Description: Learn how the power of DNA forensic science and technology have cracked cold cases.  DA Anne Marie Schubert shares her passion for DNA forensics and highlights cold cases from the 70s and 80s, including the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer. 

Show Notes: District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert is nationally known for forensic DNA and cold case prosecutions.  Schubert talks about her background, experience and passion for pursuing justice through DNA evidence and cold case prosecutions.  Schubert believes DNA is the most powerful tool to not only identify and hold perpetrators accountable, but to also exonerate the innocent.   

Some notable cold cases are highlighted, including the recent arrest and pending prosecution of Joseph DeAngelo for what has been coined the East Area Rapist, Golden State Killer.  The 2012 capital murder cold case against Richard Hirschfeld for the 1980 UC Davis Sweetheart Murders, the 1977 murder of 15-year-old Penny Parker and 1989 murder of 80-year-old Sophia McAllister are also discussed. 

Schubert presents other positive developments that came out of pursuing these cold cases, including the passage of Prop 69, the Dead Inmate Project and a recent arrest of a Nevada prison inmate who was linked to a series of cold case crimes.  

Schubert shares her thoughts on how far DNA forensics and technology have come and new innovative ways it is helping to solve cold cases.    

About District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert

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Tags: District Attorney, Anne Marie Schubert, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, Justice, East Area Rapist, Golden State Killer, True Crime, Justice Journal

Description: How the cold case prosecution for the 1980 murders of two UC Davis students unfolded over 30+ years.  Part 1 gives background and history of the case - who the victims were, what happened to them - and takes you through the early investigation from 1980 to 2002. 

Show Notes: The lead prosecutor, Dawn Bladet, and investigator, Ron Garverick, discuss the cold case prosecution of Richard Hirschfield.  In 1980, Hirschfield murdered UC Davis students John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves – often called the UC Davis Sweetheart Murders.

Bladet and Garverick set the scene of what the town of Davis and Sacramento region was like in 1980, and tell us about John and Sabrina.  The discussion goes back in time, describing the evening John and Sabrina went missing and the events that soon followed - from the families reporting them missing, to locating the van they were driving, to the discovery of their bodies and how that discovery affected the Riggins and Gonsalves families. 

Bladet and Garverick talk through the twists and turns the case took giving the history and general timeline of the investigation, including the pursuit of the Hunt Group who were charged in Yolo County for the murders.  On the eve of their trial, they were exonerated by DNA. 

This episode ends at the point where DNA taken from a blanket at the crime scene gets a DNA hit in 2002 to an unknown suspect, turning the case in a completely new direction. 

This case was featured on 48 Hours (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-sweetheart-murders-3/).

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Tags: 

District Attorney, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, UC Davis, Sweetheart Murders, Justice, Capital Murder, Death Penalty, True Crime, Justice Journal

Description: How the cold case prosecution for the 1980 murders of two UC Davis students unfolded over 30+ years.  Part 2 picks up with the 2002 DNA hit to an unknown suspect, Richard Hirschfield, the new investigation that followed and preparing the case for a capital murder trial. 

Show Notes: The big break in the case came in 2002 when a DNA sample from a blanket at the crime scene provided a DNA hit to Richard Hirschfield.  Getting the DNA hit was just the beginning.  Bladet and Garverick talk about the investigation and building the case from that point. 

Hirschfield was someone who was never on the radar, an unknown suspect.  They share what they quickly learned about who Hirschfield was, about his life, connections to the Sacramento region and his past criminal history. 

Garverick explains the process of putting the many pieces of the investigation together - like a puzzle - and filling the holes.  Bladet explains the trial preparation and challenges with this cold case, including 80 banker boxes full of discovery (documents/materials), witnesses passing away, memories fading and the evidence chain of custody over many decades -among others. 

This case was featured on 48 Hours (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-sweetheart-murders-3/).

Follow us @SacCountyDA on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and find us on YouTube.

Tags: District Attorney, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, UC Davis, Sweetheart Murders, Justice, Capital Murder, Death Penalty, True Crime, Justice Journal

Description: How the cold case prosecution for the 1980 murders of two UC Davis students unfolded over 30+ years.  Part 3 talks through the trial - from evidence presented, including a suicide note, to witnesses to closing arguments and then - the jury’s verdict.  

