Molestation Trial Nears Completion

by Monica Velez

Nearing the end of the second week in a sexual molestation trial, involving defendant Edward D. Hendrix, five witnesses took the stand the afternoon of January 28, 2016.

Hendrix is accused of asking a 12-year-old girl, “Sam,” to have sex with him. The alleged victim said Hendrix grabbed her inappropriately and told her to “pinky-promise” not to say anything to anyone after she denied him.

Hendrix lived with his girl friend, “Ms. S,” who was Sam’s cheerleading coach.

Sam’s grandmother dropped her off at Ms. S’ house to spend the night because she needed a ride to the away game the next day. Ms. S was not home when Sam got there and this is when Sam said the assault occurred.

Deputy Public Defender Daniel Hutchinson started by questioning Sam’s ex- boyfriend, “Mat.” Mat and Sam were together for a few months in eighth grade, with Sam telling him about what she said happened on the night of October 10, when she said Hendrix asked her to have sex.

Deputy District Attorney Michelle Serafin asked Mat what kind of tone Sam had while she was telling him about the incident, and Mat said she seemed serious and he believed her.

Mat said that, after the incident, Sam told him she did not feel comfortable around black men. When asked by Hutchinson, Mat said he has heard Sam talk about black men, saying that they have larger penises than other men.

Serafin, along with Hutchinson, asked Mat if he had heard Sam referring to black people using the “N” word, either as “n-ga” or “n-ger.” Mat said he has not heard Sam say either word directly to a black person, but he has heard her say it around him and friends.

When asked, Mat said he uses “n-ga” around his friends, using it as slang and not saying it as an insult. Mat also said that Sam never used it as an insult but she would say those words more than he would, and he heard her use them to describe black men.

Hutchinson ended Mat’s testimony by telling him he read To Kill a Mockingbird when he was in high school, and asked him if he had read it in school. Mat said that he just finished reading the same book for school.

“I’m glad to hear that,” replied Hutchinson.

The second witness was a 53-year-old cousin of Hendrix’s, “Ana,” who has known him his whole life and has been a juvenile probation counselor for the past nine years. Hutchinson asked Ana about Hendrix’s interactions with children.

Ana said that she has never seen Hendrix do anything inappropriate around adolescent or teenage girls. She said she has seen him interact with his daughter, some of her nieces, and children at church.

Hutchinson asked Ana if she helped Hendrix at any point to get out of custody. Ana said that she had to sacrifice her house and life in order to help make bail, “because I believe that he is innocent.”

The last question Hutchinson asked was if she ever heard Hendrix use the term “pinky-swear,” and Ana said no.

When Serafin was cross-examining Ana, she was trying to make a point that sexual assaults can happen anywhere. Serafin argued that seeing Hendrix act appropriately around children at church does not mean that he would not sexually assault somebody.

Ana agreed that church is not the time or place to sexually assault anybody and said that assaults could happen anywhere, whether it is in public or in private, and told the court that Hendrix has never made her feel uncomfortable.

Judge David W. Reed then asked the jury if they had any questions for the witness and the bailiff brought one up to him. The question was read by the judge and attorneys but not yet read in open court.

The third witness was another cousin of Hendrix’s, “Jan,” who is currently a school bus driver and 45 years old. She explained that Hendrix’s mom married her uncle (who adopted Hendrix), so they were not biological cousins but she had grown up with him since she was around five years old.

Jan has five children, two sons and three daughters, and said she has never seen him act inappropriately toward any child. Jan talked about her younger nieces and how Hendrix is sometimes around them, helping her take care of them. Hutchinson asked her if, by knowing his character and who he is, she would think he would sexually assault a young girl.

“I wouldn’t allow him to keep my nieces if I did,” replied Jan.

Serafin asked Jan more about her family life and how Hendrix fit into the picture. Jan described her and Hendrix’s relationship as close, and that they stop by each other’s houses often, having family movie nights and family outings once a month.

Jan said Hendrix would attend most of them but, after he started his new job, he attended the family events less frequently. Jan knows Hendrix’s daughter and says she comes to her house, as well.

“When he comes in the door the kids flock to him,” is how Jan described her cousin.

The last question Hutchinson asked Jan was, as asked of Ana,  if Jan had ever heard her cousin use the phrase “pinky-promise,” and Jan said no.

Serafin asked Jan on cross if she had known of another older man asking a younger girl to have sex. Jan said she knows one pedophile. Serafin asked her what a pedophile would look and act like, and Jan said she did not know.

