Bed & Breakfast

When I checked the website for the funny LOL Cats this morning, I found this one. It reminded me of a Bed 'n Breakfast place that I would really like to stay in one of these days. It's a Lighthouse/Light Station that has been converted to a Bed and Breakfast on the Oregon coast. The place is the Heceta Head Lighthouse.

I actually saw the place last fall when I drove my parents up to Washington to visit family and friends. (I'll have to put some of the pictures I took on that trip in here one of these days.. lol) We drove up Highway 1 through Northern California, then through Oregon and when we hit Washington, we turned east. But one afternoon on the Oregon coast, we were driving up the highway admiring the views, I needed to have a break to get out and walk off a cramp in my leg. I spotted a turnout along side the road (It wasn't one my Stepdad wanted.. No restroom.. lol) and quickly made the left turn into it because I knew where we were. I wanted to see that view of the lighthouse... And take a few pictures of it.


Beautiful, isn't it? I have seen so many photos of that lighthouse, but this one is mine. Some day I'm going to make reservations there and spend a night or two... The lighthouse out on that rocky point is a working lighthouse, but the Keeper's house has been converted into a Bed and Breakfast. There are paths out to the lighthouse and down to the beach to stroll on. Would you believe they serve a 7 course breakfast every morning?

Also, a mile away, there is the Sea Lion Caves which would be something to see.. There's even an elevator that takes you down into the cave to see the Sea Lions inside. They say that Fall and Winter are the best times to visit the Caves. Come to think of it, I think Fall or Winter would be a good time to be at the Lighthouse too. I love watching the ocean after a storm and beach-combing is best then too. You never know what you'll find washed up on a beach after a storm.

Ahh... What a dream... Someday I'm going to make it there for a night or two...

Uncle Jay Explains The News?

I found a website this morning that puts a new video up every monday... Or so it says on the site. It's Uncle Jay Explains and the videos he produces on this site are funny explanations of things like blogs (From Sept. 24th last year);



Or the recesses that Congress takes (From Sept. 3rd last year);



And here's the video he added today that explains the current news... With mentions of the presidential candidates appearing on WWE Raw and the candidate's spouses appearing on various programs... Err.. Except for Clinton... lol (This one is dated today.)



I've been sitting here watching a few of his videos while I drink my coffee. Of course I have to be careful of when I take a drink because I really, really, don't want to have to clean the coffee off my monitor or keyboard... So, put your coffee or tea or soda down and watch one of the videos... I wouldn't want you to have to clean your monitor or keyboard off either! lol

Sunday Morning Cutie

What can I say? lol... What an adorable face....


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In The Rough

Things just don't go well for this poor caveman... lol

Just sharing....

I thought I'd share a few photos that I've taken during travels in the last year or so.... Hope you enjoy them. Today, the pictures are from a little trip I took with my parents late last summer. My step-dad decided to "test" my driving skills, so he decided we'd head over towards the coast and stay at the Coast Guard Training Facility near Petaluma. The coast sounded lovely to me, since we'd been having a heat wave over here in the valley. I don't do that well in 115 degree days.. lol I didn't get many pictures at the Coast Guard facility, but one day we decided to drive up the coast to Fort Ross. They had been there once before on a tour, but I'd never seen the place in person. Only in photos in books or magazines. The place is beautiful. The day we were there, it was peaceful and quiet. Not many visitors at all, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Which made it a prime day for taking photos.

The chapel.

Another view of the chapel.

The well and cannons in the background.

View from one of the windows in one of the buildings.


More of the buildings in the fort with the cannons and well in the foreground.

They had flyers on one of tables in the building on the left in the last picture that described a yearly event called "Cultural Heritage Day". It's apparently held on the last Saturday in July every year. My Mom and I thought it would be a fun event to go to. We'll have to start working on my Step-dad soon and see if we can manage a trip to see it.

Interesting Images...

This is just a post of some interesting images found around the web that caught my eye, and I "borrowed" them for this post. I didn't take the pictures, and if by some chance the original photographers see this post, please contact me so I can give you credit or remove them.

The first one is a traffic jam that I sure wouldn't want to be in, but it makes an interesting pattern! How on earth did all those cars get jammed up like that? Was it deliberate for the picture or?

This is one very sneaky cat. I wonder if the hunt went well for it... lol

I've seen a lot of creative mailboxes alongside the road over the years, but this one takes the cake..

I guess if you can't find a proper parking spot, you just have to "make it fit"?

We hear about truck pileups on the news all the time, but I don't think this is quite what they have in mind when they report them. I'd like to know where this thing is! lol

Small update: I found out where the last image is from. It happened at Burning Man. A huge gathering in the Nevada Desert. Here's a quote from the Burning Man website:

Every year, tens of thousands of participants gather to create Black Rock City in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, dedicated to self-expression, self-reliance, and art as the center of community. They leave one week later, having left no trace.

This sculpture "happened" at the 2007 Burning Man. So the trucks aren't piled up anymore. They've been dismantled and taken away. I browsed through the images in the Gallery at the Burning Man site and found a few other pictures of the sculpture along with lots of other marvelous photos!

School -- 1957 vs. 2007

This is from another one of those emails that circulate and land in our inboxes, but it does tell a story of how things have changed in the last 50 years or so. Were things so different back then? Were we so different back then? Personally, I think things were different back then. More innocent maybe, or maybe more naive back then. We had violence back then, but it wasn't "in our faces" with the news media like it is now. Read on:

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counsellors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy r emoved to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

I can remember things like those listed above happening back when I was a kid in school. But I also remember worse things. When I was in high school in the early 60's, I remember something being thrown off the cafeteria roof into the quad area below that exploded. No one was hurt, luckily. The boys who threw the "bomb" were expelled, and we heard a rumor that they had been transferred to another school. I remember a fight between one caucasian boy and a group of latino boys that broke out in an area between classrooms. It was fully visible from the art classroom where I was. One boy got shot. He was back in school a week or so later, and so were most of the other boys who were involved in the fight. I remember going to a football game one Friday night, and after the game, we (my friends and I) went over to the lockers inside the school to pick up a book that was needed for homework that was due on Monday, but had been forgotten in the rush to go home from school. On the way to the lockers, my friends and I found sort of a bomb taped to the window of the science lab. We went back out front to the telephone booth and called the police. Naturally we, being the "good citizens" we were, waited for the cops so we could show them where we found the bomb. Which meant that we were late getting home from the football game. I got grounded for that one.. My Step-dad took the keys to my car away from me for a month. We never did hear anything more about it. It wasn't even in the newspaper the next day!

But, life went on. We didn't hear about it for days and days as the media analyzed what happened, we didn't hear interviews of the kid's parents, siblings, grandparents, neighbors, etc. What is my point? I guess it's that the reactions to events like those listed in that email are different now. Reactions to events like those I remember from my high school are different now. We're not so "innocent" or "naive" now. We're on overload from the things we see reported in the newspapers and on the news shows on TV. I'm sure I'm not the only one that can remember things from back then... Think about it...

Coffee Anyone?

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Yardwork........ Ouch

Ok, I'm admitting I'm getting old now. At least I am admitting it today. Yesterday my internet went down for a while, so I thought I'd go out in the yard to do a little clean-up in the yard. First of all, I'll explain what I've got here. I'm renting a house. It's a cute little house that was totally abused by the young family that rented it before I did. I moved in two years ago and the yard was a complete disaster. The renters before me did virtually nothing to the yard. Including mowing and stuff unless they absolutely had to. My landlord, Mike, who lives next door gave me complete free reign with the yard. In other words, I can do whatever I want with the yard.

Since moving here, I've planted some trees. A fruitless mulberry for shade on the front of the house. Another tree that was given to me by my Dad who called it a "Harry Lauder Walking Stick" tree. And an apple tree. All in the front yard and they're doing very well. I've also added some roses and other flowering plants in the front. Along the south side of the house is a flower bed that was just weeds when I moved in. There's an olive tree, some flowering quince, a couple old climbing roses and lots of other things that I haven't really identified yet. The olive tree is kind of interesting looking. It has a grape vine from the vacant house next door climbing up over the top of it. It has some of the climbing roses blooming up in the top. And there's a wisteria vine, also from the vacant house, weaving through it. About all I've done with the olive tree so far is trim off some of the low hanging limbs so that we can walk under it without bashing our heads. There were some white iris' growing partially in the thicket of flowering quince and I dug them up last summer and moved them to the flower bed between the house and the sidewalk where they're blooming for the first time since I moved in. I didn't know they were white iris until this spring!

Anyway, back to yesterday. When my internet went out, I went across the street to see if my daughter's internet had gone down too. We're both on a wireless broadband for access and if both of us are down, then it's our provider thats messing up, not our individual connections. They were down too. So I thought it would be a good time to do some weeding and such. My son-in-law was planning on mowing our lawns, theirs as well as mine. My 4 year old grandson, Devin, heard me say something about pulling weeds, so he announced that he was going to help me.

So Devin and I started pulling weeds near the gate and worked our way towards the house. (Devin is a pretty good helper! I pulled, he gathered the pulled weeds and carried them out to the burn pile!) We moved to the back of the house where there were some really tall weeds along the edge of the yard near my landlord's garage and the back fence, and we started pulling up stuff there. Now there was also this ugly pile of old siding, junk wood, pipes and other crud piled up against the back fence that's been there for years... While Devin and I were taking a little break while Robert (my son-in-law) was mowing and using his super-duper weed-eater on the tougher stuff that my little electric weed-eater won't chop, Mike's girlfriend, Kathy, came over and chatted a bit. She volunteered to help me move that pile of crud to a less visible area on the north side of the house. It took us a while, but the crud has been moved. The wood was mostly rotten so it took a bit to get it moved... In pieces.. lol... That corner of the yard looks a lot better now... You can see the dark line along the bottom of the fence where all that wood was piled for so long.


