Defense attorneys challenge prosecution’s case in deadly Modesto Park Stabbing Defense attorneys on Monday challenged the prosecution’s case against three defendants accused of murder in a Modesto park stabbing. Testimony has indicated that Jacob Segura, Taylor Koplen and Juan Garcia confronted Tylor Crippen and his girlfriend, before the defendants chased Crippen into Creekwood Park where he was stabbed to death. But each defense attorney argued that his client didn’t kill Crippen. Mark Sullivan, Segura’s attorney, directed the blame toward Koplen. “There’s your murderer,” Sullivan said while pointing to Koplen in the courtroom. “Not my client.” Martin Baker, Koplen’s attorney, argued that it’s not clear who stabbed Crippen, because there’s a conflicting description of the knife-wielding man and the surviving victim couldn’t identify the suspects. “I’ll just tell you we don’t know, either way,” Baker told the jury. Alonzo Gradford, Garcia’s attorney, said there was no planned robbery, so his client is not guilty of a murder someone else committed. “The prosecution just does not have the details to convict Mr. Garcia,” Gradford argued. The prosecutor argued that three defendants were working together in the attempted robbery of Crippen and his girlfriend, Brittany Waldo. Under the law’s felony-murder rule, everyone who attempted to carry out a felony, or attempted robbery in this case, should be convicted of murder when the crime results in someone’s death. “You don’t have to prove the intent to kill, you just have to prove the intent to rob,” Deputy District Attorney Marlisa Ferreira said in her rebuttal argument Monday. Closing arguments in the trial against Segura, Koplen and Garcia ended late Monday afternoon. The jury of six women and six men is expected to begin deliberations Wednesday morning, because Stanislaus Superior Court is closed Tuesday for Veteran’s Day. Along with murder, the defendants face charges of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery, along with enhancements of committing crimes for the benefit of the Norteño street gang. The judge has told the jury it can choose to convict the defendants of the charge of theft or attempted theft, both misdemeanors. Without the felony attempted robbery charges in connection with the stabbing, the jury cannot convict a defendant of murder if it does not believe he did not stab Crippen. But the prosecutor argued that it’s clear the 18-year-old man’s death was the result of a botched robbery. The robbery charge stems from a confrontation with Alex Salazar. The prosecutor told the jury that Salazar was attacked by the defendants shortly before 8:30 p.m. Jan. 29, 2013, at Creekwood Park. Ferreira said they took Salazar’s cellphone and pocket knife; police later found Salazar’s phone at Koplen’s home. Several minutes after the Salazar robbery, Koplen used Salazar’s knife to stab Crippen at the same park, the prosecutor said. “They are working as a pack to take down everyone they encounter,” Ferreira told the jury. The defense attorneys agreed, saying the evidence doesn’t show the defendants planned to rob Crippen and his girlfriend. “The prosecution wants you to rely on pure speculation,” Sullivan told the jurors. Crippen’s blood was found on Garcia’s right shoe and on Koplen’s hands and pants. “The blood is not on my client’s hands. The blood is not on my client’s clothes,” Sullivan said while insisting Koplen alone brandished the knife and moments later killed Crippen. Baker suggested that Koplen punched Crippen; not stabbed. He argued that’s why investigators found Crippen’s blood on only one of Koplen’s hands, which is consistent with punching the victim. Koplen’s attorney told the jury that it was Segura who punched Salazar first and called the other defendants to join him in “a beat down by three drunken idiots.” Baker also said the defendants weren’t acting together like wolf pack. “It sounds like there was a lone wolf, Mr. Segura. He was the primary aggressor.” Gradford argued investigators only found one microscopic spot of Crippen’s blood on Garcia’s shoe, which could’ve rubbed off from someone else. He said the prosecution’s theory has holes, and it didn’t prove his client stabbed Crippen. “It’s not your responsibility to fill in the gaps for the prosecutor,” Gradford told the jury.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 02:30:49 +0000
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