Serafin was trying to make the point that a pedophile or somebody who has sexually assaulted another person can look and act like anybody, and that even a family man could sexually assault someone, to which Jan agreed.

At this point Judge Reed called for a recess and, after the jury left, he asked to speak with counsel. The question from the jury was directed toward Ana, with a juror wanting to know if she had bailed Hendrix out of jail on previous occasions.

Judge Reed said he does not think the question should be asked and answered in the presence of the jury because then they would know Hendrix has a past record, and that has not been asked or brought up in this case. He ultimately decided to not permit the question to be asked.

Hutchinson also used this time to discuss the motion he wanted to make. While Serafin was questioning one of Hendrix’s cousins, she asked if the cousin knew who “Edward Jones” was. Before the cousin could answer, Hutchinson threw in an objection and Judge Reed backed it.

Hutchinson argued Serafin should be charged with misconduct because she knew who Edward Jones was – the name is an alias Hendrix was convicted under when he was 18 years old, while committing a robbery.

Hutchinson said it was a violation of a court order because Serafin knew Hendrix was Edward Jones and knew the name’s relationship to his prior conviction. Serafin responded by saying she was not going to bring up the past crime and just wanted to know if it was a family name, in the interest of the jury knowing how well the witness knew the defendant.

Judge Reed said he was going to defer the ruling till the end of the trial.

Woodland Police Officer Kyle Konze took the stand after the recess, talking about his part in handling this case. He told Hutchinson that Sam’s mom came in and said that her daughter was sexually assaulted.

Officer Konze brought her into an interview room where Sam’s mom showed him the text messages between her daughter and her friend, that described the event at Ms. S’ house.

Officer Konze went to Ms. S’ house and spoke to Ms. S outside her residence, then spoke to Hendrix and told him that detectives would be contacting him soon to ask him more questions. He said Hendrix was being cooperative and willing to answer questions.

The last witness of the day was Yolo County Public Defender Investigator Shanna Bly, who was the investigator on this case for the defense. Hutchinson asked Bly about the interviews she had with other witnesses on this case.

Bly talked about speaking to one of the girls Sam had been texting on October 10, “Mel.” Bly said that Mel told her after Sam was texting her, Sam called her and was crying on the phone. When Mel asked Sam if she was okay, Sam said, “I don’t know,” and then hung up the phone.

Bly and Hutchinson talked about the interview and looked at the phone records, but there was no record of a phone call between both of those numbers. Bly said she had tried to contact Mel again to ask her about the discrepancy but the family had moved and the number she had to contact them was disconnected.

Bly said that she looked on social media to find information about the case because it is helpful, especially in a case involving teenagers. She found a picture on Instagram that had a distasteful conversation between Sam and a friend. They were making derogatory statements against black men.

Bly did not just talk to witnesses but she also went to Woodland High School to drive the route that Ms. S took when she was on her way home on the night of October 10. Bly said there was a camera recording the drive, and that her investigative assistant was in the passenger seat and Hutchinson was in the back seat.

Bly said she could not take the exact route to get out of the high school because the gate Ms. S exited was closed, but she was able to go the same route as Ms. S for the rest of the drive. Hutchinson told her to go the speed limit, in the 30 mph and 25 mph zones, but she said she went slower at times because of traffic.

Hutchinson played a clip that Bly found from the movie White Chicks, where Sam said she got some of the black jokes that were in the Instagram conversation.

Questioning ended with Serafin asking Bly about Instagram conversations and whether she recorded the interviews she had with witnesses for this case. Bly said she did not because it wasn’t her practice – she wrote down notes.

Serafin asked Bly if she had looked at social media accounts for Hendrix, but she said she did not. The only thing Bly found was a picture on one of Sam’s Instagram accounts (Bly said she has two) with the conversation about a black man’s penis.

Bly will resume testifying on what might be the final day of presenting evidence, at 9:00 a.m.

After the jury was excused Judge Reed needed to talk to the attorneys about the request Serafin made to allow the witnesses to talk about what Sam had told them. Hutchinson impeached the alleged victim with some of her prior statements in interviews, discrediting them.

Hutchinson said that there was only one time that Sam’s statement about the incident was inconsistent. Sam said in an interview that Hendrix came out of his room to talk to her twice and in her testimony she said he only came out once. Serafin argued that the jury needs to know this information so they can assess Sam’s credibility.

Judge Reed was struggling with his decision and said that he would need more input and evidence to allow Serafin’s request. Until then, he was not going allow it but would allow the court to revisit it.

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