CA - Korey Kauffman, 26, slain, 3 CHP officers, attorney charged, Turlock, 31 Mar 2012

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STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. (KCRA) -*Nine people, including three California Highway Patrol officers and a criminal defense attorney, have been arrested in the death of a missing Turlock man found dead in the Stanislaus National Forest, deputies said Friday.
Korey Kauffman's body was found Aug. 19, 2013 by hunters in the forest near Yosemite National Park. His death was classified as suspicious, according to the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department.


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link

Also see: criminal affidavit
 
This case interests me, partly because it is a California case and partly because it is so very unusual.

I plan on reading the affidavit but since it is 334 pages, I won't even start until later today or tonight. I plan to take my time.

Thanks for getting the thread started.
 
The AP article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...5cf6082e4b07addcb43263c?kvcommref=mostpopular

New Details Emerge In Forgotten Murder That Snared Attorney, Highway Patrolmen
Those arrested either played a part in the killing of the 26-year-old Korey Kauffman or helped cover it up, officials said.


Associated Press By Paul Elias
Posted: 08/15/2015 12:08 PM EDT | Edited: 22 minutes ago


“SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A long and largely forgotten death investigation in California's Central Valley has led to a vast and unexpected set of arrests that included three current and former Highway Patrol officers and a prominent defense attorney.

They were among nine people arrested in the 2012 disappearance and killing of Korey Kauffman, stemming from the belief that he was stealing the attorney's antiques, law enforcement officials said at a news conference Friday in Modesto, California. ...”​

More...
 
The court document is well over 300 pages long, and mind-numbing in detail. I have no basis for comparison, but this seems excessively long. I cannot imagine how long it took to compose. At any rate, I hope this will help justice prevail. I shudder to think the attorney at the center of this complicated criminal case could have been elected district attorney. I am disgusted that 3 LE officers are also possibly involved. It is quite an extraordinary case IMHO.
 
I read a lot but not all of the arrest warrant/court document. It contains a lot of evidence on the many different people involved and how they are involved. It's a very sad situation that went on for many years. What I learned is how LE builds a case with many pieces of information/evidence.
 
That's a miniseries right there. I'm only 20 pages in and already most of the stuff is too weird to make believable in a work of fiction. Quite a cast of characters.
 
This is like a melodrama from the 40s. Unbelievable! I just finished re-reading Stuart Wood's "Chiefs" and this story of powerful people in a corrupt town - call me naive but really? In this day and age? It also reminds me of Greg Illes novels about Natchez.

I hope all those involved get a fair trial, and if convicted, I hope they feel the fullest extent of the law. SMDH.
 
Feature article from October 23:

http://www.therecorder.com/id=12027...Defender-to-Defendant?slreturn=20160002115518

Frank Carson has finally been quieted in court.

The veteran criminal defense attorney, once the pugnacious go-to guy for Stanislaus County residents in big legal trouble, is now a defendant himself. Prosecutors say Carson was the mastermind of a complex, multiple-suspect conspiracy that resulted in the 2012 death of a Turlock man. So now Carson spends his days sitting silently in a Modesto courtroom, watching the preliminary hearing that will determine whether he faces a murder trial...

But this is a strange case, one that involves nine defendants—including three California Highway Patrol officers—and a history of bad blood between the defendant and the district attorney's office... "He just is not a friendly person when you're opposing him," said his lawyer, Martinez. "He rubs prosecutors the wrong way. The people in the community love Frank Carson. The problem is that every prosecutor who has to try a case against him, they hate him"...

The entire Stanislaus County bench has recused itself from the case. Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga is overseeing the preliminary hearing. The proceedings move at a tedious pace at times, with six defense attorneys offering numerous objections to witness statements. The hearing finished its second week Friday. Prosecutors, who submitted a list of 70 potential witnesses, had projected a four-week proceeding. That seems optimistic.

From December 30:

http://www.modbee.com/news/article52352435.html

Carson’s preliminary hearing is ongoing and will stretch into 2016, likely making it the longest preliminary hearing in the state’s history.
 
http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article70938127.html

It was supposed to last three to four weeks. Six months later, the preliminary hearing continues for Modesto attorney Frank Carson and five others charged in the slaying of Turlock resident Korey Kauffman. And it’s unclear when it will end...

The preliminary hearing has been in session 56 court days over the past six months, delayed by scheduling conflicts, holidays, vacations, challenges to evidence and now a defense attorney’s injury.

Jesse Garcia, who represents Carson’s wife, says he will return to the case Tuesday, when testimony can resume. Garcia recently suffered a serious ankle injury and underwent extensive surgery.
 
