Ford Murder Trial Ends With Taped Confession

[SoulTrainOz]

'I didn't want to hurt
people,' the trucker accused of killing 4 women is heard to say. The San Bernardino jury begins deliberations Monday.


The night Wayne Adam Ford confessed to four grisly killings, he struggled to remember his own address and phone number, and fumbled through the simple task of removing his socks and combat boots.

In a November 1998 videotape of Ford's interview with detectives, which defense lawyers played for jurors Thursday in their closing arguments of his serial murder trial, Ford slumped against a padded wall of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department after turning himself in.

Disheveled in a gray sweatshirt and dirty bluejeans, he told officers that he had sought help for the problems in "my head," but nothing worked.

"I didn't want to hurt people," he sobbed as an officer patted his knee and told him authorities weren't going to kill him as Ford feared. "I hurt people. That's why you guys just have to keep me."

The tape offered a dramatic end to Ford's 3-month murder trial in San Bernardino County Superior Court, where a jury of 7 women and 5 men is scheduled to begin deliberations on the 4 counts of 1st-degree murder filed against the long-haul trucker from Arcata, Calif.

Ford, 44, is accused of killing 4 women whose nude bodies were found - some strangled, others dismembered - in 4 California counties.

Deputy Dist. Atty. J. David Mazurek told jurors that Ford was a sadistic killer who prowled the roadways for vulnerable women he could subject to his twisted sexual fantasies as he beat and raped them before killing them for pleasure. Mazurek is seeking 1st-degree murder convictions in all four cases and to send Ford to death row.

But Ford's public defender, Joseph D. Canty Jr., asked jurors to look at the teary man in the video and decide whether he was the "monster" without a conscience whom prosecutors described.

Canty said they should consider whether mental disorders could have prevented Ford from forming an intent to kill the 4 women, which could be critical in determining 1st-degree murder.

Steering the jury toward a conviction on a lesser charge of 2nd-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter would make Ford ineligible for the death penalty.

Canty argued that Ford was mired in depression, angry at his former wife - who he claimed was preventing him from seeing his young son - and struggling with other psychological problems including borderline personality disorder.

Those pressures, Canty said, clouded Ford's thoughts to the point where he may not have realized the consequences of his favored sexual ritual, which included binding the women and strangling them during sex, which he said was to enhance their pleasure.

Canty said Ford's videotaped confession showed that he was aware that he could not control his impulses.

"We know that a person who dismembers a human being is severely disturbed," Canty said in his closing argument - acknowledging that the jury must have been horrified by Ford's killings. "Someone who turns himself in and wishes to stop killing must have suffered the same horror himself. He must have had difficulty imagining that he could do these things.

"He wants to stop.. That's what gets him into that jail," Canty said.

The body of Ford's 1st victim was so mutilated that she has not been identified and is known as Humboldt County Jane Doe.

Ford is also charged in the deaths of prostitutes Patricia Ann Tamez, 29, of Hesperia; Tina Renee Gibbs, 26, of Las Vegas; and Lanett Deyon White, 25, of Fontana.

The jury will begin deliberations Monday.

(source: Los Angeles Times)

[SoulTrainOz]

Wayne Adam Ford could be executed for murdering women in 4 California counties. He showed no emotion at the verdicts.


A San Bernardino County jury Tuesday found former long-haul truck driver Wayne Adam Ford guilty of 4 counts of 1st-degree murder for the brutal slayings of 3 prostitutes and a hitchhiker, women whose bodies were dumped - some dismembered - in waterways across California.

The jury's verdicts came after a week of deliberation and will make the Arcata, Calif., man eligible for the death penalty when his sentencing hearing begins July 12.

"We got what we were seeking," said Deputy Dist. Atty. J. David Mazurek, who tried the case, "and we're now getting into what this case is really all about, which is what punishment he deserves."

Ford stunned authorities when he walked into the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department on Nov. 3, 1998, and confessed to killing 4 women. Ford was accompanied by his brother, who had encouraged him to turn himself in, and arrived carrying one victim's severed breast in his pocket.

Ford's attorneys, Deputy Public Defenders Joseph D. Canty Jr. and Steven A. Mapes, declined to comment after the verdicts, citing a gag order issued by Judge Michael A. Smith. During the trial, they tried to persuade the jury to find Ford guilty of a lesser charge - 2nd-degree murder or manslaughter - that would have spared his life.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ford, 44, showed no emotion as the court clerk read the 4 guilty verdicts, and later chuckled over a joke that the judge made about whether the attorneys were prepared for the sentencing hearing.

