WOODLAND — A jury will get to see video of Marco Topete’s alleged confession to shooting and killing a Yolo County sheriff’s deputy, Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson ruled Monday.

Richardson denied a defense motion to suppress the post-arrest statements, saying Topete both understood and waived his Miranda rights before answering selective questions, thus “not effectively invoking his right to remain silent” during his June 16, 2008, interview with detectives.

“This would lead a reasonable police officer to believe that the subject of the shooting was not completely foreclosed,” said Richardson, who privately watched the six-hour interrogation video last week. He also said Topete did not “unambiguously” request an attorney during the interview, as the defense had claimed.

Richardson’s ruling followed testimony by Cpl. Ron Cordova, a Woodland Police Department gang expert, who offered the opinion that Topete demonstrated both criminal and street-gang sophistication in the years leading up to his alleged shooting of Deputy Jose “Tony” Diaz, and that Topete was well-versed in law-enforcement tactics.

Bruce Naliboff, chief investigator for the Yolo County district attorney’s office, testified that Topete had had at least a dozen previous contacts with police, starting with a shoplifting incident at age 9 and leading to two arrests for firing a weapon that resulted in stints in state prison.

Topete, 39, has pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from the Diaz shooting. He faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if he is convicted.

Jurors could see the video as soon as Thursday, when they return from a weeklong break imposed while the court conducts a series of evidentiary hearings in the case.

Richardson also is expected to rule on the extent of mental-health testimony that defense attorneys will be allowed to offer during the trial’s guilt phase. Prosecutors argue that such evidence should be reserved for the trial’s penalty phase.

Dr. Rahn Minagawa, a clinical and forensic psychologist, testified Monday that years of exposure to child abuse and violent altercations have left Topete suffering from “complex trauma,” a condition in which a person can have “significant problems controlling their behaviors.”

“They tend to be more aggressive, they tend to be more impulsive,” said Minagawa, who also opined that Topete “meets the criteria” for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Defense attorneys are seeking to introduce the testimony regarding Topete’s mental health “to show that the killing was not willful, deliberate and premeditated,” the necessities for a first-degree murder conviction, according to court documents. “It must be left to the jury to decide whether Mr. Topete had the specific mental state required for the charged crimes.”

Two more witnesses, psychologist Dr. Nell Riley and psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Tucker, are expected to take the stand this week before Richardson issues his ruling regarding their testimony.

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or (530) 747-8048. Follow her on Twitter @laurenkeene

Comments

comments