I'm local to this, I actually have met the GF of Woody the one who recorded him admitting stuff.. So weird.. But I heard there's new stuff going on in the case, for some reason when I search on Google for this local to me it never gives me results that actually help it just gives me the same things no matter how I rephrase things 😑
 
Wow. So I'm assuming there are not any recent updates in the newspapers?
 
Wow. So I'm assuming there are not any recent updates in the newspapers?

Nope... Nothing new, I've heard aloooooot of rumors though.. That's Turlock for you, sweep everything under the rug..


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Wow I'm finally reading the affadavit and let me just say I'm SO glad that no one from my town is really into this type of things cause they name like every witness to everything and a lot of this stuff is a big no no to a lot of people...
 
http://www.kcra.com/article/modesto-attorney-2-others-accused-of-murder-released-from-jail/8530323

A Stanislaus County judge released Frank Carson, Daljit Athwal and Baljit Athwal on their own recognizance until their next status hearing on Jan. 3, Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney John Goold said.

The decision came after DA investigators found some audio recordings connected to 26-year-old Korey Kauffman’s murder case that may or may not have been given to the defense as part of discovery.

“There was no time to confirm whether these recordings had been previously disclosed or not,” Goold said in a statement... The judge, “felt compelled to do this in order to protect the record on appeal,” Goold added.
 
Carson preliminary hearing, already longest in county history, on hiatus for a month - January 3rd

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article124324964.html

A judge on Tuesday placed a 15-month preliminary hearing for six defendants charged in the Korey Kauffman slaying on hiatus until February to give defense attorneys time to review evidence the prosecution did not reveal until recently.

The hearing to determine whether a trial is needed began in mid-October 2015 for Modesto attorney Frank Carson and five other defendants. Carson is accused of being the ringleader of a criminal conspiracy to thwart thieves from repeatedly stealing antiques and scrap metal from his property on Ninth Street in Turlock.

Zuniga said she is concerned the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office will continue to find more audio recordings as prosecutors audit the information they gathered in the murder case that dates back more than four years, not long after Kauffman disappeared in 2012.

The judge told the prosecutor that someone not involved in the murder investigation needs to review the prosecution’s master list before the hearing resumes Feb. 7.

“Because this has got to end,” Zuniga said in court. “This has really got to stop.”

Ferreira told the judge that they worked every day since Dec. 22, except Christmas and New Year’s days, to create an indexed list of 108 recordings that had not been provided to the defense. She said they will continue to work on creating the master list of evidence and identifying someone to be in charge of the list.

Robert Forkner, Christina DeFilippo’s attorney, asked the judge to defer her ruling on sanctions against the prosecution until after the defense has a chance to review the recordings. He said some of these recordings are interviews of witnesses who have already testified in the hearing.

The judge said she intends to impose sanctions on the prosecution for withholding this information, but she first wants to determine what extent of the information was already provided before deciding what sanctions will be imposed.

“It’s not something I’m going to do until I have full understanding of the violations,” Zuniga told the attorneys.
 
End nears on preliminary hearing for attorney, others charged with Turlock man’s murder

http://www.turlockjournal.com/section/15/article/33705/

After a month-long hiatus, the preliminary hearing in the death of Turlock resident Korey Kauffman resumed Tuesday with the judge scheduling a date for closing arguments to begin.

Closing arguments are tentatively set to begin March 7 and could last about a week. By the time Judge Barbara Zuniga makes her ruling it could be nearing the five-year anniversary of Kauffman’s death at the end of March 2012.

Modesto defense attorney Frank Carson, his wife Georgia DeFilippo, former California Highway Patrol Officer Walter Wells, and brothers Baljit Athwal and Daljit Atwal, who own the Pop N’ Cork stores in Turlock, have all been charged with Kauffman’s murder. Former CHP Officers Scott McFarlane and Eduardo Quintanar, and Carson’s stepdaughter Christina DeFilippo have all been charged with being accessories after the fact and conspiracy. McFarlane and Quintanar are not part of the preliminary hearing. They all have entered not guilty pleas.

Robert Lee Woody, who was the first to be arrested for Kauffman’s killing, agreed to a plea deal and has testified for the prosecution. Woody is set to be sentenced March 9.
 
Prosecution finishes closing arguments in Kauffman case preliminary hearing

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article137873318.html

The prosecutor in the Korey Kauffman murder case finished a two-day closing argument Friday by asserting that defendant and local attorney Frank Carson began preparing his defense in the case long before his arrest when he announced his bid for district attorney against incumbent Birgit Fladager.

“This was an actual attempt to set up his defense because he knew he was being investigated for murder,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Marlisa Ferreira during the preliminary hearing.