Show Notes: Bladet talks through the trial process – from the many pre-trial motions, evidence presented, to witnesses testimony to closing arguments and when the case went to the jury. 

Evidence included a suicide note from Richard Hirschfield’s brother, Joseph.  Garverick explains the story behind Joseph, his suicide, the note he left for his wife and reads excerpts from the note.   Bladet explains how she was able to get a redacted version of the note into evidence, which is rare, and how it also created a “dual edge” by admitting it. 

Find out if the jury convicts, on what charges and how long it took them to return their verdict.  Bladet shares how she and the Riggins and Gonsalves families felt after the verdict was read.  

This case was featured on 48 Hours (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-sweetheart-murders-3/).

Follow us @SacCountyDA on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and find us on YouTube.

Keywords - District Attorney, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, UC Davis, Sweetheart Murders, Justice, Capital Murder, Death Penalty, True Crime, Justice Journal

Description: How the cold case prosecution for the 1980 murders of two UC Davis students unfolded over 30+ years.  Part 4 concludes with the sentencing phase – the sentence, reaction and impact on the victims’ families and final thoughts from Bladet and Garverick on the case.

Show Notes: The court process was not over after the jury returned its verdict.  In capital cases, there is a sentencing phase to determine if the death penalty will be imposed.  Bladet and Garverick discuss what happens in this phase – which focuses on the lives taken and the loss and pain it left for the families and the community. 

This is the first opportunity to tell the jury who John and Sabrina were, what kind of people they were – what they aspired to be and the potential they had to make a real difference in the world.  This is also the first time family members take the stand.  Garverick works on showing how Hirschfield is deserving of the death penalty through his criminal history and the wake of victims he has left in his path.  Learn how the defense tried to make a case that Hirschfield should be spared the death penalty.  When the sentence is handed down, Bladet recounts how the Riggins and Gonsalves families felt about the sentence. 

With the case closed, we hear how the Riggins and Gonsalves families were impacted through the years to this day.  Bladet talks about the personal relationships she developed with the families over the years and still maintains today.  Garverick recounts what he took away from his experience on this case, as they state it is one that will stay with them.  This podcast episode series ends with how “justice delayed is still justice served.”

This case was featured on 48 Hours (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-sweetheart-murders-3/).

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Keywords - District Attorney, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, UC Davis, Sweetheart Murders, Justice, Capital Murder, Death Penalty, True Crime, Justice Journal

Description: Crime Lab Director Chip Pollock shares his background and career path to his current role.  He gives an overview of the Crime Lab, including what’s unique about the lab, the main areas of analysis conducted, who and how requests/evidence is submitted for analysis and the role of a Crime Lab in criminal cases.

Show Notes: Chip shares how he started down the road of science, his education, how he got interested in criminal forensic science and his path into the field.  With a college background in biochemistry, he was able to go right into the field of forensic science. 

He began his career at the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office working in forensic toxicology.  He went on to work as a criminalist at the California Department of Justice Crime Lab.   In 2001, Chip came to the Sacramento County District Attorneys’ Crime Lab.

Some unique aspects of the DA’s Crime Lab include that it is only one of four in the state managed by a District Attorney’s Office.  It also has advanced equipment for trace evidence analysis, which most other labs don’t have.  While other labs are decreasing investment in trace evidence, DA Schubert supports the mission of maintaining a top accredited trace evidence lab and cases have benefited. 

Main areas of analysis at the Crime Lab:  1) Comparative Evidence - firearms and tool marks, 2) Chemistry - controlled substances/drugs, 3) Toxicology - forensic alcohol and forensic toxicology, 4) Crime Scene Response Team - on call 24 hours/day, 5) DNA/Biology - sex assaults, cold cases, etc. and 6) Trace Evidence - gunshot residue, glass, fiber, etc.

Chip talks about the Crime Lab’s rape kit testing team, the process of testing kits and when kits are analyzed.  He also explains ways requests/evidence comes into lab for analysis, including from deputy district attorneys, law enforcement agencies and the Coroner’s Office.

There are currently 41 criminalists who process thousands of pieces of evidence per year - prioritizing analysis based on what will provide the most important information/answers.  Chip explains the Crime Lab’s role in a criminal case is to be the objective/science-based component to provide answers to questions.

