated a capital murder crime.
p. 149 "'Just to have...think that that's right.'"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:44:45–01:46:29 ("At least three detectives should have been involved in a capital murder crime. Just to have one detective in charge, I don't think that that's right.").p. 149 "Escobedo's single…full-fledged identification technician."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:39:09–01:41:37:The crime scene technician was Joel Infante. Joel was in patrol most of the time and later on he got assigned to the identification division. He might have had some experience in lifting prints, but to process a major, major crime scene, I don't think that this person had the proper training, the proper knowledge of what to look for at a crime scene. . . . I don't know exactly how long [Infante] had actually been assigned to the identification section, but I knew him when he was in patrol, and I know that in patrol you just go through the form[al]ities of how to secure a scene and things like that. But to have the proper expertise in a major crime scene, you have to have people that have worked on big major crime scenes and have the knowledge and training on how to recover evidence, how to obtain evidence, how to handle it properly, where to send it, whether you're going to leave it in the local lab or whether you're going to package it up and send it to the Department of Public Safety or even the FBI laboratory. . . . [Infante] had had his problems . . . . I knew of problems that he had in the department.
Bruce Whitman and James S. Liebman's Notes on Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective (Aug. 25, 2004) at 3 (stating that the single crime technician assigned to the Wanda Lopez case was reputed to have a drinking problem and to perform sub-par work); see Tamara Theiss's Notes on Interview with Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases (Feb. 27. 2005) at 2 ("I think I had the help of a fingerprint technician, but no one else."); Bruce Whitman's Notes on Interview with Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician (July 25, 2005) at 1 (acknowledging that as of 1983, the expertise and responsibility of "officers assigned to the I.D. Division" were limited to "fingerprinting individuals arrested and brought into the police station" and "respond[ing] to crime scenes for the sole purpose of dusting for fingerprints and taking any photos the investigating officer requested"); Bruce Whitman and James S. Liebman's Notes on Interview with Paul Rivera, Corpus Christi Police Detective (Aug. 25, 2004) at 2 (stating that the lab technician on the DeLuna case was reputed to have a drinking problem; also noting that the "I.D. Division was very inefficient at the time but is better now").p. 149 "Still, when the Chief…Garza didn't object."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:16:26–00:017:16 ("Q. [W]ho was the detective in charge of that investigation, the Carlos DeLuna investigation? A. The detective that was in charge of the case was Olivia Escobedo. Q. [J]ust to be clear, you provided her . . . information that Carlos Hernandez was the perpetrator of this crime. . . . A. I advised her that they needed to look at him [Hernandez] very hard . . . .").p. 149 "…homicide investigations under his belt…"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:01:33–00:04:19:I worked in numerous jobs. I worked in patrol for ten years, where I established a good rapport with the citizens of Corpus Christi, and I had many friends, many informants, and later on in 1970, I believe, I was promoted to Sergeant and I went to work in the criminal investigation division, where I was working in the burglary division, theft division, auto theft, and later on went and worked on several homicides and then I was assigned to the major crimes division, where we handle all unsolved murders and different types of crimes that were committed. . . . I was involved in . . . it was probably in the neighborhood of hundreds of homicides that I was involved in investigating during my tenure from 1970 through 1988. I worked on several homicides throughout those years. [I] wasn't always assigned to the homicide division, but when there was a major crime committed, I was assigned to several homicide investigations.
p. 150 "It was her case."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:15:44–00:16:20 ("Q. Now, after being told this, did you provide this information to the officers investigating the homicide? A. I contacted the detective in charge and informed of the information that I had received, but the detective itself [sic] said that they had enough evidence linking Carlos DeLuna to the crime itself. So I just backed away from it and let her work her case.").p. 150 "And when prosecutors…he did that, too."Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, Sentencing Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 21, 1983) at 4–5 ("Q Are you familiar with the reputation he [Carlos DeLuna] enjoys in this community for being a peaceable and law-abiding citizen? A [by Garza]: Yes, I am. Q. Is that reputation good or bad? A. It's bad.").p. 150 "Still, Garza worried…the wrong man."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:08:47–00:09:55:I have many doubts in regards to the case itself because I felt that we had the wrong person that had been executed for this particular crime because of the evidence that was presented in the courts, and the evidence did not coincide with this particular person's alibi as to him committing the crime. And the evidence gathered at the scene, the evidence gathered from the person that was convicted of the crime did not add up. I had other information as to another suspect that probably was involved in the crime itself."
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:10:11–00:11:03, 00:11:06–00:13:37:From information that I had received from other informants that Carlos DeLuna, the person that was convicted of the crime, had not done this particular crime. He was arrested, yes, he was arrested by a [Sheriff's Department] constable [Ruben Rivera] . . . . But, later on, like I said, I developed information as to Carlos Hernandez being a person that had actually committed this crime. . . . It was a few weeks after the crime had been committed and Carlos DeLuna had been arrested and charged with capital murder in regards to this case. The information that we got, that Carlos Hernandez had gotten someone else to take a fall for him in regards to this crime. And the evidence that was collected at the scene did not, did not prove that Carlos DeLuna had actually committed this crime.
p. 150 "Years later, the private…investigation had gone."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:08:19–00:08:36 ("Q. Did you have an opportunity to review the police reports and the crime scene photos in the last month or so? A. Yes, I have. I've read some of the reports and I've studied some of the photographs that were taken at the crime scene."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:42:13–00:45:16:Q. [Y]ou've reviewed the police reports and the photos. Now, I want to begin with the police reports. In reading those reports, did you make any observations, summaries, things that you thought could have been handled better in reading those reports, based on your experiences and how you handled major cases at the time. . . . A. And I am speaking in general of many things after reviewing the pictures that you gave to me to review and the reports that I went through.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:47:37–00:48:34:Q. Am I correct: you've reviewed the police reports and the crime scene photos, and am I correct that you have indicated that there was no link made to Carlos DeLuna and the crime scene? A. After reading the reports and everything else, I have no physical evidence, actually, that connected him, whether it be a fingerprint on a package of cigarettes that was on top of the counter, whether the scene was processed properly.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:13:37–00:14:25:Q. Mr. Garza, I have provided you with all the police reports, all of the photos that we've obtained on this case and I've given those to you to review. You've based some of your comments or all of your comments today regarding this case solely on that, or have you based it on that and other things? A. I had received the reports that have been supplied by me and photographs that have been supplied by me. I have studied these reports, and I also add that I have recollection of the crime itself when it was committed, from information that was going around by the detective in charge of the case.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:53:28–01:54:43 ("Q. Based on your experiences as a police officer, as an investigator, and your evaluation of the police reports, evidence obtained, eyewitness identification, reviewing the crime scene photos, do you believe Carlos DeLuna committed this crime? A. No.").p. 150 "He concluded that…gone over correctly."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:10:11–00:11:03, 00:11:06–00:13:37:And the crime scene itself was really a crime scene that was not gone over. If I would have been investigating this case, I would be extremely careful of how the crime scene was processed, and, to me, the person assigned with the identification division that went to this scene did not do a proper job, especially on a capital murder case. There was many pieces of evidence that could have come into view that were probably completely ignored and overlooked.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:44:14–45:16:And I am speaking in general of many things after reviewing the pictures that you gave to me to review and the reports that I went through. The crime scene itself was not processed properly. There could have been someone else identified as committing the crime. And there was evidence that was stepped on by the investigator that was at the scene. And to me, if you just stay out of a crime scene and talk to the witnesses outside and secure the scene and let just identification take, whether it be one day, two days, or three days, just to be at that scene, processing the scene, I think that the results of this case would have been totally different. There was too much evidence that could have been obtained that was never even touched.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:07:20–01:19:40 (enumerating the various items that should have been taken from the crime scene to be tested and concluding that doing otherwise constituted "an improper identification of the crime scene"); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:37:08–01:39:04:To me, the investigator that was assigned to this case did not have the ample knowledge of the criminals involved in this deal, had no knowledge of what the people involved in this crime were capable of. She didn't have the proper experience of how to investigate a major crime. The identification person did not have the proper experience in how to deal with a high-crime scene like something that would lead to a capital murder case. To me, it was improperly handled from the investigative part and also the identification part. More time should have been taken at the crime scene. There should have been one or two other experts called to the crime scene before the crime scene was turned over back to the owners of the establishment. And this way, you're dealing with a capital murder, you're dealing with a person that might get convicted of capital murder and put to death, and you want to make sure that you have the right person, and either with physical evidence that is found in the scene or other types of evidence linking the offender to this particular crime. To me, it was not handled properly from the investigative view and from the identification part of it.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:46:50–01:47:50 ("But it's all contained to a small area, I'd say no more than about ten by ten area. And, to me, that was a pretty small crime scene that a lot more evidence that was not collected, that was overlooked, was left at the scene without even collecting.").p. 150 "The Corpus police…he feared."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:08:47–00:09:55:I reviewed [the evidence in the investigative file], and, to me, I had my doubts as to the offender that was convicted of the crime, and I believe it was a capital murder case and the person has since been put to death by lethal injection. I have many doubts in regards to the case itself because I felt that we had the wrong person that had been executed for this particular crime because of the evidence that was presented in the courts, and the evidence did not coincide with this particular person's alibi as to him committing the crime. And the evidence gathered at the scene, the evidence gathered from the person that was convicted of the crime did not add up. I had other information as to another suspect that probably was involved in the crime itself.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:37:08–01:39:04:My opinion is all based on experience, experience that I have had and the experience that the investigator in charge of the case has. To me, the investigator that was assigned to this case did not have the ample knowledge of the criminals involved in this deal, had no knowledge of what the people involved in this crime were capable of. She didn't have the proper experience of how to investigate a major crime. The identification person did not have the proper experience in how to deal with a high-crime scene like something that would lead to a capital murder case. To me, it was improperly handled from the investigative part and also the identification part. More time should have been taken at the crime scene. There should have been one or two other experts called to the crime scene before the crime scene was turned over back to the owners of the establishment.
p. 150 "There were a lot…add up for Garza."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:08:47–00:09:55 ("I reviewed [the file in the Wanda Lopez killing], and, to me, I had my doubts as to the offender that was convicted of the crime, and I believe it was a capital murder case and the person has since been put to death by lethal injection. I have many doubts in regards to the case itself. . . [a]nd the evidence gathered at the scene, the evidence gathered from the person that was convicted of the crime did not add up.").p. 150 "Why, for starters…committed the crime."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:08:47–00:09:55, 00:10:11–00:11:03, 00:11:06–00:13:37:I had other information as to another suspect that probably was involved in the crime itself. . . . From information that I had received from other informants that Carlos DeLuna, the person that was convicted of the crime, had not done this particular crime. He was arrested, yes, he was arrested by a [Sheriff's Department] constable [Ruben Rivera]. . . . But, later on, like I said, I developed information as to Carlos Hernandez being a person that had actually committed this crime. . . . It was a few weeks after the crime had been committed and Carlos DeLuna had been arrested and charged with capital murder in regards to this case. The information that we got, that Carlos Hernandez had gotten someone else to take a fall for him in regards to this crime. And the evidence that was collected at the scene did not, did not prove that Carlos DeLuna had actually committed this crime.