But... Today, I'm feeling pain in just about every muscle in my arms and legs. I imagine Kathy is too. Devin isn't, I'll bet... 4 year olds don't wear out like us "old folks"... lol.. I'm going to try to do some more work over in that corner of the yard today. That end of the yard is a "high" spot. My plan is to dig it up and rake the dirt down into the low spots that are usually small lakes when it rains. Who knows how long I'll be able to work on it today... I hurt! And I feel old this morning... lol.. Maybe I'll do an easier job today... Like wiring the supports of my shade structure back together that the wind tore up when we had that windstorm in January. I'd like to have shade over my porch swings again when it gets hot......

Cops Video... Bad Boys!

I know the video isn't "new", but I just found a link to it on a message board and couldn't resist sharing it here... Definitely not what you normally see on the Cops shows..

Allergies... UGH!

The last few days I've been suffering. Sneezing. Watery eyes. The whole mess that comes with a high pollen count in the air. I was just reading an article in the Sacramento Bee that pretty much explains the reason for me and just about everyone I know to be sneezing, sniffling, crying and just being miserable. Today seems to be a bad one for me. My head feels like it wants to explode, and then I sneeze. Then comes a half a box of tissues to blow my nose, dry my eyes and try not to explode again. UGH! Yes, I'm taking pills. The over-the-counter ones, but they don't seem to help a whole lot. So, if I seem to be posting incoherent thoughts, please excuse me.. And if I've missed posting back to a comment, please excuse me. It's hard to think straight in the middle of a sneezing fit...

According to the article in the Bee, we're having extremely high pollen counts this year. Plus we've had a lot of windy days which, naturally, stirs up the pollen and makes everyone miserable. Even animals are having problems this year according to that article. I can hardly wait for "allergy season" to be over...

Art? From Firewood?

I've been playing with the Stumbleupon toolbar the last couple of days. It's been showing me some interesting websites and images. I had to post a link to this one though.. Pretty unusual artwork, wouldn't you say?

Some of the other sites that Stumble has sent me to are kind of fun to play with. One of the sites gives you an "art pad" and a paint brush. All you have to do is draw!

Another site, called Superficial Gallery has a bunch of different sections of the website, one of which caught my eye... It's a gallery of images of unusual packaging ideas... Check this one out:


Yep, Stumble is kind of fun.. I've been seeing some really creative websites using it... Probably never would have found them if I hadn't clicked on the Stumble button that is now installed on my browser... lol

DAY 4, PEOPLE vs MARIO LOZANO (After lunch)

April 8, 2008. El Dorado Co. Superior Court. People vs. Mario Lozano.
Case # P06CRF0427 (After Lunch)

2:12 The Judge, Atwell and Gomes enter.
The jury enters and are seated.
The Judge instructs the jury. It is their job to determine the facts. The outcome is
up to you and you alone. Your decision must be based only on the facts without bias. He gives the court’s description of what constitutes first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. If they decide on guilty, they must decide unanimously on which degree…
2:54 The Judge concludes the jury’s instructions.
Gomes brings in another shotgun. He starts his closing statement, good afternoon, first I want to thank the jurors. Let me take you back to July 26th 2006 at 12:00 PM. Remember that Mike Thompson and Gary Chapman just left with the defendant and Kacie irritated. Her son said in the morning that she wanted the defendant gone. They all agreed to that but she was not scared. Everyone testified that Kacie had no idea what was going to happen… The defendant knew.
At 12:07 Kacie dials 911, We determined this when Detective Nida went through the cell phone history. It’s probably not the first time that day Kacie’s afraid. She knows the defendant is serious. At 12:09 Kacie’s second call for help. She knows that Gary Chapman just left and must be the closest to the house for help. 12:10, Kacie’s last call to Mike Nuss. She must know by now what’s going to happen. 12:11, Kacie’s phone rings. Mike is calling back in less than 1 minute.
This case is not about 2 bags. We went through this step-by-step. What was in those bags? (Glancing at the jury, I can see their disgust.) That’s what he told Detective Nida, 2 duffle bags of nothing. 2 shirts, dirty socks, pajama pants… This case did not have anything to do with the bags. This case has to do with: 1, murder; 2, stealing Kacie’s car; with additional allegations for the discharge of a gun.
Gomes begins a power point presentation on the large screen. (I try to keep up with my notes but only manage to catch most of it.)
The jury has 2 tasks here. To determine what facts have been proven. To apply the facts to the Law applied here.
Use elements of each charge to apply the facts to the law. Each element must be proven. Think of the elements as questions you have been called upon to prove.
Elements on count. 2 of 2.
Did the defendant take or drive someone’s vehicle without the owner’s consent. When the defendant did so, did he intend to deprive the owner of possession of the car.
Elements of murder.
The defendant committed an act that caused death.
When the defendant acted, he had a state of mind called malice aforethought.
He killed without lawful excuse or justification.
Lets look at malice aforethought. There are 2 kinds of malice aforethought, express malice and implied malice. Proof of either is sufficient to establish the state of mind required for murder.
Express malice.
The defendant acted with intended disregard for life and limb.
Implied malice.
He intentionally committed an act
The act was dangerous to life and limb.
When he acted, he knew how dangerous.
He deliberately acted with conscious disregard for life and limb.
Gomes then illustrates conscious disregard. Remember that he went back to the bedroom. Before he took the gun to shoot her, he had to cycle it to load a round into the firing chamber. (He pumps the illustration shotgun.) He had to disengage the safety. He had to point it at her chest. One more, he had to have his finger on the trigger. Each act was dangerous to life and limb. He knew it. Each of these things puts it in the case of implied malice, conscious disregard of life and limb. Imagine the example of a 7-year-old child. He brings a friend home and wants to show off his dad’s gun. While they are playing with it the trigger is pulled and his friend is shot. He wasn’t aware of the danger that was involved. The defendant is not a child. Can you put this man in the category of the 7-year-old child not knowing the danger of his actions?
Malice aforethought.
It does not require hatred or ill will toward the victim.
It is a state of mind that must be formed before the act that causes death is committed.
It does not require deliberation.
Gomes continues, after you decide that the defendant is guilty of murder, you must determine at what degree.
1st degree murder.
The defendant acted willfully, if he intended to kill.
The defendant acted deliberately if he carefully weighed the considerations for and against his choice, and knowing the consequences he decided to act.
The defendant acted with premeditation if he decided to kill the victim before committing the act that caused death.
2nd degree murder.
Implied malice = 2nd degree murder.
Think about what he said, he looked down the barrel of her shotgun and expected her to pull the trigger.
Someone was going to die, him of her.
Even if he wanted Kacie to kill him. That’s implied malice. (It's not legal to kill your self or to arrange for someone else to kill you.)
Then, Gomes explains, there’s the lesser offence of manslaughter.
Voluntary manslaughter.
There are two ways to commit voluntary manslaughter.
Heat of passion.
Imperfect self-defense.
Heat of passion.
Heat of passion is an instant action without taking time to consider the consequences of the act. Take the illustration of the man who comes home from work early and finds his wife in bed with his best friend. He goes to the other room, gets a gun and returns to shoot them. That’s within seconds he acted without weighing the consequences of his actions. If he went next door to get his neighbors gun, then he had time to cool off and think about what he was doing. Mario stated it took about 3 minutes for him to go into the bedroom and get the gun.
Imperfect self-defense.
Who has the right to defend themselves with deadly force? Anyone who fears they will be harmed or killed has the right in the state of California to defend him or herself with deadly force.
The law states that an aggressor whose victim fights back in self-defense may not invoke the doctrine of self-defense against the victim’s justified acts.
Gomes explains that if Kacie had pulled the trigger and killed Mario, she would have been justified trying to defend herself. This doesn’t apply to Mario. He said: I wanted my bags. I got a shotgun to get my bags. The defendant indicated that this was a gunfight.
Circumstantial evidence.
Circumstantial evidence does not get impeached.
It does not tell lies.
It does not have an agenda.
It simply means what it means.
Gomes states, Kacie’s gun, the safety was on, the feeding tube was full. The firing chamber was empty. It was not readied to be fired. She neither had the desire or the ability to ready it. Nick testified that she was familiar with guns. They went out to shoot a couple times a month. If she was aware of what was about to happen, don’t you think that while she called 911, Gary and Mike, she would have readied the gun to defend herself? There was blood spatter inside the barrel of her gun and it was on the opposite end of the trailer from where she was first shot. The defendant says she had her gun in her right hand at her right shoulder when she was shot. How did it get across the trailer? Yount’s 3 theories are: the dog splattering the blood in the gun, possible but not likely. The gun could have been propped up when Kacie was shot. The only other scenario is that it was on its side where it was found. She’s shot in the chest, staggers back, her head jerks back when she’s shot in the head. It was not in her hand.
The defendant’s gun. The safety was off, the gun was in the fire position. It was found with 2 shells left in the loading tube with one still in the firing chamber. There were 2 rounds on the ground. Gomes pumps the shotgun again and says, the defendant had to chamber another round after shooting Kacie in the head. Why do you chamber a 2nd round if the first was an accident? He takes aim and shoots her in the head. Then he chambers a third round. Gomes pumps the shotgun again and continues, the only reason to cycle that gun is to ready it to fire.
Let’s look at the distance Kacie was from the first shot. Remember the pained illustration we gave and John Yount’s testimony. The shot was straight on. Gomes then holds the shotgun to his right shoulder reaching out with his left hand and says, think about how that could happen. The distance answers the question. John Yount testified a distance greater than 2’ and less than 5’. Look at the cardboard targets, no shot below 3’ matched the size of Kacie’s chest wound. The test shots find between 3’ and 4’ most closely approximate the size of Kacie’s chest wound. When that gun was pointed at me standing square at 2’, I could barely touch the barrel. At 2’ 3” I couldn’t touch the barrel. That’s the power of circumstantial evidence. Test shots at 5’ were closer to Kacie’s chest wound than 4 out of 5 shots at 2’ to 2 ½’. The defendant lied, trying to convince Lieutenant Nida that it was something other than cold-blooded murder. Shot #1 was as deliberate as shot #2. Lets look at motive.
He moved back from Hawaii expecting a relationship with Kacie and didn’t get it. That made him angry.
He found that his money was gone. That made him angry.
Kacie was trying to get rid of him. That made him angry.
He found a crank fXXXing inferno.
Kacie had a new boyfriend. That made him angry.
Kacie spent the previous night at a motel. That made him angry.
This was a cold calculated act of first-degree murder. He acted willfully. It was not an accident. The 2nd shot proves that. The distance of the 1st shot if she pulls the gun, the defendant’s reaction proves that. He didn’t chamber rounds shot after shot, (Gomes pumping the shotgun again.) If # 1 was by accident, why he did load round #2. And shot #2 was not by accident.
What if there was no shot #2?
The defendant would still face nothing less than second-degree murder with personal use of a firearm. Implied malice applies. He intentionally committed an act. The act was dangerous to life and limb. When he acted, he knew how dangerous. He deliberately acted with conscious disregard for life and limb. Going into the bedroom, grabbing the shotgun, turning the safety off, chambering a round and pointing it at Kacie inside the trailer. Nothing could have been more dangerous. He created the situation where someone was going to die.
But there was a shot #2. About 30 second after shot #1, the defendant stated. That’s how much time the defendant had to think about shot #2.
Gomes has the seconds marked off on the large screen. (Take a moment and see just how long 30 seconds is.) Premeditation and deliberation can happen in an instant. Do I get her help or do I chamber another round and kill her?
4:00 Break.
4:15 The Judge and council are seated.
The jury enters.
Atwell stands and acknowledges Lieutenant Nida and Gomes. Then he says, I’m going to recognize the realities of life and that it’s late in the afternoon and everyone’s attention spans are shortened.
Consider all the evidence. All of it, not part of it or bits and pieces. Look at the Judges instructions about weighing the evidence. Not Gomes’ power point presentation… with respect to circumstantial evidence… does not have a voice… circumstantial evidence doesn’t lie… it can’t talk at all. It has meaning as it relates to other evidence.
You heard Gomes’ presentation … He spoke very eloquently. Did he describe all the evidence accurately?… firearms… shells… videos, One with sound and one without….
Will Mario get the kind of verdict you promised to give? According to the law and what the facts actually are? This is not a case of who done it.
The District Attorney refers to the “murder weapon”. The homicide weapon. Was there a murder? Gomes had a similar weapon and racked it several times… I only have one opportunity to talk to you… and rather than looking at bits and pieces. Looking past the lawyer’s selective focus to come out with… a tragic set of circumstances, which produced an accidental death.
The potential charges to consider are murder 1, murder 2, manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. This was a horrible accident. I hope you will look at it like this.
Look at the evidence. Look at your instructions and decide what happened. Not the picking and choosing… I’m interested in you remembering the pathologist’s report… no soot or stippling. John Yount’s testimony… wasn’t found on skin and it occurs within inches. The pathologist found none on the body. John Yount took a look at the shirt mostly covered with blood from the 2nd shot… No soot and stippling found… not surprising… it was soaked in the blood… not looking in the trailer… looking at the shirt… not his conclusion, Gomes’s conclusion. John Yount was careful about declaring distances, he didn’t do enough tests… he told Gomes that… Gomes had to draw him out. Re-read his testimony. The statements of Mario Lozano. Or disagreements. You can hear it again. My statements in evidence, Gomes’ statement is in his power point not evidence… He spent a lot of time at the start, about the distance at which the first shot was fired. The illustrations were outside the trailer in its entirety and how could Kathleen Barron grab it. In the video, both Mario Lozano’s statements and Lieutenant Nida’s questions show that the shotgun was inside the trailer up to the trigger guard… The only dimensions come from Officer Jordan of outside the trailer with estimates of the floor height. 7’ 10” with approximately 2” wall… lets see… 7’ 6”… I’m challenged in math… 3’ 9” to the center of trailer. The barrel of the shotgun could have come much farther in.
According to Dr Albert there were 4 separate, independent fatal wounds. One to the lungs, 2 separate wounds to the aorta and a massive injury strongly disrupting the heart and valves. And the way that occurred comes only from the statement of Mario Lozano. That’s the evidence we have.
Evidence collected does not disprove that because it’s simply circumstantial evidence. It does not lie because it does not speak without supporting evidence. If there are two reasonable interpretations of circumstantial evidence, one for guilty and one for innocent, we must adopt innocence.
The sequence of phone calls is Gomes’ interpretation. 911 was called, the rest we know nothing.
In spite of the rather clear statements of John Yount… that conclusions be drawn from the cardboard test boards were that you couldn’t tell except for that 2’ to 5’ range. The defense says 3’ to 4’… not only he is ignoring the clear scientific evidence; he is applying his own interpretation.
Even if we do think about the wound and remember that John Yount reminded us about elasticity… and when we were injured by small things and left a large wound. All it is, is circumstantial evidence.
John Yount and Dr. Albert’s testimonies are consistent with Mario Lozano’s statements to Lieutenant Nida. Having been threatened with a weapon, he got another weapon. I don’t recall Lieutenant Nida asking: did you load the weapon? Chamber one round? Take off the safety? We don’t know weather or not the shotgun Mario Lozano picked up in the bedroom was safety on or off.
All we know about what happened in the trailer is what Mario Lozano told Lieutenant Nida. Lieutenant Nida didn’t look in the house, entered the trailer and left Officer Jordan to collect evidence. No measurements were made but two.
The photographs shown tell us of an unfortunate incident. They don’t tell us why or how…
Speculation is not evidence… Bias is not evidence…
Be honest with the evidence… Be honest with the instructions…
You will return a proper verdict.
4:42 Gomes responds with: Atwell’s statements would have you disregard circumstantial evidence as not being scientific. Remember, the Judge’s instruction says to consider it as it supports other evidence. Review the explanations of manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and first-degree murder.
4:52 Judge Keller instructs the jury. They will assemble to start deliberation at 9:00 AM.
The bailiff is sworn to take charge of the jury.

