Your Honor, John Reilly for the Commonwealth. This is the Commonwealth versus Robert Norman Rivera. Number 411-00. The Defendant is present today. His attorney is Guy Smith. Steven Leach is his attorney as well. Both attorneys are present. Your Honor, today is the date that the court has scheduled for hearing on the Defendant's motion for change of appointed counsel, and I will defer to Mr. Smith at this time.

Mr. Smith:

Good afternoon, Your Honor. For the record, Guy Smith, ID# 08775. As you heard I represent Robert Rivera. Robert is seated to my left at counsel table. Also present at counsel table is Steven Leach, co-counsel. Your Honor, I received the petition that Mr. Rivera filed, as did the court. Your Honor graciously sent me a copy. I filed a formal response to the petition only because I have no information with regard to what stands behind the petition. I thought it best simply [04] to put my answer on the record as a matter of law. I have advised Robert that I do not recommend, and in fact I recommend against him making any statements in public in this courtroom in pursuit of whatever he thinks is part of his petition that would either incriminate him or cause him harm, or in any way impact on the trial that is about to begin in this case tomorrow. I have said that to him as many times as I could say it in the last hour. There is nothing that I want to present to this court in support of that petition. I know of no underlying facts or basis for it. I don't support it. I haven't pursued it. I don't want him to support it or pursue, and that's where things stand, Your Honor.

The Court: Mr. Leach, do you have anything you want to add?

Mr. Leach: No, Your Honor.

The Court: Mr. Rivera, anything you want to add?

Mr. Rivera:

[05] The same answers I gave last time. The reasons why I wanted him, you know what I mean. You know, I got witnesses he doesn't get in touch with. You know what I mean, either that or I want to be either turned over to state where she's at, or turn me over the FBI. Because, you know me, I have two questions for him that are yes or no questions. This is my life. This is my life. Not yours.

The Court:

In your petition, Mr. Rivera, you indicated that you and counsel have met with each other on (inaudible) in the case. In his response Mr. Smith indicates that his records reflect 26. Is that that correct, Mr. Smith?

Mr. Smith:

Yes, Your Honor. Your Honor, each time I go to the Delaware County Prison I am required by prison procedures to sign in the logbook, and I keep a corresponding log of those dates and times of entry and times of exit. And I have confirmed all of those and that there are 26 times that I went there and met with Robert. There are some additional times that I went [06] there and did not meet with Robert because he wouldn't come out on several occasions. He just wouldn't see for whatever reasons. But those are the 26 times that I did meet with him.

The Court:

Mr. Rivera, you know we have selected the jury. You are going to begin trial tomorrow morning. It would certainly be in your best interest to cooperate with counsel.

Mr. Rivera:

He's not cooperating with me. He's doing what he wants to do. I tell him what I want and he don't do it.

The Court:

As I've indicated previously he's a competent counsel, and I see nothing in your opinion, or in your petition rather, that would incline me in anyway to grant you motion for change of appointed counsel. (Inaudible). It's in your best interest to cooperate with competent counsel. Do you understand that?

Mr. Rivera:

I understand that. And the statements I made today, will the jury know what I said. Or do

[07] I have to repeat it tomorrow again, because I'm not satisfied with him, because you know he is not doing anything what I want him to do. He wants to do what he wants to do.

The Court:

So far as tomorrow is concerned you are not going to be saying anything. The Commonwealth presents his case first. That's where we're (inaudible).

Mr. Rivera:

Well like I said I want to be turned over to the state where she's at, or either the FBI. Simple as that. Because he won't contact the State. I'm not allowed to make phone calls...

The Court: All right, Mr. Rivera, but you're not following his advice right now.

Mr. Rivera: This is my life. You're not doing what I want...

Unidentified Speaker:

Agent (inaudible) from the FBI is present today and is willing to speak with the Defendant if the Defendant would like to speak to her. [08]

Mr. Rivera:

Long as I get turned over to them. I'm not dealing with Delaware County. And I'm not going to admit to something I did not do. Uhhuh. You're not doing -- If you want to be present you can be present. I don't...

The Court: Do you want to discuss this a little further?

Mr. Rivera:

Yeah. Long as I get turned over to her now, because you're not doing what I want you to do.

The Court: Take Mr. Rivera back...

Mr. Smith:

Your Honor, Mr. Rivera says he's finished with this proceeding. If you'll take him back to the holding cell I'd like to talk to him before -- if he will remain. I'll talk to him before he has any conversation with her.

The Court: Let me talk to counsel a minute. [09]

Mr. Reilly: Yes, sir.

[003]

Proceedings - January 15, 2002

[Court called to order]

Everyone: Good morning, Your Honor.

Mr. Reilly:

Your Honor, John Reilly for the Commonwealth. This is Commonwealth vs. Robert Norman Rivera. It's #411 of 2000. The Defendant's present in Court today along with his attorneys Guy Smith and Steve Leach. We are prepared to proceed to trial today, Your Honor.

The Court: Mr. Smith?

Mr. Smith:

Good morning, Your Honor. Guy Smith, ID #08775. I represent Robert Rivera along with Mr. Leach as you've heard. Your Honor, there have been some discussions this morning with Mr. Rivera concerning his desire to remain in the or not remain in the courtroom. I think in light of the fact that there have been situations this morning in which he has said he chooses not to be in the courtroom, and then other times he said he does choose to be [004] in the courtroom, I'm not sure whether Robert intends to remain in the courtroom at this point or not remain in the courtroom at this point.

The Court: All right.

Mr. Smith: And that leads me to a second issue, which I'll address when we get done this one.

The Court: Mr. Rivera, what is your position so far as remaining in the courtroom during trial?

The Defendant: I'd like to be in the courtroom.

The Court: You'd like to be in the courtroom?

The Defendant: Oh, yes, for the whole procedure.

The Court:

Okay, now, you understand that if you are present in the courtroom you'll have to conduct yourself properly and allow the case to proceed in an orderly fashion. You understand that?

The Defendant: [005] Yes, I do, Your Honor.

The Court: And it's in your best interest to do so, you understand that?

The Defendant: Yes, it is. Yes, Your Honor.

The Court: Now, I note that you are in -- you're sure of this now.

The Defendant: Yes, Your Honor.

The Court: I notice that you're in prison garb. Why didn't you put on civilian clothes today?

The Defendant:

They told me they would put a leg brace on my leg and it would not fit underneath my pants. My pants were too tight. Wouldn't fit underneath my pants.

The Court: Okay.

The Defendant: I prefer to wear my street clothes.

The Court:

Okay, we've made a call to the prison. Asked [006] if they can have your clothing brought here as quickly as possible. Do you understand that?

The Defendant: Yes, sir.

The Court:

We'll do so. Also, for the record, as I noted to counsel, with respect to the jury I did receive a letter, together with a doctor's confirmation with respect to who would be juror seat #9. Based upon that doctor's letter I agreed that that juror could be excused from jury duty. Satisfactory, counsel?

