By Kaiti Curry
As day two of trial continued in People v. Ellis, Judge Stephen Mock and fifteen jurors heard from both victims. Defendant Kevin Ellis could very well be facing life in prison if the jury finds him guilty of the multitude of charges against him.
While there was some confusion regarding the timeline of events and the sexual acts which occurred, the foundation of the allegations were testified to by both Child Doe One and Child Doe Two.
Both victims testified that they were pressured to participate, and participated in sexual acts with the defendant, that Mr. Ellis provided both victims marijuana, and that he supplied and they watched pornographic material.
Child Doe One, who testified yesterday, returned today for People’s Exhibit #2, a DVD of an interview of Child Doe One conducted last year, with follow-up questions. The jury was given a transcript to follow along with the video.
In the interview, Child Doe One explained that he was there because his stepmom’s dad molested him. He told the woman that he was in fifth grade at the time. He explained that the first time it happened, he had been dropped off at Ellis’s camper trailer for help with math homework.
Child Doe One said that Ellis had slept naked and asked him to do the same. The boy said no and said it made him very uncomfortable and scared. According to Child Doe One, Ellis asked him not to tell his dad and stepmom. He explained that he was scared of Kevin.
When asked if he had ever seen Ellis hurt anyone, Child Doe One said the only other person he had seen Ellis hurt was Child Doe Two, Child Doe Ones’s cousin. According to Child Doe One, Mr. Ellis orally copulated Child Doe Two and asked him to put his privates in Mr. Ellis.
Another time, Child Doe One explained, Ellis showed him pictures of his ex-wife without her shirt on, and a picture of Mr. Ellis himself with a vacuum handle in his anus. Child Doe One explained that Ellis also made the boys watch porn and asked them to masturbate.
Today, the jury heard from Child Doe Two for the first time. He lived with Child Doe One for approximately three years while his father was in prison. During that time he visited Ellis with Child Doe One at the camper trailer and spent time with him when he lived in a tent behind Child Doe One’s house.
Child Doe Two testified that the first time he visited Ellis at his camper trailer, Ellis showed the boys a pornographic DVD and asked them to masturbate. Ellis also masturbated.
Ellis also taught the boys how to smoke marijuana through a bong, though Child Doe Two said he only tried it the one time. Like Child Doe One, he was asked by Ellis not to tell anyone. According to the boys, several more occurrences like these took place when Mr. Ellis lived in a tent behind Child Doe One’s house. Child Doe Two testified that Ellis masturbated him and asked Child Doe Two to put his penis in Ellis’s anus but he physically couldn’t.
On cross-examination, contrary to John Doe One, Child Doe Two admitted he was not orally copulated by Mr. Ellis and he never saw any pictures from Ellis. He did, however, see Ellis put an orange or red lighter in his anus for approximately five seconds.
Additionally, Child Doe Two testified that other people in the family smoked marijuana while he lived with Child Doe One. Both parents of Child Doe One smoked with Ellis on occasion and got along well with him.
This is not the first time Ellis has faced criminal charges for molestation. Child Doe One testified on this second day of trial that his mother’s friend had been the victim of Mr. Ellis when the two were young teenagers.
He also mentioned a conversation he overheard between his stepmom and stepaunt in which they discussed concern for their dad’s new girlfriend and especially her grandchildren. Later in the trial, the jury will hear from two girls who were molested by Mr. Ellis back in 1995. Today, Ellis faces an additional charge for his failure to register as a sex offender.
Emotional Day in People v. Ellis
By Kaiti Curry and Antoinnette Borbon
It was an emotional morning today, as the trial of People v. Ellis continued. The People called three people to testify, two of whom were directly related to Child Doe One or the defendant, Kevin Ellis. The third to testify was Darryl Erkel, a police officer with the Healdsburg Police Department.
Jessica Branson, Child Doe One’s older half-sister, fought back tears as she explained what Child Doe One had said when he told her he had been molested by Mr. Ellis. Child Doe One, under the impression that his half-sister already knew, explained his abuse when he visited with her for roughly two weeks in 2009.
Branson testified that she called the police immediately upon learning about her half-brother’s abuse. The two went to the Healdsburg Police Department where an officer talked to both Branson and Child Doe One. Branson testified that she learned about Mr. Ellis’s past in the months following Child Doe One’s allegations about the defendant.
Following that, the People called Darryl Erkel, the police officer who notified West Sacramento detectives of Child Doe One’s allegations. On November 23, 2011, at 7pm, Erkel spoke with Child Doe One for roughly thirty minutes.