See supra Chapter 8, notes 45–112 and accompanying text; Chapter 9, notes 7–9 and accompanying text.p. 150 "Some saw a derelict…dress clothes jogging east."p. 150 "Nobody explained why…all of the cash."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:27:53–01:28:10 (noting that, "if any money came from that crime scene. . . there should have been some speck of blood on [it]."); see supra Chapter 4 notes 42–58, 80–86 and accompanying text.p. 150 "George Aguirre had warned…east of the store."George Aguirre, Witness to Events Outside Shamrock Gas Station, Statement to Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) ("While paying the lady I told her about that man with the knife outside. She asked if he was with me, I said no."); George Aguirre, Witness to Events Outside Shamrock Gas Station, Pretrial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. June 20, 1983) at 16–17 ("So I finished putting the gas and I went to pay the attendant and I told the attendant that the guy out there had a knife in his pocket so she—I told her that the guy outside had a knife, and she asked me if he was with me, and I said no, he wasn't."); George Aguirre, Witness to Events Outside Shamrock Gas Station, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 226 ("I told her that the guy outside had a knife in his pocket and it was open and she asked me if he was with me."); see supra Chapter 2, notes 75–86, 174 and accompanying text.p. 150 "…because the store's east wall was solid brick…"Crime Scene Photograph 25500026, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (showing the solid brick wall on the east of the ice-machine, to the side of the Sigmor store).p. 150 "…pumps or the front door."See Crime Scene Photograph 25500003, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500004, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500020, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500021, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500024, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500028, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500033, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing the signs and merchandise that blocked the clerk's view of the front sidewalk to the east of the front door).p. 150 "…didn't have a weapon out yet…"Police Dispatch Tape, Corpus Christi Police Dep't at 00:01:05–00:01:09, 00:01:24–00:01:27 ("Male Voice: [?] Wanda Lopez: [?] eighty-five" [the cost of cigarettes at the time]; "Q. Does he have the knife pulled out? A. Not yet.").p. 150 "…and was asking to buy cigarettes…"Police Dispatch, Corpus Christi Police Dep't at 00:01:05–00:01:09 ("Male Voice: [?] Wanda Lopez: [?] eighty-five" [the cost of cigarettes at the time]); see Crime Scene Photograph 25500009, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (showing the pack of Winston cigarettes at the end of the clerk's counter where sales occur).p. 150 "Garza also didn't like…spotlighted in flashlight beams."See supra Chapter 3, notes 69–101 and accompanying text.p. 150 "That's the wrong way to do an identification."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:50:43–01:53:38:You don't identify a person by just having somebody [say], "Hey, look at this person, is that the one you saw?" And some people, some witnesses, at the time, have a tendency, "yeah, that's the guy," because you've got him in custody. And they take it for granted, "yeah, that's the guy, that's the right guy they got, yeah, I'm going to go ahead and tell them that's the right guy." But there's other things that have to go with it. You have to mix that identification along with other people . . . and do a live line-up. . . . But then when you look again and you look at whatever person you have in custody, you try to group that to what the witnesses told you they saw, and then try to match other people that go with that match and then put them all in a live line-up: that is the proper way to do it. Not just say, "yeah, that is the guy that you have."
See supra Chapter 3, notes 111–128 and accompanying text; see also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 07:10:22–07:12:49:Q. Part of the evidence in this case was as follows, and again, I'll ask your reaction to it. As you've pointed out, Carlos DeLuna was found underneath a truck nearby the station within half an hour, forty minutes of the incident itself. At the gas station, the police had found four people who claimed that they had seen individuals around that area. They put those four people together at a location, at the gas station, where they were conversing with each other for those twenty, thirty minutes when they were out looking. They then, instead of taking Mr. DeLuna to a police station, they— A. [interrupts] You don't have to tell me. They drove him up in a police car and asked them if they could identify the guy sitting in the back seat between two cops, right? Q. With his hands handcuffed behind his back. A. Yeah. Standard practice by idiots. Yeah. I mean, it's not that uncommon here. I'm [also] troubled . . . by the [witnesses] sitting and comparing, or standing around [together] and comparing notes for half an hour.
p. 151 "…before selecting DeLuna out of the bunch…"p. 151 "…would have been a lot more reliable…"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:50:43–01:53:28:To me it was an improper identification. The offender himself should have been put in a line-up or else—You don't identify a person by just having somebody [say], "Hey, look at this person, is that the one you saw?" And some people, some witnesses, at the time, have a tendency, "yeah, that's the guy," because you've got him in custody. And they take it for granted, "yeah, that's the guy, that's the right guy they got, yeah, I'm going to go ahead and tell them that's the right guy." But there's other things that have to go with it. You have to mix that identification along with other people . . . and do a live line-up. Bring the witnesses in, and let them pick that person out from a group of people that sort of match the same description of the individual that you have in custody. And you put them behind the glass and you have the witnesses come into that room and point out. Let them look at the people, let them turn sideways, forwards, backwards, and see what they saw. Sometimes people see a person from the back, they never get to see the front of that person, but yet, if you talk to them, oh yeah, they saw the whole guy, and they sort of describe facial hairs and things like that on them . . . . But then when you look again and you look at whatever person you have in custody, you try to group that to what the witnesses told you they saw, and then try to match other people that go with that match and then put them all in a live line-up: that is the proper way to do it. Not just say, "yeah, that is the guy that you have."
See Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:52:06–01:53:28 ("[Y]ou have to piece the identification together with the evidence, physical evidence, tying that particular person to that crime scene and to the crime itself. If you don't have both, then you've got to look at the identification that the person that identified it made, and you've got to look at it real hard and real good because it might not be the proper identification if you don't have the physical evidence to go along with that identification."); supra Chapter 3, note 102 and accompanying text; see also Steve Mills & Maurice Possley, The Secret that Wasn't: Violent Felon Bragged that He Was Real Killer, Last of Three Parts, Chi.Trib. (June 27, 2006) available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/eedition/chi-tx-3-story,0,761635.htmlstory ("Now a lawyer in private practice, [Steven] Schiwetz [who prosecuted Carlos DeLuna] acknowledged that the case relied heavily on eyewitness testimony. 'Sometimes it's reliable. Sometimes it isn't reliable,' he said in an interview. 'And sometimes, in cases like this, you're not entirely sure how reliable it is.'"). Archived at: http://perma.cc/GZ5D-7R36p. 151 "…focus on Escobedo's scene investigation…"See, e.g., Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:38:57–00:40:07, 00:42:13–00:42:50 ("Mr. Garza, let's go back, now, again, to the crime scene of the Wanda Lopez murder. And again, I refer you to the police reports that I provided and the photographs that have been provided to you, which include all of the photographs and police reports that have been made available to us in our research project."; "Now, talking—back to the crime scene at the Wanda Lopez killing. . . .").p. 151 "The first thing you look for…blood from the victim."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:45:51–00:47:15:And when the person is arrested, if that person has anything on his person, whether it be blood stains on his shoes, his soles, whether he took anything from the scene, whether there would be blood that would match the victim's blood that was in there, whether this person had a fight with an individual that might have linked him more closely to the crime, whether he had—what type of clothing he was wearing at the time that he was arrested, that would link him back to the crime scene.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:49:19–00:50:56 ("[W]hen Carlos DeLuna was arrested . . ., I would have actually taken the shoes and any part of his garments that he had. There had to be one stain of blood somewhere, as much blood as was at that crime scene, there had to be one speck of blood that they could have connected."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:32:34–01:33:49:But the people that arrested this guy and the investigator in charge of the case, that's the first thing they should have been looking for, for any type of evidence on this man's hands that would relate. If there was that much blood, definitely the offender would have had some type of blood stains in between his fingernails. That's—they didn't let him wash his hands or nothing, that's the first thing they should have checked: his fingernails for blood.
p. 151 "Examining the file…as she hemorrhaged blood."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:08:29–00:08:36 ("I've read some of the reports and I've studied some of the photographs that were taken at the crime scene."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:38:57–00:40:07 ("Q. I refer you to the police reports that I provided and the photographs that have been provided to you, which include all of the photographs and police reports that have been made available to us in our research project. You've had an opportunity to read the police reports."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:48:34–00:49:19:Q. Based on your review of the crime scene photos, would you, do you feel or have an expectation that there should have been a transfer of evidence from the crime scene to the person who committed this crime? A. There should have been. There should have been something because there was enough evidence, whether it be a stain or a bloody footprint. There was enough blood on the floor and on the carpet that would have left an imprint of the shoe that the person was wearing that had actually committed the crime.
See Crime Scene Photograph 25500005, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500006, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500007, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500008, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 255000010, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500015, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500031, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500037, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500038, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983).p. 151 "Some may have 'spurted'…between her ribs."Corpus Christi Police Dep't, Ambulance Service Dispatch Report No. 00980 (Feb. 4, 1983) (describing the victim as a "25 y.o. woman, [unreadable], apparent stab wound to Left chest [unreadable word] found lying on sidewalk unconscious, lg amount of blood on sidewalk, breathing shallow, slow pulse. . . . Bleeding level: 4"; noting also IV and blood transfusion given); Wanda Lopez Medical Records, Memorial Medical Center Chart (Feb. 4, 1983) (describing blood transfusions given to Wanda Lopez of "1 unit type specific blood . . . . 2 units type specific blood"); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Statement to Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) ("I approached the lady coming out the front door. She had blood all over her."); Steven Fowler, Corpus Christi Police Sergeant, Supplementary Report (Feb. 4, 1983) ("As we arrived, I observed the clerk lying on her . . . side in front of the door. She was covered with blood, and there was also blood on the sidewalk and the door."); Autopsy Findings for Wanda Lopez, Joseph Rupp, Nueces County Medical Examiner (Feb. 5, 1983) at 2:The wound is oriented in the 8 to 2 o'clock direction, and is 1½" in length. The wound is just at the lower level of the breasts. The wound penetrates the 7th intercostal space into the left chest cavity, and passes almost completely through the lower lobe of the left lung. This wound goes from front to back, from left to right in a slightly downward direction. As a result of these two stab sounds, there is approximately 2 liters of blood in the left chest cavity.
Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 274 (describing appearance of Wanda Lopez immediately after the attack: "Q. Did you see blood on her. A. Yes, lots."); Joseph C. Rupp, Medical Examiner, Trial, Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 21, 1983) at 209–12 (describing the knife wound that "penetrated into the left chest cavity . . . and penetrated the lung" causing it to collapse, and causing a "great deal of bleeding, very rapid bleeding"; "a great deal of blood had come out into the chest cavity . . . greater than two quarts of blood in the left chest cavity" or "about two liters of blood," and there also would have been external bleeding "of the dripping type," and because "there are some arteries between the ribs . . ., there could be some spurting"); Mark Wagner, Paramedic, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 15, 1983) at 177 (testifying that Wanda Lopez had an "apparent stab wound to the left chest"); see Crime Scene Photograph 25500035, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (showing medics working on Wanda Lopez at the crime scene and revealing extensive blood staining on her shirt); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) (noting that she had obtained the beige pull over top, bra and white Sigmor smock "worn by the victim at the time of the incident," which were "heavily stained with blood"); see also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:15:36–01:17:44:Blood spatter[ ] just depends on how violent the act is. And you will have splatters in different directions. You can actually determine what part of the room that person was in or how much velocity a person was attacked with that would splatter blood through walls to different areas of furniture within the room. You can actually almost put the crime scene together as to areas of how violent the act was. . . . Blood splatters can also occur as blood is really rushing out from someone's body, but the majority of the splatters are from actual blows to the body that are also being administered. Somebody can get hit and splatters will go against the wall. And if you hit a big vein or something like that, naturally blood is going to gush out and go in different directions, as to where the person is running, moving, or being pushed.
p. 151 "Then the man 'released the girl and walked out.'"Kevan Baker, Eyewitness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Pretrial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. June 20, 1983) at 26 ("Q. What did you do [while attempting to pump gas at the Sigmor Shamrock station] when you heard the bang on the window? A. I just went ahead and squeezed—I had the nozzle in my trunk or in my gas tank I just went ahead and squeezed it to see if the nozzle would work or if it would pump gas and it didn't, so then I looked up and saw two people wrestling inside the store."); Bruno Mejia, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Supplementary Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1–2 ("Kevan Baker . . . advised me that, as he was getting ready to pump gas into his car, he saw the clerk inside the store struggling with a Hispanic male . . . . Mr. Baker, advised me that he then observed the subject attempt to carry the clerk into the back room of the store. . . . As he [Baker] neared the [back room] door, Mr. Baker advised that the subject released the girl and walked out of the store . . . ."). Baker testified that the man and woman had begun wrestling before he looked up and that they continued for perhaps forty-five seconds more. Kevan Baker, Eyewitness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Pretrial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. June 20, 1983) at 26, 38–39; see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:15:36–01:17:44:[Y]ou will have splatters in different directions. You can actually determine what part of the room that person was in or how much velocity a person was attacked with that would splatter blood through walls to different areas of furniture within the room. You can actually almost put the crime scene together as to areas of how violent the act was. . . . Blood splatters can also occur as blood is really rushing out from someone's body, but the majority of the splatters are from actual blows to the body that are also being administered. Somebody can get hit and splatters will go against the wall. And if you hit a big vein or something like that, naturally blood is going to gush out and go in different directions, as to where the person is running, moving, or being pushed.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:20:14–01:20:31, 01:32:09–01:32:26:To me, the way the [victim's] shoes were found there was one found in one area, one was upside, the other one was right-side up. Indicates that she was running for her life and actually ran out of her shoes just trying to get away from the perpetrator. . . . A person trying to defend herself, if that's the only weapon that she has, is her nails, should have revealed some kind of scrapings. And if it wasn't done, somebody dropped the ball and didn't do the proper examining on this body.
