A Wolf in Suburbia: The Pesce Family Murders Part 6

Episode 87 of the podcast covers days 8, 9, 10, & 11 of the Pesce Family Murder Trial and chapters 17, 18, & 19 of the book, A Wolf in Suburbia - The Pesce Family Murders.

Some important witnesses are called to the stand, and health issues delay the trial by nearly one month.  

Transcript

Chapter 17 - Day Eight

Friday, April 4th, 2003

Friday morning on the eighth day of the Pesce trial began with Judge Ryan realizing that Betty Faye Smith was seated in the audience portion of the courtroom. He would allow her to stay only if the prosecution and defense was finished with her. Prosecutor Baker informed Ryan that he may indeed call her back up to the stand, she was then ordered to leave the courtroom. 

Baker continued his direct examination of Diane Pesce, picking up where he left off. 

“I believe you testified yesterday that Mr. Pesce had a handgun in the home. He typically kept that where, tell us again?”

“In the master bedroom closet on a shelf under a sweater.”

“Ma’am, after going into the drug rehabilitation program in September, did you write letters to Marco?”

She did.

“And did he write letters to you?”

He had.

“And did you in any of your letters express your affections for him? And were you, at least in your mind, intending on trying to reconcile?”

She responded yes. Baker wanted to lay a foundation that the couple, although divorced, was trying to work through things. His hopes were to take away any credibility that she in some way was involved with the murders as the defense attorneys had hinted at and would continue to hint at.

Baker then asked Diane about returning to the home on St. Martins after the murders. He wanted to know who joined her on that day.

“I believe Detective McDermott. I was also accompanied by a staff member, Glyniss Anderson. My brother-in-law and Marco’s brother-in-law were in the house.”

“And when you were in the house at that time, did you find any property belonging to yourself somewhere in the house?”

“There was cash that was in a dresser chest, and some of my jewelry, a necklace, the bracelet.”

Diane Pesce also discussed a second time she entered the home, on February 15th. Her father had passed away and she needed clothes for the funeral. Baker’s last question to Diane was if she had ever seen either defendant in her lifetime. She responded no. 

On cross, Cunningham was quick to bring up the name of Allen Carnes. Diane seemed surprised to hear the man’s name brought up. Baker objected to the relevance of the individual but was overruled. 

“And how do you know Mr. Carnes?”

“Um, I met him at a treatment center.”

“Has Mr. Carnes ever been to your house?”

“One time.”

Baker attempted to object numerous times during the course of this line of questioning, asking Judge Ryan how it was relevant when the defense’s case was that Billy Smith had carried out the murders. Ryan allowed Cunningham to continue. 

“What was the nature of your relationship with Allen Carnes?”

“We used drugs together.”

“And beyond that, you had an intimate relationship?”

“Yes.”

“And you told Mr. Pesce about it?”

She had in fact disclosed her affair to her husband, an affair that began in August of 2002. Cunningham was laying a foundation based upon the belief that Allen Carnes had previous knowledge of where the spare key was kept in the garage and therefore could have entered the house without needing to break in. His next line of questioning had to do with why some items of great value were left behind in the home. If it was a break in as the prosecution suggested, why weren’t the robbers thorough? It was a question she couldn’t possibly know the answer too. 

From there Cunningham wanted to bring up the subject of the Pesce’s debt, a debt partially owed to Diane’s crack cocaine habit. 

“How expensive of a habit did you have?”

“Maybe 500 a week.”

Diane explained to Cunningham that despite her long term addiction, she had used her own money to purchase the drugs and owed no money to anyone. On re-direct Baker quickly took Allen Carnes out of the picture asking Diane if she was aware that during the murders, Carnes was actually in prison on a felony charge. Baker was also able to let Diane explain that her latest rehab stint had been her idea and she had done so in an attempt to get her family back. Cunningham attempted to re-cross with the witness after Baker brought up Allen Carne’s incarceration but was denied.

