News Scrapbook 1986-1988

LUfas: F~ther waits for justicP, in murder case Continued from B- .;}-'f S multiple murder, which could mean solidation motion as "proper," saymg of the way jury selection is conduct- 11milar mistake; but I'm not willmg the death penalty if Lucas is convict- the state Penal Code encourages a ed in San Diego, specifically alleging lo become punitive" ed. combining of cases under certain cir- the underrepresentation of Hispan- Meanwhile, in Superior Court De- Over the past three years, Lucas cumstances. ics, young people and lower-income partment 14, a courtroom lined with has had several lawyers, including Prior court rulings have establish- people; a challenge of the special cir- tens of thousands of pages of tran- one who failed to show up for several ed that the murders in the Lucas cumstance; and an objection to an scripts and boxes overflowing with court appearances. ""he defense has case are "signature-type crimes,'' alleged destruction of evidence. more than 400 charts and exhibits, taken numerous iss11es to the 4th Di~- said Deputy District Attorney Swanke, who said he is writing a Lucas sits in a blue sport coat and trict Court of Appeal - .so~e ~uc- George Clarke. He contended that book about bis daughter and about open-neck shirt, listening to witness- cessfully - and contempt bes been each of the crimes Lucas is charged the trial, is concerned about more es and to lawyers debate the merits threatened in a couple of instances. · with are "similar and unique." delays and questioned whether the of more than 30 pretrial motions. Despite the twists and complexity In addition to the consolidation defense is ready to try the case. Prosecutors say all but one of the of the case, it has taken no longer motion, the defense is contesting the He stressed that Lucas should have motions have been filed by the de- than the three years most capital reliability of testing methods used on a fair trial, one based on proper pro- fense. They are not critical, however, cases take to get to trial in San Diego dried blood thal the prosecutiqn cedure and solid evidence by the of Lucas' attorneys and have praise County. wants to use in the trial. Clarke ex- prosecution, to protect the rights of for Judge Laura Hammes as she One of the key pretrial motions plained that the testing isolates the accused and to spare the victims' makes her way through a trial pending is the motion filed by the proteins that identify blood more families the pain of high court rever- passed on to her earlier this year district attorney's office to consoli- precisely than just by type. sals. when Judge William Kennedy was date all the charges into one trial. Both the defense and the prosecu- "I want this man, David Lucas, to forced to disqualify himself. The defense has argued against this tion said high court rulings have die- have every opportunity to prove that When talking about the time the tactic and claims it is to blame for lated that the admissibility of testing he had nothing to do with the crime case has taken, all the attorneys in- delays. methods must be determined by a of which he is accused,'' Swanke said. volved say Lucas' case is more com- "The first case . . could have been trial judge on a case-by-case basis. " ... I would like to bury the young plicated than most murder cases. done by now," said attorney Alex Other motions include: a challenge woman and let time lake its course." Rather than a single event, Lucas' Landon, one of Lucas' lawyers. Lan- case involves six murders and one don said he is not convinced consoli- attempted murder spanning the dating the trials would save time, years B79 through 1984. Each death and, he suggested, "It may very well By Lorie Hearn has its own distinct features, al- end up laking more time.» Starr Wri1er though in all cases the victims' "We were in trial (last November), throats were slashed. prepared to pick a jury," said Steven In addition to the Swanke murder, Feldman, co-counsel for Lucas. His Lucas is charged in the May 4, 1979, client "has tried to go to trial in this slayings of Suzanne Jacobs, 31, and case,'' he said. John Swanke has had nearly three years to fantasize angrily about kill- ing his daughter's murderer.