See also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:08:19–00:08:36, 00:14:00–00:14:25:Q. Did you have an opportunity to review the police reports and the crime scene photos in the last month or so? A. Yes, I have. I've read some of the reports and I've studied some of the photographs that were taken at the crime scene. . . . I had received the reports that have been supplied by me and photographs that have been supplied by me. I have studied these reports, and I also add that I have recollection of the crime itself when it was committed, from information that was going around by the detective in charge of the case.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:44:14–00:45:16 ("I am speaking in general of many things after reviewing the pictures that you gave to me to review and the reports that I went through.").p. 151 "One photo showed bruising around her right eye."Crime Scene Photograph 25500035, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (showing medics working on Wanda Lopez at the crime scene and revealing extensive bruising from her eyebrow to her cheekbone above and below her right eye).p. 151 "Others showed several feet…towards the back room."Crime Scene Photograph 25500005, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500007, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 255000010, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500015, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500037, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500038, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing scuff marks in blood on the floor); see also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:20:14–01:20:31 ("To me, the way the [victim's] shoes were found there was one found in one area, one was upside, the other one was right-side up. Indicates that she was running for her life and actually ran out of her shoes just trying to get away from the perpetrator.").p. 151 "There were large pools of standing blood…"Crime Scene Photograph 25500005, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500007, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 255000010, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500015, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500037, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500038, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing pools of blood on the floor); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:03:15–01:04:42 ("Photograph number 11 shows another partial print where there was a pool of blood and someone stepped on it and squashed the blood over to the side.").p. 151 "…they rebounded upwards in a mist of droplets."See Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:15:36–01:17:44:Blood spatter[ ] just depends on how violent the act is. And you will have splatters in different directions. You can actually determine what part of the room that person was in or how much velocity a person was attacked with that would splatter blood through walls to different areas of furniture within the room. You can actually almost put the crime scene together as to areas of how violent the act was. . . . Blood splatters can also occur as blood is really rushing out from someone's body, but the majority of the splatters are from actual blows to the body that are also being administered. Somebody can get hit and splatters will go against the wall. And if you hit a big vein or something like that, naturally blood is going to gush out and go in different directions, as to where the person is running, moving, or being pushed.
p. 151 "Everything near the victim…some places a couple of feet."Crime Scene Photograph 25500005, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500007, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500008, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 255000010, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500015, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500038, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing blood spatter); Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (showing blood spatter on sodas stacked three cases high that in one place reached up to the highest of the three layers of cases); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983):There was an area approximately 32 inches to the left of the door which had a large pool of thick blood and substance on the ground. From here I observed that there was blood smeared about 23 inches up from the ground on the metal molding, to the right of this area was more blood smears, which was approximately 24 inches from the ground on the metal molding, to the right of this area, still approaching the door, was another area which had blood smears on the glass, this was measured at approximately 43 inches from the ground level. The sidewalk measures approximately 34 inches in width, and there was blood smeared in different areas of the side walk in and around the ground immediately outside of the door. . . . I also observed that there was blood smeared on the door handle on the inside of the door, and on the lower left hand side of the door there was blood smeared on the door frame. I saw that there was a trail of blood, and foot prints in blood, leading from behind the counter, heading toward the door. . . . The trail led back behind the check out counter where the whole area was in total disarray and more blood was found in the area.
p. 151 "Garza reasoned that any person…shoes and pant legs."See Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:59:14:Th[e] person [who made this shoeprint] was walking away from the cash register, and it would have to be the offender because, according to other photographs, the victim was wearing some type of shower clogs which had no heel, it was just a straight, flat bottom. This is [a] heel print from a shoe. I would be looking, if I were the investigator, I would be looking very, very closely to try to match that heel print right there to the shoes that the offender would have been wearing. And being stepping into blood, you know that his shoes, at time of arrest, had to have some type of blood on them if there was this much blood at the scene.
See supra note 39. Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:28:42:Again, there [were] footprints and imprints in the blood at the crime scene. If the offender would have been at that crime scene, definitely there would have been a transfer of blood to the soles of the shoes, the sides of the shoes, or even the shoelaces would have had some type of blood splatters, as much blood as was at the crime scene. The offender would have had some type of transfer over to his shoes if he was wearing them inside the place. And, probably the length of the shoe itself should have been taken at the time and entered into documentation in the report of the officer investigating the case.
See also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 06:58:58:DeLuna . . . didn't have any blood on him. And, you know, what kind of police work is that? I mean, I've been around enough murder cases, been around enough blood to make anybody vomit. And you stab somebody in an artery or something and people start bleeding like a stuck pig. And it squirts. And it, it-it—You get blood on you. It's hard not to. And I find that somewhat suspect [that there was no blood on DeLuna].
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 07:06:14:And if there's blood and people get blood on their hands there's going to be fingerprints all over the place, so you're going to be looking for prints. You're going to be looking too . . . for footprints. I mean, just think of the characteristics of tennis shoes, the characteristics of any shoes! Oh, my god, if any of the stuff was being handled, it just, it begs, doesn't it, to have a lot of forensic people there, to have a lot of photographs, to have a lot of fingerprint work. If there isn't, clearly something is seriously, seriously lacking, because if there was a struggle, these people were rolling in it, and, you know, you'd be screaming bloody murder in terms of, that's exactly what happened, isn't it. It's a bloody murder. And you'd be looking for that, certainly on the man that was caught. You'd be looking for blood. If there wasn't, you'd start to wonder, wouldn't you? I mean, that to me, that's the one thing that troubles me about this case is that I don't believe that DeLuna had much blood on him, if any. Well, he didn't go take a bath! And they found him, what? Within half an hour? Well, doesn't that leave one to question what the heck is going on?
p. 152 "In the struggle…four feet off the ground."Crime Scene Photograph 25500001, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500017, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500018, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing blood drops on the cabinet top and wall along the back (north) end of the clerk's area); see Crime Scene Photograph 25500037, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (showing the proximity of the cabinet and wall in relation to the back room).p. 152 "…scuff marks and footprints in blood…"Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983):There was an area approximately 32 inches to the left of the door which had a large pool of thick blood and substance on the ground. From here I observed that there was blood smeared about 23 inches up from the ground on the metal molding, to the right of this area was more blood smears, which was approximately 24 inches from the ground on the metal molding, to the right of this area, still approaching the door, was another area which had blood smears on the glass, this was measured at approximately 43 inches from the ground level. The sidewalk measures approximately 34 inches in width, and there was blood smeared in different areas of the side walk in and around the ground immediately outside of the door. . . . I also observed that there was blood smeared on the door handle on the inside of the door, and on the lower left hand side of the door there was blood smeared on the door frame. I saw that there was a trail of blood, and foot prints in blood, leading from behind the counter, heading toward the door. . . . The trail led back behind the check out counter where the whole area was in total disarray and more blood was found in the area.
p. 152 "Garza was also convinced…bottom of his shoes."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:59:14:Th[e] person [who made this shoeprint] was walking away from the cash register, and it would have to be the offender because, according to other photographs, the victim was wearing some type of shower clogs which had no heel, it was just a straight, flat bottom. This is [a] heel print from a shoe. I would be looking, if I were the investigator, I would be looking very, very closely to try to match that heel print right there to the shoes that the offender would have been wearing. And being stepping into blood, you know that his shoes, at time of arrest, had to have some type of blood on them if there was this much blood at the scene.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 01:28:42:Again, there was footprints and imprints in the blood at the crime scene. If the offender would have been at that crime scene, definitely there would have been a transfer of blood to the soles of the shoes, the sides of the shoes, or even the shoelaces would have had some type of blood splatters, as much blood as was at the crime scene. The offender would have had some type of transfer over to his shoes if he was wearing them inside the place. And, probably the length of the shoe itself should have been taken at the time and entered into documentation in the report of the officer investigating the case.
p. 152 "Large portions of the bottom…discolored with blood."Crime Scene Photograph 25500008, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500011, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500031, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500037, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing an extensive amount of blood on the bottom of Wanda Lopez's right sandal): see Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) ("The soles of her [Wanda Lopez's] feet were observed to be bloodied"); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex., July 18, 1983) at 297–98, 300 ("I observed that there was a female laying on the ground directly to the left of the door of the Sigmor service station. She was on the ground. I could tell that she was bleeding, she was wearing brown slacks and a white top. She was barefooted, there was blood on the soles of her feet. . . . I also saw that there was some blood smeared on the door."; "I also noted there was blood on the floor and footprints in the [floor] tiles.");Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 308–09 (describing "a pair of slaps [slap shoes]" found at the crime scene; "both had some blood substance . . . on the sole of the shoe"); see also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:59:14 (discussing photos of victim's shoes).p. 152 "A close-up…sandal's leather sides and straps."Crime Scene Photograph 25500011, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); see also Crime Scene Photograph 25500008, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500038, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all revealing, via magnification, heavy blood staining that soaked into the sole of Wanda Lopez's right shoe and on the side of the sole).p. 152 "The victim's white…was covered with it."Crime Scene Photograph 25500035, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (showing medics working on Wanda Lopez at the crime scene and revealing extensive blood-staining on her shirt); Kevan Baker, Eyewitness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Statement to Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) at 41 ("I approached the lady coming out the front door. She had blood all over her."); see Steven Fowler, Corpus Christi Police Sergeant, Supplementary Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 ("As we arrived, I observed the clerk lying on her . . . side in front of the door. She was covered with blood, and there was also blood on the sidewalk and door."); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) (noting that Escobedo had obtained the beige pull over top, bra, and white Sigmor smock "worn by the victim at the time of the incident," which were "heavily stained with blood"; "I observed that there was a female laying on the ground directly to the left of the door of the Sigmor service station. She was on the ground. I could tell that she was bleeding, she was wearing brown slacks and a white top. She was barefooted, there was blood on the soles of her feet. . . . I also saw that there was some blood smeared on the door.");Kevan Baker, Eyewitness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Pretrial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. June 20, 1983) at 29 ("She just kind of come against me, and then fell back into the building and started sliding down the side of the window right by the front door, and I seen the blood . . . ."); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 274–75, 297–98 (describing appearance of Wanda Lopez immediately after the attack: "Q. Did you see blood on her. A. Yes, lots.")p. 153 "She had evidently pulled the knife from her wound…"See supra Chapter 4, note 61 and accompanying text.p. 153 "…below the cash drawer."Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 21, 1983) at 204–05 (describing condition of knife found at the scene: "The—the blade of the knife was—was very wet, it had some kind of substance on it, blood and some kind of pulp or something that came out from [witness does not finish the sentence]."); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 305–06 ("This is the knife I retrieved [at the crime scene] on February the 4th, 1983. . . . At the time that I first observed this knife, it was open and it had some type of substance on it. To me it appeared to be some type of fatty substance, tissue on it.").p. 153 "After that, the victim transferred…near the cash drawer."Crime Scene Photograph 25500006, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 255000010, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500013, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500031, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); (all showing substantial amounts of blood deposited on the gas pump console, cash drawer and adjacent counter top); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 5, 2004) at 00:54:52–00:58:30 ("(holds up another photograph) Then you have you[r] counter, which you can see smudges of blood on the counter. . . . And, of course, you've got your 5-dollar bill, but then you've got your cash register open which has a lot of blood.").p. 153 "…overheard trying to give the assailant money…"p. 153 "…bleeding had occurred right where the money was kept."Crime Scene Photograph 25500006, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500010, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500013, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500016, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500031, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing substantial amounts of blood deposited on the gas pump console, cash drawer and adjacent counter top immediately above where the large open folding knife was found).p. 153 "The loose bills…stained with it."Crime Scene Photograph 25500013, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500016, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500031, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing blood stains on money left at crime scene); see Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) ("A five dollar bill was also found to be laying on the floor underneath the cash register tray, it was observed to have a blood stain on it."); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 284:Q. Okay. When you walked inside there, did you notice anything? A. I noticed blood and money and stuff all over the place is the best way to put it. Q. Did you notice money all over the place? A. Yes, sir, that's the best way to put it. Q. Was it on the floor or counter or— A. Well, I guess my impression of all over the place was on the floor and blood. Q. So when you're talking about money, you're talking about bills rather than change? A. Yes, sir, bills and paper towels and blood.