While she admittedly hadn’t been the best wife or mother, the defense had missed their chance to further involve Diane Pesce. 

For the next witness, it was Oronde Patterson’s turn to ask questions. He entered 10 more photos into evidence as Sergeant James Siterlet took the stand. Siterlet was a 17 year veteran with the Livonia Police Department, spending the last eight in the Crime Scene Unit. On December 22nd, 2002 he arrived at the St. Martins home at around 1:15pm to process the scene. Patterson asked the Sergeant how often, out of the hundred of crime scenes that he’s processed, is he able to get a usable print from a suspect. He estimated that number to be under ten percent of the time. 

Siterlet confirmed what an earlier officer had testified to that out of 29 lifted prints, only three could be identified. One each belonging to Carlo, Melissa and Diane were the only recognizable prints taken. Patterson asked Siterlet, if he at any time, had checked to see if Billy Smith’s prints were searched for in regards to the 29 prints. Siterlet had indeed run Billy Smith through the AFIS system on the previous Monday and the results came up as negative. 

When it was Cunningham’s turn with the witness he quickly pointed out that out of all the prints lifted from the scene, none of them belonged to Wolfenbarger or Lincoln. He then asked if Siterlet had searched for Allen Carnes in the AFIS system. It was a relatively pointless attempt to put that name back in jurors’ minds. Siterlet was next asked about all of the vehicles he processed for prints. The list of vehicles consisted of Wolfenbarger’s Voyager van, Dennis Lincoln’s black Corsica and purple Grand-Am and Paula Jo Kottyan’s 1988 Ford Ranger. 

Siterlet was unable to find usable prints, fibers or hairs in any of the vehicles that could tie either defendant to the Pesce home, according to Patterson’s re-direct that did not necessarily eliminate an individual.

The twenty-fifth witness to take the stand was Officer Andrew Hess of the Livonia Police Department. Hess was one of Wolfenbarger’s arresting officers on Christmas Eve morning. Having worked the night before, Hess was asked to stay over and continue his shift until Wolfenbarger was apprehended. At 10:00am, Hess received a call over the radio and was ordered to follow Wolfenbarger’s gray minivan as it traveled southbound on Merriman Road. Wolfenbarger had just left his girlfriend Doreen’s house and was pulled over less than a mile down the road at the intersection of Merriman and Puritan with the help of a second squad car that had been waiting in position. 

Wolfenbarger was placed inside one of the squad cars and taken to the Livonia police station. Once inside the station, Hess recovered Wolfenbarger’s cell phone and turned it over to a detective. 

On cross, Cunningham had questions regarding the Livonia police running surveillance on Doreen’s home on the evening of the 23rd into the morning of the 24th, using the words ‘stake-out’, something the prosecutor had not mentioned. Although Officer Hess’ testimony had nothing to do with his client, Pitts decided to join in on the cross examination. He wasn’t at all warm and fuzzy with the officer.

“You indicated that when you arrested this man you said that we arrested him for a traffic offense right?”

“No.”

“Didn’t you use the word traffic?”

“It was a traffic stop.”

“But you were going to arrest him, right?”

“Yes. That’s how we stopped him. They’re in traffic, we stop him, but it wasn’t for a traffic offense.”

“That’s right; it wasn’t for a traffic offense, so it was a little trickery.”

Hess decided that he wasn’t going to play Pitts’ game.

“Yes, I believe you were tricking me.”

“Oh, I’m tricking you? You got that one in on me didn’t you, Officer Hess? I never asked a question about myself did I?”

“I don’t know.”

Cornelius Pitts didn’t like to be mocked, his amusement quickly turned to anger.

“What do you mean, you don’t know? You’re here for 15 minutes and nobody has raised a question about Mr. Pitts.”

Judge Ryan chimed in asking the lawyer to keep it to the case. Pitts fired back.

“I think you should instruct the witness to keep it to the case. The fact of the matter is you used a ruse, sir?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Do you know what a ruse is, r-u-s-e?”

