I Know My First Name Is Steven (30 page)

After attempting to discover an earlier possible first meeting with Parnell, McClure continued.

And still later, there was this:

Suddenly, and most disingenuously, Mettier was able to distinctly recall
all
his activities that particular day.

Mettier's "convenient memory," illustrated by McClure's direct examination, was made more evident during LeStrange's cross-examination of the former drug dealer:

On the last day of trial testimony, June 29, LeStrange effectively impeached Mettier's testimony by introducing the official record of the witness's 1973 Marin County felony arrest, conviction, and probation for possession of a commercial quantity of marijuana—as a nineteen-year-old adult.

Next McClure called Timmy to the stand, and as LeStrange watched the little boy's testimony, he was very concerned about its precise, organized manner, feeling that he had been coached by Finn when he'd attempted to hypnotize the child during his investigation. (Actually, McClure had coached him.) Then, when his turn came to cross-examine Timmy, LeStrange walked on eggs so as not to anger the jury, an approach which resulted in an uneventful and unproductive cross-examination.

Before the trial, in an effort to counter Finn's amateurish hypnosis of Timmy, LeStrange had had Dr. David Axelrad—the same psychiatrist he had hired to attempt to evaluate Parnell at the Alameda County Jail—assemble a forensic case panel of his peers to make a professional determination as to whether, after being hypnotized, Timmy could be expected to testify honestly about the events surrounding his kidnapping. Among the panel's findings was " . . . that the hypnotic process carried out by Richard Finn was not valid."

Therefore, LeStrange wanted to introduce Dr. Axelrad's statement in court by having him testify to it, but Judge Sabraw would not allow it. This point became the sole trial error which was later appealed by
Parnell's court-appointed appeals attorney, Daniel Horowitz of Oakland . . . albeit unsuccessfully.

Finally, after the defense called several witnesses in subrebuttal to the State's case, it was time for McClure and LeStrange to make their closing arguments. LeStrange took forty-eight minutes before the lunch recess in a futile attempt to get Parnell acquitted; McClure began his closing argument immediately after lunch and took thirty-one minutes to sum up the State's exceptionally strong case.

On June 29 at 2:15
P.M.
Judge Sabraw spent slightly more than thirty minutes patiently and carefully reciting detailed instructions to the jury, and at 2:52 they retired to deliberate Parnell's fate. At 4:50 they filed back into the jury box and stated that they had found Kenneth Eugene Parnell guilty of kidnapping in the second degree.

Judge Sabraw thanked the twelve profusely for their patience, time, and thorough consideration of the evidence, and then dismissed them.

Since Parnell had two prior felony convictions and had served prison time for both, California law precluded the possibility of probation. Therefore, two months later, Judge Sabraw sentenced Kenneth Eugene Parnell to the maximum prison time allowed for second-degree kidnapping: seven years.

Thus, Parnell's trial, conviction, and sentencing for kidnapping ended, and even though Mendocino D.A. Joe Allen was happy with the verdict, he did not feel justice had been completely served, saying: "I always thought there was a possibility that Parnell was involved in undetected crimes. I still think so. There is a similarity in my mind between child molesters and
serial murderers. Child molesters who kidnap and retain their victims, like Parnell, are by far the rarest type.

"If we caught Parnell three times, I don't know if that means he did it thirteen times or three hundred times, but I'll bet there are a whole lot of incidents that we don't know about where Parnell did one thing or another. If Parnell took a kid and the kid fought back, or tried to run away, or for some reason Parnell thought that the kid wasn't going to work out, or perhaps there was a danger of this being detected, I think Parnell is fully capable of killing a kid to protect himself."

Chapter Thirteen

The Trial for Kidnapping Steven Stayner

"I'd like to point my finger at Mendocino County."

By September of 1981 Mendocino County's trial of Kenneth Eugene Parnell for the kidnapping of Timmy White was history, but many of the same participants in the drama just past would be reassembled for Merced County's scheduled December trial for his nine-year-old kidnapping of Steven Stayner. Also, this time there would be two defendants, since defense attorneys for Ervin Edward "Murph" Murphy were unsuccessful in their attempts to separate the simple-minded accomplice's trial from that of Parnell. The venue of the trial was changed to Hayward and Judge Sabraw would again preside.

Unlike Mendocino County's trial, where a Deputy D.A. represented the State, the Merced County trial would be prosecuted by the District Attorney himself, Pat Hallford, a dedicated, straight-arrow law enforcement officer who for sixteen years had been a highly
respected F.B.I. agent before he resigned and ran successfully for office in Merced. He was a man as conservative and restrained in handling his job as Joe Allen was unconventional and verbose.

Within weeks of the trial the Merced County D.A.'s investigator, Lyle Davis, a trenchant, heavyset man with a jocular approach to life, took Steven on an intense four-day evidence-gathering trip to Mendocino County. About the trip Lyle recalled, "Our task was to photograph and document where he was, when he was there. I think the most memorable thing was the apparent ease with which we completed our task . . . Steve was always very, very well received, very well liked by a lot of the adults in that area. But in terms of visible trauma [to Steve], there was none. But I did realize that he has two feelings for Parnell. I think that there is a very paternalistic one. I think he would have also, if given the chance, probably removed Parnell's head."

Besides the trip with Steve, Lyle's responsibilities included uncovering as much as possible about Murphy's background and involvement in Steve's kidnapping, particularly how much Murphy knew about Parnell's sexual fixation on young boys. Said Lyle, "I don't think Murphy was ever totally honest with us, and I guess we shouldn't have expected him to be, but I knew that he knew a hell of a lot more than he told us."

Remarked Merced Police Chief Harold Kulbeth, "Murphy allowed himself to be used. While he's not intellectual by any means, certainly, I think, the man knows right from wrong; and he participated in a very, very serious crime. He covered it up and did not come
forth with the information that was needed to help find Steve or clear the case up for all those years."

On December 1, 1981, Merced County's case against Kenneth Eugene Parnell and Ervin Edward Murphy went to trial in Judge Sabraw's courtroom in the Hayward Hall of Justice with a lineup of witnesses only slightly different from before. This time there was three defense attorneys instead of one: the Merced Public Defender, John Ellery, was representing Parnell and, because of that, Merced County had hired other local attorneys Wayne Eisenhart and Neil Morse to represent Murphy as privately contracted Special Public Defenders.

Parnell and Ellery never did see eye to eye. However, Ellery later explained that he had been disturbed about representing Parnell because he himself had been sexually abused as a boy; but, he hastened to add, he had done his "professional best" to defend Parnell.

As for Morse and Eisenhart's defense of Murphy, Eisenhart said that they used "substantially what was in the police reports [because] I don't think Murphy ever varied from what was in the police reports."

Recalled Morse, "Murph is not someone who is gonna spend a lot of time fabricating stories. He is a fairly harmless person who is always looking for someone to like him, either through telling them stories or buying them drinks or something else. He made a mistake: he helped Parnell. He shouldn't have, and he acknowledges that he shouldn't have. I can remember talking with him and he'd be physically shaking. He knew it was wrong and he worried about it for years and years after."