She said the defense will call it “political vengeance” but that the facts she presented to court show Carson “aided and abetted and encouraged and facilitated and set up this murder.”

Ferreira recounted the testimony of Robert Lee Woody, who also was charged in Kauffman’s death but has agreed to a plea deal in exchange for his testimony against his co-defendants.

Woody testified that he worked at a Turlock convenience store owned by Baljit Athwal and Daljit Atwal the night Kauffman went missing. After his shift, he and Daljit Atwal went to Carson’s Ninth Street property, where he said he saw Baljit Athwal beating up Kauffman. He said Daljit Atwal joined in and that they both hit Kauffman about 20 times then and kicked him after he fell to the ground.

Ferreria said Woody “described it like a cat trying to get away from a dog.”

She said the defense attorneys will argue that Woody is not a reliable witness, that his story changed repeatedly during multiple interviews and testimony.

But she said key elements of the crime always remained the same during the last four times he told the story, including seeing the brothers beat Kauffman, seeing Daljit Atwal with a gun, the handling of Kauffman’s body on both occasions, and Carson asking him to do favors in return for free legal services.

The defense attorneys will begin presenting their closing arguments when court resumes Wednesday.
 
Defense attacks credibility of prosecution witnesses in Korey Kauffman murder case - March 15th

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article138774653.html

Defense attorney Percy Martinez on Wednesday argued that the murder and conspiracy charges against his client, Frank Carson, are based on statements from prosecution witnesses who are convicted criminals, habitual liars and drugs users seeking leniency in exchange for accusations not supported by the evidence.

Carson, a prominent Modesto attorney, is charged in the death of Korey Kauffman. Martinez gave his closing argument Wednesday in a preliminary hearing for Carson and five others charged in Kauffman’s slaying. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Barbara Zuniga will decide whether there’s enough evidence for the defendants to stand trial.

Martinez told the judge that the testimony by these prosecution witnesses has been contradicted and impeached by the defense, including statements from the prosecution’s key witness Robert Lee Woody. He said Woody’s testimony was “not credible or persuasive.”

Woody first denied any involvement in Kauffman’s disappearance. Then, he was heard on a secret recording claiming sole responsibility to the murder, offering details about disposing the body. Then, he directed the blame to his former employers, brothers Baljit Athwal and Daljit Atwal. And Woody told investigators he was an unwilling pawn in Carson’s plot to retaliate against thieves.

Martinez said it was a radically different scenario than the one Woody first offered. He said Woody initially claimed Kauffman’s disgruntled neighbor had the man killed, shot, stabbed and beaten unrecognizably; with his body chopped-up, dumped in a field or desert and fed to pigs. Martinez argued that Woody is either producing lies from his own imagination or lying at the urging of others.

“The only reasonable conclusion is he is not telling the truth,” the defense attorney argued in court.

Attorney defends mother, daughter accused in Korey Kauffman murder - March 16th

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article139040958.html

A defense attorney on Thursday told a judge that Georgia DeFilippo and her daughter, Christina DeFilippo, had never been arrested before prosecutors accused them of conspiring with Modesto attorney Frank Carson in alleged plot to retaliate thieves on his property.

Jesse Garcia, Georgia DeFilippo’s attorney, argued that the prosecution failed to prove its theory, only offering some middle-of-the-night phone calls and text messages of a mother and daughter. He said the prosecution listed the installation of motion sensors to protect Carson’s property as an overt act in the alleged conspiracy.

Garcia said the prosecution’s theory fails, mainly because it relied on the testimony of Robert Lee Woody and his mother Beverly Woody. He urged the court to issue a of finding of fact not subject to appellate review that there’s no credibility in the testimony from Woody and his mother, who have been thoroughly impeached by their own lies in statements to police and in court.

“There’s nothing left of the prosecution’s case,” Garcia said in court.

He also spoke about testimony from Ronald Cooper and Patrick Hampton, who claimed Carson solicited them to participate in the alleged conspiracy.

Garcia argued that Cooper is a known Turlock drug dealer, who told investigators he sent a letter to Carson promising to find his stolen items. He said Cooper claimed Carson met him in jail, but the attorney never provided legal services and other favors in exchange for Cooper’s help. Garcia said even if you believe Cooper’s story, there was no wrongdoing by Carson.

Hampton is a career criminal who has spent most of his time behind bars acting as informant for law enforcement, Garcia said. Hampton has provided unsubstantiated information about confessions from fellow inmates in the past, according to Garcia.
 