Hess replied that he didn’t, upsetting Pitts even more. Pitts put Hess’ academics into question and now both men were irritated. 

“You’re not a high school graduate?”

“Excuse me?” 

“What do you mean, excuse me?”

The cross examination had unnecessarily made Pitts look bad to everyone in the courtroom. He had been careful up until that point to stay away from questioning witnesses who had little to do with his client, Dennis Lincoln. Choosing an officer who had a minimal role in the actual case itself seemed like an unwise decision. 

The next witness was only on the stand for a few minutes. Detective John Raymond had been at the Livonia police station on the day Wolfenbarger was apprehended. After Officer Hess retrieved Wolfenbarger’s cell phone it was handed over to Raymond. His job at the time was to retrieve the phone number of the cell phone, which he did, as well as logging all of the recent incoming and outgoing calls. The only cross examination that happened was Cunningham asking to see the papers Raymond handed the prosecution as he was approaching the stand.  

Officer Kristen Crawford from the Livonia Police Department was then called to the stand. Crawford had been used by the LPD to handle most of the delicate interviews that included children. On Christmas Eve she interviewed both of the Letts twins individually. While interviewing Patrick she took note of his statement and asked him to draw a picture of the gun he saw Wolfenbarger holding on the day of the murders.  

While Baker only asked her a couple of questions regarding the order of the interviews and the times they were taken, Cunningham would spend a lot more time with this particular witness. While questioning Crawford in regards to her interview with Jessica he brings up that the young girl claims she doesn’t ‘remember anything significant from the 21st’ in relation to Wolfenbarger. 

On Christmas day both of the Letts children returned with their mother Tracy. Jessica hand wrote her statement while Patrick gave a statement under investigative subpoena. Investigative subpoena is a tool that prosecutors can utilize to gather evidence or information relative to a case in which statements are given by witnesses while under oath. Cunningham attempted numerous times, while dodging objections from Baker, to ask Crawford whether Patrick changed his statements on the second day. Implying that after spending time with family members he may have been fed information. The judge ruled that they were questions better served for Patrick himself, and he had already testified. 

A frustrated Cunningham finished his cross examination meaning it was Cornelius Pitts’ turn. Pitts picked up where Cunningham left off, asking to see the notes that she handed to the prosecution table as she approached the stand. Lincoln’s attorney spent the next few minutes asking Crawford to compare her original notes with the copied notes that were provided to the legal teams. There was a difference in them, most likely a mistake made by the person who copied the notes and prepared the packet. Judge Ryan intervened.  

“That’s not a proper issue with the witness. The responsibility of production is with the prosecutor.”

“I’m not asking about that. As a matter of fact, I would call Mr. Baker if I wanted to deal with that. I’m only challenging, and I think I should be allowed to explore it just for the record if nothing else. We don’t want any trickery here.”

“That’s a gratuitous remark.” Douglas Baker didn’t appreciate the accusation. 

Judge Ryan came to the prosecution’s defense.

“If he has a discovery issue, he can bring it before the court. It doesn’t mean there’s any trickery or lies along those lines. Lot happens when paper hits copy.”

At this point things got sloppy and Judge Ryan grew increasingly annoyed with the line of questioning. After investigation and comparison of the notes provided to Richard Cunningham, which were correctly copied, it was found that the error in Pitts’ notes happened after Cunningham had his notes copied for Pitts. 

Pitts never strayed from his line of questioning asking repeatedly about her notes and how they compared to his, confusing the jury and the witness and at times himself. He also wanted to know why Jessica had written her own statement while she wrote Patrick’s for him, having him sign it at the bottom.

“I was told by a family member of Patrick that he’s dyslexic and he has problems reading and he would not be able to write a statement for me.”

Pitts went on to question her education as well as her status as an officer while also trying to show the jury that she altered the statements made by the children from the time they were taken to the time they were typed up. She admitted to merely rearranging Patrick’s statement to put them in chronological order. Baker, who was chomping at the bit to be able to ask questions on re-direct, got his chance. 

