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A Web of Deceit In order to prepare his bogus “Expert’s” Report with at least the appearance of credibility, Prof. Wilson Hayes needed to have an established location at which Cameron Brown was ostensibly standing when he supposedly threw Lauren off the cliff. In the days after the accident, investigators examined the site quite thoroughly and meticulously, but were nonetheless unable to determine with any certainty the spot where Lauren went off the cliff. They were even unable to find any reliable evidence of where Cameron and Lauren had been, such as footprints. But they did find several “impressions” or “depressions” in an area on which it was far too unsafe to stand. Yet nevertheless, these impressions have been documented, doubtless because of the remote possibility that they just might have some significance after all. It was undoubtedly only a matter of being thorough. The Deputy who had been called out to document the scene was Deputy Dale Falicon, and in his Grand Jury testimony he indicates that he examined the entire end of Inspiration Point. The area where Deputy Falicon made the casts of the depressions is on the southeast end of Inspiration Point. It has been referred to as a “triangle” in the Grand Jury testimony due (obviously) to its apparent general shape. What we will want to focus on here here is the veracity of Grand Jury testimony regarding this triangle. We shall ask ourselves, has the Grand Jury been given an accurate picture of the importance of these casts, or have they rather been misled? Specifically, just how likely is it, not only that Cameron and Lauren were actually out on this heavily sloped section of Inspiration Point, but also how likely is it that investigators would reasonably believe that this is the location where they were when Lauren went over the side? Deputy Falicon states in his testimony that he was assigned to the Scientific Services Bureau of the Sheriff’s Department, and that he was brought into this case in order to document the scene for anything that might have been of evidentiary value and to collect and retain anything that might be potentially significant. There are several places where the issue of Falicon’s duties comes up, and in every single case it has to do with documentation and collection of evidence. Nowhere in his testimony do we find analysis of evidence mentioned, either in terms of his duties or of his qualifications and training. And yet on page 101 of the Grand Jury transcript, where Prosecutor Hum is questioning Deputy Falicon about the depressions he had found, we read:
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Q DID THEY APPEAR TO YOU, JUST BASED ON YOUR |
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TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE, TO BE SOME TYPE OF SHOE PRINT OR |
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BOOT PRINT? |
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A I FELT THEY WERE. |
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Q AND YOU HAVE BEEN IN SCIENTIFIC SERVICES |
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FOR HOW MANY YEARS? |
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A EIGHTEEN YEARS. |
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Note that here Deputy Falicon is being asked to do analysis of evidence. And the extent of his qualifications seems to be that he has simply been assigned to the Scientific Services Bureau for eighteen years. Not that he has been analyzing evidence for eighteen years, mind you, but simply that he has been assigned to the group that among other things is responsible for the analysis of evidence. And it seems that Falicon’s duties and experience are among the other things, namely the documentation and the collection of evidence. Why this is significant is because Deputy Falicon is being asked to testify to the Grand Jury as an “expert” witness. But without the necessary training in the analysis of this type of evidence—training that Deputy Falicon apparently lacks—he is not qualified to offer the sort of testimony that he is being asked to present. By asking Falicon these questions, Prosecutor Hum is misleading the Grand Jury. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that Prosecutor Hum is skating very close to subornation of perjury here. Because he is trying to establish an assertion with the testimony of one who is not an expert, and whose testimony is thus not sufficient to adequately establish the assertion. And as a prosecutor, Hum should be very well aware of this. What is more significant about this issue is that the plaster casts of these depressions were examined by a deputy back at the lab, whose job it was to do analysis, and who had been trained to do so. It was his job to determine whether these depressions were indeed shoeprints or not. This deputy, Deputy Schliebe, was called to testify at the trial—by the defense attorney! And Deputy Schliebe’s testimony was that, in his expert opinion, these depressions were not shoeprints! Which means that the Grand Jury was indeed misled about these depressions. And it has apparently not been adequately demonstrated on the basis of the testimony of Deputy Falicon that Cameron Brown was at the particular location where these depressions were found. What is curious today about the casts that were made of these depressions is that they have somehow become “lost” from the evidence room. And so it is now impossible to have someone—someone independent—re-examine them to determine just how reliable Deputy Falicon’s layman’s opinion that they are shoeprints really is.