Mr. Smith: Satisfactory, Your Honor.

Mr. Reilly: Yes, Your Honor.

Mr. Smith: We have sufficient alternates.

The Court: Yes, we do.

Mr. Reilly: Your Honor, may I be heard, please?

The Court: Yes. [007]

Mr. Reilly:

Your Honor, may I express my concern for the record with the Defendant's behavior this morning? The Defendant appears in Court this morning as a -- as a lamb, as a misunderstood man, when in fact he's tied us in knots all morning.

The Court: We'll take that course as it comes.

Mr. Reilly: Yes, sir.

The Court:

I expect that his response to my question as to whether he realizes it is in his best interest to participate, to not be obstructionist, that you will do so, is that correct?

The Defendant: Yes, Your Honor.

The Court:

And that you will pay attention and you'll cooperate with counsel with respect to any questions or any witnesses...

The Defendant: Yes, Your Honor. [008]

The Court: ...that you think may be appropriate.

Mr. Smith:

Your Honor, there's one other issue that Mr. Rivera raised with me this morning. That is he takes certain medications out at the prison and he was denied the opportunity to take that medication this morning and he says that that medication is necessary for him, that he has colitis and some other conditions that he needs that medication for to keep him from becoming nauseous and becoming ill.

The Court: Check with the prison on that would you please? We'll check with the prison on that.

Mr. Smith: Okay, thank you.

The Court: Anything else at this time?

Mr. Smith: No, sir, that's all I have.

The Court: We'll just have to take a brief recess until we get the clothing here.

Mr. Smith: [009]

[Page 9 of January 15 Transcript Missing] [010]

Now, ladies and gentlemen, there has, of course, been a period between the actual selection of yourselves as jurors and now the beginning of trial. You'll recall that after you were selected as a juror, I requested that you not read anything, listen to anything, discuss anything, pertaining to this case. During that period of time has any member of the jury read anything, discussed anything, listened to anything pertaining to the case? If so, please raise your hand. Yes, ma'am.

The Juror: I saw a headline yesterday.

The Court:

Okay, did that in any way affect your ability or was there anything about that that would prevent you from being a fair and impartial juror?

The Juror: No.

The Court: Anyone else? Counsel, satisfactory?

Mr. Smith: Satisfactory, Your Honor.

Mr. Reilly: [011]

[Page 11 of January 15 Transcript Missing] [012]

trial. That's his choice.

Second, the District Attorney will present evidence. He may call witnesses to testify, he may offer exhibits such as documents or physical objects. Defendant has a right to cross-examine witnesses called by the Commonwealth in order to test the truthfulness and accuracy of their testimony.

At the close of the Commonwealth's case, Defense Counsel may, if he wishes, present evidence for the Defendant. If the Defendant testifies or calls witnesses to testify, the District Attorney may, of course, cross-examine the Defendant and any witnesses the Defendant calls to testify if there are any.

Defendant, however, has no obligation to offer evidence or present or testify himself. Under the law every Defendant is presumed innocent. The mere fact the Defendant was arrested and accused of a crime is not any evidence against him. The burden is upon the Commonwealth to prove the Defendant's guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You may not find the Defendant guilty based upon a mere suspicion of guilt. On the other hand, the Commonwealth [013]

[Page 13 of January 15 Transcript Missing] [014]

are the sole judges of the facts. It will be your responsibility to weigh the evidence, to find the facts, and apply the law, which I give to you to the facts as you find them to decide whether the Defendant has been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You'll determine the facts of the case by paying close attention to the testimony and by assessing the credibility of the witnesses.

You're not permitted to take notes on the testimony or anything said by me or by the attorneys. Therefore, when you deliberate on your verdict you'll have to rely on your own memories of what was said here in the courtroom. If you fail to hear a question or answer while a witness is testifying, raise your hand immediately. We'll see that it's repeated for you.

Now, with respect to the individuals who you have seen during jury selection today, there are Court Officers who are here not only to assist the Court and counsel but also to assist you so if you have a need during the course of the trial, raise your hand, we'll see it's attended to immediately. Also [015] present as in every case are representatives of the Sheriff's Department to make sure there's order in the courtroom, to assist the Court in whatever other ways possible. Our Clerk, Kelly, is here not only to swear in the jury, but also to monitor the recording system which says everything -- which records everything that is said during the course of the trial, and also to accept documents or objects, exhibits, from respective counsel. Ultimately, she will receive the verdict from you the jury.

You're not permitted to discuss anything with any of these people who I've just addressed. They're not permitted to discuss anything pertaining to the case with you.

You're the judges of the credibility and weight of all evidence including the testimony of witnesses. By "credibility" I mean not only the truthfulness but the accuracy of that testimony. In determining the truthfulness and accuracy of the witness' testimony, the weight you will give to such testimony, you should consider among other things: The manner in which the witness testified [016] including the way the witness looked, conducted himself or herself, and spoke while on the witness stand. Consider the level of intelligence of the witness as well as the opportunity the witness had to observe and be familiar with that to which the witness is testifying; and his or her ability to remember the events about which the witness is testifying. Consider the extent to which the witness' testimony is supported by or contradicted by other evidence in the case, which you believe. Consider whether the witness was positive or hesitant about the things to which the witness testified. Whether the witness was fair and frank in his or her testimony or whether favoritism or bias was shown in any way. And whether the witness has anything to gain or lose from the outcome of the case.

In addition, use your own good common sense and human experience in determining the credibility of a witness' testimony and the weight you will give to such testimony. Each of you must keep an open mind throughout the trial. In the oath you just took you [017] swore to do so. So, avoid forming opinions about the guilt or innocence of the Defendant or about any other disputed question until you begin your deliberations. Don't talk with each other about the evidence or any other matter relating to whether the Defendant has been proven guilty until I send you to the jury room to deliberate upon your verdict. Only then will you know enough about the evidence and the law to discuss the case intelligently and fairly.

Essentially, you must keep an open mind and not discuss the case with each other until you begin to deliberate because it's then and only then you'll have all of the facts and all of the law that will permit you to render a fair and knowledgeable verdict.

In addition too not discussing the case among yourselves until you begin to deliberate upon your verdict, you must not talk with anyone else about the case including members of your own family. You may if you wish discuss the case only after your verdict is rendered and recorded. Even then you don't have to discuss the case with anyone if you do not wish to do [018] so.

The reason for this rule is that your family, friends, or anyone else, have not heard the testimony, not seen the witnesses, not been advised about the law, not been sworn in as jurors. Consequently, they are in no position to make any comment whatsoever to you about the case. Any comment, even though innocently made could very well influence your decision and thus cause you to violate your oath as a juror. Therefore, if anyone asks you about the case, tell them straight out you're not permitted to discuss the case with them. There are some persons with whom you must avoid even casual conversations having nothing to do with the case. These persons include the Defendant, the attorneys for both sides, and the witnesses.