“Did you know that Mr. Pitts got a large share of his information from Mr. Cunningham?”

Cunningham stood to object. He asked Judge Ryan that the jurors be sent out from the court and made a motion for a mistrial. Ryan denied both of his requests. Baker confirmed with Crawford that she, in no way, would have had any control over what documents were provided to the defense counsel. Upon completion of Baker’s brief re-direct Ryan excused the jurors for a short break. Cunningham brought up his motion for a mistrial again. 

“Prior to beginning the preliminary examination, I went to the Prosecutor’s Office, I was given a discovery packet. I signed for it. Item number three on that discovery packet was a narrative report, K. Crawford, 15:20 hours, 12-24, Patrick Letts, two pages. As we go along here I get additional discovery. I’m told there’s an additional 1800 pages, I believe. I am informed that Mr. Pitts’ client has not paid him. Mr. Pitts is being charged a dollar a page for these 1800 pages. I think that’s unconscionable and I make copies myself because I don’t want to trust the discovery materials out of anybody else’s presence.”

Cunningham went on to state the he, himself, went to Kinko’s and made single sided, three hole punched copies of the entire packet, providing it to Pitts. The document in question was double sided according to Pitts, leaving Cunningham to conclude that it was not a document provided by him and he should not have been blamed. After more arguing back and forth, Judge Ryan asked the jurors to be allowed back into the court room and the trial resumed with Marjorie Smith taking the stand. 

Marjorie and Billy Smith were married in August of 2000 although Marjorie had been living on Bentler with her 10-year-old son since 1998. Marjorie was an attractive woman and tough as nails. As the owner of the Copa Lounge on Schoolcraft and the wife of the West Side Boss of the Devil’s Diciples she had adjusted to her new lifestyle over time.

On Friday, December 20th there had been a big Christmas party at the Copa and both Marjorie and her husband woke up hung-over the next day. The couple bickered with each other over who would open the bar the next day with Billy Smith eventually losing the fight and opening the bar at 11:00am. At 4:30pm Marjorie left her home to deliver ice to the bar, her husband ended up talking her in to staying so he could go home and get some sleep. 

At 6:00pm the Copa’s evening bartender arrived and Marjorie headed home where she found Billy asleep in bed. Her son was outside playing with his 15-year-old babysitter at the time. Shortly after returning home, while the couple lay in bed, her son came into their bedroom. 

“He came in the bedroom and he said that John was down at Tracy’s house and he needed a full set of clothes, shoes, jeans, shirt and a jacket.”

Marjorie told her son not to worry about it and to go back out and play. After playing with his remote control cars for a while, Wolfenbarger asked the boy to make the same request. The boy ran back inside but Marjorie once again told him not to worry about it. Eventually Wolfenbarger let himself into his Uncle’s house and made the request in person. 

“Hey bro, didn’t your kid tell you what I wanted? I need some clothes.”

“Yeah, I didn’t know what you wanted them for,” a groggy Billy Smith replied.

 Billy asked Marjorie to get out of bed and get him some clothes. She noticed that John was wearing a pair of Tracy’s sweatpants and a ‘banana colored jacket’.  As Marjorie retrieved a pair of her husband’s blue jeans she overheard Wolfenbarger telling Billy that he needed to come down to Tracy’s house. According to Marjorie, fifteen minutes later Billy got out of bed and went down to Tracy’s home. 

On Sunday, December 22nd Marjorie recalls seeing Wolfenbarger for the first time at the Copa Lounge around noon. She remembers Wolfenbarger yelling at Billy, who was in the kitchen at the time, to come out and talk to him. The pair talked briefly although Marjorie wasn’t sure what they discussed. Wolfenbarger then picked up the remote control and started flicking through channels on the bar’s television. 

