Lengthy article. Much more at the link.
APR 3, 2023
Attention has been riveted to a Kern County courtroom since Tuesday’s start of what’s expected to be months of proceedings in probably the most closely watched murder trial all year.
www.tehachapinews.com
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The trial will not be in session this week but will return April 10. In the meantime, here’s what a summary of events to date, including particulars that didn’t make the paper and other details of note.
WITNESSES
Chief Deputy District Attorney Eric Smith began building his case at the moment the case first caught the public’s eye: Dec. 21, 2020 when the Wests reported Orrin and Orson missing while they played in their California City backyard. Smith called to the witness stand a dispatcher, three California City police officers and two of the Wests’ neighbors to explain what happened that night.
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Smith has already presented more than four hours of body-worn camera footage including interviews of the Wests. It’s expected more footage is yet to be played...
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There was never a complete search of about 40 sex offenders who lived in California City, according to statements elicited by defense attorney Timothy Hennessy.
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There were at times heated exchanges during the cross examination between Hansen and an attorney representing Jacqueline West, Alekxia Torres Stallings.
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Hansen had testified he had a 3-year-old at home, and therefore knew what smaller shoe prints looked like. Through this line of questioning, Prosecutor Smith brought out testimony from Hansen to show he was able to discern there were no kids’ shoe prints in the California City backyard — a possible clue to what might have happened to the boys.
But Hansen appeared to fail Torres Stallings’ fatherhood test. She noted there were diapers inside the house, in fact, and they were a size 6.
She asked Hansen whether he knew a diaper’s size doesn’t correlate to age, but weight.
No, he didn’t: Hansen said he doesn’t buy diapers and instead leaves that task to his wife — an answer that produced a look of disbelief in Torres Stallings’ face.
She also elicited testimony that Hansen lacks formal training in analyzing footprints.
There were questions, as well, about Hansen’s experience interviewing children. He testified he had some training in police academy about interviewing children but wasn’t able to say how long it lasted.
Under cross examination, Torres Stallings implied there’s a special method for interviewing children who are witnesses, as distinct from the method for young suspects. But when he interviewed children, Hansen used a method geared toward children suspected of committing a crime, not witnessing one, Torres Stallings asserted.
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It was heartbreaking to hear the Wests’ other children will testify about Orrin and Orson dying, they said. Smith said during his opening statements one of the other children told a forensic interviewer how Orrin’s color changed before he started vomiting one night, which may have preceded his death. The same boy also allegedly told investigators there was a thud in Orson’s room one night and that Orson was never seen again.
“That’s the one that’s really gonna hurt the most,” Wills said.
