Posted on 08/13/2004 8:21:31 AM PDT by doug from upland
Professor's past in play at fraud trial
POMONA - Kerri Dunn's past could come back to haunt her if she chooses to take the witness stand in a trial set to begin today.
Dunn, the college professor accused of vandalizing her own car and falsely reporting it as a hate crime, may be confronted during her trial with a 4-year-old allegation that she once faked injuries to herself and then blamed them on police during a shoplifting arrest in Nebraska, a judge ruled Thursday.
Prosecutors may also try to impeach her testimony by questioning her about a shoplifting conviction, as well as allegations that she once posed as a nurse to obtain prescription drugs from a pharmacy.
Prosecutors will not be allowed to confront her with those issues and jurors may never learn of them if the 39-year-old Redlands woman does not testify in the trial.
Prosecutors allege Dunn, a visiting psychology professor at Claremont McKenna College, spray painted racial epithets on her Honda and slashed the car's tires March 9, the same day she spoke at a forum on racism at the Claremont Colleges.
They allege she reported the vandalism as a hate crime to police, and then to her insurance company the following day.
The incident drew widespread attention and prompted the colleges to cancel classes for a day of anti-hate rallies.
Two witnesses later came forward and said they saw Dunn inflict some of the damage.
Jury selection in Dunn's trial began Thursday in Pomona Superior Court, where Dunn is charged with two felony counts of insurance fraud and one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report.
A jury should be chosen by this morning, and opening statements and testimony are to begin today.
Dunn has pleaded not guilty.
A defense strategy to keep secret Dunn's alleged history of bad acts went terribly awry Thursday morning, when Judge Charles Horan refused to allow the issue to be argued in a courtroom closed to the public.
Dunn's attorneys attempted a pre-emptive move to keep the information from the public and potential jurors, filing a sealed motion asking the judge to bar it from evidence before the trial even began.
But Horan refused to close the courtroom for a hearing on the motion. And portions of the attorney's arguments were already under way Thursday morning before Dunn's attorneys realized a newspaper reporter was watching from the courtroom gallery.
After a failed attempt to persuade Horan to clear the courtroom, Dunn's attorneys promptly withdrew the motion, ending further discussions of it.
Chief among the alleged prior bad acts discussed were allegations from 2000, when Dunn was arrested in Nebraska on suspicion of shoplifting.
According to discussions in open court, the woman claimed an officer roughed her up. However, a witness later reported seeing her inflict bruises upon her own arm and tearing the buttons of her own shirt, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Martin Bean told the judge.
The prosecutor also told the judge that Dunn had a prior petty theft conviction and had once pretended to be a nurse and called a pharmacy seeking prescription medication.
Bean declined to comment outside the courtroom regarding the allegations.
Dunn cannot be forced to testify during her trial. If she chooses to do so, prosecutors can ask her about those incidents in front of jurors.
Dunn's attorneys, Gary Lincenberg and Jennifer Coon, told Horan Thursday that they may call Dunn to the stand.
The trial is expected to last about three days.
Rod Leveque can be reached by e-mail at r_leveque@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9325.
Actually, I think it shoud be more, since the perp of a fake crime definately was attempting to create racial hatred for personal or political gain.
There's always room for doubt in an "actual" hate crime, since the motivation has to be assumed.
After sitting there for a few minutes both said they saw Dunn pull up in her gold Honda Civic hatchback.
Zepeda was in the front passenger seat and said she saw writing already on the car when it pulled into the space next to them.
Both said they saw Dunn bend over by each of the driver's side tires and heard a sound that sounded like air being let out of the tires.
Martinez said she went first to the rear driver's side tire and then the front. Zepeda said she did the opposite.
Both said they were confused about what they saw and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
"We thought she was weird and we did not know what was going on,' Zepeda said. "At first we thought it was a prank. We also thought that it might be research on how people react to certain situations.'
After Martinez and Zepeda heard the second tire pop they started to leave and Dunn motioned for them to stop and came up to the passenger window.
"She told us she was a psychology professor and asked us if we had seen who did this to her car,' Zepeda said. "We said no.'
They explained that they lied to Dunn because they were confused about what happened and did not want to get involved. Martinez and Zepeda spoke to police and college officials the next day after seeing the incident covered by TV news and at the urging of friends.
Okay. Thanks fo the info.
You ask a good question. Most of us would have reported it right away unless we knew she was doing it to her own car.
%%
Look at post #22 where someone answered my question.
Posted by Bigg Red:
"...Why did they come forward later and not at the time she was doing the damage? Unless they knew it was her own car, why would they not contact the police immediately?..."
From what can be seen from the timeline, these "witnesses" came forward after a substantial reward was announced. How sweet would it be if you're the vandals that have eluded police and you're also getting paid for your crime? Hoo-boy!
Then these two people go into an explanation that "they thought they were being monitored to see how they would react to a scenario" is waaaay into tinfoil hat territory. And who is more paranoid than crooks? I think Mr. Martinez and Ms. Zepeda had something to do with this crime...especially if they're boyfriend/girlfriend and now arranging their stories.
~ Blue Jays ~
So, are you saying they and not Dunn are the perps?
Posted by Bigg Red:
"...So, are you saying they and not Dunn are the perps?..."
My thought is that Mr. Martinez and Ms. Zepeda either did it themselves, or know of someone who did it. A typical person witnessing a property crime would call 9-1-1 and say where they were and what they saw. How convenient this young couple comes forward after a sum of money is placed on the table...
If you saw some middle-aged lady popping tires, it wouldn't be that difficult to just reach for the cellular telephone at the moment it was happening.
~ Blue Jays ~
This is great. Justice for a leftist seldom happens.
is this a potential "anti-affirmative action" arguing point?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.