On Monday Marjorie saw Wolfenbarger again at the Copa Lounge and as had happened the day before he grabbed the remote and searched through the channels until he found the news. When a story came on about the Pesce Murders, according to Marjorie he summoned his uncle again. Douglas Baker then asked Marjorie when she found out that her husband was talking with police about the murders.

“The day after Christmas my husband told me.”

At that point, Billy, Marjorie and her son were put into protective custody at a hotel in Livonia. 

Cunningham began his cross examination by having Marjorie run back through her whereabouts on the 21st; it didn’t change from the first time she answered the same questions just minutes before. He then brought up the raids on her home and the Copa Lounge on November 21st. Cunningham wanted to know what all had been taken during those raids. Baker objected, reminding Judge Ryan that they weren’t trying that case so it was irrelevant. Ryan sustained the objection. 

Cunningham next brought up Marjorie’s relationship with Billy’s sister and Wolfenbarger’s mother, Betty Faye Smith. She claimed to get along fine with her. He then quickly jumped to the subject of the reward being offered.

“You have an expectation here to get a lot of money on this case, don’t you? $50,000.00?”

“No, I don’t.”

More accusations followed. 

“Are you tailoring your testimony in any way to protect your husband from federal charges?”

“No, I’m not.”

If Cunningham was trying to break Marjorie Smith, it wasn’t going to happen. He finished his cross examination and Marjorie was excused. Judge Ryan wished the jurors a good weekend and court was adjourned. A trial that had already seen nearly 30 witnesses was about to take another interesting twist when it resumed on Monday. 

Chapter 18 - Sick Days

Monday, April 7th, 2003

As Judge Ryan entered the courtroom he addressed the legal teams on both sides. 

“All right, there is a matter involving Mr. Lincoln only. Juror number 10 on Lincoln’s jury is not feeling well. There’s been no agreement as to how the counsel wishes to proceed. In the absence of an agreement I guess she will remain on the jury, but I know defense counsel wishes to make a record.”

Cornelius Pitts stood and addressed Judge Ryan.

“I think with a little more particularity, it’s my understanding that the court was informed by one of the deputies that there was a juror who was ‘violently ill’ and downstairs. We were concerned about the contagiousness of her illness, whether it’s something that could be confined to her or might indeed contaminate the other jurors.”

Pitts pointed out that the juror in question was one of the white jurors, and if they had to excuse her there would still be diversity on the jury. Douglas Baker informed the judge that it was in his opinion that the juror should not be excused. While Cunningham agreed with Pitts, Judge Ryan sided with Baker. Losing a juror, while not a big deal since there are extra jurors for that very reason, is more frightening for a prosecution team for the simple reason that if enough jurors can’t continue, it could cause a mistrial. 

“To the extent that she is able to serve, I will permit her to serve today. If she becomes ill during the course of trial, then I’ll have her removed.”

Cunningham then suggested that they bring her in and just ask her directly. The judge ordered a deputy to go and get juror number 10, as he did, Cunningham spoke again.

“If I could just interject one small thought on the issue of contagiousness. I would indicate to the court that I myself am suffering from the same malady. Woke up about 1:00am this morning. And I am ready to continue, I do intend to do so, but when…”  

Juror number 10 then entered the courtroom. Judge Ryan addressed the woman.

“How are you?”

“I’m all right I guess. I feel sick still.”

Ryan informed the juror that if she started feeling sick during the trial to let him know. If she needed a drink of water or coke to settle her stomach or if she needed to take a break all she had to do was ask.

“She doesn’t feel okay.” Pitts suggested.

“You can serve as a juror though right?” Ryan directed the question back at the juror.

“I really… I’ve already vomited this morning. I’m sweaty and shaky. I don’t know if its flu perhaps and I don’t want to be around people. I really don’t feel I can.”

“That takes care of it.” Pitts interjected.

Judge Ryan excused the juror and Pitts added more to his already noted concern.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that the lady has indicated that she’s ill, and I think that that illness is indeed something that she has to be concerned about.”

