The Brass Verdict

“Now that I object to,” Golantz said.

“Look, no recess, no delay and no more bickering,” the judge said. “We’ve already lost most of the morning. Objection overruled. Step back.”

We returned to our places and I played a thirty-second cut of the video showing the handcuffed man being placed in the back of the 4-alpha car at Malibu Creek State Park. I froze the image in the same spot as before, just as the car was speeding by the camera. I left it on the screen as I continued my direct examination.

“Deputy Stallworth, is that you driving that car?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Who is the man in the backseat?”

“His name is Eli Wyms.”

“I noticed that he was handcuffed before being placed in the car. Is that because he was under arrest?”

“Yes, he was.”

“What was he arrested for?”

“For trying to kill me, for one. He was also charged with unlawful discharge of a weapon.”

“How many counts of unlawful discharge of a weapon?”

“I can’t recall the exact number.”

“How about ninety-four?”

“That sounds about right. It was a lot. He shot the place up out there.”

Stallworth was tired and subdued but unhesitant in his answers. He had no idea how they fit into the Elliot case and didn’t seem to care about trying to protect the prosecution with short, nonresponsive answers. He was probably mad at Golantz for not getting him out of testifying.

“So you arrested him and took him to the nearby Malibu station?”

“No, I transported him all the way to the county jail in downtown, where he could be placed on the psych level.”

“How long did that take? The drive, I mean.”

“About an hour.”

“And then you drove back to Malibu?”

“No, first I had four-alpha repaired. Wyms had fired a shot that took out the side lamp. While I was downtown, I went to the motor pool and had it replaced. That took up the rest of my shift.”

“So when did the car return to Malibu?”

“At shift change. I turned it over to the day-watch guys.”

I looked down at my notes.

“That would have been deputies… Murray and Harber?”

“That’s right.”

Stallworth yawned and there was murmured laughter in the courtroom.

“I know we have you past your bedtime, Deputy. I won’t take too much longer. When you turn the car over from shift to shift, do you clean it out or disinfect the car in any way?”

“You’re supposed to. Realistically, unless you’ve got puke in the backseat, nobody does that. The cars get taken out of rotation once or twice a week and the motor guys clean them up.”

“Did Eli Wyms puke in your car?”

“No, I would’ve known.”

More murmured laughter. I looked down from the lectern at Golantz and he wasn’t smiling at all.

“Okay, Deputy Stallworth, let me see if I got this right. Eli Wyms was arrested for shooting at you and firing at least ninety-three other shots that morning. He was arrested, his hands were cuffed behind his back and he was transported by you downtown. Do I have all of that right?”

“Sounds right to me.”

“In the video, Mr. Wyms can be seen in the rear passenger side seat. Did he stay there for the whole hour-long ride downtown?”

“Yes, he did. I had him belted in.”

“Is it standard procedure to place someone who is in custody on the passenger side?”

“Yes, it is. You don’t want him behind you when you’re driving.”

“Deputy, I also noticed on the tape that you did not place Mr. Wyms’s hands in plastic bags or anything of that nature before placing him in your patrol car. Why is that?”

“Didn’t think it was necessary.”

“Why?”

“Because it was not going to be an issue. The evidence was overwhelming that he had fired the weapons in his possession. We weren’t worried about gunshot residue.”

“Thank you, Deputy Stallworth. I hope you can go get some sleep now.”

I sat down and left the witness for Golantz. He slowly got up and took the lectern. He knew exactly where I was going now but there was little he was going to be able to do to stop me. But I had to give him credit. He found a small crack in my direct and tried his best to exploit it.

“Deputy Stallworth, approximately how long did you wait for your car to be repaired at the downtown motor hub?”

“About two hours. They only have a couple guys work midnight watch and they were juggling jobs down there.”

“Did you stay with the car for those two hours?”

“No, I grabbed a desk in the office and wrote up the arrest report on Wyms.”

“And you testified earlier that no matter what the procedure is supposed to be, you generally rely on the motor pool to keep the fleet cars clean, is that correct?”

“Yes, correct.”

“Do you make a formal request or do people working in the motor hub just take it upon themselves to clean and maintain the car?”

“I’ve never made a formal request. It just gets done, I guess.”

“Now, during those two hours that you were away from the car and writing the report, do you know if the employees in the motor hub cleaned or disinfected the car?”

“No, I do not.”

“They could have and you wouldn’t necessarily know about it, right?”

“Right.”

“Thank you, Deputy.”

I hesitated but got up for redirect.