Mugshot = Bad Kitty

Ok, I couldn't resist posting another cute image that I found on the web. I've been trying very hard not to post funny or silly stuff in the middle of Gene's coverage of the Mario Lozano trial. But, this one sort of fits.... A mugshot. And a mean look on the kitty's face, kind of like some of the looks you see on the mugshots on The Smoking Gun website.

DAY4, PEOPLE vs MARIO LOZANO (Before lunch, with transcript.)

April 8, 2008. El Dorado Co. Superior Court. People vs. Mario Lozano.
Case # P06CRF0427 (Before Lunch, with transcript.)

This morning I showed up in a black tee with What part of “Thou shalt not” didn’t you understand? .God in white letters on the front. I have a red long sleeve tee underneath for the blood that was shed. Several people who read it appreciated it. Pat, Annie, Doug and Lee are there. Val Pease, a cousin, and Sedina Pease, 2nd cousin, show up. About 7 others I don’t recognize are there also. I wish I got their names to add to Kacie”s supporters list.

9:07 Mario comes in wearing the same suit but is in chains today. Usually they only have him keep his hands in his pockets. Another close neighbor came in, Harry Bannister. The deputies brought in a TV on a stand and we hear that the video was going to be shown to the jury, not us. Gomes and Atwell come in the side door talking and leave out the back door. Gomes comments, we won’t be needing that, pointing at the TV. Carroll Watson comes over and tells us that it was asked about all of Kacie’s supporters moving all the way to the right of the courtroom so we could see. (They keep the first row empty during criminal trials.) They decided to show the video on the large screen so we could see it too.
9:35 Gomes gets the video from Atwell. Atwell had it to compare it with the transcription. Within minutes Gomes and Nida are having difficulty viewing it on their laptop. Atwell comes over and stands at the front of their desk saying; Uh, yeah it played… maybe it’s a CD… maybe it’s in another player somewhere…(About now I’m thinking, what the hell’s going on? Is this Atwell’s defense? Lose the video and bring something else?) Finally they get it to play on the laptop and begin connecting it to the projector.
9:38 Judge Keller peeks in the side door and the bailiff tells him, we’re just getting the technical hooked up.
Finally it’s on the large screen, a small room is shown with a table and three chairs in it. A computer monitor and a telephone are on the table. One chair is by the table and Mario is seated in the center chair, with his back to the camera, cuffed to a bar on the wall.
9:43 Judge Keller enters. The jury enters; each is given a copy of the transcript and are seated. Court proceeds.
Atwell begins by waiving his right for an opening statement.
The Judge says there is a correction needed on the transcript. On page 24, line 2 in regards to Mr. Lozano’s statement: I’ve seen people who got shot. It should read read gut not who got. Would the jurors correct their copies?
The video begins. I’m trying to take notes but it’s so fast at times I can’t keep up.

I decide I’ll ask for a copy of the transcription later and watch the video. Mario is sitting in his chair calmly, occasionally looking at the screen. The jurors are alternately looking at the screen and their transcripts. During the few pauses in the video when Nida is called out of the room, I notice several of the jurors flipping pages of their transcripts reviewing what had been said. In the video, Detective Nida first sat on the right of Mario but moved to his left when she noticed it was hard for Mario to face her with his left hand cuffed to the wall. Whenever it seemed that Mario was lying, he would fidget with his right hand and get a drink of water or bite of pizza the guards gave him. I noticed at one time during the video that Pat was leaning on the chair in front of him just looking at the floor.
I’ll copy the transcript here for the sake of continuity. I will add Lieutenant Nida’s corrections in bold print and my comments in italics.