He testified that the boy was emotionally upset but composed. He explained Child Doe One’s allegations similarly to the description in Branson’s testimony. According to Child Doe One, Erkel explained, Ellis orally copulated Child Doe One when the two were alone together in Ellis’s camper trailer.
Another time, when Ellis asked the boys to perform anal copulation on him, Child Doe Two refused and Child Doe One tried but physically could not perform the task. Child Doe One also told Officer Erkel about the physical abuse he had received from his father. Erkel also testified that he spoke with Branson’s counselor, whom Branson had confided in after learning about her half-brother’s abuse.
He also spoke with Child Doe One’s grandmother, who allowed him to stay with her longer because he was scared to return home.
On cross-examination, Deputy Public Defender Joseph Gocke made a stab at Child Doe Two’s credibility, suggesting that he may have exaggerated or made up the allegations against Ellis. Branson testified that Child Doe One mentioned that his father had physically abused him.
On occasion, he had spanked him with a belt. According to Branson and Erkel, Child Doe One said his father picked him up around the neck once. Mr. Gocke was quick to point out that Child Doe One’s father was described as mellow by others and no one had ever seen him physically abuse Child Doe One.
Cassie Ellis, the third to testify in court on this day, struggled to keep her composure on the stand. Overcome with tears, she explained that the defendant was her father and the two were very close.
When the defendant lived in Maryland they spoke on the phone often, she testified. When he moved back to California, he moved in with Ms. Ellis at her West Sacramento house in June of 2008. Ms. Ellis testified that she reminded her father twice that he needed to register as a sex offender but he told her that he no longer needed to be registered. Mr. Ellis lived with his daughter for roughly nine months before moving out.
On cross-examination, Mr. Gocke asked Ms. Ellis if she had any children. She replied that she had three, aged five years, three years, and nineteen months. While no allegations of abuse have been made by her kids, Ms. Ellis explained that she never left her kids alone with him except one time when her first daughter was less than a year old. Even then she only left her daughter and father alone for ten minutes or less.
Mr. Gocke also asked Ms. Ellis about Child Doe One’s father’s temperament. She testified that he was very mellow.
On redirect, Deputy District Attorney Robert Gorman asked Ms. Ellis about the molestation charges her father faced nearly twenty years ago. Ms. Ellis explained that when she was thirteen years old, she witnessed her father molest two of her sister’s friends who had come over for a sleepover.
Jennifer Money and Mandy Bryce, the young girls molested nearly twenty years ago, will also testify. Mr. Gocke on a re-redirect asked Ms. Ellis if her father attended counseling after those charges. She replied, “Yes.”
When questioned by the jury, Ms. Ellis testified that she supplied her father with marijuana because she has a medicinal marijuana card and that he smoked it everyday. On occasion, she explained, she smelled marijuana when she visited Child Doe One’s parent’s house.
Testifying later in the afternoon was the friend of Sarah Barnes, Ellis’ other daughter. Ms. Money testified to the defendant touching her breasts, grabbing them during a sleepover at the residence of Ellis, back when the girls were only 11 years old.
She stated that Ellis told her if she wanted some of the blanket, where he was sleeping, Ms. Money would have to come lie with him. Once she did, he began feeling her private parts, she stated. She also said he then took her hand and placed it on his penis, using her hand to stroke him up and down.
It was all done with their clothes on. She stated she told her mom after the incident and her mom told the police. Thus, Ellis was charged with molestation and convicted in 1995. He failed to register as a sex offender.
Ms. Money also stated that she never saw Ellis put anything up his butt and that the family of Ellis never was angry at her for notifying authorities for what he had done. She stated that today was the first time she had seen them in years and things were good. They were sorry she had to come to testify today.
Gorman probed into the very harsh details of the incidents, asking Ms. Money to state as much detail as she could about the molestation. He apologized for having to do so. He used graphic words.
In cross, Gocke apologized for Ms. Money having to be there and that he had to ask such personal questions of the witness. He asked about Ellis ever asking her to put anything up his butt or if she ever saw a picture of a vacuum piece inserted inside of Ellis’s rectum. She stated, “No,” then Gocke asked where the other girls were when this happened. She stated, “I think in the other room? I cannot recall?” it was so long ago..like 19 years ago.”
Jurors’ questions were about the whereabouts of the other girls also, and whether Ellis was naked or clothed during the act.
It was a brief testimony and the day ended at about 2:30.