Ryan addressed Cunningham’s illness next, reminding him that he if needed a break to let him know. Pitts had worries about that too. 

“Judge, in light of that, Mr. Cunningham has alluded to the fact that he’s ill. I’m sitting less than a foot away from him. I’m not as healthy as Mr. Cunningham, I’m not as youthful and young and vigorous. I’m concerned about my health.”

Ryan replied by suggesting that Pitts merely scoot down a bit.

“Hey, look I go home and I got seven kids who are like walking infections. Give me a break. We’re going to proceed with the trial. Let’s bring the jurors in.”

Cunningham raised one more issue before the jurors were to be brought in. He had a witness that would need a plane ticket purchased so that he could fly in from California to testify. As Cunningham continued his explanation of the situation he started to feel worse.

“And I would indicate to the court that I am feeling so ill now I don’t think I can continue. I would indicate that this came on at the onset at 1:00am this morning and I have not slept since then. I have been forcing myself to do it. I cannot continue.”

Cunningham then passed out and collapsed to the courtroom floor. After a moment and with the help of others he attempted to get to his feet. Judge Ryan addressed the court.

“We’re in recess definitely for the day. Record should reflect that Mr. Cunningham has now collapsed in court and he’s ill and we’re in recess. Why doesn’t everybody clear the courtroom. Thank you.”

Cunningham called out from his seat.

“Judge, it’s not that bad.”

It was ‘that bad’ however, and was actually worse then he thought.

Tuesday, April 8th, 2003

At 8:45am the jurors for Wolfenbarger entered the courtroom as Judge Ryan spoke to them. 

“What we intend to do is proceed with the trial as it relates to Mr. Lincoln at this juncture, and so that therefore it does not involve you. So what we’re going to do is have you list your name, and I will keep those numbers.  Feel free to go back to work for the next couple of days, as far as that’s concerned, and what we will do is we will give you 24 hours notice. You’re technically on standby as it relates to Wolfenbarger.”

Richard Cunningham, although he may have had the flu, actually suffered a heart attack in court the day before. Doctors did a catheterization and angioplasty while inserting three stints into the attorney’s heart.  

Note: As it relates to Dennis Lincoln’s individual trial, those transcripts were not provided to me during the course of writing this book. As you will see, Wolfenbarger’s trial resumed on May 5th, 2003. While the wrap up of Lincoln’s now separate trial were not available, his sentencing was and will be discussed later.  

Chapter 19 - Day Eleven

Monday, May 5th, 2003

At 10:50 A.M. Judge Ryan took his seat at the bench and began the day's proceedings. “Okay, first and foremost, welcome back, Mr. Cunningham.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.”

“Let me address the health issue first. You’ve been cleared by your doctor.”

“Yes sir, I have. No restrictions.”

“We’ve had approximately three-week’s lag and you feel that you can proceed adequately and represent your client in an effective manner?”

“Absolutely.”

John Wolfenbarger’s attorney wasn’t the only health issue to discuss that morning. Over the nearly four week-long break one of the jurors fell victim to an abscess tooth. On the morning of May 5th, he was having emergency dental surgery. Judge Ryan offered to push the restart of the trial back two more days to the 7th but ultimately left it up to the legal teams. They still had thirteen jurors to work with. 

The prosecution was prepared to proceed without the juror present. After discussing the matter with Wolfenbarger, Richard Cunningham agreed to move forward. 

Judge Ryan welcomed the jurors into the courtroom, apologized for the late start, and ran through the list of witnesses that had been called so far as a refresher for the members of the jury. With that, the first witness of the day, Sergeant Thomas Goralski of the Livonia Police Department was called to the stand.  

Lead prosecutor Douglas Baker approached the witness.

“Can you tell us what your relationship is with this case?”

“I am the officer in charge of the case.”

“And can you explain briefly what the duties of an officer in charge of a case are?”