VIDEOTAPED INTERVIEW OF MARIO LOZANO
CONDUCTED BY DETECTIVE KIM NIDA

Officer 1: When I release your hand. I want you to put it on the wall for me. Okay. Shake that one out. You cool?
All right. Go ahead and turn around. Sit down. You want a piece of pizza or a bottle of water or something?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Officer 1: Both?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, please.
Officer 2: That’s no problem. Sausage or pepperoni?
Officer 1: Sausage or – what is it?
Officer 2: Sausage or pepperoni.
Officer 1: Sausage or pepperoni.
Mr. Lozano: Pepperoni.
Officer 1: Pepperoni?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Officer 1: Cool.
Mr. Lozano: You want these books of matches I got in my pocket?
Officer 1: I’m Sorry?
Mr. Lozano: You want these books of matches that are in my pocket?
Officer 1: No. You’re good.
Officer 2: Don’t light yourself on fire.
You been a friend of Larry’s for a while?
Mr. Lozano: Long time. Yeah.
Officer 2: Yeah. Me too. Him and his wife Bobbie.
Mr. Lozano: I feel bad about that. I put him in a -- I put him in a --
Officer 2: Well, yeah, you did. You know, because I was telling him -- I said, what would have happened if you got stopped? You had a warrant out for your arrest. And if you’d got stopped on your way to Idaho in the truck, they would have taken him along with you probably. So -- but he understood so that I don’t think that (inaudible)
Officer 1: Another piece?
Mr. Lozano: No, thank you.
Officer 1: Okay.
(This is where Gomes started the video in the courtroom. Officers 1 & 2 left and Mario is in the room alone. Detective Nida enters and takes a seat to the right of Mario.)
Detective Nida: My name is Kim Nida. I am a detective with Placerville Police
Department.
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: I feel like I know you already. I’ve been kinda tracking you for about two and a half weeks now.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Sound about right?
Mr. Lozano: About right, yeah.
Detective Nida: You’re Mario Lozano, correct?
Mr. Lozano: (Nods head.)
Detective Nida: What’s your birthday Mario?
Mr. Lozano: 2/16/48.
Detective Nida: Okay. And your Social Security number?
Mr. Lozano: 5XX-XX-XXX9.
Detective Nida: You have the right to remain silent. Do you understand?
Mr. Lozano: (Nods head.)
Detective Nida: Anything you say may be used against you in court. Do you understand?
Mr. Lozano: (Nods head.)
Detective Nida: If you could verbally answer, that would be –
Mr. Lozano: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Detective Nida: You have the right to the presence of an attorney before or during any questioning. Do you understand?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you free of charge before any questioning. Do you understand?
Mr. Lozano: Yes.
Detective Nida: Having those rights in mind, why don’t you tell me why you think I’m here talking with you today.
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know.
Detective Nida: You don’t know?
Why don’t you start talking to me about Kauai. You were in Kauai for about five months or so before coming back here.
Mr. Lozano: Seven.
Detective Nida: Seven months. Okay. Why don’t you tell me about Kauai.
You can’t turn this way, huh?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Okay. Let me over here.
(Detective Nida gets up and moves to Mario’s left and sits next to the table since Mario’s left wrist is shackled to the wall.)
Mr. Lozano: What’s to tell.
Detective Nida: What were you doing in Kauai. How’s -- how’s Kauai doing?
Mr. Lozano: I was busting my ass over there.
Detective Nida: Yeah, What were you doing? You’re a hard worker. I know that.
Mr. Lozano: Framing.
Detective Nida: You were framing? You weren’t doing carpet cleaning?
Mr. Lozano: I did it for a little bit and then I got a paying job framing, so, you know.
Detective Nida: Okay. And how was Kauai. Was it good for you over there? Making lots of money?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. I sent a lot of it back.
Detective Nida: Where did you send it to?
Mr. Lozano: Kacie.
Detective Nida: Kacie who?
Mr. Lozano: Barron.
Detective Nida: Okay. How much did you send back to Kacie?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know. I don’t know.
Detective Nida: How did you send it back to her?
Mr. Lozano: Usually by money order or wire.
Detective Nida: Okay. How long were you sending it back to her? What time frame?
Mr. Lozano: For about six months. I guess.
Detective Nida: Okay. Tell me more about Kauai. And what led you to come back to California?
Mr. Lozano: Kacie.
(Silent pause… Mario’s looking at the floor, shaking his head.)
Detective Nida: Whatcha thinking?
(Silence again.)
Mr. Lozano: I would not have left Kauai to come back to the crank fXXXing inferno, you know, if somebody had been up front with me to begin with. (Inaudible.)
Detective Nida: What went on there? What did you see there.
Mr. Lozano: In Kauai?
Detective Nida: No, in Placerville. What do you mean crank fXXXing inferno? Okay. Describe that for me.
Mr. Lozano: Every one around you wired except you.
Detective Nida: Really?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Okay. Who was all in and out? Do you know names?
Mr. Lozano: Oh, just a lot of people.
Detective Nida: Do you know them?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Okay. Were they friends of yours?
Mr. Lozano: No. They were all friends of hers.
Detective Nida: Okay. Was it being sold. Was it --
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: It was being sold out of there?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Okay. And you watched it all taking place?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: How did that make you feel?
Mr. Lozano: Not very good. I spent my last money to get here thinking that there was money saved here, but there wasn’t.
Detective Nida: How did you find that out?
Mr. Lozano: It just wasn’t there.
Detective Nida: Did she tell you she spent it all? Or did you have access to a mutual bank account? How did you know that it wasn’t there? What happened?
Mr. Lozano: She told me she spent it all.
Detective Nida: What did she spend it on?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know.
Detective Nida: You have no idea?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Okay. Was she supposed to be spending it on something for you guys or just saving it?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Yeah, what?
Mr. Lozano: Well she bought some stuff for the -- for the trailer and all of that. We were supposed to go like next month.
Detective Nida: Where were you supposed to go?
Mr. Lozano: Down to Arizona. But one look at all of that when I got back, I knew that boat wasn’t leaving anytime soon. The trailer got torn apart. We got a huge truck to pull that trailer with. I mean, gas being what it is now -- you know, we were gonna be on a limited income as it was. You don’t go out and buy a 454 dually crew cab--
(Kacie wanted to travel farther than just Arizona. The trailer was “torn apart” for repairs that most men I know wouldn’t attempt. The truck was a gift, or on loan from long time friends for Kacie to use if she fixed it up, licensed and insured it.)
Detective Nida: With gas prices.
Mr. Lozano: -- to pull a 24-foot trailer, you know?
Detective Nida: With gas at 3:30 a gallon.
Mr. Lozano: Four in some places.
Detective Nida: Yeah. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?
Mr. Lozano: And she found herself a new beau. New crank connection so…
Detective Nida: Who was that?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know. I know she spent the previous night in a motel room with him in Cameron Park.
Detective Nida: How did -- how did you find that out?
Mr. Lozano: I just did. What you can do with a computer these days, you know?
Detective Nida: That is very true. So the whole time that you were in Kauai, she let you to believe that you guys were gonna be together when you -- when you got back over here?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: And then when you got back over here, you found out that she wasn’t true to her word?
Mr. Lozano: No, she wasn’t.
Detective Nida: Who was this other guy?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know. He sold her pain pills, too, I think.
(That was probably Mike Thompson, who had a relationship with Kacie years ago. They were still good friends for many years. Mario obviously couldn’t understand having close relationships with exes.)
Detective Nida: What did he drive?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know.
Detective Nida: Did you see him visit while she was there -- while you were there?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
(He visited when I was seeing Kacie. But I didn’t get all bent about it.)
Detective Nida: Okay. What does he look like?
Mr. Lozano: You already know all of that, I’m sure.
Detective Nida: I didn’t realize she had another boyfriend. That didn’t come up.
(Duhh! Didn't come up because there wasn't one.)
Mr. Lozano: Didn’t you know about her crank connection?
Detective Nida: I did.
Mr. Lozano: And her pill -- her pill dude? Okay. FXXXin’ waste (Inaudible)
What a waste.
Detective Nida: Waste of your time running, (Waste of your time and money,) huh?
Mr. Lozano: A waste of everything. I’m a dead man now so it doesn’t matter, you know?
Detective Nida: What do you mean?
Mr. Lozano: She’s got friends in that town that ain’t gonna be too happy about this, probably ain’t already. And they know people on the inside, so, it’s just a matter of time.
Detective Nida: Well, let us know. We’ll keep you from those people. We can keep you separated as much as possible.
(We understand they have been keeping him in the infirmary.)
Mr. Lozano: Oh, it doesn’t matter. One way or the other, I gotta go so…
Detective Nida: We’re all living to die, right?
Mr. Lozano: Well it ain’t gonna go no farther than this, is it?
Detective Nida: What are you gonna tell me? How are you gonna help yourself today?
Mr. Lozano: Help myself do what? Drive to San Quinton to the fXXXing -- to the gas chamber or what? What do ya want me to tell ya?
Detective Nida: What happened? Tell me what happened.
Mr. Lozano: The first one was a fXXXin’ mistake. That was an accident.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: She threw down on me with a fXXXin’ 12 gauge.
Detective Nida: That’s what I thought.
Mr. Lozano: Then I stuck the other one in the window and she was looking at me telling me, asking me did I wanna play.
Detective Nida: She said, do you wanna play?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm. And I just looked at her. Looked right at the fXXXin’ shotgun (Inaudible). (barrel)
Detective Nida: Okay. Take me to the beginning of the story. That’s the end, right?
The first shot was an accident?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: The second shot wasn’t?
Mr. Lozano: (Shakes his head.)
Detective Nida: You were leaning in the window on the first shot?
Mr. Lozano: No, I was standing outside.
Detective Nida: Of the door?
Mr. Lozano: Or the window.
Detective Nida: Okay. On the green chair?
Mr. Lozano: Well, in front of it.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: And you were leaning in with the shotgun?
(So how far in the window could he reach with the gun?)
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Okay. And “by accident,” what do you mean by that?
Mr. Lozano: Well, I thought she would pull the trigger first. I was kinda counting on that.
Detective Nida: Mm-hmm.
Mr. Lozano: (Inaudible.)
Detective Nida: I hear she’s a pretty good shot and pretty fast.
Mr. Lozano: Well, she wasn’t this time. I wish she had.
Detective Nida: Okay. So tell me about the second shot.
Mr. Lozano: Kill shot. It (She) was gut shot. It looked to me like it was pretty close to the liver.
Detective Nida: The second shot?
Mr. Lozano: No, the first one.
Detective Nida: The first one was the -- the body shot?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: And the second one was the head shot?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: How far away were ya on both shots?
Mr. Lozano: She was -- she went to yank. She went to yank with this hand.
(indicating). (With his left hand.) She had the shotgun in this hand (indicating). (With his right hand like he had it shouldered.) She went to yank on the barrel with her left and it was pointed up.
(Did anyone catch that he said “she went to yank on the barrel” not that she yanked the barrel?)
Detective Nida: It was up?
Mr. Lozano: Well, it was, you know, about this kind of angle (indicating). (Acting like he’s pointing a shotgun slightly up.)
Detective Nida: Okay. So she’s like this (indicating)? (Like pointing a shotgun slightly down.)
Mr. Lozano: She’s got it pointing right at me.
Detective Nida: And you’re at the window. (With a chair between him and the trailer.) And where is she at?
Mr. Lozano: She’s leaning down out of the window. I mean she’s leaning down
this side.
Detective Nida: She’s on the cushions right there?
Mr. Lozano: She’s standing in between.
(Standing… leaning… which is it, Mario?)
Detective Nida: Okay. So she’s standing in between the cushions and you were at
the window. And where did you get your shotgun from?
Mr. Lozano: Inside the house.
Detective Nida: Okay. And where did she get her shotgun from? Did she have it
in there with her?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Was there an argument beforehand? You guys get in a --
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. She told me to leave and I said well, let me have my bags.
Detective Nida: Because your bags were in the trailer. So walk me through that. Tell me about the argument.
Mr. Lozano: She just said she wanted me to go. So I just wanted to get my bags and go.
Detective Nida: That’s fair. And she wouldn’t let you get the bags?
Mr. Lozano: (Shakes his head.)
Detective Nida: Was the door locked?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Did you try to get in through the door?
