by Jamie Moddelmog
On Tuesday, the Hernandez, Givens, and Bradford trial resumed with more testimony from Matthew O’Connor and new testimony from two officers who retrieved a stolen laptop from a Davis house. UC Davis dorm security footage from two nights when thefts were reported was also reviewed extensively. Joseph Hernandez, Joshua Givens, and Rakhem Bradford are charged with multiple burglaries in Davis.
The day began with continuing testimony from Matt O’Connor. He is the Director of Student Conduct at Sacramento State, but previously worked at the University of California, Davis, as a Student Conduct Administrator
He testified about his investigation into thefts at the Cuarto residence halls that led him to the defendant, Joseph Hernandez. The thefts occurred on the 16th and 17th of October, 2013. A number of residents reported electronic items stolen, including a flat screen TV on the 16th.
Mr. O’Connor reviewed security footage from the two nights to search for suspects. He looked through “hours of footage” from security cameras in the apartment complex. The video quality was very poor from some of the cameras, and some of them were much older than others.
The footage from one camera from the early morning hours of October 17 showed two figures walking on the third floor of Emerson Hall, which is a section of the Cuarto apartment complex. In the video, they appeared to be checking for unlocked doors and peering in windows. Mr. O’Connor said that he could tell that the two people included one male and one female.
On the footage from the second floor, directly below the “couple,” there was another figure, which Mr. O’Conner made out to be a male, who seemed to be doing the same thing, methodically checking doors and windows.
Defense counsel for Mr. Givens, James Granucci, said that he personally did not think it appeared as if the man on the second story was looking in windows. Mr. O’Connor said that there was another video that more clearly showed someone checking through windows.
Another video, taken from the lobby of Emerson Hall, showed a male and a female entering the building. Mr. O’Connor testified that he knew the two people were the same as those who were seen on 
camera checking doors. He claimed that they were the only two people who could have been the figures seen trying doors on the third floor, because very few people were walking around at that time, and no one else matched the footage.
He showed the lobby video to some Resident Advisors and also went through old student IDs, trying to figure out the identity of the male seen on the video. He already knew the identity of the female, as it had been given to him by the UCD student whose key card the pair used to get into Cuarto.
Eventually, the male was identified as Mr. Hernandez. Mr. O’Connor went on his Facebook page and discovered that he was a former UCD student.
On November 4 he confronted the female, who has previously testified as a key witness in this trial, telling her that he knew she had stolen laptops and other items from Cuarto. At first she denied the thefts, but, after a subsequent meeting, she admitted involvement. Mr. O’Connor gave her two options: either leave UCD voluntarily, or have a hearing before the Student Judicial Affairs committee. She chose to leave the school.
Mr. O’Connor said that he believed it is easy to get in and out of the buildings at Cuarto without being caught on camera. He cited the multiple entry and exit points without a security camera next to them, and the poor quality of many of the surveillance cameras.
In addition, the door to the room from which the TV was stolen cannot be seen on camera. He believed it was entirely possible that someone could have stolen a TV and not have been seen on security footage doing it.
He also said that someone could have entered the building undetected, even though the doors are locked. Most of the people who enter the buildings in the complex, he said, do not use their own key card, but rather “shoulder surf,” meaning that they walk in with another person who has a key card.
After the lunch break, Yolo County Deputy Sheriff Timothy Sartain was called to the stand. Sartain had been directed to 1801 Drexel Drive on November 22, 2013, because of a stolen laptop “pinging” at the address. The laptop in question belonged to the Yolo County Sheriff, Edward Prieto, and had been stolen out of his daughter’s car.
When Dep. Sartain arrived at the location, he talked to several residents of the home separately, to try to figure out where the laptop was. Eventually, a man living in the house confessed to having stolen the laptop after receiving “pressure from the others” to tell the truth.
More police and Sheriff Prieto showed up at the house. Officers found the laptop on the roof in the back of the house. Upon searching the home, they also discovered a bag of marijuana and a shotgun, causing them to arrest one resident of the home for possession of marijuana.
Mr. Hernandez was not present at the time of the search, but the two other defendants and residents at the Drexel house, Rakhem Bradford and Joshua Givens, were there and were interviewed by Dep. Sartain.
Next, Lauren Doane, a Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) who had taken photos of evidence collected at the house, testified, mainly identifying the different pictures in evidence. She confirmed that there had been marijuana and a shotgun found in the drawers.
The trial will not reconvene again until Thursday at 9 AM.
