Just some old shit... it's been almost 20 years damn!
Two slips of a Los Angeles detective's tongue Friday nearly resulted in a mistrial in the four-week-old murder trial of Crips gang members Orlandis "Juice" Campbell and Eugene "C-Boy" Youngblood.
The two are accused of the Dec. 20 gunshot slayings of two Bremerton teen-age drug dealers, Tyrone "Tazz" Darcheville and Arthur Louis "Whizz" Randall Jr. in what prosecutors contend was a war over drug turf.
Homicide detective Michael DePasquale is a gang expert working out of the Wilshire Division in Los Angeles, an officer who once arrested Youngblood for murder there. Youngblood subsequently was acquitted.
Friday DePasquale was told he could not discuss violence, guns or shootings before the jury in explaining gang activity, nor could he discuss any ways in which the Mansfield Gangster Crips were different from other Los Angeles gangs.
Youngblood and Ernest "Little Bear" Bailey, who also is accused of the killings but never has been arrested, are Mansfield Crips.
But DePasquale inadvertently testified that the Mansfield Crips, a small gang operating not far from Beverly Hills, is known for dealing in large quantities of cocaine.
That drew an immediate protest from Youngblood's attorney, Judith Mandell, who said the slip was highly prejudicial to her client and he could not get a fair trial.
Kitsap Superior Court Judge Karen Conoley said the mistake violated her pre-trial rulings but was not serious enough to prevent Youngblood from getting a fair trial. She struck the remark from the record.
A short time later, as DePasquale was identifying gang graffiti on a shoebox he confiscated from Youngblood during the homicide investigation, he was asked by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michael Savage to explain what "gang bang" meant.
"It could mean 'hanging out' or shooting somebody," he replied.
Mandell made a second motion for a mistrial, contending the detective violated direct orders from the court again.
DePasquale said there had been so many restrictions on what he could or could not say that he simply forgot on the first instance. And on the second, he said, he didn't think defining "gang bang" was violating the court's directive.
Conoley admonished him to adhere to pre-trial rulings, but also denied the motion for a mistrial.
Both incidents likely will be issues on appeal if the defendants are convicted.
Pre-trial rulings have been long and laborious, in part because there is virtually no case law in Washington regarding gang activity.
DePasquale was able to testify that he knew from previous contacts that Youngblood was a Mansfield Gangster Crip and defined other graffiti on the shoebox for the jury.
It included several phrases like "Kill Shoelaces when I see some," "Kill Scraps when I see some," "Kill Slobs when I see some." DePasquale said Shoelaces, Scraps and Slobs were slang for rival Crips gangs and Bloods, another large generic Los Angeles gang.
Another gang term he defined was "smoking," the street term for shooting someone.
DePasquale said Crips is almost a generic term for the dozens of individual gangs in Los Angeles, many of which are rivals. They are close-knit, protective of one another and draw power and money from criminal activity.
Respect is very important in the hierarchy of a gang, DePasquale said, noting there often is retaliation for real or imagined incidents of disrespect.
Other witnesses in the case have testified there had been a dispute between Bailey and Darcheville at the home of a drug runner for both, Lewis Davis, shortly before the murders.
Witnesses said Darcheville had objected to Bailey and Campbell dealing on local turf. And Bailey told Davis that Darcheville had embarassed him in front of others and needed to be disciplined.
Other witnesses have said that Bailey, Campbell and Youngblood, who were living in Tacoma, were aggressive outsiders who considered the local Acacia Block Crips "wannabees."
DePasquale said "wannabees" is a derogatory term and they command little respect among gangs.
Authorities are worried about retaliatory violence in the wake of a gang killing last year.
By Adele Berlinski
Two gang members were arrested for a fistfight outside the county courthouse Monday after a teen was sentenced for his part in the death of Masico Campbell.
Port Orchard police arrested the pair in a parking lot behind the Kitsap County Courthouse about 2:30 p.m. where opposing groups of Crips and Bloods were trading insults. The group of about a dozen young people converged in the parking lot after the sentencing of Terry McCormick, 18.
Gang members have threatened violence in the past months for the death of Campbell, 15, who was shot and killed in Westpark last December.
As a result, people entering the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Jay Roof before the 1:30 p.m. hearing were scanned with a metal detector. Extra Port Orchard Police and jailhouse personnel stood guard in the courtroom during the hearing.
Judge Roof sentenced McCormick to three years and five months on a charge of first-degree manslaughter for supplying the gun used to shoot Campbell dead. McCormick also was ordered to pay various court costs and restitution to the family, to have no contact with codefendants in the murder after serving his sentence, and to stay away from Campbell's family.
Defense attorney Steven Olsen argued the sentence should be shortened because McCormick did not know Sisson was going to kill anyone the night of Dec 13.
Witnesses said McCormick shouted, "No, not the gun," seconds before the shooting.
"He made a terrible, terrible mistake when he gave Sisson the gun,'' Olsen said.
In imposing the sentence, Roof said, "This wasn't just a tragic mistake but something with which you were deeply involved.''
He noted that McCormick gave the gun willingly to Sisson, identified Campbell as he walked in Westpark, hid the gun afterward, and did other things to cover up the shooting.
"A lot of people would argue that this is too little time,'' Roof said.
In fact, Masico Campbell's aunt did just that before the sentencing. The courtroom featured about a dozen youths flashing gang signs and mumbling comments while McCormick stood before the judge in handcuffs and leg chains.
The sentencing was the last of four. One teen was sentenced to six months for riding in the car that night; one was sentenced to a year for driving the car; and Sisson was sentenced to 20 years for pulling the trigger.
Authorities are worried that violence might still break out in the wake of the shooting.
Sisson is a member of the Bloods gang and had gotten beaten by a rival gang member the night before the shooting. That was the reason he and his friends were searching for a rival gang member to jump. Campbell was a member of the Crips and unarmed at the time of his death.
After the hearing, Jazzmine Honore, a friend of Campbell's, predicting the violence would continue.
"Hell yeah,'' she said. "There's no justice (in the sentence).''
Sheriff Pat Jones said patrols in Westpark would have to be especially alert.
"We'll do the best we can on keeping on top of the calls,'' he said.