Notice that there is a small bush on this area, just to the right of the center of the shot. This is significant. The assertion of the prosecution is that Cameron stood by this bush, and that he picked Lauren up and threw her over the side. And the point of Deputy Falicon’s testimony is to show that he has found evidence to indicate that Cameron was indeed at this particular location. And this would fulfill a need that Professor Wilson Hayes has, so that he could make his bogus “Expert’s” Report have an illusion of credibility (which even now is only barely tenuous at best). But just how likely is it that Cameron was indeed here? We know by Deputy Falicon’s own testimony that he had been called into this case to document the scene. And even Deputy Falicon made it a point to explain (on page 104 of his Grand Jury testimony) that the area in which he found the depressions was very dangerous indeed: |
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104 |
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Q NOW, HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHING |
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THESE AND PUTTING THE CASTS ON? DID YOU JUST WALK OUT |
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THERE AND TAKE PICTURES? |
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A NO. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO EXPLAIN? |
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Q YES, PLEASE TELL US HOW YOU DID THAT. |
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A OUR EMERGENCY SERVICES DETAIL WAS THERE, |
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WHICH THEY DO RAPPELLING AND OUR LIFESAVING AND OUR |
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RESCUE TYPE OF OPERATIONS. THEY WERE THERE FOR OUR |
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SAFETY AND SET UP ROPES AND HARNESSES AND SAFETY DEVICES |
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TO ALLOW ME TO TRAVERSE THE EDGE OF THAT CLIFF AREA |
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THERE. |
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AND SO ONCE THAT WAS DONE AND I WAS BRIEFED |
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AND TIED IN THE RESTRAINING DEVICE, I THEN BASICALLY |
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WALKED DOWN THE HILL WITH THE SECURITY OF THE ROPES AND |
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E.S.D. THERE TO DOCUMENT THE SCENE. |
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Q OKAY. NOW, THE AREA WHERE YOU SAW THESE |
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IMPRESSIONS, DID THAT APPEAR TO SLOPE DOWNWARDS TOWARDS |
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THE OCEAN? |
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A OH, YES. |
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Q AND SO YOU FELT THE NEED TO BE ROPED UP |
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WITH A SAFETY HARNESS BEFORE YOU WENT DOWN THERE TO |
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PHOTOGRAPH THESE AND TAKE THESE CASTS; IS THAT CORRECT? |
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A VERY MUCH SO. |
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In fact, Detective Jeff Leslie is even more explicit in his Grand Jury testimony about just how dangerous it really was to go down to that spot. From page 199 of the transcript:
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Q DID YOU GO DOWN AND INSPECT THOSE |
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FOOTPRINTS AT THAT TIME? |
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A NO. |
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Note that Prosecutor Hum here asks specifically about footprints. We believe that this is deliberate and intentional so as to mislead, because we believe that Hum knew he had not adequately established whether or not these depressions were indeed “footprints.” Anyway, Leslie says that he didn’t go down to inspect them. Why not? Testimony continues from above:
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Q DID YOU, IN FACT, REQUEST MR. FALICON AND |
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SOME EMERGENCY SERVICES PEOPLE TO RESPOND AND ASSIST YOU |
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WITH THAT? |
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A YEAH. TRYING TO DOCUMENT OR PRESERVE THOSE |
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WAS WAY TOO DANGEROUS WITHOUT PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT, SO |
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WE MADE ARRANGEMENTS THE FOLLOWING DAY TO HAVE OUR |
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EMERGENCY SERVICES DETAIL COME OUT, ALONG WITH A |
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PHOTOGRAPHER AND SOMEBODY WHO HAD THE ABILITY TO CAST. |
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REALLY NOBODY ELSE WANTED TO DO IT EXCEPT FOR DALE |
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FALICON. |
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Q AND THE NEXT DAY, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN |
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NOVEMBER 10TH OF 2000, DID, IN FACT, MR. FALICON GO OUT |
