Informant’s credibility questioned in court

EL CENTRO — The credibility of a Riverside County resident who had served as a confidential informant for the state came under scrutiny Tuesday during a pre-trial hearing in the case of two Valley men who were previously convicted and subsequently granted a new trial for a

Lavender 2003 murder.

On Tuesday, state Department of Justice Special Agent Scott Hunter testified about his previous interactions with his former confidential

Gaines informant, who reportedly called him in 2006 to disclose the names of individuals allegedly involved in the murder of 13-year-old Palm Desert resident Courtney Bowser.

Hunter’s testimony came as a result of a defense motion that sought to uncover potential exculpatory evidence in the retrial against defendants Floyd Lavender III and Michael Gaines, who were previously convicted in 2010 of the torture and murder of Bowser, whose body was discovered in a Holtville canal on Aug. 20, 2006.

Although Hunter said on Tuesday that he did not recall the names of the murder suspects that his informant had provided, he did affirm the informant’s trustworthiness.

“When she worked with me she was honest and reliable,” he said.

Hunter testified at length Tuesday in response to questioning by Gaines’ defense attorney, Chris Yturralde, who had filed the motion to compel.

In response to Yturralde’s questioning, Hunter also testified that he did not recall receiving any information from either the informant or Riverside County Sheriff’s Department officials that suggested the informant had been kicked out of a witness protection program at one time during the time period in question.

Nor was Hunter able to recall ever having received any information from anyone that suggested the informant’s vehicle was used in an alleged La Quinta homicide that had occurred in either 2003 or 2004.

The La Quinta homicide figured largely in Hunter’s testimony Tuesday, on account of his having received a phone call from his informant at the time notifying him that an individual had allegedly confessed his role in the murder to her, he said.

Hunter also stated that in both the alleged Bowser and La Quinta murders, he had provided the informant’s information to investigators from the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office and RCSD.

Under questioning from Yturralde, Hunter also disclosed that he had received inquiries from RCSD investigators about his informant’s credibility, and that at one time they had become “displeased” with her.

Later, under questioning by county Senior Deputy District Attorney Heather Trapnell, Hunter clarified that he never had any reason to question his informant’s credibility since he could not recall her ever having lied to him during the few years they worked together.

Hunter also clarified that during the years he had worked with the state DOJ’s now-disbanded Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and the Coachella Valley Narcotics Task Force, he had come to employ more than 100 confidential informants and that it was not uncommon to receive inquiries from law enforcement officials asking about the informants’ credibility.

Tuesday’s hearing did not make it clear the role, if any, that the informant had in the initial arrest and prosecution of Lavender and Gaines.

The Valley natives, and cousins, had been convicted in 2010 largely on the testimony of witnesses who alleged the pair had tortured Bowser, and some of the witnesses, on Aug. 15, 2003 in Palm Desert.

The witnesses had testified that Lavender and Gaines had tortured them and murdered Bowser as retribution for her role in the disappearance of about $250,000 in blank traveler’s checks that had belonged to Gaines.

Bowser was last seen being escorted in handcuffs out of the apartment building where the alleged torture took place by the defendants on Aug. 15, 2003, according to previous witness testimony.

Although her body was discovered a few days later, she would not be positively identified until February 2006.

Defense attorneys at the time had argued that Bowser’s death was the result of a methamphetamine overdose and that the people that she had been using methamphetamine with during a fourday binge had panicked and disposed of her body.

Lavender and Gaines were granted a new trial by a local Superior Court judge in January 2016.

The defendants had initially appealed their first-degree murder convictions in 2012. The appeal was subsequently granted after the 4th Appellate District Court ruled that jury misconduct had occurred.

The jury misconduct was based on jurors having briefly discussed that neither defendant testified at trial, and how their presumed guilt could possibly be inferred from their refusal to testify.

Following the appellate ruling, the county District Attorney’s Office appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, which in December 2014 directed the appellate court to vacate its decision and remand the case back to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing.

Ultimately, the appellate court stood by its initial ruling overturning the convictions and remanded a new trial.

Both defendants are due back in court at the El Centro courthouse on Jan. 22 for another pre-trial hearing.