Mr. Lozano: No. I knew it was locked.
Detective Nida: How did you know it was locked?
Mr. Lozano: Because she was locked in there.
Detective Nida: Why was she locked in there?
Mr. Lozano: She always locks herself in.
Detective Nida: Oh, she does?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: I didn’t know that.
Mr. Lozano: She locks -- she locks everything behind her.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: Because of this Dave guy that she was supposed to testify against
this next couple of months or this month. She’s been afraid for the last couple of years.
(Dave Partridge was a previous ex trying to control her. He couldn’t accept that Kacie wanted him to leave. So he stalked and harassed her. He finally came in her back door that was unlocked and caught her in the kitchen. While trying to get her to submit, he twisted her two middle fingers sideways and shattered the bones. He still would stalk and harass her from a distance.)
Detective Nida: So is it normal for her to have a shotgun with her?
Mr. Lozano: She slept with it.
Detective Nida: So when she was outside, she normally had it with her?
Mr. Lozano: Well, one or the other, you know.
(When I was seeing her she rarely had the doors locked or the shotgun outside with her during the day unless she sensed something was up.)
Detective Nida: So you guys get in an argument. From -- she’s inside. You’re
outside. You get in an argument.
Mr. Lozano: I told her that if she wanted me to go, let me have my bags and I’ll
be on my way. I don’t know how I was gonna do that, but…
Detective Nida: You’ve survived before.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. But I usually get my clothes. And one thing led to another.
Detective Nida: Tell me about the one thing led to another. That’s the part I don’t
understand.
Mr. Lozano: Well, she was in the trailer with this fXXXin’ gun and she’s telling
me to leave, but she won’t give me my bags. All she has to do is throw them out the window.
Detective Nida: Mm-hmm. She’s obstinate.
(Yeah, she could be that at times.)
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. I mean, I had left before. You know, I left for Kauai in
January. And I left when it was really cold. You know, and I get over to Kauai and --
Detective Nida: What do you mean you left when it was really cold? Between you
guys?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, that and --
Detective Nida: Oh, the temperature. Okay. And you guys worked stuff out while
you were in Kauai. She came and visited you?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
(So there’s a chunk of the money you sent her.)
Detective Nida: Okay. You got sick back there or something?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: You got in a fight or something or in an accident?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. Got in an accident.
Detective Nida: And she came out and kinda took care of you during that time?
Mr. Lozano: No. I mean, it was all over and done with by the time she came out.
Detective Nida: Oh.
Mr. Lozano: This guy I was -- I had been staying with --
Detective Nida: Tim?
Mr. Lozano: Jim?
Detective Nida: Jim.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. You guys talk to him, too?
Detective Nida: No. I didn’t talk to Jim, but I knew it was your statement. (but I
knew you stayed with him.)
Mr. Lozano: You talk to Sue?
Detective Nida: No.
Mr. Lozano: Oh.
Detective Nida: Is that his wife?
Mr. Lozano: Nah. It don’t matter.
(Who's Sue? Hmmm, Sounds like you were really broken up about Kacie, huh?)
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: It’s not important. Anyway, he had taken it upon himself to call her and tell her I was in critical condition out there. I didn’t ask him to do that. I was in critical condition. You know, I was -- you know, by the time she -- she took off from her place thinking I was in critical condition, by the time she comes out, I’ve already been -- it’s done and over with for --
Detective Nida: And you’re all better now.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. Four or five days, you know, since that happened. So anyway, she spent the week there with me and got on the plane and came back here. And then she sold her Cutlass to buy that trailer and discovered it had leaks and was really depressed about it. I mean she was getting more and more depressed. I think it was the 1st of July she had a -- she was in the puff unit on a 24-hour hold.
Detective Nida: Oh, was she?
Mr. Lozano: Suicidal. She had taken more Soma’s than she should have. You do a tox on her?
Detective Nida: Yes.
Mr. Lozano: I figure that. Wanna do one on me? I’m fine with that.
Detective Nida: Do you mind if we do?
Mr. Lozano: Not at all.
Detective Nida: We’ll see. I don’t know.
Mr. Lozano: Marijuana that’s about it.
Detective Nida: It’s practically legal, isn’t it?
Mr. Lozano: Not in here, but --
Detective Nida: No, not in here. Where did you get your shotgun at or the one you used?
Mr. Lozano: In the bedroom.
Detective Nida: At what point did you get that?
Mr. Lozano: When she threw down on me and told me that she wasn’t having any -- any part of it.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: And she’d blow my fXXXing head off so…
Detective Nida: So you went to protect yourself?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, I just went to calm -- you know, okay. Now we’re both even. Now can I have my fXXXng bags? You know what I mean?
Detective Nida: Right.
Mr. Lozano: So it didn’t work out.
Detective Nida: So when you came back to the trailer with the shotgun in your hand, what did you say to her?
Mr. Lozano: I said let me have my bags.
Detective Nida: What did she say to you?
Mr. Lozano: Told me to get the fXXk out of there. I said, “I will as soon as you give me my bags.” Detective Nida: And the whole time that you’re talking with her, where is she at? Is she still standing in between the cushions?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: That little walkway area. And you were just outside the window? Okay.
Mr. Lozano: She didn’t see the shotgun. I was hiding it on my side.
Detective Nida: Down. Are you right handed? Or down.
Mr. Lozano: I put it in the window. Just give me my sXXt. Oh, you wanna play? I didn’t say anything.
Detective Nida: She said you wanna play?
Mr. Lozano: Well I was looking down the barrel of that 12-gauge and then I looked at her. I don’t know why she didn’t pull the trigger because there was nothing but hate in her eyes. I thought for sure she would’ve. I thought she might be kind enough to do that.
(Hate in her eyes? DUHH! Look at where you’ve forced her!)
Detective Nida: Did you wanna die. Is that what you were looking for?
Mr. Lozano: It doesn’t matter. It don’t matter now. Not that I’m -- I don’t plan on hurting anybody else or myself, but it don’t matter now. Life’s over.
Detective Nida: Different chapter.
Mr. Lozano: It’s over. I’ll die in prison.
Detective Nida: You don’t know.
Mr. Lozano: (Inaudible.) (I’ll die in prison. That’s where I’ll die.)
Detective Nida: So you said the first shot was the gut shot?
Mr. Lozano: Um-um.
Detective Nida: Are you sure?
Mr. Lozano: Positive.
Detective Nida: And what did she do after that first shot?
Mr. Lozano: She dropped her gun and grabbed her gut and turned and walked that way. (Indicating.) (He pointed to his right.)
Detective Nida: So she was still walking after the first -- that first one?
Mr. Lozano: She was going down.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: She was walking real slow.
Detective Nida: Did she turn and face you again?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Were you still outside the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: And she was still standing?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: -- on the second shot?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Okay. That makes sense.
Mr. Lozano: That’s how it happened.
Detective Nida: I’m just trying to match it up with what I saw inside. Did you want to get caught?
Mr. Lozano: I knew it was just a matter of time. I just wanted to smoke a few more cigarettes.
Detective Nida: I think that’s a song, isn’t it?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know. Might be.
Detective Nida: You jumped in her car?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: So you dropped your shotgun?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: And you grab a .22 from the house?
Mr. Lozano: No, she had it in the trailer with her.
Detective Nida: Oh, it was in the trailer with her. Okay. So you went into the trailer and grabbed them?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Did you go through the window?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Where were they in the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: On the other couch by the other cushion.
Detective Nida: Cushion. And that lockbox was there?
Mr. Lozano: That’s where they were.
Detective Nida: And you climbed out back through the window and jumped in her car and left?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: That’s it? What was going through your head?
Mr. Lozano: All of it. They haven’t stopped.
Detective Nida: I bet.
Mr. Lozano: I haven’t slept much since.
Detective Nida: Yeah.
Mr. Lozano: Nobody ever talks about that.
Detective Nida: You’ve been playing it over and over in your head?
Mr. Lozano: (Inaudible) higher and higher and tighter and tighter.
Detective Nida: You keep asking yourself why didn’t she pull the trigger.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. I sure wish she had. As a matter of fact --
Detective Nida: Did you ever hear it click?
Mr. Lozano: Her gun? No. No. If I had, I wouldn’t be here now.
Detective Nida: I believe it was on safe.
Mr. Lozano: Hers was? Oh, I didn’t know that.
Detective Nida: I don’t think she knew that. I don’t know. That’s why I was wondering if you heard her playing with the trigger or anything.
Mr. Lozano: Nope. I thought she was locked and loaded. She was always locked and loaded.
Detective Nida: So ya jumped in her car and headed for Markleeville?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Used her ATM card.
Mr. Lozano: Yep.
Detective Nida: Got $50 worth of gas.
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: And then headed straight down here.
Mr. Lozano: (Nods head.)
Detective Nida: Any stops in-between?
Mr. Lozano: Nope.
Detective Nida: No?
Mr. Lozano: No. I’ve been here ever since (inaudible) first trip to Idaho. ( I’ve been here ever since, except for a short trip to Idaho.)
Detective Nida: Where’s the clothes that you were wearing that day?
Mr. Lozano: Oh, I don’t know.
Detective Nida: There was a pair of shorts and a t-shirt or something.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, but I can’t remember which.
Detective Nida: Purple shirt?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, I think so.
Detective Nida: Is it back at the trailer? (Leslie Berens' trailer.) Did you throw it away?
Mr. Lozano: It should be with my stuff there. Shirt’s there.
Detective Nida: Why did you use her ATM card?
Mr. Lozano: It was my money. I sent her $700 last week.
Detective Nida: You haven’t tried to use her ATM card since.
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: How much money did you send her all total? Do you know? Rough estimate.
Mr. Lozano: Something like two grand.
Detective Nida: How much is in her bank account? Do you know?
Mr. Lozano: I have no idea. Might have been more though. I’m not sure. Yeah it was more because I paid -- I paid her phone bill -- two phone bills.
Detective Nida: You paid her phone bill?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. When she was out there --
Detective Nida: Oh.
Mr. Lozano: -- she ran up a hell of a phone bill. Six-hundred-and-something on her cell phone bill. And then her regular phone was another four hundred. So I sent her that. I sent her odd amounts like two and three and four, five hundred. You know, odd amounts like that.
Detective Nida: Since that day, have you driven her car?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: It’s been parked there the whole time?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Have you called anyone and told them what happened?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: What about Emmett?
Mr. Lozano: He -- he can be kept out of this, can’t he? I mean, he’s not a -- do I gotta ruin his life?
Detective Nida: No. Sounds like he’s done good for himself.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Were you using Larry’s computer back at the house a little bit?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: You didn’t use the computer?
Mr. Lozano: No. Yeah, but I couldn’t get on. Oh, I did get on to my E-mail. Yeah. Yeah.
Detective Nida: Were you just checking your email or did you E-mail somebody?
Mr. Lozano: No, was just checking my mail.
Detective Nida: You didn’t E-mail anybody.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, from Idaho.
Detective Nida: Who did you E-mail from Idaho?
Mr. Lozano: Huh?
Detective Nida: Who?
Mr. Lozano: No, from Idaho.
Detective Nida: Yeah. Who did you email from Idaho?
Mr. Lozano: Oh, my cousin John.
Detective Nida: Where does he live.
Mr. Lozano: Stockton.
Detective Nida: Did you tell him anything?
Mr. Lozano: No. I just told him that my life had just gone to sXXt, you know, I’ll see him when I see him. Maybe in the next life, probably not in this one.
Detective Nida: Where’s your cell phone?
Mr. Lozano: It’s at the house.
Detective Nida: Where at at the house? At the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Where at?
Mr. Lozano: It’s in the bedroom with all my stuff.
Detective Nida: Did you have it off?
Mr. Lozano: Took the SIM card out of it.
Detective Nida: How come?
Mr. Lozano: (Inaudible.)
Detective Nida: So we couldn’t track you?
Mr. Lozano: Pretty much. Yeah.
Detective Nida: Is the -- is the SIM card with you or did you toss it out the window?