Of course, as I indicated to you before, don't read newspapers or other stories, or listen to anything on the media pertaining to the case. Your only information about this case should and must come to you from the witness stand while you're all present together acting as a jury in the presence of the Court, the attorneys, [019] and the Defendant.

As I mentioned to you earlier, although you must follow my instructions regarding rules of law, you are the sole and exclusive judges of the facts. It's your recollection of the facts and evidence, not mine or the attorneys, upon which you must rely during your deliberations. If my recollections of the facts, or the attorneys' recollection of the facts is different than yours, then your recollection of the fact is controlling.

You're not bound by any opinion you might think the attorneys or I have expressed concerning guilt or innocence, credibility of witnesses, weight of evidence, facts proven by the evidence, or inferences to be drawn from facts.

Now, even though statements and arguments of counsel are not binding upon you or are not evidence, you should consider them carefully. It's proper for you to be guided by the if the statements and arguments are supported by the evidence and the facts as you recollect them to be, and the statements and arguments of attorneys appeal to your reason and judgment. [020]

Questions, which the attorneys put to witnesses, are not themselves evidence. It's the answers of the witness, which provide the evidence. Don't speculate that a fact may or may not be true merely because one of the attorneys asked questions, which assume or suggest that a fact is true.

The admission of evidence at trial is governed by rule of law. It's my duty to rule on objections to the evidence made by the attorneys. If I overrule an objection, that means you are entitled to consider the evidence. If I sustain an objection, then you will not be entitled to consider it. Don't concern yourselves with objections or the reasons for my rulings, and you must disregard evidence or any other matter to which I sustain an objection or which I order stricken from the record. The fact that I sustain and objection or overrule an objection, of course, casts no aspersion on either counsel.

The attorneys and I are required to take up certain matters outside of your hearing. Don't concern yourselves with any such matters. [021]

When you deliberate upon your verdict you verdict must be unanimous. That is all of you must agree in order for your verdict to be valid. In the jury room when you deliberate you'll discuss the case among yourselves, but ultimately, each of you must make up his or her own mind. You must, and I'm confident that you will, do your best throughout the trial and in your deliberations to fulfill your responsibility as a juror and thereby faithfully discharge your oath. Counsel ready to proceed?

Mr. Reilly: Yes, sir.

Mr. Reilly:

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. On August 10, 1999, the Defendant kidnapped and killed his own daughter. This is 20-month-old Katelyn Rivera, the Defendant's daughter. The Defendant killed her on August 10, 1999, as an act of revenge against Katelyn's mother. I will prove to you that the Defendant had abused Jennifer Helton, Katelyn's mother, throughout their relationship, and that when Jennifer Helton had enough of the abuse she [022] left the Defendant and took Katelyn with her. And it was for that reason that the Defendant kidnapped and killed her, killed his own daughter on August 10, 1999.

This is the appearance, the Defendant, Katelyn, and Jennifer, Katelyn's mom, who wanted desperately to have a normal, happy family life. This, however, is the reality. Jennifer beaten and battered and abused. On July 30 of 1999, just days before the Defendant would kidnap and kill his daughter, the Defendant once again beat Jennifer and Jennifer vowed that it would be the last time. If only that was true.

On that day, July the 30th, the Defendant choked Jennifer. He punched her. He forced her to undress. He tore the hair from her head. He cut her hair. He put this box cutter to her throat. Jennifer ran from the apartment that day fearing for her life. She vowed then that she would not return to the Defendant. She took Katelyn with her. When she took Katelyn with her, that made the Defendant angry, but what Jennifer would do next would send the Defendant into a rage. [023] Jennifer went to the law. She tried to shield herself in the cloak of the law. She called the police and she asked the police to arrest the Defendant for having assaulted her. Then she went and got a temporary Protection from Abuse Order. That Order required the Defendant to stay away from Jennifer. It also gave custody of Katelyn to Jennifer, Defendant lost custody when the Judge signed that temporary Protection from Abuse Order. The Defendant was reduced to visitation one day a week. Visitations that would be supervised by a third party.

Jennifer then took the next step. She made that temporary Protection from Abuse Order permanent, and a Judge of this Court told the Defendant for 1 year, no contact with Jennifer. No custody of Katelyn. Visitation supervised, once a week. Jennifer thought that she had the protection of the law. Unfortunately, protection of the law was insufficient to stop the Defendant.

The Defendant was arrested. The Defendant was charged with having assaulted Jennifer on July the 30th, and a hearing was scheduled on those [024] charges. That hearing was scheduled for August 10, 1999. On that day, Jennifer dressed Katelyn for the last time in this sock and this sneaker. When Katelyn was fully dressed she took her to the baby-sitter's. It was not far from where Jennifer lived, at that point, with her parents; not far too, from the Court where she would go that morning for the hearing in the criminal case. She kissed Katelyn goodbye for the last time that morning when she dropped her off at the baby-sitters.

Jennifer went to the hearing. The Defendant was there, and after the hearing was over, Jennifer left with her aunt and they went to the local Wawa store that was just minutes away from the Court. They went into the Wawa and they were surprised when the Defendant found them there and followed them in. The Defendant, as you know, had been ordered by a Judge here in Media, no contact with Jennifer, but that didn't stop him. The Defendant started off with conversation and told Jennifer about the things that he wanted for himself, the things that he was going to do.

Jennifer broke off that contact with him, went [025] outside and got in the car. The Defendant changed just like that. Ignoring the Order the Defendant went up to Jennifer, grabbed her around the neck and dragged her out of the car. Dragged her through the parking lot, choked her, pulled the hair from her head. She cut her knees. She cut her arms. Her aunt tried desperately to stop the Defendant. Her aunt jumped on top of Jennifer to try to get the Defendant to stop. Finally, he did. Finally he let her go. He jumped the car that he borrowed and sped off. Where did he go?

Where did he go? He went to the baby-sitter's. Right around the corner to the baby-sitter's. Ignoring that Order by the Judge, ignoring the Order that he didn't have custody, that he only had visitation, he went to the door of the baby-sitter's and he took his foot and he kicked that door down, kicked it right down. Splintered the wood on the jamb. He rushed into the house and he snatched up Katelyn and he rushed outside and he struck Katelyn's head on the doorjamb as he left. No bottle, no diaper bag, no diapers, nothing. He put her in the car and he sped off. By the time [026] Jennifer and the police got to the baby-sitter's, it was too late.

