Poking a Dung Pile

In this post I will try to walk a thin line between skepticism and cynicism with regard to the  veracity of Vivian Cercy’s testimony .   T o some, cynicism may  appear to be s kepticism , so I will give a definition of skepticism, and then I’ll give a definition of cynicism to distinguish the two clearly.   Skepticism is merely maintaining an attitude of doubt with regard to the truth of a claim or set of claims.   Cynicism, on the other hand, is an inclination to believe that people are purely motivated by self-interest. So there are many reasons to be skeptical regarding the veracity of Vivian Cercy’s testimony, and these go beyond her claim to have seen Mary and Greg with a tall, skinny, blond man around 0130.   These are reasons that prosecuting attorney Jim Anderson (a cynic, in my opinion) could have given a jury to get them to doubt the truth of her entire testimony.   They explain why Vivian Cercy may have told Vincent Johnson   ...

"As [prosecuting attorney Jim Anderson] gave me his theory about [Vivian Cercy's] story, it was typical of his blunt style.  He began, 'Harry and his ugly little bitch, Vivian,' and conjectured that she told this tale, prompted by Harry Shorman, her boyfriend, one of the founders of Rainbow Village.  If she became a material witness, she would be housed and protected by Alameda County, perhaps at the nearby motel on the Marina, far better digs than living in her car."  ( Berkeley Marina Murders, p. 101 ) " A small group of people congregated outside [the Courthouse].  One, a slightly disheveled woman [Vivian], with tousled brown hair, between 25 to 30 years-old, quickly made her way over to speak to me.  She began, 'I'm sorry about Mary.  I told her to come in my car if she was afraid but she said no, she'd be okay.'  I realized then I was standing before the woman who had a radically different picture of what happened that terrible night.   ...

"Here, there was considerable evidence of bruises and lacerations preceding Kniffin's death, including evidence that he had been struck by a gun barrel. This evidence is more consistent with a brutal attack than a calculated killing." ( People v. Thomas, p. 34 ) I'd like to pick up a loose thread I left dangling at the end of the last post.  This thread is the  quote from Justice Mosk's dissenting opinion.  It seems to me that, in reading the dissenting opinions given by Justice Mosk in People v. Thomas  (1992) and Justice Kennard in In RE: Ralph International Thomas (2006), one finds not only sharp criticisms of the reasoning behind the majority's opinion, but also clear demonstrations of the weaknesses in the prosecution's case against Thomas (Mosk) or the deficiencies in his defense (Kennard). In this post I'll focus on how Justice Mosk's demonstrates the weaknesses of the prosecution's case against Thomas. To begin...

  Those who've listened to Dead and Gone will   likely recognize that much of what I've collected and assembled in this and the previous five posts was not critically examined or discussed in the podcast.  And I think that crucial pieces of forensic evidence were either overlooked or omitted by the podcasters.  These crucial pieces of evidence are the brutality of the beatings Mary and Greg suffered and the fact that Mary was shot in the face.   In my next post, I'm going to rely upon the work of Gabrielle Salfati and David Canter (specifically Differentiating Stranger Murders:  Profiling Characteristics from Behavioral Styles , 1999) to make the argument that the forensic evidence given below provides empirical evidence that may say something aboutthe characteristics of the person who murdered Mary and Greg. Mary "Dr. John Iocco, a pathologist with the Institute of Forensic Sciences, testified that he performed autopsies on the bodies of the victims. Mary'...

"[Ralph International  Thomas] was arrested shortly after the murders. The prosecution's case consisted entirely of circumstantial evidence falling generally into four categories: Thomas's ownership of a high- powered rifle that could have inflicted the fatal wounds, which he was seen using the night of August 15 but claimed was stolen immediately thereafter; sightings of Thomas alone with the victims shortly before the killings; Thomas's conduct and statements after the killings, collectively suggesting consciousness of guilt; and certain additional physical evidence, including recovery of a corncob pipe at the murder scene that was argued to have been Thomas's." ( In RE:   Ralph International Thomas , p. 2) Rifle I'm going to try to outline the argument that the prosecution made with regard to the ownership of the rifle by quoting from  People v. Thomas verbatim:   1. "On August 14, 1985, Lenise Allen, defendant's girlfriend, traded a Remington...

Once again I want to use a timeline to organize information.  This one zooms  down  from the previous timeline covering the months of June-August  to the night of August 15/16.  It's based on court documents and the accounts of the preliminary hearing and trial given in Patricia Gioia's  Berkeley Marina Murders.   For the sake of clarity, this timeline will use military time.  Question marks indicate times that raise questions for me. Sometime before sunset, David Bergman ("Mousey") took Ralph International Thomas to the liquor store.   ( Berkeley Marina Murders , p. 134).  Thomas told Inspector Dan Wolke that Melody Medlin accompanied them. 1900-2000: Bergman claimed he heard a rifle shot at 1900  ( Berkeley Marina Murders , p. 134.)   Thomas Medlin claimed he heard a rifle shot sometime around sunset  ( People v. Thomas , p. 3) .   Sunset on August 15 was 2002. Thomas told Wolke that after returning f...

In Episode Three of Dead and Gone , Robert, a Deadhead living in Oregon who's very familiar with the case, expresses his hope that, "anybody who hears this, that beyond it being some kind of form of entertainment or intrigue, maybe somebody has the nuggets of information out there, missing pieces of a puzzle, some information that might reveal, you know, what really happened."    After listening to Dead and Gone and then reading through the court documents, I realized there was a pile of puzzle pieces and I could begin to fit them together using timelines.  I now have two timelines.   I started putting the following timeline together by first looking at the Dead's 1985 set-lists , and  then making a list of shows  (highlighted in red)  relevant to the case, beginning with the Greeks in mid-June and ending with Boreal Springs in August.  (I've added an asterisk to the shows I'm fairly confident Mary attended.)  At some point I realized I...

Before I post my first timeline, I'm going to list some of the sources I've been collecting over the past six months.* Court Documents People v. Thomas S004729 (1992) In Re:  Ralph International Thomas on Habeus Corpus S063724 (2006) Thomas v. Wong C3-0616 (2009) Thomas v. Chappell 09-99024 (2012) Newspaper Clippings - Gioia/Kniffin Murder "Corpse Pound [sic] Near Berkeley Marina" San Francisco Chronicle (08.17.1985) "Execution killings in Berkeley" San Francisco Examiner (08.18.1985) "Deadheads Had Been Lovers - Hunt for Clues" San Francisco Chronicle (08.19.1985) "Pair found in bay Grateful Dead Devotees" Fresno Bee (08.19.1985) "Fear stalks Berkeley's Rainbow Village (page B1)" San Francisco Examiner (08.19.1985) "Fear stalks Berkeley's Rainbow Village (page B5)" San Francisco Examiner (08.19.1985) "Ex-Convict Arrested in Berkeley Slaying" San Francisco Chronicle (08.27.1985) "2nd body ...