Defense says key witness in Kauffman murder case was coerced - March 17th

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article139272608.html

The attorney for the step-daughter of Frank Carson gave his closing arguments Friday saying what was presented as evidence against his client was nothing more than twisted facts, creative misrepresentations and flat out lies.

Christina DeFilippo is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and being an accessory in the murder of Korey Kauffman. Her attorney Robert Forkner is the third of six defense attorneys to present closing arguments in the preliminary hearing that began 17 months ago.

Forkner went through the evidence presented by the prosecution. He said said text messages between Christina and Georgia DeFilippo, almost two months before Kauffman disappeared, about not contacting police if the motion detector went off was not evidence of vigilante justice.

“If she was to call the police every time the motion detector went off ... she’d be arrested for being a nuisance,” Forkner said, adding that something as a simple as a leaf blowing by it would set it off.

Christina DeFilippo was interviewed by a deputy following Kauffman’s disappearance. Forkner said she was honest with the deputy, answered his questions, told him there had been previous thefts and gave him Carson’s phone number so he could inquire further.

“There’s absolutely no evidence that Ms. DeFilippo tried to direct this investigation away from Mr. Carson or her mother,” Forkner said.

Mostly, like the other defense attorneys, Forkner picked apart the testimony of the prosecution’s key witness Robert Lee Woody, a co-defendant who took a plea deal in exchange for his testimony.

Attorney: Prosecutor cherry-picked insignificant facts in case against ex-CHP officer - March 20th

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article139741458.html

A defense attorney on Monday said the prosecution has employed a “selective use of evidence” to build a case against former California Highway Patrol officer Walter Wells, failing to link him to the disappearance and death of Korey Kauffman.

Timothy Rien told Judge Barbara Zuniga said the prosecutor cherry-picked and stretched facts of little or no significance, trying to establish a connection between his client and Kauffman’s death.

The prosecutor argued that calls from Kauffman’s cell phone and Wells’ cell phone were connected through the same cell phone sector on the night Kauffman disappeared. But Rien said that evidence did not offer any proof that Wells used Kauffman’s phone.

He said the signals from cell phone towers in that area oscillated and overlapped, and it did not pinpoint the location of the calls. Also, Rien argued that Kauffman and most of the defendants, including Wells, lived, shopped, socialized and worked in the same area covered by these cell phone towers, which included most of Turlock and the area south of Modesto.

Prosecutors have conceded they will not argue in support of the murder charge against Wells. But the prosecution is asking the judge to order a trial for Wells on felony charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and acting as an accessory after the alleged murder was committed.

Rien argued Monday there isn’t sufficient evidence to support any of the allegations against his client. He told the judge she can believe key prosecution witness Robert Lee Woody or not; either way his statements should result in the dismissal of all charges against Wells.

Rien argued that Woody has confirmed Wells was not involved in Kauffman’s death or in the removal of his body. Woody, who was the first arrested in the murder case, has said he lied on July 22, when he told the prosecutor and two investigators that he saw Carson and Wells at Carson’s property around the time he witnessed Kauffman’s death.

Hans Hjertonsson, Daljit Atwal’s attorney, began his closing argument Monday afternoon, telling the judge that Woody was forced to make up a story to escape life in prison or the death penalty. He said investigators repeatedly told Woody that they knew he was with Baljit Athwal and Daljit Atwal on Carson’s property when Kauffman was killed, but Woody continued to deny that until Aug. 14, 2015.

That was the day Woody decided to cooperate with the prosecution. “(Woody) acknowledges, ‘If that’s what you’re saying, that’s what happened,’” Hjertonsson argued.

But Woody’s attorneys kept offering him to investigators for interrogations, even after saying he knew nothing about Kauffman’s death over and over again, Hjertonsson said. He read from a transcript where Woody’s attorney Martin Baker told an investigator: “I want to close this case. I don’t want to be stuck in a 6-month murder trial with this guy.”
 
Defense: Prosecution investigators ignored other suspects in Korey Kauffman death

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article139932113.html

Defense attorney Martha Carlton-Magaña said Tuesday investigators ignored other potential suspects in Korey Kauffman’s disappearance and death, instead focusing their probe on prominent Modesto attorney Frank Carson and those associated with him.

The murder investigation did eventually look into other suspects, Carlton-Magaña said, but barely a phone call was made. No search warrants were served, no phone records were analyzed and no phones were wiretapped, she said.

“We’ve come to the point where there’s no credible evidence of a crime committed by any of the six defendants,” Carlton-Magaña said as she presented her closing argument.

She said the investigative task force formed to find Kauffman’s killer worked to pin the murder on Carson and his co-defendants, instead of looking into Kauffman’s criminal history, drug habit or reported threats to his life not long before he disappeared.
 

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