In 2018 attempted murder trial, defense ramps up questioning of victim

For two days last week in a Fairfield courtroom, the defense attorney in a 2018 Vallejo attempted murder case ramped up his questioning of the victim, an ex-con with a history of drug abuse and psychiatric problems — who admitted to smoking methamphetamine the day before he was shot and had consumed alcohol just before he was shot — in a concerted effort to weaken a deputy Solano County District Attorney’s prosecution.

Solano County criminal defense lawyer John Coffer on Thursday peppered the victim with questions related to his state of mind on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 2018, when Costello Blackwell, 45, allegedly used a shotgun to try to kill Teiquon Cortez, 29, who, at the time, was living in a small blue trailer behind a building in the 700 block of Admiral Callaghan Lane. The gun blast severely injured Cortez’s left elbow, as physician testimony and X-ray evidence indicated early on in the trial.

As Cortez, shackled

at the waist and legs and wearing a striped jail jumpsuit, sat in the witness box in Department 1, responded to Coffer’s questions, he repeatedly bent forward to sip water from a plastic foam cup, his tattooed arms and neck easily visible from the public gallery.

On his second day on the witness stand, he did not recall being with Blackwell on Oct. 31, the day before the shooting, which occurred around 10 p.m. Nov. 1, and did not remember, as Coffer phrased it, “being suicidal” that day.

“I don’t remember being depressed,” replied Cortez, who has a lengthy criminal record — including robbery, battery with a gang enhancement, battery of a prisoner, and domestic violence, among other convictions — and is in Solano County Jail for a recent crime, commercial burglary. Shortly after making that statement, he admitted to smoking methamphetamine “on that day,” taking yet another sip of water.

In the afternoon session Thursday, Coffer continued his aggressive crossexamination, with Cortez unable to recall telling a

NorthBay Medical Center emergency room physician that he had “used meth” on Oct. 31.

“Were you high on meth?” in the early hours of Nov. 1? Coffer asked.

“Not sure,” replied Cortez.

“Do you recall taking off your shirt (in the hospital) and saying, ‘I’ll fight all of you!’ — or something to that effect?” Coffer asked.

“No.”

Coffer then asked Cortez if “it were fair” to say that he did not like Blackwell very much.

“I don’t know,” he replied. Suggesting that Cortez generally lacked the money to buy methamphetamine, Coffer inquired about Cortez’s source of income to buy it.

“It’s something I can’t talk about,” he replied and looked up at Judge Jeffrey C. Kauffman, who is presiding over the trial in the Justice Center.

Cortez also did not recall that Blackwell told him that he was going to fire him on Nov. 1.

“Were you drinking on Nov. 1?” Coffer asked.

“I don’t know,” said Cortez, with Coffer noting that a NorthBay physician determined through a blood draw that Cortez had, indeed, consumed an unspecified amount of alcohol before being admitted to the hospital.

On Friday, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Wood, who leads the prosecution, called a cellphone tower specialist to the witness stand, who explained to the jury how the towers manage calls and that data can show which tower “took the call,” including noting the latitude and longitude of the tower.

Wood also called Angela Butler to the witness stand. She is a senior forensic serologist, or someone who analyzes body fluids, including DNA, with the Serological Research Institute in Richmond.

Earlier in the trial, which resumes at 10 a.m. Tuesday and may continue for another week, Coffer also appeared to cast doubt about Vallejo Police Department protocols, suggested shoddy police work and the possibility of evidence tampering.

In his cross-examination of Officer Heather Smith, he established that Smith was a rookie officer on the night of the crime, Nov. 1.