Mr. Lozano: It’s gone.
Detective Nida: It’s gone. Were you able to retrieve messages from your cell phone if the SIM card’s gone or does it not even work?
Mr. Lozano: It doesn’t even work.
Detective Nida: Okay. Did you think I’d find you down here?
Mr. Lozano: I knew you guys were coming. I just didn’t think it would be until tomorrow.
Detective Nida: Really?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Why is that?
Mr. Lozano: Because of something Larry said.
Detective Nida: What did he say?
Mr. Lozano: Just the way he left and what he said.
Detective Nida: He didn’t know anything. He didn’t know a word, nothing, when he left.
Mr. Lozano: Really?
Detective Nida: Really.
Mr. Lozano: You guys tack me down through that one computer thing? Because I used his computer?
Detective Nida: Actually, his name came up in the investigation.
Mr. Lozano: Oh, okay.
Detective Nida: So --
Mr. Lozano: I know where that one came from. I’m not mad anymore at anybody. I just really wish it didn’t happen.
Detective Nida: Why did you do the second shot.
Mr. Lozano: So she wouldn’t suffer.
Detective Nida: That’s fair.
Mr. Lozano: I’ve seen people gut shot before. It’s not good.
Detective Nida: Yeah.
Mr. Lozano: I know something about the inside of the human body and that was not a good shot. Very dark blood. Yeah. Very dark. They never get it right in the
movies, do they?
Detective Nida: No, they can’t.
Mr. Lozano: What else you need to know?
Detective Nida: Anything else you want to tell me?
Mr. Lozano: About it. Poor Larry. I should’ve known better, too.
Detective Nida: Yeah. He’s -- he’s a little shaken up not knowing what’s going on. He didn’t know. He didn’t -- he didn’t make any call to us or anything like that.
Hang on a second. I’ll be right back.
Mr. Lozano: Okay.
(Detective Nida leaves the room for a moment and returns.)
Detective Nida: My partner came up with some stuff to ask you.
Was anyone else there?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: No one else was there? No one else saw this?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Had people just left?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, but I can’t remember who.
Detective Nida: Did you see --
Mr. Lozano: Somebody came for -- for the pills. And then the pill guy showed up so that got done. And then there was a possible crank deal involved, too. I’m not sure.
Did you see her on her cell phone in the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: I’m not sure. I don’t -- I don’t remember.
Were you guys really yelling at each other or anything?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Was she on her cell phone?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. Yeah. She was I think, at one – at one point because I waited for her to get off.
Detective Nida: Was she talking to somebody?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Oh, she was?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: She was inside the trailer talking to somebody on the cell phone?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: So I waited for her to finish her call and I asked her for my stuff.
Detective Nida: Did you call 9-1-1?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Did you get -- did you think about getting medical help for her?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: After you shot her, did you go back into the house after you left the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: What did you get from inside the house?
Mr. Lozano: My wallet. My cell phone.
Detective Nida: Okay. Anything else?
Mr. Lozano: Un-huh.
Detective Nida: And then from the house you went to her car?
Mr. Lozano: No, it was already out. I had driven it around.
(I wonder if that was before or after he shot her.)
Detective Nida: Okay. And then you used her ATM card up in Markleeville. Where is her ATM card now?
Mr. Lozano: Threw it away.
Detective Nida: Threw it away. Did you throw it away at Larry’s?
Mr. Lozano: No. I threw it -- I cut it up and threw it in the dumpster.
Detective Nida: Where at?
Mr. Lozano: Here.
Detective Nida: At Larry’s?
Mr. Lozano: Well, the one down at the end.
Detective Nida: At the dumpster at the end. Okay. Anything else in there you threw away?
Mr. Lozano: (Shakes head.)
Detective Nida: When did you do that, the day after you got here?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: How come you did that?
Mr. Lozano: I wasn’t gonna use it again. I didn’t see any need to leave it where somebody else could pick it up and use it.
Detective Nida: How come you didn’t get your stuff out of the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: I just -- I panicked. I gotta go.
Detective Nida: You gotta go, is that what you said?
Mr. Lozano: I had to go. Yeah.
Detective Nida: What was going through your mind then? Was it like holly sXXX?
Mr. Lozano: Holy fXXk. That was just it. My life was fXXXin’ over just that quck. Two lives -- a whole bunch of lives. Petrified.
Detective Nida: Did you take anything else that belonged to her?
Mr. Lozano: Just her wallet. It was already in the car though.
Detective Nida: Okay. Her purse was in the car?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Did she have a bunch of pills in the purse, too?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: She didn’t?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: What happened to all the pills?
Mr. Lozano: All the what pills?
Detective Nida: That her supply brought her.
Mr. Lozano: The guy that came for the pills got the pills. She said she had 200 of them of something. I don’t know. I guess he took about 200 pills.
Detective Nida: None of them were in her purse?
Mr. Lozano: No. She said that and then somebody showed up for them’
Detective Nida: Did you ever see the pills?
Mr. Lozano: No. I didn’t witness the transaction, no.
Detective Nida: But in others, you have? Did you take a shower or anything in the house?
Mr. Lozano: Before I left?
Detective Nida: Yeah.
Mr. Lozano: Oh, no. I did that morning when I got up.
Detective Nida: That’s reasonable.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. (Inaudible) I didn’t today, but…
Detective Nida: Sometimes we get those days, too. Did you make sure that she was dead or did you just assume that she was dead?
Mr. Lozano: No, I made sure.
Detective Nida: How did you make sure?
Mr. Lozano: I saw the last breath.
Detective Nida: How soon after the second shot did that take place?
Mr. Lozano: Seconds.
Detective Nida: Was she gargling at breathing?
Can you hear it now?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: You can? It’s just interesting to me. That’s why I ask you those questions. Because, you know, I’ve talked to people in your shoes before, sometimes people don’t (sometimes people do) and sometimes they don’t. But you’re willing to talk to me and I appreciate that. It’s just interesting to me.
Mr. Lozano: It doesn’t stop.
Detective Nida: Did you love her? Ya still love her?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. That’s why it won’t go away. It just won’t go away. And I never hear anybody talk about that.
Detective Nida: They don’t wanna talk about that part. I mean, you had -- you pretty much drove directly from her house, got the gas, and then down here. No stops in between? So the whole time you were thinking about it.
Mr. Lozano: And it hasn’t stopped. I don’t think it ever will. That’s my penance.
Detective Nida: The first shot, did she drop her gun after the first shot?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: And the second shot. And then where did you put the shotgun, your shotgun?
Mr. Lozano: On the counter cushion.
Detective Nida: How come you left it?
Mr. Lozano: Done with it.
Detective Nida: The shotgun that you used, does that belong to her? Is that hers?
Mr. Lozano: As far as I knew, they were all hers.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: I took the one pistol that belongs to her boy.
Detective Nida: How come you grabbed those? How come you grabbed those and didn’t take the shotgun?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know. I really don’t know. I don’t know.
Detective Nida: Were they locked in that? I mean --
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: That silver box, was it locked?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: What’s the combination?
Mr. Lozano: 357.
Detective Nida: And did she make up that combination?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Okay. Anything else in the trailer that you grabbed?
Mr. Lozano: No. No.
Detective Nida: So let me do a quick summary of what happened so I know I got it straight in my head. You guys got in an argument. She was already in the trailer. You were outside the trailer. She had the shotgun in there with her. At some point during that argument, she pointed a shotgun at you?
Mr. Lozano: Oh, yeah.
Detective Nida: Has she ever -- sidetrack here. Has she ever pointed a gun at you before?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: No?
Mr. Lozano: Not unless (That’s why I knew) she was serious.
Detective Nida: Yeah. That’s true. So she points the gun at you and then you go to the house to get the shotgun.
Mr. Lozano: She just showed me the shotgun.
Detective Nida: Okay. She showed it to you. By showing it to you, what do you mean?
Mr. Lozano: Well, she showed me that she had the shotgun. She wasn’t gonna you know…
Detective Nida: Okay. But she didn’t have it raised at you at that point.
Mr. Lozano: No. Not at that point. No.
Detective Nida: Okay. But did she say anything to you like I’m gonna shoot you? I’m gonna anything? What did she say.
Mr. Lozano: She didn’t say anything. You know. I’m just like, okay. You know, I went back in the house and I thought about it, went to get the other gun and walked back out with it.
(Hmmm, so much for self defense or heat of passion!)
Detective Nida: What was the time difference between you leaving the trailer, hanging out at the house --
Mr. Lozano: maybe three, four minutes.
Detective Nida: Between coming back to the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. That’s when I found her on the phone again.
Detective Nida: So yeah. When you came back you found her on the phone?
Mr. Lozano: I was waiting for her to get off.
Detective Nida: And you had the shotgun down to your side. A little more verbal occurred.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. Same story, I just wanted to get my sXXt out.
Detective Nida: And she just didn’t wanna let you in?
Mr. Lozano: I didn’t want in.
Detective Nida: Yeah. She wouldn’t even just give you your stuff. And at that point, she had the --
Mr. Lozano: That’s when she leveled the gun at my head.
(Duhh! If she saw you go into the house, I’m sure she saw you coming out with Nick’s shotgun. You thought you hid it at the trailer but they’re hard to hide while you’re walking! As Kacie would have said… STOOPID!)
Detective Nida: She leveled it at your head. Because the trailer’s up higher. She’s up a little high. You’re standing on the ground,
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Did you have a foot up on the green chair?
Mr. Lozano: No, just standing.
Detective Nida: So you were standing. And so she raises it up and it’s pretty much level with your head.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. It was pointing right up here at me. (Indicating.) (Pointing at his forehead.)
Detective Nida: Okay. So you --
Mr. Lozano: I could see the shell practically.
Detective Nida: So you drew yours and fired?
Mr. Lozano: No. I just put it up in the window.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: I didn’t say anything. I just -- I looked down the barrel and looked up at her and I thought she was gonna pull the trigger. And she yanked on the shotgun and it went off -- well, my finger was on the trigger. I can’t say –
(So did she yank on it or you just can’t say…)
Detective Nida: You knew it was gonna go off.
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: You didn’t know your shotgun was gonna go off?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: How could you not know it was gonna go off?
Mr. Lozano: Well I didn’t know she was gonna yank it. I wasn’t gonna pull the trigger.
Detective Nida: Okay. I’m not understanding that then.
Mr. Lozano: Well, when she yanked --
Detective Nida: She yanked your shotgun or hers?
Mr. Lozano: No, mine. She reached down with her left hand and grabbed mine.
Detective Nida: Okay. So she grabbed the shotgun?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah,
Detective Nida: And that’s when you pulled the trigger?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. Yeah.
Detective Nida: And it was the gut shot at that point?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: So she reached down and the shotgun you have is through the trailer window. Is it already through?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: So she’s got ahold of it and her gun now is maybe falling down or it’s in her right hand. She’s right-handed?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Okay. And she’s got ahold of it and that’s when --
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: The trigger’s pulled. And then so she -- she’s shot and turns away from you? And you’re still out? And then she walks towards the kitchenette area and the second shot is there while she’s still standing. Okay. Did she say anything to you in between that time?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: How far apart were the shots in time?
Mr. Lozano: Less than 30 seconds.
Detective Nida: And you did shoot from outside the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Anything else you can think of that I haven’t asked you?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Okay. Well, that’s it. I’m gonna get you transported so you can get a little more comfortable. Because I can tell this isn’t a comfortable position for you here. And what’s gonna happen is you’re gonna be booked into this county’s jail and then at some point you’ll be brought back up to El Dorado County. Okay?
