Homicide witness’ statements at odds
A witness who had been working for an Ettersburg homicide suspect at the time of the crime gave testimony in a preliminary hearing Thursday that differed from what he had previously told law enforcement officials.
When he took the stand, witness Robert Norris seemed to contradict the previous statements he made about the details surrounding 33-year- old Jason Todd Garrett’s death on or about Feb. 12, of which Ryan Anthony Tanner stands accused.
“At this time, I would ask the court if the record could reflect that when Mr. Robert Norris was walking to the witness stand, Mr. Tanner nodded at him and
Mr. Norris nodded back to him,” said Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm.
Deputy District Attorney Jessica Acosta asked Norris several questions about statements he made to law enforcement officials, including statements to a female deputy, to which Norris responded Acosta was the only woman associated with the case to whom he had spoken.
Acosta asked Norris about conversations he had with a woman named Angie who he allegedly told there was an icepick sticking out of the side of Garrett’s neck.
“You told them that you tried to take it out and had to tape it up because it wouldn’t stop,” Acosta said.
“Yeah, that’s not true,” Norris responded.
“You told Rebecca that the dog kept trying to protect Jason and that when Ryan would go toward Jason, the dog would get in the way,” Acosta said. “You never said that?”
“No,” Norris said. Norris said he was misunderstood and that those individuals had told him details about the homicide later on.
Earlier, witness Larry Kirk provided different details than witness Jeffrey Kondos about the time of certain incidents. Kirk corroborated most other details provided by Kondos, including being threatened by Tanner.
Kirk said the incident with the motorcycle and the California Highway Patrol when Tanner threatened him and Kondos and prevented them from leaving was actually Feb. 10 and not March 10 as Kondos testified.
The two called the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, but Kondos said were told the Sheriff’s Office wasn’t “equipped to deal with that and that they weren’t coming out.”
They decided to go to the Sheriff’s Office in Eureka the next day and encountered Garrett next to the broken-down bread van on the way, Kirk said. Garrett told them he was helping Natalie Pierce, who Garrett said was asleep inside the van.
Kirk said they didn’t see the van on the way back to Kondos’s house, so they thought Pierce and Garrett had gotten the van fixed and driven off. Tanner arrived later, however, to say he saw Pierce’s van on fire.
Kirk said that after Tanner left, Pierce arrived with a fire extinguisher, was looking for Garrett and asking for help in finding him.
“She was speaking kind of like hesitant,” Kirk said.
Norris said he was at Tanner’s house upon the arrival of Tanner, Garrett and Christopher Champagne, who previously testified to witnessing the homicide and helping bury the body.
Norris said that when he saw Garrett, he didn’t see any blood on him or duct tape around Garrett’s neck, but Garrett seemed “distraught” and all three men were discussing a truck.
Tanner left for about a couple of hours and Garrett and Norris watched a movie together during that time, Norris said.
At that time, Norris said Garrett told him he was trying to help Natalie Pierce with her brokendown truck but got angry with her.
“He was in a foul mood because of his old lady situation, I guess,” Norris said.
When Champagne and Tanner came back, Norris said they were there for about five to 10 minutes before leaving with Garrett and his dog, saying they were going to take him down the road.
Garrett seemed happy to leave, Norris said.
The next morning, Norris said he asked where Jason was, but nobody responded and he didn’t ask about it further.
“I didn’t think anything was weird,” he said, though Tanner made a comment about being surprised Garrett hadn’t come back to get his dog yet.
Norris said he saw Garrett’s dog, which Champagne had testified had been shot in the bathtub with Garrett that day.
The preliminary hearing was ongoing at publication time and expected to continue Friday morning.