Defense attorney casts doubt on aspects of police investigation

Questioning a Vallejo police officer Friday about her actions at a 2018 attempted murder scene, the defense attorney at trial appeared to cast doubt about department protocols and suggested shoddy police work and the possibility of evidence tampering.

In his cross-examination of Officer Heather Smith, John Coffer, who represents Costello Blackwell, charged with the shotgun shooting of a 29-year-old ex-con, established that Smith was a rookie officer on the night of the crime, Nov. 1.

Blackwell is charged with trying to kill Teiquon Cortez, known to have drug abuse and psychiatric problems who was living in the trailer behind a building on Admiral Callahan Lane.

The shotgun blast “essentially destroyed” Cortez’s left elbow, a Fairfield orthopedic surgeon testified on Thursday.

Cortez, who, like Blackwell, was an employee of Royal Transport, a small moving company, at the time of his wounding, is also a witness to a murder linked to Blackwell and another man, Daniel Anthony Street, 34, of Hercules. Both are charged with the shooting death of Daryl Huckaby, 47, on Feb. 10, 2018, in Vallejo.

Responding to Coffer’s rapid and pointed line of questioning during the late-morning session, Smith testified that she did not know if an experienced crime scene investigator also responded to the scene.

His questions came moments after Deputy District Attorney Andrew Wood got Smith to testify that she secured the trailer area shortly after a 911 call in the late hours of Nov. 1, then “cleared the scene” at about 3 a.m. Nov. 2, collecting evidence and later booking it at the police department.

“Did anyone stay at the trailer area to keep the scene secure after you left?” Coffer wondered.

Smith was unsure. Showing her a postersize, hand-drawn image of the trailer’s dimensions, 19 feet 6 inches long, with various items inside the trailer — a couch, a bed and bedding, among other things, depicted — Smith told Coffer that she saw blood on a knife in the trailer, a “dark stain” on the knife handle.

Coffer pointed out an image of a crowbar found inside the trailer, but Smith admitted that she did not collect it as evidence.

Coffer also displayed a receipt believed to have bloodstains on it that was also found inside the trailer. Smith agreed with Coffer that the receipt, which had the name “Costello” on it, appeared to have marks of a bloody shoe print.

“Was it your expectation that the shoe print was going to be used to match it a suspect’s shoes?” Coffer asked.

“No,” replied Smith, who later added that she did not know if any of Blackwell’s shoes were examined after his arrest.

The fourth full day of the trial resumes at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Department 1 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.