His attorneys have portrayed Ford as a man with serious mental problems who was overwhelmed with remorse for killings that he has said were accidental.

During the trial, defense attorneys showed jurors videotape of Ford the night he surrendered - choking back sobs as he explained to officers in Humboldt County that he "didn't want to hurt people" and wanted authorities to stop him from harming others.

David Whitney, a retired prosecutor who had handled Ford's case for 6 years, said he thought the jury might still question whether Ford deserves the death penalty.

Though the verdicts of the 7-woman, 5-man panel were unanimous, some jurors may still question whether the killings were premeditated, he said.

"If even one of the jurors has some lingering doubt about that, then defense attorneys are sometimes able to convince them to render a verdict of less than death," Whitney said. "The other big issue will be that Ford turned himself in, expressed great remorse, was very tearful in his interviews and at least made an effort to stop what he'd done. I think that's something the jury will struggle with."

After turning himself in, Ford admitted he had killed a hitchhiker - still unidentified - whose torso was later found by a kayaker in a slough in October 1997.

Ford said he had dismembered her body with a hunting knife, storing some of her body parts in his freezer before burying some and dropping others in the Mad River.

He also confessed to killing Las Vegas prostitute Tina Renee Gibbs, 26, whose body was found in Kern County in June 1998, and Fontana prostitute Lanett Deyon White, 25, whose body was found in a San Joaquin County irrigation canal in September 1998.

When Ford turned himself in, he carried the severed breast of his fourth and most recent victim, Hesperia prostitute Patricia Ann Tamez, 29. Tamez's body was found in an aqueduct in San Bernardino County.

Though the killings occurred in 4 counties, prosecutors were able to combine the cases into one under California's serial murder law. During the trial, which began in March, the prosecutor also presented DNA evidence that linked Ford to some of the killings.

During initial interviews with detectives, Ford said the 4 women had died while he had engaged in rough sex acts that involved choking, which was intended to increase their sexual pleasure. He said he had performed the same acts with many women and had let them go.

Canty also argued that Ford's psychological problems clouded his mental state.

But Mazurek said Ford carefully planned the murders, and preyed on women to "satisfy his sexually sadistic appetite."

Source: Los Angeles Times

[SoulTrainOz]

PENALTY PHASE: A truck driver, convicted last month, hears from his victims' families.

By RICHARD BROOKS
The Press-Enterprise



SAN BERNARDINO - An entire courtroom seemed to be near tears Wednesday as jurors began to hear the emotional torment that convicted serial murderer Wayne Adam Ford caused the families of his victims, including Tina Gibbs, of Las Vegas.

"She was the best kid in the world. The smiles, the laughter, the, 'Mommy, I love you,' -- that I can't hear anymore," her mother, Mary Sharp, told the jury that will help determine whether Ford is executed. "I cannot focus. I can no longer hold a ... job. I see a psychiatrist two or three times a month."

Deepening the shock of their daughter's slaying was the way her cremated remains were mailed to the family.

"She was sent back to us in a brown, plastic Tupperware box," testified Ron Sharp, the stepfather Tina called Daddy since she was about 7. "I built her an oak urn."

Worst of all was telling his wife of their daughter's death.

Ron Sharp likened it to "tearing your heart out and stomping it on the ground."

Ford, 44, was a long-haul trucker who surrendered in November 1998 by walking into a Humboldt County sheriff's station with a woman's severed breast in his pocket. Within hours, he confessed to killing four women, including two from San Bernardino County.

The crimes were committed between October 1997 and October 1998 in counties ranging from San Bernardino northward to Humboldt.

During the trial's guilt phase, the prosecutor portrayed Ford as a monster who preyed on small-framed prostitutes whom he easily could overpower.

Last month, the jury convicted Ford of four counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple-murder. The finding triggered the trial's second phase, which is expected to end by early August with one of two possible penalties: execution or life imprisonment without parole.

On Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney David Mazurek pledged to bring to the witness stand family members who will describe the impact that the murders have had on them.

Mazurek introduced testimony from five of Ford's former jailers, who said Ford has stashed weapons in his jail cells and has made multiple threats against officers.

"We all know what he ... deserves," Mazurek told the jury, whom he is trying to persuade to vote for death. "That will be justice, finally, in this case."

