Battles offered him the chair to her right, and he sat and faced forward, gaze alternately affixed on the tabletop or the blank wall behind the witness stand.
As soon as Trejo sat, the door to the left of the bench pulled open and the preliminary hearing officer, Sonya Rivas, entered in a black robe. Rivas, a lieutenant commander, was also a judge, which spoke to the seriousness of the allegations, and the Navy’s concern that the proceeding be handled with the highest decorum. Today, however, Rivas would serve as the PHO, the preliminary hearing officer. Rivas and Battles had a good working relationship, but there would be no special treatment because they shared the same gender. If anything, Rivas was harder on female JAG officers. She knew they had to be better than their male counterparts. Nor would there be any sympathy toward Trejo because Rivas was Hispanic. The only colors Rivas saw were red, white, and blue.
Cho had told Tracy during one of their telephone conversations that Rivas was a good pick for the preliminary hearing officer. He described her as organized, thorough, and conscientious, but not sympathetic. She certainly seemed to be all business as she sat and looked out over the gallery, wasting no time getting under way.
“Let’s go ahead and get started. This hearing will come to order.” She turned to Trejo and Battles and introduced herself. “By order of Commanding Officer Peter Lopresti, I have been appointed the preliminary hearing officer under Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. We are here in court to inquire into the truth of allegations set forth on the charge sheet, to examine those charges, and to secure information that will be helpful in determining the disposition of this case. Copies of the charge sheet and convening order have been furnished to the accused and his counsel by government counsel. Have you reviewed them?”
“Yes,” Trejo said, voice so soft Rivas did not hear him. She looked up from her script—Cho had told Tracy the military was as big on scripts as it was on acronyms.
Trejo cleared his throat. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Petty Officer Trejo, if at any time you do not understand what I am telling you, let me or your counsel know and I will explain it until you and I are both satisfied that you understand.”
Rivas advised Trejo of the charges and said she would be making a recommendation to the commanding officer based on the evidence introduced at the hearing. “You do not have to make any statement regarding the offenses of which you are accused. You have the right to remain silent. You may, however, make a statement and present evidence in defense and mitigation so long as it is relevant to the limited scope and purpose of this hearing. If you do make a statement, whatever you say will be considered and weighed as evidence just like the testimony of any other witnesses. Further, any statement you do make may be used as evidence against you in a trial by court-martial. Do you understand my instructions?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Trejo said.
Rivas continued, “I will now read the charges against you.”
Battles slid back her chair, stood, and interjected, “We’ll waive the reading, Your Honor.”
Rivas nodded. “All right, thank you, Counsel.” Rivas looked to Cho. “It is my understanding that the government intends to call three witnesses at this preliminary hearing: Seattle Police Department Traffic Collision Investigator Joe Jensen, Seattle Police Detective Tracy Crosswhite, and Archibald Issa, owner of a convenience store in Renton, Washington.”
Cho stood, looking like he might bow. “That is correct, Your Honor.”
“All right.” Rivas looked out at the gallery. “Ladies and gentlemen, there may be testimony that is difficult for some, or all, of you to hear, or with which you don’t agree. While I am certainly sympathetic to your emotions, I expect all parties to respect that this is a court of law. If you fail to do that, I have the power to close this proceeding. I sincerely hope that won’t be necessary.”
Rivas set down her script and addressed counsel. “Are there any other preliminary matters we need to take up before we begin the substantive part of the hearing? Defense?”
Battles and Cho stood. Speaking in turn, they responded, “No, Your Honor.”
Rivas took a moment. Then she said, “Then the government may call its first witness.”
CHAPTER 20
Battles listened as Brian Cho dispensed with the preliminaries quickly and efficiently, in part because Joe Jensen, his first witness, made it easy. Having testified in court on numerous prior occasions, Jensen was at ease with the process. The relaxed evidentiary procedure had also convinced Battles to object sparingly, knowing Judge Rivas would be inclined to allow the testimony and that objecting would largely be futile.
Battles had met and interviewed Jensen, so she knew what was to come. Jensen testified in a deliberate but down-to-earth tone that engendered confidence and honesty. His deep voice, graying red hair, and two-piece suit gave him an air of authority. It was like Cho had put a Boy Scout troop leader on the stand.
Cho quickly went through Jensen’s current position with TCI, the fact that Jensen had been on call the evening of the hit and run, and the time he had arrived at the scene. Cho nodded to Clark, who fiddled with the keyboard of her laptop, and a grainy black-and-white photograph of the intersection, without the emergency personnel or the body, appeared on two flat-screen televisions. After establishing the picture was of the intersection and asking other foundational questions, Cho asked Jensen to point out the locations of the vehicles and the emergency responders upon his arrival, and anything else he’d seen.
It was a subtle way to get Jensen to share the location of the victim and the other things they’d found, like Miller’s shoes and flip-flops.
Jensen said, “Near the body, a basketball lay in the gutter. Two Nike sandals were also in the street, and farther away, we located a pair of red Nike basketball shoes, laced together.”
A woman in the gallery moaned as if stricken with pain. Battles did not turn her head or otherwise react. She had been expecting the testimony to evoke emotion from the gallery, and had given Trejo strict instructions not to respond to any comments or noises. However, she also hoped that the emotional nature of the testimony might get Trejo to rethink the latest plea deal. Trejo had not so much as flinched since sitting down. Battles wondered if he’d been medicated.
Jensen testified that the body was thirty-three feet from the intersection, which he said was significant because his working hypothesis was that the victim had been struck in the crosswalk, and that the car had been traveling south to north on Renton Avenue when it crossed the intersection at Henderson Street. “This appeared to be a wrap, where the victim wrapped around the hood, hit the windshield, and was projected forward.”
“What did you do next?” Cho asked.
Jensen testified to his search for tire marks and not finding any.