Tafoya jury hears intimidation charge - Afternoon's top stories - Fresnobee.com

Tafoya jury hears intimidation charge - Afternoon's top stories - Fresnobee.com
Posted at 01:50 PM on Friday, Jan. 08, 2010
By Pablo Lopez / The Fresno Bee

Jurors in the criminal trial of a former Fresno police officer this morning learned of the prosecution’s allegation that the defendant tried to intimidate a witness.
Jurors have been kept in the dark about the allegation since Dec. 31, when prosecutor Blake Gunderson raised it against defendant Marcus Tafoya, who faces eight counts of excessive force and one count of burglary involving four incidents, including at a party for a Marine returning from Iraq in March 2005.
This morning, Tafoya testified in Fresno County Superior Court that during his trial he has called a friend, Sgt. Dave Madrigal, a few times to encourage officers to listen to the testimony.
Ex-officer testifies in excessive force case

He also told the jury he has personally sent text messages to more than a dozen police officers, inviting them to the courtroom.
Questioned by Gunderson, Tafoya said he called Madrigal because he wanted Madrigal to get in contact officer Cary Weigant so Weigant could be in court when a certain witness testified.
“Your boy is going to be testifying,” Tafoya said he told Madrigal to tell Weigant.
Gunderson asked Tafoya if he wanted Weigant in the courtroom when officer Steve Gonzalez testified.
Tafoya testified that he never mentioned the name of the witness to Madrigal. But he wanted Weigant to be present when officer Eloy Escareno testified, Tafoya said.
During the trial, Escareno testified for the prosecution regarding Tafoya’s actions at the Marine’s homecoming party in southeast Fresno.
The witness tampering allegation first surfaced at a special hearing on Dec. 31.
Outside the presence of the jury, Madrigal broke down on the witness stand when questioned about the allegation. Madrigal then exercised his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
Gonzalez, however, testified that Weigant had confided in him that Madrigal wanted Weigant to be in the courtroom when Gonzalez testified in Tafoya's trial on Dec. 17. Gonzalez told Judge John Vogt that he thought the purpose was to interfere with the trial.
Vogt decided to let jurors hear testimony about the allegations after the judge received no opposition from Gunderson or attorney E. Marshall Hodgkins, who is defending Tafoya. Hodgkins has told the judge there was no evidence of Tafoya trying to sway the testimony of witnesses. He said he plans to prove the allegation was false when he cross-examines witnesses.
Gunderson plans to revisit the allegation once he gets a printout of the text message from Tafoya, Madrigal and other officers.
Tafoya, who has been on the witness stand two days, has testified that he was defending himself when he fought with rowdy partygoers and struck two of them with a police baton. He said he is innocent of the charges.
His testimony will resume after the lunch break.