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Voice & Viewpoint News (Cir. W. 13,000)

Sf.P \ 7 1987

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withn ti comes to ehgibility for sports participation. Legislation enacted by the ·a11onal Collegiate Athletic As- sociation a few years back. eased tn minimum academic require- ments with the thought of elim1- nat1ng the future shock of Pro- po,1tion 48. Students dtdn't listen. High schools across America con- tmued to allow athletes to partic- ipate without a 2.0 CPA in elect- ed core classes. Core clase are a selected num- ber of semesters required in col- lege prep math. F nglish. natural ,c,rnce, social ,cience, and ap- pro,ed elect ,e . To put it m stmplc term,, Math I, 11 111, and IV " not erough anymore ow it mu,t b Algebra. Geometl), 1 rig. and Calculus. Then there " the test score. You can call 11 what you want, unfair, d1scnminatol), tak }Our choice but face the lact that t st scores arc here to sta) Hoth the SAT and the ACT are offered at least four times each, ever) year It has always baffled me why a prospective student-athlete that ,s active!) re :ruitcd would \\ait until the lt offering, which usually is the mght before the senior prom to take the standardized test. I applaud parents. and schools that strip the athlete of their game playing until they maintain the

mandatory grade requirements. But that is only the minimum. As a parent you owe it to your child to insist on an academic performance that is on line with their ability. If a child tests out in all cases to be a "C" student, then we know t~at to expect. But for those "A" "B" youngsters that insist on diving below "C" level. do us all a favor, break hearts now before they get crushed in the end. The San Diego Cl F fields 21 champ1onsh1p sports. The athletes that often suffer, are those tn- \ olved in the so-call~d ·mrnor ,p0rts." That's why you the par- ent must demand that your child get, major league academic at- tention. !he I 'oice and J'ie11poin1 we/- ' omes lel/ers from our readen. When wming. sign your fi,I/ name. with addre.,, and telephone number. Mail to The Judgement Call, I oice and Viei,point, P. 0. Box 95, San Diego. CA 92//2. Anonymous letters will 1101 he puhlirhed.

They Kill For The

But now he believes that 1f her killer is remorseful, one life should not be traded for another in Califor- nia's gas chamber. "I'm a father I'm not a sadist," Swanke said. ''This m 1s going to face God someday I hope he doesn't go to hell for this." Swanke's daughter Anne Catherine was 22 and an honor student at the University of San Diego when she disappe11Fed Nov. 21!, 1984. Her aban• doned car, which had run out of gas, \I found at a La 'Mesa 1nterse<'lion. lier body with throat slashed - was d,:scovered m a remote area of Sprmg Valley David All"'n I ucas, a 32-year-old Casa de Oro tarpet cleaner, is accused of her murder and the mur- ders of five other women and chil- dren m what one of the prosecutors called San Diego's f1rst "serial mur- der situation.' His trial on at least three of the charges began last November, but it is expected to he tangled in motions for months before jury selection can begin. Although John Swanke, a philoso- phy profe~sor at USD, is annoyed at the delavs in Lucas' case, he aid time. his·religious convictions and 20 ye·1rs of researching the death penal- ty have moderated his retaliatory feeling about punishment. "My first reaction to the f e of my daughter was to go get a gun and kill somebody," he said. "I was emo- tionally ready to kill anybody who looked like they were the person." Swanke worked for the defeat last year of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird and her two asso- ciates, who were accused by oppo- nents of failing to uphold the state's death penalty law. He was motivated by the contention that capital punish- ment should be available for those who have no sorrow for their vic- tims. He still believes that. If an uncaring Lucas is found guilty of murdering his daughter with the special allegations that could carry a death sentence, "I am quite prepared to hope he gets the death penalty;" Swanke said. But if Lucas were found guilty and was sincerely sorry, he should not die in the gas chamber, Swanke said as he reflected on the forgiveness taught by the Catholic faith he prac- tices. "If Lucas made a mistake, or even a series of mistakes, I'm not willing to make him suffer more than he is already ... " he said. "If & person has done something very foolis~, I don't want him on the streets to make a S/ucas on Page E~-4___

her 3-year-old son, Colin; the Dec. 8, 1981, murder of real estate sales- woman Gayle Roberta Garcia, 29; and the Oct. 23, 1984, slayings rlf Rhonda Strang, 24, and Amber Fisher, 3, whom Strang was baby- sitting in her Lakeside home. Lucas also is charged with the at- tempted murder of Seattle resident Jody Santiago, then 29, who was ab- ducted at knifepoint after she left an El Cajon restaurant on June 9, 1984. Santiago testified that Lucas choked her into unconsciousness. She later was found alongside a Mount Helix roadside with her throat slashed. Finally, the district attorney has

Combining all of the charges - what Landon called a "bootstrapping likely would prejudice a jury and prolong lhe time to chose a effect" The possibility of one trial also has raised a number of questions about admissibility of evidence and about how the trial should proceed, be- cause the 1982 passage of Proposition the so-called Victims Bill of Rights, changed evidentiary rules. Different rules would apply to cases involving murders before and after 8, panel, Landon said.