The defense lawyers postponed their opening statement to the jury until after all prosecution witnesses testify.

During the coming days, jurors are scheduled to hear from the families of 29-year-old Patricia Anne Tamez, of Hesperia, and 25-year-old Lanett Deyon White, of Fontana, the mother of four children. Authorities have never been able to identify the fourth woman, who is called Jane Doe in court documents.

White's father broke down when he learned of his daughter's death, Mazurek said. The incident marked the first time his wife had ever seen him cry, the jury was told.

Tamez's father is expected to testify that she got hooked on diet pills and wasn't able to kick the habit.

Her dad always hoped that he might be able to get her into counseling that would help rid her of her addiction.

"He would have tried everything he could to get his daughter off drugs," Mazurek told the jury. "And the defendant stole his chance."

Source: PE.com
www.pe.com/localnews/sanbernardino/stories/PE_News_Local_C_ford13.2057bd1.html

[SoulTrainOz]

Brother Asks Mercy for Serial Killer

Testifying in the sentencing phase for Wayne Ford, he recalls using persuasion to trigger the confession.

During the 20 long minutes in 1998 when serial killer Wayne Adam Ford waited to speak to a deputy so he could surrender, he was at a crossroads between freedom and a possible death sentence - and he was ready to head for the door.

His brother, Calvin Rodney Ford, who accompanied the killer to the Humboldt County sheriff's station, recalled that he did not yet know his brother had murdered four women - dismembering some - and dumped their bodies in waterways throughout California.

But over a long night and day of tears, Wayne Ford had told him he had "hurt someone." As they waited in the lobby of the sheriff's station, Rodney Ford recalled, he told his brother he had to turn himself in. Later that evening, the brother also persuaded Wayne Ford to confess his crimes without a lawyer present.

On June 27, a San Bernardino County jury of 7 women and 5 men found Ford guilty of 1st-degree murder in the deaths of 26-year-old Tina Renee Gibbs of Las Vegas, 25-year-old Lanett Deyon White of Fontana, 29-year-old Patricia Tamez of Hesperia and a woman found near Eureka, whose body was so mutilated that she has never been identified and is known as Humboldt County Jane Doe.

On Thursday, Rodney Ford was the 1st witness to take the stand for the defense in the sentencing phase.

"He turned himself in. He expressed to me a number of times he didn't want to hurt people anymore," Rodney Ford said. "I love him. I don't want to see him die."

Rodney Ford was the lone member of Ford's family to testify. His
appearance followed gut-wrenching testimony from the parents of 3 of Ford's victims, who detectives said were prostitutes and hitchhikers who climbed into Ford's long-haul rig in 1997 and 1998.

Most of Rodney Ford's answers to questions about his brother were clipped and matter-of-fact. "I think he's got problems," he said when asked about Ford's mental state.

But his testimony during the trial and on Thursday gave jurors a window into Ford's state of mind when he surrendered.

The night before Wayne Ford arrived at the Humboldt County sheriff's station Nov. 3, 1998 - the breast of one of his victims in his jacket pocket - he called his brother and told him he needed help.

Rodney Ford said he drove to a motel in the woods an hour north of Eureka, where Wayne Ford met him on the porch and rambled incoherently late into the night about how he had "hurt some people."

With a visit to the sheriff's station looming, they spent the next day driving to childhood haunts such as the zoo and to motorcycle shops. It wasn't until they were walking toward the station at the end of the day that Wayne Ford tearfully told his brother he had killed a girl and "cut her up," according to Rodney Ford's testimony earlier this year.

The confessions Ford apparently planned to make might not have happened because Wayne Ford said he wanted a lawyer present during the detectives' initial inquiries.

But court records show that Rodney Ford visited his brother in his cell and urged him to confess "on his own."

"You told me today that . you've been a coward," Rodney Ford said to his brother during a conversation in Wayne Ford's cell that was taped without their knowledge. "Don't be one anymore."

Ford did confess, and his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Steven Mapes, told the jury Thursday that was reason enough to give Ford a life sentence instead of death.

"This case is about a man who did the right thing after doing so many wrong ones," Mapes said. "We're going to ask you, as jurors, to do the right thing for a man who had conscience and turned himself in."

Prosecutor J. David Mazurek said he could not comment Thursday because of a court-imposed gag order. The hearing resumes Tuesday.

(source: Los Angeles Times)