Let me go out there and see if there’s anything else.
Do you have any questions for me?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Nothing? How do you think this went?
Mr. Lozano: Pretty much like I thought it would.
Detective Nida: Really?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Are you on any medication right now?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Nothing? And you said you smoked pot at some point. When did that happen?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t really.
Detective Nida: I mean, was that today? Was it yesterday? How recent was that?
Mr. Lozano: Today. Yesterday.
Detective Nida: How long ago today? Not for any criminal purposes, just for the point of the interview.
Mr. Lozano: No. This morning.
Detective Nida: Okay. Are you feeling the effects of that now?
Mr. Lozano: No. No. I didn’t have that much.
Detective Nida: Okay. All right. I can’t think of anything else if you got nothing.
Mr. Lozano: No. I got my penance to do.
Detective Nida: Yeah.
Mr. Lozano: I was thinking -- that day after it happened. I thought I’ve never killed anybody in my life. I didn’t know what that was like. You know, being raised Catholic and I’m not a practicing Catholic.
Detective Nida: Yeah, but once it’s in your head.
Mr. Lozano: It doesn’t go away. So -- sXXXtI thought I could get out of this life without taking somebody else’s, you know? I don’t know how -- how it happened or why pretty much. I mean. I just don’t know. (Inaudible.)
Detective Nida: Were you mad at the time? Did she piss ya off?
Mr. Lozano: I was -- I was just so fXXXin’ disappointed with all of that sXXt. You know. I just wanted my shit and I wanted to get out of there.
Detective Nida: Why did you shave?
Mr. Lozano: Didn’t like the beard anymore.
Detective Nida: New you?
Mr. Lozano: Nah. (Inaudible) without a beard. It was longer than that recently. She wasn’t happy about that, too.
Detective Nida: About it being gone?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. My hair was long. My hair was down to the middle of my back and my beard was real long. But it was getting dangerous doing what I was doing. She wasn’t happy about that.
Detective Nida: She wasn’t happy that you cut off your hair?
Mr. Lozano: Or my beard.
Detective Nida: And then when did you go clean-shaven?
Mr. Lozano: When I got here. That’s about it. You’re tired.
Detective Nida: Oh, I could talk all day. It’s interesting to me, Mario. They’re calling me again. Hang on a second. I’ll probably be back.
(Detective Nida leaves the room again and returns a short time later.)
Detective Nida: My partner again. He wants me to clarify something. How ya doing? Are you doing all right? As well as can be expected?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: After the first shot.
Mr. Lozano: He can come in here, you know.
Detective Nida: I know. We actually -- we like to just have one-on-one.
After the first shot. How come you didn’t call 9-1-1 at that point? Did you think about that?
Mr. Lozano: No. She was -- no. She wasn’t gonna make it.
Detective Nida: Okay. So between the two shots you think it was about 30 seconds?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, no more than that.
Detective Nida: So let’s say starting from what point? Tell me when you think the estimate of 30 seconds would have been the second shot. So first shot. (She slaps the table.)
Mr. Lozano: 30 seconds. No more.
Detective Nida: You’re sure it was 30 seconds, not less than 30 seconds?
Mr. Lozano: It might have been less --
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: But no more than that.
Detective Nida: Okay. It was enough for her to go to the other end of the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: And her back was to you? She never turned around towards you?
Mr. Lozano: (Shakes head.)
Detective Nida: Okay. Because from the evidence at the scene, it looked like that the rounds hit her from the front rather than the back. And it didn’t?
Mr. Lozano: (Shakes head.)
Detective Nida: Interesting.
Mr. Lozano: Right here (indicating). (Pointing at the back of his head.)
Detective Nida: Actually, right here (indicating). (Pointing at her left temple.) Actually, right here (indicating). (Pointing at her right temple.) Sorry. Right here (indicating). (A little higher than the temple.) More on top.
The vacuum cleaner was knocked over.
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know.
Detective Nida: You don’t know? Did she grab it or anything?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know about the vacuum cleaner. I never seen the vacuum.
Detective Nida: It was in the doorway.
Mr. Lozano: No. I don’t remember.
Detective Nida: How come you went into the trailer?
Mr. Lozano: Well, I went in to get my bags, but I didn’t.
Detective Nida: Because when you got in the trailer what happened in your mind?
Mr. Lozano: Well, I saw what was happening, what had happened. I said hell, It don’t matter if I got clothes now. Just go.
Detective Nida: How close were you to her when you watched her die?
Mr. Lozano: About four feet, five feet. Maybe five feet.
Detective Nida: Where were you standing?
Mr. Lozano: Between the cushions, right at the end.
Detective Nida: After the second shot, did she immediately fall down?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Did she fold her knees first?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Okay. So -- I’m just trying to remember from what I’ve seen so I can match it all up from what I’ve been looking at. Where was she standing at the second shot, It was kinda by where that table was basically. It wasn’t all the way back of the --
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Okay. And then you shot her and the pellet still went in and hit the clock and stuff. Did you hear the glass break by chance?
Mr. Lozano: No, I didn’t.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: The air conditioner was on.
Detective Nida: Yeah.
Mr. Lozano: It was pretty loud.
Detective Nida: It was loud? You could hear it?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. You couldn’t hear anything else.
Detective Nida: Did her phone ring? Did you hear her phone ring?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: How come you didn’t grab her cell phone?
Mr. Lozano: Didn’t need it. Didn’t need money (Didn’t need mine) either.
Detective Nida: Yeah. You got rid of that. How come you kept the cell phone itself?
Mr. Lozano: To get rid of the SIM card.
Detective Nida: Right. But I’m saying why didn’t you just get rid of the whole phone instead of just the SIM card?
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: I don’t know. No rhyme or reason to it.
Detective Nida: And you’ve been using phone cards?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Tell me how you use those.
Mr. Lozano: Just buy the phone card and go to a pay phone.
Detective Nida: Okay. What pay phone did you use?
Mr. Lozano: In Idaho.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: (Inaudible.)
Detective Nida: Me neither.
Mr. Lozano: I made one call from the motel room.
Detective Nida: Using the phone card?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: And those are the phone cards that are in the trailer with all your stuff?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: Why did you call Emmett?
Mr. Lozano: Because I know he would have called by then down there and see how I was doing and he’d know. So -- there’s no excusing it. I mean, there’s no -- nothing that makes it right. I just really wish it hadn’t happened, but --
Detective Nida: When you look back at it, what -- when you’ve replayed it in your head all these millions of times, do you think at what point you could have stopped it from happening?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, staying in Kauai. She was -- when I got back, she was laid up for about a week with her back. (Inaudible) you know. So I had been running to the store for her and that sort of thing. And as soon as that crank showed up, I mean, she was out of that bed like a fXXXin’ shot and I was a piece of sXXt from then on.
Detective Nida: She didn’t wanna have anything to do with you?
Did you get in on the 12th?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: At San Francisco?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: And who brought you to Placerville?
Mr. Lozano: A friend if hers.
Detective Nida: Do you know who that is?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. Denise. Not Denise, but Danessa.
Detective Nida: Danessa.
Mr. Lozano: Danessa, yeah.
Detective Nida: Okay. Do you have anything to say to Nick?
Mr. Lozano: Oh, God. Ain’t nothing to say. What can I say?
Detective Nida: The dog was in the trailer.
Mr. Lozano: I know.
Detective Nida: This should be about it.
Did you use any of the pills, Any dope, anything while -- since you’ve been here in California?
Mr. Lozano: She gave me a couple Ativans. Because I was so -- I couldn’t sleep very well because, you know, midnight here is 9:00 there. So a couple nights of tossing and turning, she gave me one one night ,one the next. She gave me a couple of pain pills, too.
Detective Nida: What were they? Do you know?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. Vicodins, I think. But it was -- that was during the first week and there wasn’t anymore after that.
Detective Nida: So besides the pot, there hasn’t been anything else in your system?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Okay. No meth?
Mr. Lozano: Nope.
Detective Nida: And was there meth going out of that house?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Do you know who was bringing that over? Same person?
Mr. Lozano: Mm-hmm.
Detective Nida: And then she was selling it?
Mr. Lozano: Or trading it or something. I don’t know. She was working her deals. I really didn’t wanna know.
Detective Nida: How come? How come? Since your past you have a history of using.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. I know. Yeah.
Detective Nida: So you’ve been clean?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: I have Hepatitis C. So pain I’m not gonna use. And I just found out this year over there. And it’s not as aggressive as some of it is, but methamphetamine and alcohol are a sure trip to the hole.
(So I wonder if you bothered to mention that to Kacie… as if she didn’t have enough health problems.)
Detective Nida: Got it. Okay. I didn’t know that.
Mr. Lozano: Any pain. You know, I’ve been having to be very careful while I was working and everything. I had this leg (indicating) (I decided not to bother telling where Mario was complaining about.) swell up while I was out there. In fact, it almost got me killed.
Detective Nida: From the leg swelling up?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah, Because I developed a blood clot down here (indicating).
Detective Nida: Oh.
Mr. Lozano: And the doc had ordered an ultrasound for me and I just -- I didn’t go for, like, 20 days, you know? And then it was just so tight and so hot that I couldn’t work anymore. So I went to the emergency room and they keep me that night and started feeding me Lovenox injections, blood thinners. Because the blood clot had traveled up here (indicating).
Detective Nida: Wow.
Mr. Lozano: And it was just about to go.
Detective Nida: Uh-huh.
Mr. Lozano: Pulmonary embolism. Yeah. Most likely, you know, a stroke maybe or whatever. But that’s why I came back, because the course of Lovenox for one week. And then for one week they gave me enough (inaudible) syringes already prepared abd they told me to pump them in here (indicating).
Detective Nida: Okay.
Mr. Lozano: In the belly fat. And halfway through that, they started me on Coumadim, like 5 milligrams.
Detective Nida: And that’s to reduce the clot?
Mr. Lozano: That just thins the blood out. Yeah. That’s -- generally it’s to dissolve the clot. So I was down -- by the time I got here. I was down to two and a half milligrams a day. They cut me down. So that might still be in there, but that’s about it.
Detective Nida: So for the Hep C, you’re not taking any medications right now? You don’t need to medicate yet?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. He wanted me to, but it was time to come home.
Detective Nida: Is there anything that you’d like to say to Nick? Do you wanna write him a letter or anything?
Mr. Lozano: I may. Not right now. That’s another piece of penance That I’ll come around to. You know what I mean?
Detective Nida: Mm-hmm. He’s a strong kid.
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
Detective Nida: All right. Mario, I really appreciate you talking to me. Anything else?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: Anything else that you’re thinking that you wanna talk about?
Mr. Lozano: No.
Detective Nida: That long ride back from Idaho, were you thinking about it?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah. The whole time I was there.
Detective Nida: Were you? All right. We’ll getcha out of here.
You don’t have any injuries on you right now, right?
Mr. Lozano: Nothing.
Detective Nida: Any -- any -- okay. No.
The deputy went out to take you back to Bridgeport. So you’re gonna be hanging here until that deputy comes. All right?
Mr. Lozano: Yeah.
(Detective Nida leaves the room and they stop the video here in court. There is one more small part of the transcription left to record.)
Officer: Okay. Go ahead and stand up and face the wall, sir. Put your other hand on the wall.
Shake this one out. Okay. Walk out this way.
(End of videotaped interview.)
---oOo---
11:14 The video ended.
Gomes states, Lt. Nida says there are about 7 errors but they are insignificant.
Judge Keller asks, any further evidence offered on defense?
Atwell calls Lieutenant Nida to the stand.
Judge Keller interrupts and says; let’s break for 15 minutes.