The Defendant spent the rest of that day in a cat and mouse game with police and with Jennifer. He called on the phone, called Jennifer, he talked to the police, he tried to negotiate terms for Katelyn's return. He wanted Jennifer to meet him alone, no police, meet me alone. He told Jennifer on the phone, Katelyn's going to heaven and I'm going to hell. He returned to Jennifer's parents' where Jennifer was waiting. He tried to lure Jennifer into the car with him. By 7:15 that night, the Defendant was at a gas station on Route 1 and Route 100 here in Chadds Ford, Delaware County. The Defendant scrounged around inside the car he was driving for some money to buy gas. He came up with $2 and gave it to the young man who would pump his gas. When that young man pumped the gas, the young man saw Katelyn inside the car. That boy pumping gas would be the last person to see Katelyn alive.

The Defendant was in a hurry. The Defendant took off. Two hours later the Defendant, in [027] turn, at the same gas station, right back to the same gas station and he sees the same young man who pumped his gas before, but Katelyn's gone. Katelyn's no longer in the car. The Defendant gets out of the car and goes into the bathroom of the gas station and washes up. Takes a watch off his wrist and trades it with the young man for $10 worth of gas and he gets out in a hurry.

You'll hear that the Defendant spent that night down in Maryland. He went down and he stayed over at the home of an acquaintance of his in Maryland. The following day he returns to the area. He again engages in the same phone calls and the same cat and mouse game. Tells Jennifer that Katelyn's no longer with him. Eventually, he's arrested that afternoon, placed under arrest by the police.

Now, since then, since that day that the Defendant's been placed under arrest, he's told us lots of stories. Lots and lots of stories. The stories are a maze. They're just a fog of contradictions. He's told us that he gave Katelyn to a woman who had lost a child. He told the FBI that he went to [028] Longwood Gardens just down Route 1 from the gas station at Chadds Ford and he found a couple, complete strangers, and he walked up to them and he gave Katelyn away to these strangers. He told the FBI that when he gave Katelyn away, Katelyn looked at him and said, no, daddy. And then these strangers went off in a car that had a license plate with a bird on it. And then that story got changed to a car that had a Florida license plate, and then later he told us that the Longwood Garden story wasn't true at all.

He said that, he's told Jennifer, I'm sorry, he's said that only he and God know where Katelyn is. He's told Jennifer that she should consider Katelyn dead. His words have been utterly inconsistent with those of a caring father. He told a fellow inmate at Delaware County Prison, first that Katelyn was alive and he tried to concoct a scheme whereby he would have Katelyn returned from the people she was with so that award money could be paid and he could be released. Two days later he tells that same inmate that Katelyn's dead. That he smothered her. That the Defendant [029] smothered his own daughter.

We have spent over 5,000 man-hours searching for Katelyn with no success. You know from the question that I asked you during jury selection that my evidence, the evidence that Katelyn's dead and the Defendant killed her is circumstantial. It's based on all of the circumstances. We've never found Katelyn's body. Mr. Smith will open a few minutes from now and he will tell you that it is my burden, it's my responsibility to prove my case beyond a reasonable doubt, and that is correct.

He'll tell you that I have to prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt and that's correct. He'll tell you that one of the charges I have to prove or one of the elements of the charge that I have to prove is that Katelyn's dead. He's right and I will.

The Defendant's rage, the Defendant's actions, and the Defendant's statements that you hear in this courtroom will prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that Katelyn is dead and that her own father took her life.

You will hear testimony tomorrow from a man who owns this shovel. His name's Tom [030] Whittaker. I told you that the night after, the night of August the 10th, when the Defendant left the gas station he spent that night in Maryland. He stayed with Tom Whittaker who owns this shovel. Tom Whittaker used this shovel that very day to dig up roots in his yard. When the Defendant left Tom Whittaker's house on August the 11th, the shovel was gone. How did we find it? We found it because the Defendant's own words led us to it. I told you about that inmate just a few minutes ago, that the Defendant confided in.

That inmate will testify in this case and he'll tell you what the Defendant said. The inmate will testify that in his conversations with the Defendant, the Defendant told him about this shovel. He told the inmate where he'd find the shovel. The inmate called us and said, look at the construction sites near Tom Whittaker's house, so we did and we found it. And Tom Whittaker will tell you, this is it.

This is Katelyn's sock. This is Katelyn's sneaker. As I mentioned to you earlier, Jennifer put the sock and the sneaker on [031] Katelyn's little size 4 foot on the morning of August the 10th. We found these because the Defendant's words led us to them.

That same inmate who told us about this shovel, also talked to the Defendant about these. He said that the Defendant told him that after he had killed Katelyn, he undressed her so her body would decompose faster. And he took the clothing with him and as he left the gas station, he went down south on Route 202 on his way to Maryland, to Tom Whittaker's. And he told the inmate that he threw the clothing out the window as he drove along. So, we sent out detectives down to Route 202 southbound just where the inmate told us, and this is what we found.

Katelyn's mother, Jennifer, has identified these as belonging to Katelyn. You'll hear her testify to that. You'll also hear Katelyn's grandmother and Katelyn's aunt who bought these, who bought the sneaker, testify that they're Katelyn's.

But you don't have to take their word for it. You can consider the words of the Defendant too, because we questioned the Defendant about [032] that sneaker and about that sock. First, the Defendant says, that's not Katelyn's sneaker, that's not her sock, and Lieutenant Peifer [ph] says, Mr. Rivera, they are. They've been identified as Katelyn's by 3 people, they are hers. And the Defendant does a 180, does a complete flip and he says, I remember now. Before I gave Katelyn away I undressed her and I put her in other clothes that I got. This is a man who traded his watch for $10 worth of gas, I placed her in other clothes before I gave her away to strangers. And then I took Katelyn's clothing, the clothing she had been wearing that morning, and I put that clothing in a bag and I tied it on the outside door handle of the car before I drove south on 202 to go to Maryland.

Ladies and gentlemen, that shovel, this sock, this sweet little sneaker, are inanimate objects. However, they speak powerfully, more powerfully than words ever could, of Katelyn's fate. The shovel, the sock, the sneaker, the Defendant's rage, the Defendant's actions, the Defendant's own words, will prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that Katelyn Rivera [033] is dead. That her own father kidnapped her and killed her. I will use this circumstantial evidence and I will prove all the charges to you beyond a reasonable doubt. Thank you.

Mr. Smith: May I have just a moment?

The Court: Yes, you may.

[Off record]

[On record]

Mr. Smith: The Court's permission?

The Court: Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith:

Your Honor, Judge Keeler, Mr. Reilly, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. You've just heard Mr. Reilly's opening statement, and you've heard a very graphic, very detailed statement, and if we were to stop the proceedings right now having heard Mr. Reilly's deeply moving words and you were to go back into the jury room and be asked to vote on the guilt or innocence of Robert [034] Rivera, I question whether any of you would consider voting anything but guilty in light of what you heard Mr. Reilly say. But here's what the law says about that. If you even began to vote on anything that resembled guilty at this stage you would be wrong, and you would be wrong because, number one, what you heard from Mr. Reilly is not evidence.