See also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:52:58–00:54:52 ("And there is also a 5-dollar bill or something that's here on the floor that—and other photographs a lot closer—have blood on them. The cash register itself has got another piece of money. I don't know whether this money was processed for fingerprints or anything else. There was enough blood on here that if a subject was to grab part of this money, it would have some type of smudged fingerprint on it."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:32:34–01:33:49 ("[T]hey didn't let him wash his hands or nothing, that's the first thing they should have checked: his fingernails for blood. There was too much blood in the place, even blood on the money that was in the place. Something would have revealed, that if he handled money with blood, it would have transferred over to his hands somewhere or another.").p. 153 "Baker had heard the store clerk banging on the window…"See supra Chapter 2, notes 13–14 and accompanying text.p. 153 "…prints on the window above the cash drawer."See supra Chapter 4, notes 59–114 and accompanying text.p. 153 "Detective Escobedo and her assistant…darkened window at night."Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1–3 (omitting handprints on the window from the list of features at the crime scene observed by himself and Detective Escobedo); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983).p. 153 "When the attacker…floor and fled."Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Pretrial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. June 20, 1983) at 27–28, 36, 37 ("[T]he gentleman was trying to pull the girl into the back room and as I started walking toward the door, the gentleman threw her on the floor"; Baker "turned" and "started towards the door"; "as I was walking toward the door, the Defendant or the—the girl in this case was throwed to the floor and the Defendant met me at the door."); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 270, 280 ("The gentleman had the lady—apparently knew I was there and trying hard to get her into the back of the store and as I turned and saw them and started walking toward the door, he threw her down and proceeded to meet me at the door"; "I walked toward the door and he threw her to the floor and met me at the door").p. 153 "Detective Escobedo found…killer or his victim."Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) ("I also observed that there was blood smeared on the door handle on the inside of the door, and on the lower left hand side of the door there was blood smeared on the door frame.").p. 153 "She'd pulled the bloody knife…where she'd opened it."See Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:54:43–01:55:30:Q. And again, assessing this crime scene, again, based on your experience as an investigator, would you have an expectation that there would have been a transfer of evidence from the victim to the perpetrator of this crime? A. Definitely, definitely. There would have been blood somewhere on that person's body, their clothing. There would have been blood on the shoes. If that person would have been at that particular crime scene with as much blood as there was there, yes, definitely, that would have linked that person to that crime.
p. 153 "Her clothes…thigh, waist, and chest high."Crime Scene Photograph 25500006, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500013, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500024, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500028, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500033, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing smears of blood, waist-high in some places, on vertical surfaces touched by the victim or the assailant); see Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983):There was an area approximately 32 inches to the left of the door which had a large pool of thick blood and substance on the ground. From here I observed that there was blood smeared about 23 inches up from the ground on the metal molding, to the right of this area was more blood smears, which was approximately 24 inches from the ground on the metal molding, to the right of this area, still approaching the door, was another area which had blood smears on the glass, this was measured at approximately 43 inches from the ground level. The sidewalk measures approximately 34 inches in width, and there was blood smeared in different areas of the side walk in and around the ground immediately outside of the door. . . . I also observed that there was blood smeared on the door handle on the inside of the door, and on the lower left hand side of the door there was blood smeared on the door frame. I saw that there was a trail of blood, and foot prints in blood, leading from behind the counter, heading toward the door. . . . The trail led back behind the check out counter where the whole area was in total disarray and more blood was found in the area.
See also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:54:52–00:57:00, 01:04:42–01:06:20 ("Then you have you[r] counter, which you can see smudges of blood on the counter. Again, if somebody is struggling with somebody or fighting with somebody [he or she will transfer blood to the attacker]"; "But it all leads to the front door. The front door: there's one photograph that you see a lot of blood on the door itself. (holds up another photograph) And this one you do see blood right here on the bottom part of where the handle is.").p. 153 "All this convinced Garza that Wanda…"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:32:34–01:33:49 ("[T]hey didn't let him wash his hands or nothing, that's the first thing they should have checked: his fingernails for blood. There was too much blood in the place, even blood on the money that was in the place. Something would have revealed that if he handled money with blood, it would have transferred over to his hands somewhere or another.")p. 153 "…bloodied the assailant's shirt…"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:29:47–01:29:58 ("[I]f a person with a white shirt would have been at this crime scene it would have been a transfer of blood somewhere or another to that white shirt.").p. 153 "…under his fingernails…"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:32:34–01:33:49:But the people that arrested this guy and the investigator in charge of the case, that's the first thing they should have been looking for, for any type of evidence on this man's hands that would relate. If there was that much blood, definitely the offender would have had some type of blood stains in between his fingernails. . . . [T]hey didn't let him wash his hands or nothing, that's the first thing they should have checked: his fingernails for blood. There was too much blood in the place, even blood on the money that was in the place. Something would have revealed, that if he handled money with blood, it would have transferred over to his hands somewhere or another.
p. "…wrestled with Wanda and threw her to the floor."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:27:53–01:28:10 ("[B]ut if any money came from that crime scene, there should have been some speck of blood on 149 dollars."); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:54:43–01:55:30:Q. And again, assessing this crime scene, again, based on your experience as an investigator, would you have an expectation that there would have been a transfer of evidence from the victim to the perpetrator of this crime? A. Definitely, definitely. There would have been blood somewhere on that person's body, their clothing. There would have been blood on the shoes. If that person would have been at that particular crime scene with as much blood as there was there, yes, definitely, that would have linked that person to that crime.
See also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 06:58:58–07:02:25:DeLuna . . . didn't have any blood on him. And, you know, what kind of police work is that? I mean, I've been around enough murder cases, been around enough blood to make anybody vomit. And you stab somebody in an artery or something and people start bleeding like a stuck pig. And it squirts. And it, it-it—You get blood on you. It's hard not to. And I find that somewhat suspect [that there was no blood on DeLuna]. Additionally, I think this case was wrapped up within an hour or two. And it was at night when [Detectives] Eddie [Garza] and Paul [Rivera] weren't working, yeah. If Eddie and Paul were there, they might have viewed it differently. . . . But if I had said to him [Detective Rivera], "Where's the blood, dude." You know, he'd think on that, and he'd come back, he might come back a week later and say, "there wasn't any blood on his shoes, I wouldn't look at him [as a suspect]."
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 07:06:14–07:09:12:And if there's blood and people get blood on their hands there's going to be fingerprints all over the place, so you're going to be looking for prints. You're going to be looking too . . . for footprints. I mean, just think of the characteristics of tennis shoes, the characteristics of any shoes! Oh, my god, if any of the stuff was being handled, it just, it begs, doesn't it, to have a lot of forensic people there, to have a lot of photographs, to have a lot of fingerprint work. If there isn't, clearly something is seriously, seriously lacking, because if there was a struggle, these people were rolling in it, and, you know, you'd be screaming bloody murder in terms of, that's exactly what happened, isn't it. It's a bloody murder. And you'd be looking for that, certainly on the man that was caught. You'd be looking for blood. If there wasn't, you'd start to wonder, wouldn't you? I mean, that to me, that's the one thing that troubles me about this case is that I don't believe that DeLuna had much blood on him, if any. Well, he didn't go take a bath! And they found him, what? Within half an hour? Well, doesn't that leave one to question what the heck is going on?
p. 153 "…he had blood on his shirt…"See Transcribed Videotape Interview with Robert Stange, Shamrock Gas Station Manager, in Fredericksburg, Texas (Feb. 24, 2005) at 15:49:16–15:50:18 ("Q. How did you hear that the individual that they had in the car, the suspect, had been found nearby? How did you hear that? A. That was going around the parking lot. The people that were milling around the parking lot. And that was other police officers, some of the other investigators. . . . We do know the suspect was found under a car. We don't know if a chase was involved. I believe they had his bloody shirt."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Robert Stange, Shamrock Gas Station Manager, in Fredericksburg, Texas (Feb. 24, 2005) at 15:51:30–15:53:00 ("I believe they [police officers] stated they had a suspect and he was under a car, but I don't recall at the time whether it was stated that he was under a car or found under a car. But if nothing else, we did hear that later. Before the police officers all left, and before the suspect left, we had learned that he had been located under a car. They did find a bloody shirt, I couldn't tell you if that was at the scene or not.").p. 153 "…at least one news article on the case."Condemned Man Appeals Case to Supreme Court, Hous. Chron., Dec. 6, 1989, at 28 ("DeLuna was found hiding beneath a parked vehicle about a quarter of a mile from the store, barefoot and without a shirt. His bloody shirt and shoes were found in a yard the next day.").p. 153 "…end of a forty-minute manhunt…"See supra Chapter 2, notes 249–258 and accompanying text.p. 153 "…white long-sleeve shirt, and black slacks…"Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 10, 1983) at 1 (identifying the following as stored in the "Property room" after the case: ". . . five dollar bill . . . stainless steel lockblade knife . . . pair of men's black slack's [sic] . . . pair of men's white tennis shoes and a man's long sleeve white shirt"); Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo at 4 (Feb. 17, 1983) ("On February 9, 1983, you personally submitted the following: . . . 2. A pair of men's black pants 3. One pair of white tennis shoes 4. One long sleeve men's shirt. It was requested that examinations be made to determine the presence of blood on the submitted items, and if, present, the origin and type. . . . No blood was found on the pants, shirt, or shoes."); Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 135–36:Q. Did you mark the pants that the suspect [DeLuna] had on? A. If I remember correctly, I tried to mark them with a pencil or something on the inside. Q. But they were removed from him; is that correct, and also booked into property? A. Yes, sir. Q. And you did that yourself? A. Yes, sir. (State's Exhibits 15 and 16 were marked for identification.) Q. Let me ask you to look at State's Exhibit Number 15 and the contents therein, State's Exhibit Number 16. Just look at them yourself. A. Well, I marked this paper. Q. Do you recognize those two exhibits? A. Yes, sir. Those are the pants I took from him.
See supra Chapter 2, note 252, 263–267 ; supra Chapter 3, note 60 and accompanying text (discussing the discovery near the arrest scene of DeLuna's white shirt and canvas tennis shoes).p. 153 "…rolled up in his pants pocket…"Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Supplementary Report (Undated) at 1 ("I searched the suspect for weapons and found a wad of paper currency rolled up in his right hand pants pocket. I later determined that there were (3) twenty dollar bills, (7) ten dollar bills, (1) five dollar bill, and (14) one dollar bills.").p. 153 "…naked from the waist up."Marcia Packer, Corpus Christi Police Department, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 5, 1983) at 1 ("At approximately 10:30 p.m. 2–4–83 Officer Schauer requested I take swab samples from suspect Carlos DeLuna who had been picked up earlier on an aggravated robbery charge. I took three samples from the suspect's face, throat and chest. I also took five pictures of the suspect upon the request of Sgt. G. Garrett. Swab[;] samples were turned over to C. Parker."); Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Charles J. Parker, Identification Analyst (Feb. 16, 1983) at 1 ("On February 16, 1983 you personally submitted some Q-tip swabs stained with suspected blood. It was requested that examinations be made to determine if the stain was blood. We have completed our examinations and wish to report that the stain was not blood.").p. 154 "Not a drop."Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo at 1 (Feb. 17, 1983) ("On February 9, 1983, you personally submitted the following: . . . 2. A pair of men's black pants 3. One pair of white tennis shoes 4. One long sleeve men's shirt. It was requested that examinations be made to determine the presence of blood on the submitted items, and if, present, the origin and type. . . . No blood was found on the pants, shirt, or shoes."); Statement of Steven Schiwetz, Prosecutor at Trial of Carlos DeLuna, Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 331 ("The State has announced that its intention is to call Mr. Don Thain . . . of the [DPS], whose testimony will be to the effect that there was no blood found on any of these items [referring to DeLuna's shoes, pants and shirt."); Donald Thain, Texas Dep't of Public Safety Blood Analyst, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 366–70 (testifying to results of state laboratory's forensic analyses of the shoes, shirt, and pants forwarded to the lab by Detective Escobedo):Q. Did you inspect this shirt to see if it had blood on it? A. Yes. Q. Were you able to determine if there was any? A. I could find no blood on it. . . . Q. Did you inspect these pants to see if you could find any blood on them? A. Yeah. I could find no blood on them. . . . Q. And did you inspect these shoes to see if they had any blood on them? A. Yes. Q. And did they? A. No. [He goes on to describe failure to find blood on cash bills seized from Carlos DeLuna.]