“The officer in charge of a case is kind of like a case or file manager. I maintain all police reports related to the case. I also work as a liaison between the police department and the Prosecutor’s office. I help to make sure witnesses are available. I meet with witnesses and generally assist in the presentation of the case.”

“Do you maintain a file?” Baker asked.

“Yes.”

“And what sorts of things go into the file?”

“Police reports, Crime Scene Unit reports, autopsies, witness statements, lab reports, anything that is a document related to this case would be in the file.”

Sergeant Goralski went on to explain his role at the crime scene on December the 22nd and the numerous tips that the LPD received in the days following the discovery of the bodies on St. Martins.

When it came to the executed search warrants, Goralski ran through the list. 

“We executed a search warrant at Tracy Letts’ house on Bentler in Detroit. We executed a search warrant at a Chapel address  where Anthony Remsing was staying. Executed search warrants at Doreen Beauchamp’s house on Merriman in Livonia. In fact, executed two search warrants at Dennis Lincoln’s house in Flint. Went back and executed another search warrant at Tracy Letts’ house. Executed search warrants at Billy Smith’s house, the Copa Lounge on Schoolcraft, the Devil’s Disciples Motorcycle Club, and on Steven Phillips’ home on Chapel.” 

From there, Douglas Baker brought Wolfenbarger and Lincoln’s cell phone records into evidence while the Sergeant explained the process of acquiring the records from the phone companies. 

The calls that were discussed were any that were made between John Wolfenbarger and Dennis Lincoln between December 17th and December 24th. They were able to track the movements of the pair as they called back and forth. Numerous cell tower pings showed them near the Pesce home, Italia Jewelers, and Livonia Mall. Wolfenbarger’s attorney, Richard Cunningham objected at every turn, attempting however he could, to stop the freight train of evidence barreling down towards his client. 

On cross-examination, Cunningham pressed the Livonia Police Sergeant on the lack of evidence tying his client to the murders. They found no bloodstains on Wolfenbarger’s shoes at the time of his arrest. Nor did they find any on the bright yellow jacket that they removed from his van. There was also nothing found in Paula Jo Kottyan’s truck and none of the fingerprints inside of the Pesce home belonged to Wolfenbarger. 

The next witness called to the stand was a gentleman named Krikor Vartanian. He was, at the time, the owner of Rodeo Jewelers located inside of the Livonia Mall. Baker questioned the jeweler on his path home every evening as well as the hours he was working during the busy holiday season. 

On cross, Cunningham brought up that John Wolfenbarger had actually tried to have Vartanian fix a watch for him in late August before the murders. Vartanian had attempted to fix the watch but couldn’t and returned Wolfenbarger’s money. He never saw him again after that and wouldn’t find out that he was the original target until much later. 

After Vartanian, the executive director of network engineering for Cingular Wireless was called to the stand. Robert Leger explained cell sites and how phones connect to various towers as a person travels. With Douglas Baker’s direction, Leger was able to show, step by step, the movements of John Wolfenbarger’s phone during the days in question.

On Cross Examination, Cunningham attempted to lay a foundation for the argument that just because it was Wolfenbarger’s phone pinging off of the various towers, it didn’t mean it was John Wolfenbarger himself making the calls. 

Next up was the senior radio frequency engineer from AT&T Wireless, Robert McManus. While Wolfenbarger was a Cingular customer, Lincoln’s phone used AT&T’s services. Baker ran through an abbreviated line or questioning similar to the previous witness and got the same results. Cunningham, as he had with the gentleman from Cingular, asked if AT&T was able to listen in to phone calls? They weren’t. 

At 3:30 P.M. the final witness of the day, William ‘Billy Wad’ Smith was called to the stand. Baker would only have enough time to get the formal questions out of the way before they wrapped up for the day twenty-five minutes later. He explained the living situations of he and his wife, his kids, her child, his mother, and the defendant, John Wolfenbarger. 

And with that, day eleven of the trial was wrapped up.