Evidence will come to you from that witness stand, things that are admitted into the Court at that stage of the trial, and stipulations that are given by counsel and directed by the Judge to be accepted as evidence. So, Mr. Reilly's statement to you is not evidence and the sweet sneaker, as he called it at this stage, does not entitle you to vote that Robert Rivera is guilty of anything at this stage, because Robert Rivera is cloaked in the mantel of innocence that the law grants to him. He's presumed to be innocent the same as you, me and everybody else in this courtroom, until you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, after hearing the evidence, would find that the Commonwealth has met the burden that Mr. Reilly has referred to, that he said I would [035] refer to, which is that burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. So, right now, if we stop the proceedings, if we simply say go back into that courtroom and deliberate, you have nothing to deliberate, in spite of everything that Mr. Reilly wants you to think in terms of what he said. You have nothing to deliberate.

Now, the questions that are going to come to you are going to come to you on the basis of legal documents, filed by the Commonwealth on April the 28th of the year 2000. They're called criminal Informations, and they're just pieces of paper. Everybody has a designation here. These are Informations. They are not evidence. They are -- they are the touchstones, they are the index to what the Commonwealth has to prove. You'll notice in the layout of the courtroom, the Commonwealth's desk is closest to the jury. That desk remains closest to the jury throughout this trial because the person with the burden of proof sits closest to the jury.

It's one of those little, little known procedural rules. Keep your eye on that desk because it's not going to move. That means [036] that burden of proof is never going to shift.

That burden of proof is the most severe burden of proof established in law. It's called proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and he's going to have to meet that burden, and he's going to have to meet that burden according to what it says on these pieces of paper. So, when you hear the evidence, the Judge is going to give you the law at the end of the case.

The Defendant's charged with Murder in the First Degree Murder in the First Degree, the Judge will tell you under the law, as it says in this Information, requires the Commonwealth to establish that Robert Rivera did unlawfully, intentionally, and knowingly, kill Katelyn Rivera, unlawfully, knowingly, and intentionally, and that he's going to have to tell you about what that means, the Judge is going to give you all the rules about what it means to have premeditated murder, to have malice, and all, you're going to hear that when you get to the law part. But when you listen to the facts, when you hear all the stuff you have to keep asking yourself questions. [037]

Mr. Reilly raised some points that he said we've spent 5,000 man-hours searching for Katelyn. The conclusion that the Commonwealth is going to ask you to reach from the evidence, and that is if we spent 5,000 man-hours looking for her and couldn't find it, we want you to conclude that she's dead. So, you have to keep asking yourself a question, you have to keep saying, does that mean she's dead? Does that search, that 5,000 hours, make Katelyn dead and does it make Robert Rivera a murderer? Because that's the question that's going to keep circulating through this trial.

The fact that you've heard things that are going to make you think Robert Rivera's not a popular person, Robert Rivera's not a very popular person. Robert Rivera's been in a prison in Delaware County since he was arrested on August the 11th, as you're going to hear, August the 11th of 1999. You're going to note that these charges weren't brought until April the 22nd of the year 2000. And you're going to hear in the process, when you heard from Mr. Reilly when he says you're going to [038] hear it from Robert Rivera's own mouth that he gave this incriminating information he said he suffocated her and so on, you're going to hear from 3 people that the Commonwealth is going to present to you. They are John Flemming, William Lively and Vincent Carr [ph]. They are the 3 people that the Commonwealth is going to present to you that those people are going to tell you that the words came from Robert Rivera's mouth saying, I suffocated Katelyn. I killed her. I did it. Those kind of things. We're going to have an opportunity to take a real good look at all three of those people, and I'm going to suggest to you that when you're done looking at those 3 people, the Commonwealth's position is that those 3 people are critical to their case, because those 3 people are the ones that give you the information that says Robert Rivera did these things and did them with this malicious intent and so on.

In fact, what you're going to hear from those people when you hear the evidence is that those are 3 people that have an agenda of their own that is stunning. You're going to [039] hear that Vincent Carr, the person on whom the Commonwealth relies to tell you that Robert Rivera made statements to him confessing to Vincent Carr, you're going to hear that Vincent Carr was a paid snitch in the Delaware County Prison. You're going to hear that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania placed Vincent Carr in the Delaware County Prison. You're going to hear that Vincent Carr has a criminal record, that he was serving a sentence of 4 1/2 to 9 years. You're going to hear that Vincent Carr was also serving an additional sentence of what's called back time. Back time is when you're on parole and you violate parole they give you additional time for the violation.

You're going to hear that Vincent Carr was serving all of those and you're going to hear that people who serve 4 1/2 to 9 years and people who serve 3 years, they don't serve it in County prisons. Delaware County Prison's a holding prison. You're either serving less than 2 years or you're awaiting trial like Robert Rivera. And you're going to hear that the Commonwealth put Vincent Carr in that prison. That they arranged for him to stay [040] there. How? Because you're going to hear from Trooper Derrick Bush.

Trooper Derrick Bush is going to testify in this case and Trooper Derrick Bush is going to tell you that he reached out to the prison officials, and he violated the rules of the prison system by getting Vinnie Carr kept in that prison so that he could give information to the Commonwealth. And then you're going to hear that Trooper Bush not only reached out to the prison system to get Vinnie Carr put in the prison, but Trooper Bush put taxpayer money in Vinnie Carr's commissary account so he could pay to get clothes and stuff. $300 or so. And then you're going to hear that that wasn't enough.

Then you're going to hear that Trooper Bush, when contacted by Vinnie Carr, reached out again to the prison authorities and he got Vinnie Carr the job of jobs, he got him the law library job. Let's see, anybody that's in the prison awaiting trial that wants to go to law library, how do they get there? They go through the law library clerk. And so, Vinnie Carr's going to tell you -- Vinnie Carr's [041] going to tell you that he was a paid snitch; that he contacted Trooper Derrick Bush anywhere from 10 to 15 times a month. That's every other day, for months, that he met with him five, six, seven times. That he met with the CID detectives, that Vinnie Carr was the law library clerk, and that Vinnie Carr's going to tell you that, you know, Robert Rivera, he trusted me, man. He came up to me and said, he checked me out and I was good folk so he trusted me, and then Vinnie Carr's going to tell you that Robert asked to go in the back where he broke down and said that, you know, I did it. I did it. And you're going to hear how fortunate it is that out of the 1500 people in the prison, Robert Rivera just happened to pick the paid snitch, informant, who doesn't belong there in the first place, who got the job from the Commonwealth in the second place, and then after they get all that stuff from him, then they say, well, I guess we can bring charges against him for murder because we have him confessing to Vinnie Carr.

John Flemming, another name. John Flemming [042] also serving time at the Delaware County Prison. John Flemming gets himself really a nice job at the Delaware County Prison, too. John Flemming gets himself the job as block runner. John Flemming's another guy that says that he's working for the Commonwealth but somehow the Commonwealth, that Robert Rivera decides out of the 1500 prisoners there that he's going to trust John Flemming with information.