Thrill I ch cl Hrunkcr

D Ho ts Area College in Women' Volleyball Classic

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dm1s\lOO 1, lrcc I Olli local un1vcr,it1e,, who hctwe n th m di;tribute tl11rty full hol ~hip every year to clig,blc women will h,lltlc 11 out for the MC11y Champmn h,p." t·or mo,t. 11 w,11 be a un14u experience. w-1th a teinunoloi;y all to itself On term w all under tand i, ttonal ( h mp,on," and ,n the ltrst cn11 final at 4:00 p_n, dcfen- dmg AA Division Ill Ch,1m- p1011 l'CSD will battle the I ady A,tc of San Diego S1a1e I h I dy I rit,on, posted a 42~ m:011J tn 19M6 I hl'Y lcatun: three loc-.il athl tc,, Jennifer Pl11lgrcw of I JI J 11,, High. Beth Selby from K arn y High. and Janet Hugh , of I rancis Parker \\h1lc lJCSD gi,cs no holar hips, SDSIJ lle-dd Coach Rud> u"'ar '""c the full cumphmcnt ol I ,en ,chn

1982, Landon said.

Deputy District Attorney Daniel T. alleged the special circumstance of Williams, however, defended the con-

Jar hips annually . an Diego area player, Jcnmfer H1andt from Pa- trick Henry High, Melissa & Michele Stoke, of Gramte Hilb High. and Kim \\ash,ngton of Santana H 1gh S hoot are led by Angehca Jackwn, a 5'11· senior All-Am n an candidate from East St I ouis, lllinoL,. fhe fr00 pm semi-final w,11 pit L:SJU again t the host Toreras lJSI lJ ha, a roster dotted with athlete, from I 01 ngeles Fair- fax, and Banning High 1n Car- son Coach Curt D

,s not without homegrown talent Ruth Bajo of Manan HS. Lisa Hagen from Granite Hilb, and La .Jolla High star Jane Sadler anchor a team that ended a 30 match losing streak dating back to 1985 in the sea;on opening road tnp with a victory over the Un,verrny of Virginia. The action i intense and fast moving for the players and spec- tator alike. There's passing, set- ting, attacking. blocking. digging and the infamous "kill.~ But in the end, a champion w-ill be crowned at 8:00 pm. Take ome time to support thL">c student-athletes a, they bat- tle ii out. and-get the kids to the game. This is a great game that has been totally undeveloped as a city sport. Our girls need to be exposed to this game. and with the outstanding programs display- ed at USCO, SOSli, USIU. and lJSD sec for your~lf who will stand alone at the end of thlS old-fashioned shoot-out. The San Diego \\-omen· s Volley- ball Classic 4:00 pm UCSD vs SDSU 6:00 pm USIU vs USO 8:00 pm Championship Judgment Call Contmu

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Business J ournal (Cir. M. 7,500) SEP 21 19B7 .Jl/leri'• P. c. B

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/"<1. 1888 ,-CL.ASS: The principles and t~ch marketing will be the a lour-course series running Tuesdays and hursdays through Nov 12, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. In the M,i·,1che ti:, Executive Conference """'"'· at the Umve y f S Dego , lSC" ,-llflsring the class w1lh San 0 n. an -, 1_.~ University in cooperation with the IAC10 :-- San Diego Dtrect Marketing Club The first course of th,;i series will cover the fundamentals of direct marketing Cost of the 16-sassion course $437 for JTiembers of the San Diego Direct Marketing Club and $497 for non-mem- bers. The non-member fee includes a member- ship ,n the club For information or a brochure, call Charlotte Fajardo at SDSU's College of Extended Studies, 265-4047, or Kathleen Hare ~UCont1nuing Education, 260-4586~.-..... · ues of direct

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