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THERE AND DOCUMENT THOSE IMPRESSIONS THAT YOU HAD SEEN |
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AND TAKE PLASTER CASTS OF MOST OF THEM? |
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A YES, HE DID. |
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Note that Detective Leslie here says that it was “way too dangerous” [emphasis added] to venture out onto this portion of Inspiration Point without proper safety equipment. And even then, Deputy Dale Falicon was the only one who was willing to go down there. So then how is it that Cameron Brown could have gone down there without any safety equipment? The short answer is that he could not have! Which would make this yet another exercise in misleading the Grand Jury—and one that was most obviously done deliberately and intentionally! |
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Another facet that needs to be looked at regarding the ground on the top of Inspiration Point are the characteristics of its surface. There are paths up there that are packed down, as dirt paths generally are. The other areas of the ground, where there is no path, are for the most part covered over with vegetation that is generally dried up for most of the year, except for the rainy season during winter (as is normal in southern California). |
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Above are two pictures of the ground on the top of Inspiration Point (and near the end of it, close to where Lauren fell). The picture on the left is of a path, and the most notable feature of it is that there are no footprints here. The ground is packed hard, and you don’t leave any footprints when you stand or walk on it any more than you do on a concrete sidewalk or blacktop street. The investigators have thoroughly examined this area, and they certainly know this. The picture on the right is of the ground on top of Inspiration Point where there is no path. This particular picture was taken in mid-February of 2007, in the middle of an especially dry winter. So while there is some slight green vegetation, the rest of it is for the most part dry. But what is most notable about this ground are the holes, which appear to be gopher holes. Much of the top of Inspiration Point where there is no path is pockmarked with such holes—including areas of the sloped “triangle” where it is unsafe to venture onto. When these holes become filled in, they have the appearance of impressions, but most obviously are not “shoeprints,” as just about any observer can tell—including Deputy Falicon. Back in November of 2000, nobody among the investigators would have said that Cameron Brown could have walked out to this very dangerous area of the cliff. But they nevertheless took the time and effort to document the scene just in case some of the impressions that they found there might turn out to be significant. That’s how thorough and meticulous they were being in collecting evidence and documenting the scene. Why this is significant is that, elsewhere in this case, they claim to have not been so thorough and meticulous.
Earlier, Patty had been watching The Cybil Shepherd Show. The subject for that day was “Father’s Rights,” about problems faced by non-custodial fathers have in seeing and providing for their children. Given that Cameron was having some problems in this area, Patty was interested in seeing the show. There was a website address for an organization that specialized in father’s rights that was given out on the show. After the show, Patty got on the internet and visited the website. There were links provided on that website to other similar websites, and Patty surfed to a number of those links—many of which also had other such links, which Patty followed as well. At the time, Patty and Cameron only had dialup internet service, and while Patty was surfing the net, the phone line was busy. Also, Cameron had loaned his cell phone to his father, so he had stopped to try and call Patty from a number of payphones along the way from Orange County. At just about 2 pm, Patty got off the internet (it was time for one of her favorite soap operas), and it was just then that Cameron was finally able to get through, from the payphone on the beach. That is why Patty remembers the time of the call so well. Why this is significant is that it establishes that Cameron and Lauren were still at the playground as late as 2 pm. As part of his case, Prosecutor Craig Hum alleges that Cameron took Lauren on a long and convoluted path to Inspiration Point, on a walk that would have been exhausting for her. But if Cameron and Lauren were still at the playground at 2 pm, and the 911 call came in at 2:58 pm, his theory about the long, exhausting, convoluted path just doesn’t stand up. Whatever the case, investigators, who were so thorough and meticulous up on top of the cliff, now claim that they somehow overlooked the phone on the beach, and neglected to check its records to see if Cameron had indeed made the call that he said he made to his wife. And yet, they did check the records of another payphone, one that is located in the parking lot of the park where Cameron had parked his car. And they gleefully crowed to the media about how they failed to find any record of a call from Cameron to his wife, and that therefore Cameron must be lying. Go figure. |
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