John Flemming also will tell you that he -- he wants the reward. He wants the reward for turning in Robert Rivera and information on Robert Rivera. Anything he can get, he's interested in his own self-help system.

Oh, I may have left out that you're going to hear from Trooper Derrick Bush and from Vinnie Carr that Trooper Bush, as part of this deal with Vinnie Carr says, and when Carr comes up for parole on his offenses, he, Derrick Bush is going to go to the parole agency and is going to testify for Vinnie Carr. So, when you hear that you have to ask yourself, is Vinnie Carr the guy I'm supposed to trust here? Is Vinnie Carr the guy whose evidence [043] I'm supposed to believe because the Commonwealth says to you, Vinnie Carr is one of the three wise men here.

Carr, Flemming and Lively, have to believe those guys, because they're the guys that get them over the hump. So, when hear that Flemming wants the reward, and you hear William Lively, and you hear that William Lively, William Lively not only wants the money, William Lively wants the book rights, whatever those are, and he gets some kind of papers prepared supposedly from his attorney which is a fraud, and that he gets those papers prepared that Rivera's supposed to sign some kind of papers signing over the book rights to Robert Lively's attorney so that he's got his own interest here and that what he wants is, oh, he wants the Commonwealth to help him, too. He wants to make a deal and but guess what happens?

Well, William Lively's in jail on 5 or 6 cases and he gets the sweetheart deal of sweetheart deals. [044] So, you have to ask yourself, and you'll hear about the deal. You'll hear all the terms and conditions of it because we'll get into it in the evidence.

So, you have to say to yourself, wow, these are the 3 wise men. These are the people the Commonwealth says that Robert Rivera has blurted out the truth to these 3 guys, because you're going to have to decide if those are the truthful people. You heard the instructions from the Judge, you have to decide, are these people honestly trying to tell me the truth?

Are these people -- are these the people that I'm supposed to believe here? Here's why, see, there's no coconspirator person. There's nobody -- there's no -- there's nobody that says, we saw Katelyn dead. There's nobody that says, they say 5,000 hours of searching, they spent more than 5,000 man-hours searching for Osama bin Ladin, is he dead or alive? You're going to have to figure that out, too? No. You've got to figure this one out. And you've got to listen to the evidence, and you've got to decide on this one, if the evidence gets them over that hurdle. The hurdle is not that Robert Rivera's not a nice person or not a popular person or was mean to Jennifer. Indescribably mean to Jennifer. Sadly mean to Jennifer. [045] Awful to Jennifer. The question isn't that.

The question is, is Katelyn Rivera dead? How did she die? Was she killed? Who killed her? When did they kill her? Where did they kill her? And what they want you to do is they want you to say, you can hear from the evidence, they want you to say, well, you know, these 3 wise men that I just told you about, Carr, Flemming and Lively, they're going to tell us stuff and you're going to be imbued with confidence in them and you're going to say these -- these are the kind of truthful people that I want to believe.

That's what the Judge wants you to consider when you weigh the evidence and you weigh the testimony as to whether those are the right kind of people.

And you're going to hear how, at the prison for all that time that Robert Rivera has been there, that the prison has allowed these people to have access to Robert Rivera, allowed them to have access to him, and they have access to the same newspapers articles that the Judge is telling you not to read.

They have access to those same TV news shows [046] that the Judge is telling you not to watch, and this case has generated its share of publicity to it's -- and those headlines aren't evidence, but they are something to consider when you consider what these people are running around telling the police.

Now, you also heard from Mr. Reilly that Mr. Rivera gave them a maze of information. You're going to hear even from Vinnie Carr, Vinnie Carr's going to testify that Robert Rivera was being pressured by inmates all the time to talk, to give information. That the inmates wanted to help themselves, the self-help system here, and that that pressure was so severe that he was distraught so he gave out lots of versions of lots of things to lots of people, Mr. Reilly admits that. And in giving those lots of versions or lots of things to lots of people, what the Commonwealth now is going to say to you is we're going to pick through that and we're going to make a kind of a trail that we hope you will believe proves that A, she's dead; and B, he killed her; and C, it was premeditated and malicious First Degree [047] Murder. But to do that you have to discount that he was distraught, that he was pressured, that there were lots of people asking him lots of questions and he was giving lots of stories. You're going to have to say, well, we're going to pick this one but we're not going to pick, you're going to have to make all those decisions, because that's what this case is going to be about.

Mr. Reilly said on the 10th of August Robert Rivera kidnapped his daughter. You're going to have to hear the law of kidnapping as its defined in the statue when the Judge gives it to you, and then you're going to have to decide if what Robert Rivera did equates with kidnapping in light of the fact that some of the subsections in that refer to things like the Defendant, with one or more of the following intentions, one is to hold for ransom or reward as a shield or a hostage. Two is to facilitate the commission of any felony or flight thereafter. Three is to inflict bodily injury under terrorizing. Four is to interfere with the performance of public officials. You're going to have to figure out [048] if any of these fit. You can't just say, well, you know, he took her and he hasn't given her back, therefore, that's kidnapping, because you have to apply this law to the facts when you get them, not Mr. Reilly's conclusion that that's kidnapping. This law to those facts. His Honor, Judge Keeler will give you that law at the appropriate time.

You heard Mr. Reilly tell you that Robert Rivera took his daughter with the intent to hurt her mother, and that as he took her out of the house he banged her head on the doorjamb and then played cat and mouse. You're going to hear from a young man, I think his name's McCabe, who was the attendant at the gas station that night who first saw Robert come in there with Katelyn. He's going to say when he saw Katelyn she was happy. She was playing in the car. She was -- said she was playing with stuff. She was in no apparent distress and he saw no injuries on her. That was after this so-called banging her head on the doorjamb.

You're going to hear from people who are going to tell you that on at least 4 occasions that [049] afternoon Robert Rivera attempted to give the child back to the mother, to simply return the child, and leave. And that on all of those occasions, he couldn't complete the task. He had -- he couldn't do it because the police tried to grab him. On one occasion she, the mother wouldn't come out of the house to just take the baby and she was hiding in the house with the police in the house, that they were saying one thing and doing another and in his fear of what they were doing he -- he ran away, but you'll hear that on 4 occasions he tried to give that child back that very day, give her back to her.

When you heard from John Flemming, keep in mind that John Flemming will tell you that his primary purpose in pressuring Robert Rivera was to help himself with his own sentencing. And John Flemming will tell you that he needed help from the police at his sentencing so he was going to do everything he could to help him, you'll hear what's important about that, because even though that's his motive here, even John Flemming can't tell you that Robert Rivera confessed to him that he killed his [050] daughter. Instead, he will tell you that he had a conversation with Robert that went something like this: He says to Robert, so, you suffocated her. Robert said, what? Why do you say that? Flemming said, well, that's the way to deal with these cases isn't it? And then Robert grimaced and from that, the first person who ever said to Robert Rivera anything about suffocation is John Flemming telling him that, and then later you hear other people saying that Robert Rivera said things to them that included suffocation.