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:48:34–00:49:19:Q. Based on your review of the crime scene photos, would you, do you feel or have an expectation that there should have been a transfer of evidence from the crime scene to the person who committed this crime? A. There should have been. There should have been something because there was enough evidence, whether it be a stain or a bloody footprint. There was enough blood on the floor and on the carpet that would have left an imprint of the shoe that the person was wearing that had actually committed the crime. . . . Yet, when Carlos DeLuna was arrested—There had to be one stain of blood somewhere, as much blood as was at that crime scene, there had to be one speck of blood that they could have connected, Carlos DeLuna, 'yes, you were at the crime scene, this blood matches Wanda Lopez.' And that was not there.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:59:14–01:00:00 ("I would be looking, if I were the investigator, I would be looking very, very closely to try to match that heel print right there to the shoes that the offender would have been wearing. And being stepping into blood, you know that his shoes, at time of arrest, had to have some type of blood on them if there was this much blood at the scene."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:16:48–01:17:44:Q. In your experience as a homicide detective, when you see blood-spatter evidence and an indication that the crime was a knifing type of crime or death, do you expect to see blood splatters transferred to the perpetrator? A. Blood splatters can also occur as blood is really rushing out from someone's body, but the majority of the splatters are from actual blows to the body that are also being administered. Somebody can get hit and splatters will go against the wall. And if you hit a big vein or something like that, naturally blood is going to gush out and go in different directions, as to where the person is running, moving, or being pushed.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:28:29–01:28:42 (noting that DeLuna's white tennis shoes were found near where he was arrested and were tested and found negative for blood evidence); Steve Mills and Maurice Possley, 'I Didn't Do It But I Know Who Did,' New Evidence Suggests a 1989 Execution in Texas Was a Case of Mistaken Identity, First of Three Parts, Chi. Trib., June 25, 2006 ("The clothes and shoes—as well as swabs from his [DeLuna's] face—were sent to the state crime lab for testing. No blood was found."; "none of the bills tested positive for blood."); see Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo at 1 (Feb. 17, 1983) ("On February 9, 1983, you personally submitted the following: . . . 2. A pair of men's black pants 3. One pair of white tennis shoes 4. One long sleeve men's shirt. It was requested that examinations be made to determine the presence of blood on the submitted items, and if, present, the origin and type. . . . No blood was found on the pants, shirt, or shoes."); Ruben Rivera, Nueces County Deputy Constable, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR.194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 17, 1983) at 107 (noting that arresting officers found "no blood" on DeLuna at the time of his arrest); Tamara Theiss's Notes of Interview with Olivia Escobedo, Lead Detective on the Dahlia Sauceda and Wanda Lopez Murders (Feb. 27, 2005) at 2:I remember coming into the gas station. Ms. Lopez was already being treated by the emergency response people. She couldn't talk to anyone. She had been stabbed . . . . I remember that there was blood everywhere inside the gas station. You could tell from all the blood that DeLuna had grabbed Ms. Lopez and dragged her over from behind the counter to where the coolers were . . . . Then I heard on the radio when DeLuna was pulled out from under the truck. I think that the police brought DeLuna back to the gas station right away so the witnesses could look at him. DeLuna was sober when they found him. He did not have any blood on him.
p. 154 "Several days after the arrest…trace of blood."Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo (Feb. 17, 1983) at 1 ("On February 9, 1983, you personally submitted the following: . . . . 2. A pair of men's black pants 3. One pair of white tennis shoes 4. One long sleeve men's shirt. It was requested that examinations be made to determine the presence of blood on the submitted items, and if, present, the origin and type."); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 297–300, 310–11 (describing transmittal of shirt, shoes, pants and money seized from Carlos DeLuna to the Texas Dep't of Public Safety forensic laboratory to be tested for blood); see also Zandieh Saeid et al., Using Luminal Solution for Identification Washing Blood and DNA Typing, 14 Sci. J. Forensic Med. 143 (2008) (describing the ability of luminal, the chemical criminalistics labs use to identify the presence of blood, to identify very small amounts of blood).p. 154 "There was none."Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo at 1 (Feb. 17, 1983) ("On February 9, 1983, you personally submitted the following: . . . 2. A pair of men's black pants 3. One pair of white tennis shoes 4. One long sleeve men's shirt. It was requested that examinations be made to determine the presence of blood on the submitted items, and if, present, the origin and type. . . . No blood was found on the pants, shirt, or shoes."); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:49:19–00:50:56 ("There had to be one stain of blood somewhere, as much blood as was at that crime scene, there had to be one speck of blood that they could have connected, Carlos DeLuna, 'yes, you were at the crime scene, this blood matches Wanda Lopez.' And that was not there."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:28:42–01:29:58:[T]here w[ere] footprints and imprints in the blood at the crime scene. If the offender would have been at that crime scene, definitely there would have been a transfer of blood to the soles of the shoes, the sides of the shoes, or even the shoelaces would have had some type of blood splatters, as much blood as was at the crime scene. The offender would have had some type of transfer over to his shoes if he was wearing them inside the place. . . . Again, if a person with a white shirt would have been at this crime scene it would have been a transfer of blood somewhere or another to that white shirt.
See Steve Mills and Maurice Possley, The Secret That Wasn't: Violent Felon Bragged That He Was Real Killer, Last of Three Parts, Chi. Trib., June 27, 2006 ("[Garza] noted that none of the blood spattered on the floor of the station was collected for testing, so there was no way to determine whether the attacker's blood was present. The only items sent for blood testing were the knife [sic, the knife was not tested for blood], De Luna's clothing and a $5 bill."); Statement of Prosecutor Steven Schiwetz, Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 331 ("The State has announced that its intention is to call Mr. Don Thain . . . of the [DPS], whose testimony will be to the effect that there was no blood found on any of these items [referring to DeLuna's shoes, pants and shirt."); Donald Thain, Texas Dep't of Public Safety Blood Analyst, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 366–70 (testifying to results of state laboratory's forensic analyses of the shoes, shirt, and pants forwarded to the lab by Detective Escobedo):Q. Did you inspect this shirt to see if it had blood on it? A. Yes. Q. Were you able to determine if there was any? A. I could find no blood on it. . . . Q. Did you inspect these pants to see if you could find any blood on them? A. Yeah. I could find no blood on them. . . . Q. And did you inspect these shoes to see if they had any blood on them? A. Yes. Q. And did they? A. No. [He goes on to describe his failure to find blood on cash bills seized from Carlos DeLuna.]
p. 154 "The swabs went to the lab as well…"See Marcia Packer, Corpus Christi Police Department, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 5, 1983) at 1 ("At approximately 10:30 p.m. 2–4–83 Officer Schauer requested I take swab samples from suspect Carlos DeLuna who had been picked up earlier on an aggravated robbery charge. I took three samples from the suspect's face, throat and chest. I also took five pictures of the suspect upon the request of Sgt. G. Garrett. Swab samples were turned over to C. Parker."); Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Charles J. Parker, Identification Analyst (Feb. 16, 1983) at 1 ("On February 16, 1983 you personally submitted some Q-tip swabs stained with suspected blood.").p. 154 "…they too came back negative for blood."Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Charles J. Parker, Identification Analyst (Feb. 16, 1983) at 1 ("On February 16, 1983 you personally submitted some Q-tip swabs stained with suspected blood. It was requested that examinations be made to determine if the stain was blood. We have completed our examinations and wish to report that the stain was not blood."); Ruben Rivera, Nueces County Deputy Constable, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR.194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 17, 1983) at 107 (noting that arresting officers found "no blood" on DeLuna at the time of his arrest); Tamara Theiss's Notes of Interview with Olivia Escobedo, Lead Detective on the Dahlia Sauceda and Wanda Lopez Murders (Feb. 27, 2005) at 2:I remember coming into the gas station. Ms. Lopez was already being treated by the emergency response people. She couldn't talk to anyone. She had been stabbed . . . . I remember that there was blood everywhere inside the gas station. You could tell from all the blood that DeLuna had grabbed Ms. Lopez and dragged her over from behind the counter to where the coolers were . . . . Then I heard on the radio when DeLuna was pulled out from under the truck. I think that the police brought DeLuna back to the gas station right away so the witnesses could look at him. DeLuna was sober when they found him. He did not have any blood on him.
Steve Mills and Maurice Possley, 'I Didn't Do It But I Know Who Did,' New Evidence Suggests a 1989 Execution in Texas Was a Case of Mistaken Identity, First of Three Parts, Chi. Trib. (June 25, 2006) available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tx-1-story,0,653915.story ("The clothes and shoes—as well as swabs from his face—were sent to the state crime lab for testing. No blood was found."). After coming face to face with the assailant as he later exited the Sigmor store, Eyewitness Kevan Baker noted that the man was wearing a grey long-sleeve t-shirt or sweatshirt and a flannel jacket with red in it. See infra note 110; supra Chapter 2, note 46–48 and accompanying text. When the arresting officers discovered DeLuna underneath the pick-up truck, he was shirtless. See supra Chapter 2, notes 250–253 and accompanying text; supra Chapter 3, note 58 and accompanying text. His white dress shirt was discovered in an adjacent yard. See supra Chapter 2, note 262–267 and accompanying text; supra Chapter 3, note 60 and accompanying text. To get DeLuna out from under the truck, the officers grabbed his arms and dragged him on his stomach along the asphalt of the roadway and over a cement curb. Ruben Rivera, Nueces County Deputy Constable, Supplementary Report at 2 (Feb. 7, 1983) ("Officer Schauer and myself pulled subject out from underneath the truck and was hand-cuffed for everyone's safety."). Archived at: http://perma.cc/GZ5D-7R36 Ruben Rivera, Nueces County Deputy Constable, Supplementary Report (Feb. 8, 1983) at 3 ("I proceeded to pull subject from underneath said Vehicle."); Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Supplementary Report (Undated) at 1:I was walking north on Franklin from Nemec when two constable deputies from ([Sheriff] Johnnie Alaniz's office) knelt beside an old pickup truck parked on the west side of Franklin about 40 feet north of Nemec. Constable Rivera yelled something and I ran to him. I observed . . . Carlos De Luna . . . lying on his stomach under the truck on wet asphalt. His head was towards McArdle [north] and his feet were pointed towards Nemec [south]. The constable and I pulled the suspect from under the truck and immediately handcuffed him.
Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Supplementary Report (Feb. 8, 1983):I contacted the suspect . . . as he was lying on his stomach under a pickup truck in the 4900 block of Franklin. . . . Deputy Constable R. Rivera was kneeling on the pavement of the pickup truck's west side and was ordering the suspect to get out from under the truck. Deputy Constable C. Vargas was on the truck's east side and doing like wise. I knelt next to Constable Rivera and we pulled the suspect by the arms from under the truck and put him stomach down onto the grassy area immediately adjacent to the truck.
Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Pretrial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. June 20, 1983) at 108 ("I grabbed one arm and Constable Rivera grabbed the other arm and pulled him out" on the curb side of the truck). Thereafter, arresting Officer Schauer referred in a police report to superficial scratches on DeLuna's chest adjacent to the upper part of his right arm, arresting officer Ruben Rivera testified at trial that he "seemed to remember" scratches on DeLuna's back or shoulder, and Schauer testified at trial that the scratches were on the front of DeLuna's body adjacent to his right arm and that there were no scratches on DeLuna's shoulder or back. See Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Dep't, Officer, Supplementary Report (Feb. 8, 1983) at 2 ("I noticed the suspect had three or four scratch marks under his right arm and on his chest and the blood on them was still fresh. The scratches were only superficial."); Ruben Rivera, Nueces County Deputy Constable, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR.194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 17, 1983) at 107 ("Seems I remember . . . some scratch marks or something like that. I don't know—no blood or anything, just scratch marks somewhere on . . . his back or shoulder, one of his shoulders"); Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 118–20 (describing light scratches on the right part of his body—(indicating) . . . under this part of the arm (indicating)" and recalls no scratches on DeLuna's shoulder or back). Within an hour after DeLuna's arrest, a technician swabbed DeLuna's chest for blood, and took several photographs of DeLuna his unclothed upper body. See Marcia Packer, Corpus Christi Police Department, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 5, 1983) at 1 ("At approximately 10:30 p.m. 2–4–83 Officer Schauer requested I take swab samples from suspect Carlos DeLuna who had been picked up earlier on an aggravated robbery charge. I took three samples from the suspect's face, throat and chest. I also took five pictures of the suspect upon the request of Sgt. G. Garrett. Swab samples were turned over to C. Parker."). When sent to the laboratory for testing, the swabs came back negative for blood. Likewise, photographs reveal no evidence of scratches on DeLuna's chest, side, shoulders or arms. Pl.'s Ex. 6, Vargas v. Diamond Shamrock, No. 84–4951-D, 86–5900-D (Nueces Cty., 105th Dist. Tex. 1988) (revealing no scratches on photos of Carlos DeLuna after his arrest); Pl.'s Ex. 7, Vargas v. Diamond Shamrock, No. 84–4951-D, 86–5900-D (Nueces Cty., 105th Dist. Tex. 1988) (same); Pl.'s Ex. 8, Vargas v. Diamond Shamrock, No. 84–4951-D, 86–5900-D (Nueces Cty., 105th Dist. Tex. 1988) (same); Pl.'s Ex. 9, Vargas v. Diamond Shamrock, No. 84–4951-D, 86–5900-D (Nueces Cty., 105th Dist. Tex. 1988) (same); see Comparison of Carlos DeLuna Photos Documenting Bruised Face at Time of Booking; see supra Chapter 3, Figure 3.2 If there were any chest scratches—even though there is no evidence of them in the photographs and chest swabs—their source is unlikely to have been the struggle with Wanda Lopez, because her assailant was fully clothed. A more likely source was acknowledged by arresting officer Rivera at DeLuna's trial: the scratches may have occurred "from lying on the ground or being pulled." Ruben Rivera, Nueces County Deputy Constable, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR.194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 17, 1983) at 107 ("A. Seems I remember . . . some scratch marks or something like that. . .no blood or anything, just scratch marks . . . . Q. Conceivably that could have come from lying on the ground or being pulled? A. Possibly."); Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 118–20, 147–48 (offering opinion on direct examination that the scratches were not "burn-type marks like a person who skids along a concrete" but acknowledging on cross-examination that it is "possible" for DeLuna to "scratch himself" from "bushes or if he happened to crawl under a truck" without a shirt on).p. 154 "If DeLuna…'laces' of DeLuna's shoes."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:28:42–01:29:35:Again, there was footprints and imprints in the blood at the crime scene. If the offender would have been at that crime scene, definitely there would have been a transfer of blood to the soles of the shoes, the sides of the shoes, or even the shoelaces would have had some type of blood splatters, as much blood as was at the crime scene. The offender would have had some type of transfer over to his shoes if he was wearing them inside the place. And, probably the length of the shoe itself should have been taken at the time and entered into documentation in the report of the officer investigating the case.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:54:43–01:55:30:Q. And again, assessing this crime scene, again, based on your experience as an investigator, would you have an expectation that there would have been a transfer of evidence from the victim to the perpetrator of this crime? A. Definitely, definitely. There would have been blood somewhere on that person's body, their clothing. There would have been blood on the shoes. If that person would have been at that particular crime scene with as much blood as there was there, yes, definitely, that would have linked that person to that crime.
See also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 06:58:58–07:02:25:A. I know that Carlos Hernandez, some people feel, is the real culprit [in the killing of Wanda Lopez], but it was interesting to me, in hearing about this case, . . . that there was an enormous amount of blood found at the scene. Additionally there were people—this wasn't an ice-house, but in fact was a Sigmor, a convenience store gas station place, and that there were witnesses outside, that the descriptions of the culprit differed from what Mr. DeLuna was found in. That Mr. DeLuna was found and that the eye-witnesses said that the culprit went in a different direction from which, different from which DeLuna was found, and that DeLuna . . . didn't have any blood on him. And, you know, what kind of police work is that? I mean, I've been around enough murder cases, been around enough blood to make anybody vomit. And you stab somebody in an artery or something and people start bleeding like a stuck pig. And it squirts. And it, it-it—You get blood on you. It's hard not to. And I find that somewhat suspect [that there was no blood on DeLuna]. Additionally, I think this case was wrapped up within an hour or two. And it was at night when [Detectives] Eddie [Garza] and Paul [Rivera] weren't working, yeah. If Eddie and Paul were there, they might have viewed it differently. . . . But if I had said to him [Detective Rivera], "Where's the blood, dude." You know, he'd think on that, and he'd come back, he might come back a week later and say, "there wasn't any blood on his shoes, I wouldn't look at him [as a suspect]." The people I think, I heard were involved [conducting the DeLuna investigation] were people that I don't think we're that good. Q. And when you say "those people" you mean the investigators that IDed him? A. Cops. Yeah, you know, I'm sure there were competent people there, but, you know, you need a lead person. That lead person kind of controls how an investigation goes down. You know, you need to—a solution to a crime is nice, but it's good to make sure you get all the evidence. Clearly, DeLuna in that situation was a man to arrest, but the case didn't need to be wrapped up in an hour. It clearly—This is a capital murder case. This ain't no joke.
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Jon Kelly, Lawyer for Carlos Hernandez, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 9, 2004) at 07:03:57–07:09:12:Q. How would you react to the fact that that crime scene was processed over the course of less than two hours, and turned back over to the manager of the gas station that evening, within two hours of the event occurring, to be cleaned out, washed out, and open for business soon thereafter, so that all of that happened at night and there was no investigation done at the scene, possibly during the day or over any course of time beyond two hours? . . . A. Well, the reaction that one has is that, you know, look: this isn't New York City and this isn't California, but come on now. I mean, how much work could be done. You know, obviously just the description itself begs the answer, doesn't it? I mean, you can close an ice house down for a night and nothing bad is going to happen. Certainly Diamond Shamrock isn't going to go broke. A man's life is at stake. Somebody died. Couldn't you think that's important enough to do it right? Of course not. I mean, it's silly. Return it two hours later? Come on. . . . But, you know, things should have been done maybe in the light of day, just to be sure that it was done right. I don't know who the persons were involved, but that's awful quick, isn't it? You hit that place with pine oil the next—that night, or the next morning, that's lost. All that's lost. Well, I mean, you know. First of all, I represent, I'm more of an emotion person, but come on now. We're talking fingerprints, aren't we? And if there's blood and people get blood on their hands there's going to be fingerprints all over the place, so you're going to be looking for prints. You're going to be looking too . . . for footprints. I mean, just think of the characteristics of tennis shoes, the characteristics of any shoes! Oh, my god, if any of the stuff was being handled, it just, it begs, doesn't it, to have a lot of forensic people there, to have a lot of photographs, to have a lot of fingerprint work. If there isn't, clearly something is seriously, seriously lacking, because if there was a struggle, these people were rolling in it . . . . And you'd be looking for that, certainly on the man that was caught. You'd be looking for blood. If there wasn't, you'd start to wonder, wouldn't you? I mean, that to me, that's the one thing that troubles me about this case is that I don't believe that DeLuna had much blood on him, if any. Well, he didn't go take a bath! And they found him, what? Within half an hour? Well, doesn't that leave one to question what the heck is going on?
p. 154 "'clear' at the time of the crime…"Bruno Mejia, Corpus Christi Police Dep't, Officer, Trial Test. at 68–70, Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 15, 1983) (testifying that the weather at the time he—the second officer at the scene—arrived at the gas station was "clear, mild, warm.").p. 154 "…eighth of an inch in the morning…"The Old Farmer's Almanac, http://www.almanac.com (last visited May 2, 2011) (showing weather for Corpus Christi on February 4, 1983 as 54.9–68.0 degrees Fahrenheit; 0.12" precipitation; 50.4 dew point); see supra Chapter 3, notes 36 and accompanying text; see infra Chapter 13, notes 45, 169 and accompanying text. Archived at: http://perma.cc/E6Q8-8XQJp. 154 "…some moisture on the ground (figure 10.2)."Crime Scene Photograph 25500022, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500023, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500024, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500029, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500032, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500034, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (all showing modest extent of standing moisture on outdoor pavement and grass surfaces); infra Figure 10.2.p. 154 "To remove bloodstains…suspect had access to."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:29:58–01:30:51:Q. Mr. Garza, it's my understanding that it had rained previous to this crime occurring. I don't believe that it was raining at the time but it had rained within a few hours of that crime. Do you think the rain or the wet ground would have influenced the integrity of those blood samples, had they been there on Mr. DeLuna's clothing? A. Definitely not. Definitely not. Rain would not have any kind of factor. If there was blood on the clothing, blood on the shoes, the rain that was there—You would have had to actually scrub both items and wash them real good to get blood stains removed from an item that the subject was wearing just moments before the crime.
See Jonathan I. Creamer, et al., Attempted Cleaning of Bloodstains and its Effect on the Forensic Luminal Test, 20 Luminescence 411 (2005) (reporting that only thorough washing of clothing with bleach or other chemicals, not just water, can undermine the ability of forensic luminal testing to identify the presence of blood).p. 154 "Yet the state lab…rest of his clothing."p. 154 "'If a person…to that white shirt.'"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:29:47–01:29:58 ("Again, if a person with a white shirt would have been at this crime scene it would have been a transfer of blood somewhere or another to that white shirt."); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:54:43–01:55:30:Q. And again, assessing this crime scene, again, based on your experience as an investigator, would you have an expectation that there would have been a transfer of evidence from the victim to the perpetrator of this crime? A. Definitely, definitely. There would have been blood somewhere on that person's body, their clothing. There would have been blood on the shoes. If that person would have been at that particular crime scene with as much blood as there was there, yes, definitely, that would have linked that person to that crime.
p. 154 "The same, he thought…'speck of blood on [it].'"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:27:53–01:28:10 ("[B]ut if any money came from that crime scene, there should have been some speck of blood on 149 dollars.").p. 154 "'And that was not there.'"Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:49:19–00:50:56 ("There had to be one stain of blood somewhere, as much blood as was at that crime scene, there had to be one speck of blood that they could have connected, Carlos DeLuna, yes, 'you were at the crime scene, this blood matches Wanda Lopez.' And that was not there.").p. 156 "Kevan Baker had described…to the ground and fleeing."Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Statement to Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 ("Before I could start to pump gas I heard this bang inside the store. I looked up and I seen this man pulling this lady from behind the counter by the hair. . . . She appeared to be the clerk. When I seen him pulling her by the hair I first thought they were playing, then I noticed he was really pulling her. She was bent over and he was trying to force her into the back room."); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 267–68, 270, 280–81:Q. And what did you see? A. I saw a man and a woman fighting. . . . [The man] was pulling her hair and I thought they were playing at first, that was my first impression, boyfriend/girlfriend. Q. And was there anything to change your mind about that? A. Yeah, the longer—longer I stood there, the more seconds I stood there, I realized they weren't playing. Q. Did either one of them appear to be trying to accomplish some aim? A. Yes, the gentleman was trying to—definitely pulling the lady by the air, trying to—apparently pull her through the door into the rear of the store.
Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 270, 268–269 ("The gentleman had the lady . . . and [was] trying hard to get her into the back of the store."; the man was "pulling" the girl "towards the back door toward, I suppose, a storage room, and she was doing all she could to hold herself back"; the man was trying to "apparently pull her through the door into the rear of the store . . . this door right here . . . . She was trying to hold herself back."); Transcribed Audiotape Interview with Kevan Baker, Eyewitness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, in Jackson, Mich. (Nov. 22, 2004) at 00:02–01:05 ("I looked up and I seen this Hispanic gentleman pulling on the girl's hair."); see also Crime Scene Photograph 25500035, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (showing the victim's hair and hair length as medics worked on her at the crime scene).p. 156 "Although Olivia Escobedo and Joel Infante…flung it as he fled."See Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); infra Figure 10.2; see also Crime Scene Photograph 25500005, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983).p. 156 "In cases involving…body for foreign hair."Marcia Packer, Corpus Christi Police Department, Field Investigation Report at 1 (Feb. 5, 1983) (discussing scan of DeLuna's body for evidence or effects of a struggle); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:45:19–00:45:51 ("That person, you have to link him with witnesses' statements, with the physical evidence that is found at the scene, whether it be footprints, fingerprints, palm prints, anything."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:32:34–01:33:49:But the people that arrested this guy and the investigator in charge of the case, that's the first thing they should have been looking for, for any type of evidence on this man's hands that would relate. If there was that much blood, definitely the offender would have had some type of blood stains in between his fingernails. . . . [T]hey didn't let him wash his hands or nothing, that's the first thing they should have checked: his fingernails for blood. There was too much blood in the place, even blood on the money that was in the place. Something would have revealed, that if he handled money with blood, it would have transferred over to his hands somewhere or another.
As Garza noted, if foreign hair had been found on Carlos DeLuna's body or clothing, Escobedo had the ability to compare it to Wanda Lopez's hair. See Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) ("I noticed that the victim's purse and a comb were underneath the counter. . . ."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:26:37–01:26:57 (noting the reference in Escobedo's supplementary report to the "comb . . . underneath the counter" and pointing out that "[t]here could have been hair tests taken from the comb to determine whether it was her hair or who else's hair"). Cf Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 (indicating that, although Escobedo noted the comb, Infante did not confiscate it, including for use in providing a reference sample of the victim's hair).p. 156 "No hair was found…analyzed his clothes."Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo (Feb. 17, 1983) at 1 ("On February 9, 1983, you personally submitted the following: . . . 2. A pair of men's black pants 3. One pair of white tennis shoes 4. One long sleeve men's shirt. It was requested that examinations be made to determine the presence of blood on the submitted items, and if, present, the origin and type. . . . No blood was found on the pants, shirt, or shoes."); see other sources cited supra note 73; Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:26:43–01:26:57 ("There could have been hair tests taken from the comb itself and to determine whether it was her hair or who else's hair was on that comb.").p. 156 "In store manager Robert Stange's estimate…$40 was missing."p. 156 "He found none…'right pants pocket.'"Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Supplementary Report (Undated) at 2 ("I searched the subject for weapons and found a wad of paper currency rolled up in his right hand pants pocket. I later determined that there were (3) twenty dollar bills, (7) ten dollar bills, (1) five dollar bill, and (14) one dollar bills.").p. 156 "He left the bills…count it later."Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Dep't, Officer, Supplementary Report (Feb. 8, 1983) (noting that before he counted the bills found on DeLuna he "had the wad of bills rolled up and lying on the table. . . (the twenties were observable at the bottom of the roll)").; Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 113–14 (stating that he the money remained "rolled up into a . . . bunch" until he "started unflapping it to count it," then noticed DeLuna was "counting it as I was unrolling it," at which point Schauer "rolled it back up and . . . counted it later").p. 156 "In the middle…bundle in his pocket?"See Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:27:53–01:28:10 ([B]ut if any money came from that crime scene, there should have been some speck of blood on 149 dollars.").p. 156 "…perpetrator in Garza's opinion…"p. 156 "In her report…where she observed blood."Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) (describing the following locations, surfaces and objects stained with blood: (1) "the soles of her [Wanda Lopez's] feet were observed to be bloodied"; (2) "immediately outside the door of the service station and to the left had several areas which had blood smeared on the glass, on the door and on the ground"; (3) "there was an area approximately 32 inches to the left of the door which had a large pool of thick blood and substance on the ground"; (4) "there was blood smeared about 23 inches up on the metal molding"; (5) "to the right of this area were more blood smears, which was approximately 24 inches on the metal molding"; (6) "to the right to this area, still approaching the door, was another area which had blood smears on the glass, this was measured at approximately 43 inches from the ground level; (7) "there was blood smeared in different areas on the side walk in and around the ground immediately outside the door"; (8) "blood smeared on the door handle on the inside of the door"; (9) "on the lower left hand side of the door there was blood smeared on the door frame"; (10) "there was a trail of blood, and foot prints in blood, leading from behind the counter, heading toward the door, this trial of blood was approximately 134½" from the door edge to the lower right hand corner of the counter, it varied in width from 14" to 19" in different locations along the way"; (11) the "trail of blood" led "behind the counter" where "more blood was found"; (12) "there were paper towels scattered, they were bloodied, a calendar laid on the floor, the upper left hand corner of it was bloodied"; (13) "a plastic bag, the type used by the store to place cold drinks in was also close by and it had blood pools on top of it"; (14) "there was blood smeared all over the floor in this area, it was splattered on the lower portion of the door leading to the storage room"; (15) "The other slap [shoe] was observed to be laying upside down, the sole of the shoe was bloodied, and it laid near the doorway leading into the storage room"; (16) "A five dollar bill was also found to be laying on the floor underneath the cash register tray, it was observed to have a blood stain on it"; (17) "I observed that the front of the cash register machine itself was covered with blood on the front portion of it"; (18) "The back side of the check out counter was observed to have blood smears on the lower right hand corner"; (19) "I also saw that there was blood smeared on the counter top"); see also Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 299–307.p. 157 "The investigating officer's…'for testing blood type' and enzymes."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:15:05–01:15:30 ("Again, the proper identification in charge of the crime scene should have obtained swabs from every area of blood, whether it be on the wall, whether it be on the floor or doors, and properly put in a vial and sent to the lab for testing blood type.").p. 157 "Unbelievably, however, Escobedo…blood sample from the scene."Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) (noting items to be sent to state forensic laboratory for testing but not listing any swabs of blood from the scene); Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 (noting "lots of blood on the floor" but not noting any swabs taken of blood); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:07:53–01:10:14:My opinion, that [there] should have been swabs taken from the blood, if what direction was it leading to. And I would have submitted those to the [Texas state crime] lab in Austin for identification of the blood to see if it was the victim's blood or the offender's blood . . . . I feel that the whole door should have been processed and then swabs taken from the particular areas where there was blood on the door. Those swabs should have been obtained and sent to the [state crime] laboratory in Austin to determine who's, what type of blood it was . . . . [A]ny blood that was at the scene, wherever it was obtained from, should have been protected, put into swabs in the proper containers, sent to the laboratory for proper identification . . . . If there was any evidence that there might be a bloody print, that print should have been photographed. Then after it was photographed, there should have been some swabs taken of the blood to identify it properly.
Steve Mills and Maurice Possley, The Secret That Wasn't: Violent Felon Bragged That He Was Real Killer, Last of Three Parts, Chi. Trib., June 27, 2006, available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/eedition/chi-tx-3-story,0,761635.htmlstory:His [Garza's] recent examination of the case's police reports, at the Tribune's request, renewed his skepticism about De Luna's guilt. Garza concluded the initial crime scene investigation was sloppy and brief. He noted that none of the blood spattered on the floor of the station was collected for testing, so there was no way to determine whether the attacker's blood was present. The only items sent for blood testing were the knife [sic, the knife was not tested for blodd], De Luna's clothing and a $5 bill. . . . "This case wasn't put together right," Garza said. Noting that investigators found no physical evidence that could be used to identify the attacker, he said, "It probably was there to be found. It was just overlooked." Archived at: http://perma.cc/HQ8C-HECL
p. 157 "Although they found blood…for an attacker's blood."Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983):As I walked back behind the counter, I saw that the trail of blood came from this area, signs of a struggle was [sic] obvious, there were paper towels scattered, they were bloodied . . . there was blood smeared all over the tile floor in this area, it was splattered on the lower portion of the door leading to the storage room. . . . I also observed that there was blood smeared on the door handle on the inside of the door, and on the lower left hand side of the door there was blood smeared on the door frame. . . . A cigarette butt, no distinguishing brand on it, found on the floor also behind the counter—laying close to a calendar near a pool of blood. . . . Retrieved at 9:55 p.m. Evidence tag # 40149.
Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1; (reporting that he took photographs of the scene and noted "lots of blood on the floor"); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 305–306 ("This is the knife I retrieved [at the crime scene] on February the 4th, 1983. . . . At the time that I first observed this knife, it was open and it had some type of substance on it. To me it appeared to be some type of fatty substance, tissue on it."); Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 21, 1983) at 205 (describing condition of knife found at the scene: "The— the blade of the knife was—was very wet, it had some kind of substance on it, blood and some kind of pulp or something that came out from [witness does not finish the sentence]."); see Crime Scene Photograph 25500005, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500007, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500008, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500010, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500013, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500014, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500018, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500028, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500031, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500037, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500038, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); (all showing blood-stained items that Escobedo and Infante could have taken possession of for blood testing, but did not); see also Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983):There was an area approximately 32 inches to the left of the door which had a large pool of thick blood and substance on the ground. From here I observed that there was blood smeared about 23 inches up from the ground on the metal molding, to the right of this area was more blood smears, which was approximately 24 inches from the ground on the metal molding, to the right of this area, still approaching the door, was another area which had blood smears on the glass, this was measured at approximately 43 inches from the ground level. The sidewalk measure approximately 34 inches in width, and there was blood smeared in different areas of the side walk in and around the ground immediately outside of the door. . . . I saw that there was a trail of blood, and foot prints in blood, leading from behind the counter, heading toward the door. . . . The trail led back behind the check out counter where the whole area was in total disarray and more blood was found in the area.
p. 157 "As for the paper towels…standing on one of them."Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:44:14–00:45:16, 00:50:56–00:51:55:And there was evidence that was stepped on by the investigator that was at the scene. And to me, if you just stay out of a crime scene and talk to the witnesses outside and secure the scene and just let [the] identification take, whether it be one day, two days, or three days, just to be at that scene, processing the scene, I think that the results of this case would have been totally different. . . . The first thing that I notice that this female, who is Olivia Escobedo, she is standing here, and all I can see is that her shoe is on top of a piece of paper that could probably be a piece of evidence. To me, right there and then, the crime scene is already contaminated by her heels of her shoes stepping on part of a paper. What if that paper had a fingerprint on it?
Steve Mills & Maurice Possley, The Secret that Wasn't: Violent Felon Bragged that he Was Real Killer. Last of Three Parts. Chi. Trib., June 27, 2006, available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/eedition/chi-tx-3-story,0,761635.htmlstory ("One police photo shows Escobedo standing in the middle of the spattered blood behind the station counter. The station reopened a few hours after the crime."); see also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Karen Boudrie-Evers, Corpus Christi Television Reporter in Dallas, Texas (Feb 28, 2005) at 03:12:39 (recalling a conversation TV news reporter Boudrie had in the mid- to late 1980s with attorney Rene Rodriguez, while she was covering the lawsuit Rodriguez had brought on behalf of the Wanda Lopez's family against Diamond-Shamrock, in which the lawyer described the "shoddy police work" he had discovered through evidence obtained in the course of the civil case; Boudrie particularly recalled a reference to a photograph of "Olivia Escobedo . . . stepping around in the evidence" and Rodriguez's concern that evidence "had been contaminated"). Archived at: http://perma.cc/46NQ-HZ5Bp. 157 "Next to her is a roll…'contaminat[ing]' the scene."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004 ) at 00:51:59–00:52:58:Another thing that I saw in this scene that, right up here, is a roll of tape that is used by identification people to lift prints. There is another photograph of that particular part of a photo, which is in photo number 1, shows the roll of tape that is used, it's on the floor. I don't know, the identification person that was on the scene was pretty careless in letting some of his equipment fall into part of the crime scene
p. 157 "Escobedo even forgot…only weapon she had."See Joseph C. Rupp, Medical Examiner, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 21, 1983) at 213 ("Q. Did anybody ask you [the Medical Examiner who performed the autopsy] to do fingernail scrapings on [Wanda Lopez]? A. No."). Unlike reference fingerprints, which may be collected from the victim's body at any time prior to burial, see infra note 196 and accompanying text, fingernail scrapings cannot be collected from the victim's body once it is cleaned and prepared for burial. See also Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:32:09–01:32:26 ("A person trying to defend herself, if that's the only weapon that she has, is her nails, should have revealed some kind of scrapings. And if it wasn't done, somebody dropped the ball and didn't do the proper examining on this body.").p. 157 "'Somebody dropped the ball,' Garza lamented."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:32:09–01:32:26 ("A person trying to defend herself, if that's the only weapon that she has, is her nails, should have revealed some kind of scrapings. And if it wasn't done, somebody dropped the ball and didn't do the proper examining on this body.").p. 157 "Given how little Escobedo and Infante…identify the perpetrator."See Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:45:51:And when the person is arrested, if that person has anything on his person, whether it be blood stains on his shoes, his soles, whether he took anything from the scene, whether there would be blood that would match the victim's blood that was in there, whether this person had a fight with an individual that might have linked him more closely to the crime, whether he had—what type of clothing he was wearing at the time that he was arrested, that would link him back to the crime scene. You have all types of people walking around different areas of a crime scene. Just because they find somebody hiding somewhere underneath a car, and there's no physical evidence to tie that person to the crime scene itself. I see that a lot of things that did not get done on this particular case that could have been done to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this person was the actual person that had committed the crime. I think that they left a lot of doubts when the case was presented to the courts.
