Defense chips away at girlfriend's statements

In the trial of two men charged with killing a 21-year-old man in 2017 in Suisun City, defense attorneys continued to whittle away at and cast doubt on statements the victim's girlfriend made to police investigators, an ongoing effort to undermine the prosecution's case.

In his cross-examination of former Suisun City detective James Sousa, Sean Swartz, a deputy public defender in the Alternate Public Defender's Office who represents Derrick Keith Dogan Jr., said Armani Harper-Reed's girlfriend, Arlina Brown, told Sousa and another officer that “the person in the green jacket was not the shooter.”

It was a reference to Dogan, and Swartz has repeated the statement at other times during the trial, which is underway in Department 1 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.

In her cross-examination of Sousa, San Anselmo-based attorney Eileen Burke, who represents the other defendant, Alfie Broussard, said Brown “did not see a gun” when she was parked and in the driver's seat of a white Chevrolet Impala on Nov. 3.

She got Sousa to admit that “she did not see Armani get shot,” and, therefore, did not actually see who shot him, also a theme of her defense of Broussard.

Her statements came during the eighth day of the trial in which Broussard, 41, of Elk Grove, and Dogan, 41, of Fairfield, face first-degree murder charges for the fatal shooting of Harper-Reed in what investigators believe was a marijuana deal gone wrong in a Chevron station parking lot in the 1200 block of Anderson Drive.

During the afternoon session, Deputy District Attorney Mary H. Nguyen called former Suisun City police sergeant Jose Martinez to the witness stand.

She noted Martinez interviewed Brown shortly after the fatal shooting, some of which was recorded on Martinez's bodycam, and DA investigator Kathryn Lenke read a portion of the interview transcript.

Brown described one of the two men as “a big Black male, heavy-set” and wearing a hat and a green sweater, a “hoodie sweater,” over denim jeans. Dogan is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs well more than 200 pounds.

Also throughout the trial, attorneys have described who was sitting in the white Impala — and where — just before the gunfire, and the transcript indicated that Brown told Martinez that “the passenger was the shooter,” a reference to Broussard, who sat behind Brown.

Both Broussard and Dogan had guns, according to Brown's statements to Martinez, who also confirmed that Brown said “the guy on the passenger side” of the rear seat, behind HarperReed, did not fire his weapon, a reference to Dogan.

Also, Brown told investigators, as she testified earlier in the trial, that Dogan drove the vehicle he and Broussard arrived in, a black Dodge Challenger, but Broussard drove it after the gunfire.

Sousa and Martinez met with Brown the day after the shooting, Nov. 4, at the Suisun City police station.

Brown, according to Martinez, recalled that Brown heard an initial shot seemingly fired in the air, “and Armani was falling down” on the sidewalk adjacent to the Chevron parking lot.

Martinez also testified that at the suspects' arrest June 19, 2018, he took DNA samples, essentially saliva samples, from Dogan and Broussard at the time. He also noted that recordings of jail phone calls by the two men were made.

Upon cross-examination, Burke showed a video segment recorded during Brown's Nov. 4 interview in which Brown can be seen pointing to a sketch of the two cars' positions in the parking lot and where Harper-Reed was standing. However, it was unclear from video where exactly Brown was pointing to on the sketch.

Brown, said Burke, indicated to investigators there was “a scuffle” behind the Impala as the deal began to unravel — “A lot of feet moving,” Brown told Martinez.

“Something happened at the back of the Impala but she can't see it,” said Burke.

At one point, Broussard apparently told Dogan to “put your gun down,” then Brown heard two more shots.

Noting a statement Brown made to the investigators, Burke reiterated that she was unsure if Harper-Reed was armed during the botched transaction but also claimed that Harper-Reed was not only blocking the area between the two vehicles but also told one man, “You ain't leaving.”

Earlier in the trial, Dr. Arnold Josselson, a forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy on HarperReed, testified that he “basically bled to death” after a single bullet entered the upper left side of HarperReed's back, passed through an artery and “ended up in the front of his neck.”

Also early on in the trial, Nguyen called Pamela Greenwood, a retired Suisun City Police Department community services officer, to the stand.

In her job at the time of the shooting, Greenwood said that she weighed the amount of marijuana found in a backpack in the rear seat of the Impala. She testified that the glassine bag of pot, seen in a photo that Nguyen displayed for the jury, weighed 55.7 grams, or a little less than two ounces.

Nguyen also called to the witness stand Mason Minemi, supervising investigator for the Solano County District Attorney's Office, who said he was part of a search team sent to a Fairfield residence where Dogan reportedly lived. There, Minemi said he found a magazine for 9 mm Glock semi-automatic handgun in a shoebox. It was also revealed that investigators also found a handgun in Dogan's apartment.

While on the witness stand during her testimony early in the trial, Brown acknowledged to Burke that she and Harper-Reed “believed they had been cheated” during the deal.

And were either Broussard or Dogan seen with a firearm in their possession? “No,” said Brown.

But during her first day on the witness stand, Brown said that, after some time, when all were in the white Impala, Broussard got out of the car and had a gun pointed at HarperReed. Then Brown heard a gunshot, then two more, but could not remember who fired the last two shots.

Broussard and Dogan drove off after the shooting, Harper-Reed fell to the ground, and she called 911, she said.

But Brown also told Burke that she did not know Harper-Reed was selling marijuana and also did not see him get shot in the back.

Dogan and Broussard have pleaded not guilty to the crimes. Dogan remains in the main Solano County Jail in Fairfield without bail, and Broussard in the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield, also without bail.

If convicted, Dogan and Broussard could face 25 years to life, plus more time for the robbery charge and an enhancement for use of a firearm.

Day 9 of the trial resumed Wednesday in Department 1, Judge Jeffrey C. Kauffman's courtroom, in the Justice Center in Fairfield.