Another one of those many stories in the maze that have been told about she's alive, she's there, she's someplace else. She's suffocated.

You're also going to hear that the Commonwealth checked for blood, checked around Whittaker's house, checked that shovel for blood. Checked all those things, checked all that stuff out. And you're going to hear how much evidence they don't have in response to all those things they checked, what they didn't find, what they don't have. And you're going to hear about the number of times and [051] the numbers of ways that the Commonwealth continued to put pressure on Robert Rivera to say things, so Robert Rivera said things. And what the Commonwealth is now going to tell you is discount all the things that we don't like, and count only things that we do like, so that way we can say it's First Degree Murder and you can get him. That's what you have to decide. Make no mistake about it.

Is it going to be difficult? Yes, it's going to be difficult. It's going to be difficult to maintain a balance here and listen to the facts and not get caught up in the emotions.

It's going to be difficult because these are serious charges. It's going to be difficult because we're talking about a little girl being taken away from her family and not being given back. And the question is did Robert Rivera take her away and refuse to give her back for whatever reasons, that he's angry with the mother, or you know, frustrated with her family or not happy with the relationship, and does that mean that because he's done those things which you say well, gee, I wouldn't do that personally, or I don't like a [052] person who does that, does that mean he killed her? That's the hard question. Because the Commonwealth says we're going to try to equate those two. If he took her away and didn't give her back, he must have killed her. But you have to hear the facts and the evidence.

You have to hear from the three wise men. You have to decide if they're telling the truth about what they're saying or whether or not this is, is sort of a broad based kind of a persecution rather than a prosecution, because there's a lot of pressure, lot of pressure on the inmates to help themselves, lot of pressure on the Commonwealth to solve this case. Lot of pressure. And the pressure on Robert Rivera continued with the Commonwealth putting people in there, giving those people positions that forced their relationship with Robert Rivera, that allowed Robert Rivera access to those people even if he didn't want access, he had to go through those people. Allowed them access to him.

You're going to hear evidence at another level. You're going to hear evidence of other events on other days that the Commonwealth is [053] going to say to you, look, Robert Rivera did some things that were terrible to the mother. Therefore, you can conclude from that, that he would kill his own daughter. I suggest to you that that's -- that's more than leap of faith here. That's a requirement that the Commonwealth is going to ask you to jump an invisible bridge on facts that don't exist, and to simply decide this case because the easy thing to do is to say, well, they've got some bad evidence about Robert Rivera.

They've got some bad history on Robert Rivera. Let's use that bad evidence and that bad history to make that, that leap over that invisible bridge because it's easy to find him guilty and say well, gee, I'd have brought that baby back if I was him, so that doesn't take the place of evidence. That kind of thinking doesn't take the place of the evidence they have to present. You need to keep, keep your eyes on that witness stand. You need to keep focused on that evidence.

You need to keep hearing from those people and make those decisions on the basis of facts. You need to keep your eyes on the three wise [054] men when they testify and decide if those are the kind of people who are telling you the truth or are they just out to tell you whatever it takes to help themselves in whatever fashion and if they can do it over Robert Rivera's back, that's okay with them.

I suggest to you when you get done hearing the evidence in this case, you're going to hear a lot of other things that you're going to hear from people who are going to tell you about people who believe they sighted Katelyn here or there, that they heard things, you know, you're going to hear that kind of stuff.

You're going to hear from -- you're going to hear from one prisoner who's going to come forward and say, I was in the prison at that time and I never saw Robert Rivera going to the back and crying, carrying on like Vinnie Carr says happened. You're going to hear from people who are going to tell you that that's not so, that's not the way it operated. So, you have to keep your eyes open, you have to keep your ears open. You have to keep your minds open. You have to hear the facts and the evidence. [055]

All I can ask you is to be the kind of juror that you would want to be a juror if you were a Defendant in a case. If you're that kind of a juror, you hear the facts and you hear the evidence, I think you'll be able to come back with a verdict of not guilty. Thank you very much.

The Court: Mr. Reilly?

Mr. Reilly: Your Honor, Officer Gregory Kennard.

Gregory A. Kennard, having been first duly sworn, was called as a witness herein and was examined and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

By Mr. Reilly:

Mr. Smith:

Your Honor, before this witness testifies could I ask for sequestration of the witnesses, please?

The Court: [056] Absolutely, sure. Somebody help the...

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Officer Kennard, you were employed as an Upper Chichester Township policemen on July the 30th of 1999, is that correct?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. You're no longer an Upper Chichester Township policeman, is that right?

A. That's correct.

Q. You're retired since July 30 of '99?

A. October 1 of this year.

Q. You're -- you went out with a disability, is that correct?

A. That's correct.

Q. I want to direct your attention to about 8:30 a.m. on that day, July the 30th of 1999; do you recall receiving a radio transmission at that time?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Tell us what that was.

A. The radio call directed me to 1316 Meetinghouse Road, which is Emilio's Restaurant for a report of a woman screaming.

Q. Did you go there?

A. Yes, sir. [057]

Q. What happened when you arrived there?

A. I met Jennifer Helton outside of the establishment and spoke to her then.

Q. Did you see Jennifer Helton in the courtroom just a few minutes ago?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Please describe for the jury Jennifer Helton's condition when you observed her.

A. She was hysterical, crying, screaming. She said that she thought he was going to kill me and I didn't know what she was talking about, and I said, “Wait, slow down, let's start from the beginning.” I had to actually give her some time to compose herself to start getting information from her.

Q. Was she crying?

A. Yes.

Q. Describe her appearance, describe her physical appearance and her clothing.

A. Her clothing was disheveled. It was -- she was out of breath. I finally, after I talked to her I got her address and she stated that she ran from that address to where she was then.

Q. What did you do at that point?

A. Called for another car to come. I was a canine unit at that time. We went back to Chichester [058] Avenue, McKay Avenue, at the corner and gave her some time to calm down. I had her fill out a domestic violence case form, and write a statement.

Q. Why were you waiting for another police car?

A. Basically, I was under the impression we were going to arrest him at the time for the domestic assault.

Q. Did the other police car arrive?

A. Yes.

Q. How much time passed between 8:38, the time you received the call, and the time the other police car came along?

A. That wasn't long. Less than 10 minutes or so.

Q. What happened when the other police car arrived on the scene with you?

A. Like I stated, we went to Chichester Avenue and McKay Avenue.

Q. Did Jennifer go with you?

A. She went with the other officer, yes.

Q. What happened when you got to Chichester Avenue?

A. We interviewed her some more. I took a written statement from her. I called for an ambulance [059] for her injuries and the assault. She stated she was -- that she was being choked. She was being punched about the body and the head. She said she was punched...

