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Jagger then approached the report of a man seen near the golf course on the
day of the shootings, and who was seen carrying a shoulder bag. He asked Pond if he had informed
Sheriff Burks that he had eliminated this man as a suspect? Pond replied
that he had told the Sheriff that he had never been able to find this suspect. The local
'Springfield News'
however, had quoted Sheriff Burks claiming that they had
indeed tracked down this man and eliminated him from the investigation. Obviously
surprised at hearing this, Pond said he wasn't aware of it!. But this
wasn't an isolated example of Pond's behaviour in following up witness
reports. Jagger put it to him that there were many other similar instances of
such procedure during his personal task in the investigation. "You made
reports of thirty to fifty at least?" Jagger asked him. "Oh, yes,
sure there were people who weren't contacted" he replied.
At this point Judge Foote, confused
and irritated by Pond's explanation of why he had stopped looking for the man, intervened:
Judge Foote, "Are you telling me then that at the time that you
made those reports that the people described in those reports or the incidents
described in those reports still, as far as you were concerned, may have
substantiated the defendant's version of what happened?"
Sheriff Pond, "At the time, I would have to assume, yes".
Pond then claimed that he only stopped following up leads on the orders of
his sergeant. This was around the middle of June. And what this
order clearly shows is that only 'three weeks' after the shootings. The
police had decided that Diane Downs was guilty. Yet Deputy Pond had the audacity
to complain of harassment from Diane and her father because they complained that
nothing was being done to find the shooter!. And nothing was being done.
This was confirmed by the District Attorney, Pat Horton, in an offhand remark to
The Oregonian newspaper (June 10, 1983). "The search for the bearded
stranger", said the D.A., "is not very high on our priority list". A
claim he obviously didn't share, or forgot to inform Sheriff Burks about because
the very next day Burks told the Eugene Register-Guard, "all leads received by
detectives are being checked out and one officer has been assigned specifically
to check leads concerning the stranger who Downs Downs says is responsible for
the crime".
In Ponds second testimony the jury, although having been selected, were sent from the
courtroom. In this second encounter, Jagger attempted to prove that the
material in Pond's reports were exculpatory and therefore should be shown to the
Defense. Similarly questioned as in his first testimony, Deputy Pond's memory
once again seemed to conveniently desert him. Trying to determine if Pond
had even brought his reports to court Jagger asked him:
Jagger, "Prior to coming here, you were asked to bring your reports,
weren't you?".
Pond, "No".
Jagger, "I didn't ask you to bring those?".
Pond, "Oh, yes, you did".
Jagger, "OK, I'm someone, aren't I?".
Pond, "Yes".
Jagger, "And you didn't bring them or review them at all for this
hearing?".
Pond, "I brought the reports the State told me to bring".
Jagger, "But not what I asked you to bring?"
Pond, "No".
Following more "I don't recall" answers. Jagger
asked the Deputy if he
knew that the subject matter of the examination was going to be dealing with
these various reports. Pond simply repeated that he only brought what the
State had told him to bring. Jagger appealed to Judge Foote that the witness was
not answering the question. Judge Foote agreed and told Pond to listen to
the questions being asked and answer accordingly. Jagger asked again about
the reports he reduced to writing. " I didn't bring them" Pond replied.
Exasperated, Jagger again appealed to Judge Foote to order Pond to comply with
his request for him to produce the reports so that they will refresh his memory,
adding that he had never encountered such behaviour from a witness in all his years of
practice. "If he uses it to refresh his recollection, said Judge Foote,
"then you're entitled to see it". To which Jagger replied..." I'll
stipulate that I can't see it, that's fine, but I've never had a witness so
ignorant of a case he investigated before in my entire life. That's
awesome".
Judge Foote shared the Defesnse attorney's concerns and, to Hugi's dismay,
voiced them saying...
"I am frankly getting more and more concerned about what's in those reports
that this Deputy professes to have no recollection as to what's in there.
And I am frankly getting to the point where I think they ought to be brought
into court and have the court read them".
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