Steve Mills & Maurice Possley, The Secret that Wasn't: Violent Felon Bragged that he Was Real Killer. Last of Three Parts, Chi. Trib., June 27, 2006, available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/eedition/chi-tx-3-story,0,761635.htmlstory. Archived at: http://perma.cc/HZK8-5H2Ap. 157 "'It just was overlooked.'"Steve Mills & Maurice Possley, The Secret that Wasn't: Violent Felon Bragged that he Was Real Killer, Last of Three Parts. Chi. Trib., June 27, 2006, available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/eedition/chi-tx-3-story,0,761635.htmlstory; see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:46:50 ("There was a counter, a front door . . ., a rear storage area, and not much of an area . . . pretty crowded inside of the place because they have different racks here, different racks there. But it's all contained to a small area, I'd say no more than about ten by ten area. And, to me, that was a pretty small crime scene that a lot more evidence that was not collected, that was overlooked, was left at the scene without even collecting."). Archived at: http://perma.cc/HX5C-SKQ5p. 157 "'The case wasn't put together right.'"Steve Mills & Maurice Possley, The Secret that Wasn't: Violent Felon Bragged that he Was Real Killer, Last of Three Parts. Chi. Trib., June 27, 2006, available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/eedition/chi-tx-3-story,0,761635.htmlstory; see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:10:11–00:11:03:And the crime scene itself was really a crime scene that was not gone over. If I would have been investigating this case, I would be extremely careful of how the crime scene was processed, and, to me, the person assigned with the identification division that went to this scene did not do a proper job, especially on a capital murder case. There was many pieces of evidence that could have come into view that were probably completely ignored and overlooked. Archived at: http://perma.cc/WZT7-3WYM
Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:42:50:I feel that if you do not protect a crime scene and let the proper people from the identification division come in and just seal that scene until they're satisfied that they've picked up every bit of the evidence that is available in the crime that supposedly was committed. I think that the identification section plays the most major role in solving any type of homicide because, to me, if I was to take you back to the scene of this particular time, Wanda Lopez at the 2600 block of S.P.I.D., the crime scene was not protected enough, it was not secured enough. The identification people that actually processed the scene for evidence did not use the proper way that I would have requested that a crime scene be searched and protected for evidence. It could have been lifted from the place.
p. 157 "The fragment is burned…broken off on the other."See Crime Scene Photograph 25500005, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500008, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500015, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500028, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983).p. 159 "Escobedo noticed the cigarette fragment…"Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) (describing discovery of possible physical evidence at the crime scene: "A cigarette butt, no distinguishing brand on it, found on the floor also behind the counter—laying close to a calendar near a pool of blood. . . . Retrieved at 9:55 p.m. Evidence tag # 40149.").p. 159 "…saliva (where a person's blood often secretes)…"See, e.g., David Wong, Salivary Diagnostics 273 (2008) ("Blood can leak into oral fluids due to injury (burns, abrasions, or cuts to the cheek, tongue, or gums).").p. 159 "She never had it examined for fingerprints."Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) (describing discovery of possible physical evidence at the crime scene: "A cigarette butt, no distinguishing brand on it, found on the floor also behind the counter—laying close to a calendar near a pool of blood. . . . Retrieved at 9:55 p.m. Evidence tag # 40149."); Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 (omitting cigarette fragment from list of items processed for fingerprints); Olivia Escobedo, Texas Dep't of Public Safety Laboratory Physical Evidence Submission Form (Feb. 9, 1983) at 2 (listing items submitted for laboratory testing of some sort (blood, hair, fingerprints, etc.), including only the $5 bill, a pair of black pants, a pair of white shoes, and a long sleeve shirt, and Q-tip swabs); Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo (Feb. 17, 1983) (omitting the cigarette fragment from the comprehensive list of items sent to the lab to be analyzed for blood, hair or other identifying substances); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 00:51:59–00:52:58 ("As I see here, I believe that this is a cigarette butt [which should have been] retrieved from the scene to be tested for fingerprints or anything else.").p. 159 "It, too, must have fallen…during the struggle."Crime Scene Photograph 25500005, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500008, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500015, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500019, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500028, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500030, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); see supra Chapter 4, notes 62–68 and accompanying text.p. 159 "Behind Escobedo was a maroon button…jacket the attacker wore."Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Statement to Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 ("He had on what looked like a flannel shirt with some red in it."); Mark Schauer, Corpus Christi Police Officer, Supplementary Report (Undated) at 1 ("The bolo advised the suspect was a Hispanic male . . . [who] wore dark pants and a flannel shirt . . . dark wavy, ear-length hair."); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Pretrial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. June 20, 1983) at 28–29, 39–42 ("I described [to the officer] a shirt that had some red in it."; "I felt that it was something with red in it"; "something long-sleeved"; "possibly a flannel shirt"); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 265–77, 281, 286 (describing the shirt the assailant wore as "something red with flannel or something flannel with red in it"); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:20:42–01:21:00 ("Comparisons of that [maroon] button should have been looked at, in the clothing that the offender was wearing at the time, whether it was jerked off by the victim, or whether it was a button that belonged to some of the victim's clothing, that should have been properly identified in some way or another."). Compare Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) ("I saw that there was a maroon colored button laying on the red floor mat.") with Olivia Escobedo, Texas Dep't of Public Safety Laboratory Physical Evidence Submission Form (Feb. 9, 1983) at 2 (submitting only the $5 bill, a pair of black pants, a pair of white shoes, a long sleeve shirt, and Q-tip swabs for testing); Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo (Feb. 17, 1983) (omitting the button from the items sent to the lab to be chemically processed for blood) and Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report at 1 (Feb. 4, 1983) (omitting the button from the list of items processed for fingerprints).p. 159 "She also spotted a comb…compared with DeLuna's."Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) ("I noticed . . . a comb . . . underneath the counter. . ."; comb is omitted from items Escobedo reports as having been confiscated from the scene); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) (omitting the comb from the items seized, bagged and marked at the scene); Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 (omitting comb from lists of item seized and those processed forensically); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Texas Dep't of Public Safety Laboratory Physical Evidence Submission Form (Feb. 9, 1983) at 2 (submitting only the $5 bill, a pair of black pants, a pair of white shoes, a long sleeve shirt, and Q-tip swabs for testing; omitting the comb); Letter from James F. Waller, Jr., Supervisor, Chemistry Laboratory, to Sergeant Olivia Escobedo (Feb. 17, 1983) (omitting the comb from the list of items chemically processed for blood, hair or other identifying substances); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:26:37–01:26:57 ("There could have been hair tests taken from the comb itself and to determine whether it was her hair or who else's hair was on that comb.").p. 159 "She didn't even test…saliva and secreted blood."Crime Scene Photograph 25500025, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500026, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 (noting that he processed two "beer cans which he found out the back of the gas station on the grass" for prints but not listing them among the items sent for laboratory analysis for blood and secretions); see George Aguirre, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 222−23 ("There was a person standing by the—I guess this is the ice machine, right by the ice machine drinking a beer. . . . [W]hen I was looking at him, you know, through the corner of my eye, I saw him putting a knife in his left pocket open, the blade was—I saw him holding it by the blade and putting it in his left pocket."); Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:31:08–01:31:31 ("[The cans] should have been packaged up, taken to the lab, and tested for any type of evidence linking the offender. If he had actually placed those cans back there, it would have had something that would identify that offender to those cans."); supra Chapter 2, notes 76–77 and accompanying text.p. 159 "In their photographs…"Crime Scene Photograph 25500012, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500003, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (trail of bloody footprints); Crime Scene Photograph 25500014, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (similar); Crime Scene Photograph 25500021, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (similar).p. 159 "…through the flap-door to the front door (figure 10.4 )."Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) ("I saw that there was a trail of blood, and foot prints in blood, leading from behind the counter, heading toward the door, this trial of blood was approximately 134 1/2" from the door edge to the lower right hand corner of the counter, it varied in width from 14" to 19" in different locations along the way."); Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 ("Later more photos were taken in side of the area behind the counter where a struggle took place.").p. 159 "From the size of the feet…Kevan Baker's arms just outside."Crime Scene Photograph 25500014, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Crime Scene Photograph 25500028, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983); Olivia Escobedo, Corpus Christi Police Detective in Wanda Lopez and Dahlia Sauceda Cases, Supplementary Report (Feb. 5, 1983) at 1:A brown slap (shoe) brown leather type strap with burlap material trim on the soles, shoe was found on the floor behind the counter; shoe was approximately one foot away from a soft drink display which was also located beside the counter . . . Evidence tag # 40147. . . . A brown slap (shoe) brown leather type strap with burlap material trim on the soles, this is the companion shoe to Evidence tag # 40147, shoe was found laying close to the opened door leading to the storage room, shoe was observed to be laying upside down, and the sole of the shoe is bloodied. . . Evidence tag # 40155 [and describing the trail of the victim's bloody footprints running from behind the counter to the front door of the Sigmor store].
Joel Infante, Corpus Christi Police Identification Technician, Field Investigation Report (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 ("When I arrived the ambulance was still out there and a girl was being treated in front of the gas station. I photographed the area including the victim."); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Statement to Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) at 1 ("I approached the lady coming out the front door. She had blood all over her. She fell into the building and I helped her on down to the ground. All she said was, 'Help me, help me.'"); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Pretrial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. June 20, 1983) at 36−37 ("She just kind of come against me, and then fell back into the building and started sliding down the side of the window right by the front door, and I seen the blood and she kept trying to get up and I kind of forced her to the ground so that she would lay down and remain calm. She said 'Help me. Help me.'"); Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 274 ("A. I turned around and met the store clerk at the door, she had made it that far. Q. Okay. Did she say anything to you? A. She said, 'Help me. Help me.' Q. What did she do then? A. Fell back against the store window and slid to the ground."); see Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:20:14–01:20:31 ("To me, the way the shoes were found there was one found in one area, one was upside, the other one was right-side up. Indicates that she was running for her life and actually ran out of her shoes just trying to get away from the perpetrator.").p. 159 "…including a complete print of a right shoe…"- 117.
p. 160 'Another photo…Baker saw the fleeing killer use (figure 10.5)."Crime Scene Photograph 25500033, Corpus Christi Police Dep't (Feb. 4, 1983) (revealing red marks shaped like the front half of a shoe on the sidewalk outside the Sigmor east of the doorway); infra Figure 10.5; see Kevan Baker, Witness to Attack on Wanda Lopez, Trial Test., Texas v. DeLuna, No. 83-CR–194-A (Nueces Cty., 28th Dist. Tex. July 18, 1983) at 270, 281 ("I was standing here on the curb or just off the curb and he come around and said, 'Don't mess with me,' and took off."; "Q. Okay. And which way did he run? A. He ran to the left—it would be to my right or to his left . . . ."Q. Okay, when you say, 'he ran,' do you mean a fast run or a sprint, a jog, a lope, a trot? A. I would say a sprint. Q. He was running pretty fast? A. Yes, sir."); supra Chapter 2, notes 39–40 and accompanying text.p. 160 "Because Escobedo never investigated…photographed them close up."Transcribed Videotape Interview with Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Dec. 6, 2004) at 01:47:50–01:48:15 ("Q. Would there be an expectation to find trace evidence outside the store itself? A. You would look for that in your trail of blood. Trail of blood and from eyewitnesses that said, 'hey, the offender ran that way.'" And then you would follow your crime scene over to where the offender was apprehended.").