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Tags - District Attorney, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, True Crime, Justice Journal, Trace Evidence, Crime Lab, Crime Scene Investigation, CSI

Description: Crime Lab Director Chip Pollock talks about criminalists (their education, training, experience), responsibilities criminalists have outside the lab, the lab’s state-of-the-art equipment and how it is used, how real the Hollywood version of CSI and forensic science is to true life, how those interested in the field can start on that path and the Crime Lab Youth Shadow Day. 

Show Notes: Chip explains how criminalists are assigned to various sections of the lab,

and often cross train in the different sections.  This allows them to be flexible in the work they can perform, cover areas when needed as well as add to their training, experience and knowledge.  There is a training program they go through along with a competency test, mock case and mock trial.   

Aside from science and analysis work, criminalists provide outside training and crime scene workshops for law enforcement agencies.  They also train deputy district attorneys on aspects of forensic science to give them a better understanding of how forensic analysis is conducted and understand some of the science behind it.  Criminalists also often testify in court.

The lab is known for having state-of-the-art equipment, including a machine that performs elemental analysis of glass.  This allows criminalists to compare glass and glass fragments to determine if the elemental composition is indistinguishable from one another or if they came from the same manufacturer with the same chemical and physical composition.  It’s the only lab in the western Unites States and one of about 12 labs nationwide with this equipment and expertise.  This equipment was used in a 2003 double-murder case in Galt.  The suspect used a bat to smash in the victims’ sliding glass door.  Fragments of glass taken from the bat were compared to the glass sliding door, which was a match.   

Another equipment example is the Crime Scene Unit’s 3-D laser scanner, which scans a crime scene using a high-speed whirling laser that measures points of distance.  A digital camera then photographs the crime scene and stitches the photos together with the measurements.  This technology documents and essentially freezes the crime scene in time.  This equipment was used in

the 2012 murder case of 13-year-old Jessica Funk-Haslam who was found in a baseball field in Rosemont.  

Some of the Hollywood version of CSI is true to life, just accelerated and more dramatic.  The real CSI can never get a case done between two commercials, and criminalists are not investigators – they work behind the scenes.   

For those interested in forensic science, it will require a degree in the science field (chemistry, molecular biology, biochemistry), and California requires additional chemistry courses.  Chip recommends doing an internship as well.  The District Attorney’s Crime Lab has college and graduate internships.  The Crime Lab also held a successful Youth Shadow Day that gives students a hands-on experience/idea of what’s it like to be a criminalist.

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Tags - District Attorney, Cold Cases, Cold Case Prosecutions, DNA, DNA Evidence, DNA Hit, Forensic Science, True Crime, Justice Journal, Trace Evidence, Crime Lab, Crime Scene Investigation, CSI

Description: How the Community & Government Relations Division is working in, and with, the community.  Programs and partnerships are highlighted, including an introduction to a specific example involving a Memorandum of Understanding with Motel 6. 

Show Notes: Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Natalia Luna gives an overview of the Community & Government Relations (CGR) Division and the units within the division, including the Community Prosecution Unit. 

Community prosecutors Deputy District Attorney Ron Linthicum and Deputy District Attorney Joy Smiley join the conversation to talk about the office’s many community prevention and education programs for youth and adults as well as the broad range of partnerships they have in the county.  

Ron and Joy talk in more detail about the type of work/activities they do on a regular basis.  A number of examples of CPU’s non-traditional approach to handling cases and outside-the-box programs, partnerships and accomplishments are discussed.

The focus is turned to one particular example that is unique, unprecedented and demonstrates the role of community prosecutors and how CPU works to address neighborhood crime - the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Motel 6. 

Using the Motel 6 MOU as a case example, Ron, Joy and Natalia talk through how CPU started the ball rolling to what ultimately led to the MOU agreement.   They detail out from when they were made aware of issues at Motel 6 properties to how the situation was elevated to a broad multi-agency discussion of how to address the issues to a meeting with local public agencies and Motel 6 representatives. 

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Tags - District Attorney, True Crime, Justice Journal, Motel 6, nuisance, Quality of Life Crimes, Community Prosecution Unit, Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, Youth Intervention