I asked the Lieutenant if I could get a copy of the interview. She said, no I don’t think so. I asked, maybe after court is over? No, she said, I don’t think it will be made available. Dang it! I thought and left the courtroom. I saw someone in the hall (I’ll keep the name anonymous) with a copy and asked if I could get a copy. No problem, I’m told, they are going to make a copy for Doug and Annie anyway. (Thanks, Jesus!)

11:35 Judge Keller enters.
Jurors enter.
Lieutenant Nida is on the stand.
Atwell asks, you’re a Lieutenant with the Placerville police Department? You were present when the DVD # 81a was recorded? Nida answered, yes.
A Was that the record of your interview? N Yes.
A Was anything dropped? N No.
A Was anything added? N No.
Atwell offers exhibit #81,the sleeve, and #81a, the disc, into evidence.
Atwell enters the transcript into evidence also.
Judge Keller states, the original will be admitted but will not entered into the jury room. A copy will be available if they ask for it.
The copies of the interview are collected.
A …some indications that was observed with what… Mario’s hands. N Yes.
A One hand shackled. N Yes.
A Where? N A bar on the wall.
A Where was Mario’s wallet? N At the trailer, I believe.
A …bank book in it? N I don’t believe so.
A Who is Larry? N Leslie is his true name.
A The defense rests.
Judge Keller asks, rebuttal? Gomes answers, no.
11:20 Judge says, we can’t instruct, let’s come back at 1:15.
The jury leaves.
The Judge says, let’s go over the exhibits and decides with Gomes and Atwell which evidence will be made available for the jurors.
11:50 Break for lunch.