Mr. Smith: I'm going to object to the statement of what she said.

Mr. Reilly: Witness will be testifying next, Your Honor.

The Court: Okay. I'll overrule the objection.

The Witness:

I then asked if I could see these areas. Her body was red around the stomach, rib area, and on her back, and...

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Did you notice anything unusual about her hair?

A. Her hair, I was just going to state, her hair was missing a chunk of hair in the back of her head, and she stated that that was cut.

Q. Now, at that point did you decide to go into her apartment?

A. Yes, she gave us permission to enter the [060] apartment.

Q. Did you go into the apartment?

A. Yes, we did.

Mr. Reilly: Approach please, Your Honor?

The Court: Yes.

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Let me show you first of all, Officer Kennard, two pictures, Commonwealth's Exhibit C27 and C28, do you recognize those photographs?

A. Yes, I do.

Q. Tell me first what's C27?

A. Those -- that's a large trash bag that was found in the apartment that had a lot of the victim's clothing, Jennifer's clothing that was cut, ripped up. Her shoes were in there. She's a hairdresser, a lot of her tools that she uses for hairdressing were thrown out into this trash bag, and the hair from the -- from her head is in that trash bag also.

Mr. Reilly:

[061] Your Honor, approach please? I would ask that this be marked Commonwealth's Exhibit C27A. These are the items that are depicted in C27.

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Officer Kennard, I'm handing you a trash bag, if we put it up on top here. Take a look inside there and tell us what this is.

A. This is the bag that was found in the middle of the -- her apartment floor with her clothing which you see is ripped, cut, straps on her shoes were cut, there's some makeup. Her top was cut in half, and I believe also in here are the shoes that were cut. Also in there are her tools for her hairdressing job.

Q. This is the bag -- you're holding up a -it's a set of electric -- electric clippers and there's a cord attached to that clipper.

A. Yes.

Q. Can you tell me the condition of the cord?

A. The cord's been cut.

Q. Now, there's a plastic bag inside there. Can you tell me what that plastic bag is that's inside of C27A? [062]

A. This is Jennifer's hair.

Q. Where did you find that hair?

A. It was in the trash bag.

Q. And did you put it inside that bag before you -- when you collected this evidence?

A. I collected it all as one. It was packaged later.

Q. Okay, you packaged it later...

A. It was packaged later.

Q. You packaged later safe inside this bag. But this hair was inside C27A when you found it.

A. Yes, it was.

Q. Now, Officer Kennard, how about C28, can you tell us what C28 is?

A. C28 is a picture that was taken of the utility knife. It's a -- Roberts utility knife.

Mr. Smith:

Objection. Your Honor, I object to the conclusion as to who's the owner of the knife. There's been no foundation laid for that.

The Witness: It's a brand name.

The Court: It's a brand name. I assume that's a brand [063] name.

Mr. Reilly: It's a brand name.

Mr. Smith: You mean Roberts is the name of it as opposed to Robert Rivera's?

The Court: That's what I...

The Witness: Yes.

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. This will be marked as Commonwealth's Exhibit C28A, would you tell us what that is, please?

A. It's a Roberts utility knife.

Q. Now, where did you find that C28A, this utility knife?

A. That was found on a microwave table. It looked like it was a microwave table. It was found towards the kitchen area.

Q. Okay, C28 is a picture of the utility knife where you found it inside the apartment?

A. That's correct.

Mr. Reilly: [064] Those are all the questions I have, Your Honor.

The Court: You may cross.

[Off record]

[On record]

CROSS-EXAMINATION

By Mr. Smith:

Q. ...all the stuff that's in the bag now is all the stuff that was in the bag when you found it?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Nothing's been added, nothing's been subtracted?

A. I took the bag as a whole.

Q. So, for example, there's a lot of, also torn up papers and old mail and junk, I mean there's a lot of general trash in here, too, would you say that?

A. I guess it would be, yes.

Q. Well, you -- you tell me what you saw. I'll bring it over if you want to take a look at it.

A. Okay.

Q. It's fairly heavy with a lot of this stuff. Do you agree that that's what it is? Just sort of, looks like ripped up mail, can you see it? [065]

A. I would have to see it closer.

Mr. Reilly:

Miss Helton will be testifying next, Your Honor. I'm sure she can testify regarding the contents.

Mr. Smith: Okay.

By Mr. Smith:

Q. I sort of scooped up a bunch of it here.

A. I don't know what a lot of this stuff is.

Q. Well, my question is, is it fair to say that this is basically, looks like old mail that got ripped up, you know, kind of stuff when you get all that junk mail you tear it up and throw it in the trash bag.

A. Well, some of it, yeah.

Q. Well, is there any -- any that's not? There's an old yellow tablet that's been torn up. That kind of stuff, right?

A. That's true.

Q. Right?

A. Yes.

Q. Would you state it's a fair amount of that stuff in here? If I keep digging through I keep [066] taking out a lot more. It's fairly heavy, this bag, there's a lot of that stuff that I just brought to you, that's a lot of stuff that's in there, right?

A. Yes, there's a lot of that stuff in there.

Mr. Smith: That's all the questions I have.

Mr. Reilly: Nothing further.

The Court: We'll take a brief recess, ladies and gentlemen, don't discuss the case.

[Recess]

The Court:

...Commonwealth vs. Robert Rivera, #411 of 2000. Mr. Reilly, ready to proceed.

Mr. Reilly: Yes, sir. Your Honor, the Commonwealth would call Jennifer Helton. Jennifer Helton.

JENNIFER JANE HELTON, having been first duly sworn, was called as a witness herein and was examined and testified as follows: [067]

DIRECT EXAMINATION

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Good afternoon, Jennifer.

A. Good afternoon.

Q. Jennifer, where do you live?

A. 2623 Sharpless Avenue in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania.

Q. With whom do you live?

A. I live with my parents, Olga and Frank Helton and my brother, David Helton.

Q. Jennifer, tell the jury, please about your background, your educational background.

A. I'm part-time, I've been a hairdresser for about 10 years. I am a part-time nail technician and hairdresser, and I just recently completely my Associates Degree in paralegal and I will continue with my Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and I am seeking employment in paralegal in family law.

Q. Where did you get your Associates Degree?

A. At the PJA School in Upper Darby.

Q. That's a paralegal school, correct?

A. Yes, it is.

Q. You know the Defendant, Robert Rivera, don't you?

A. Yes, I do.

Q. When did you first meet him? [068]

A. I first met him at Barnaby's; it was a sports bar.

Q. Where? Where is Barnaby's or where was Barnaby's?

A. On Route 202 in Concordville, Pennsylvania.

Q. And when was that that you first met him?

A. It was about September of 1996.

Q. Describe how your relationship with the Defendant developed beginning in September of 1996.

A. It began, it -- we started dating very soon. As soon as we met we both were attracted to each other. We started dating and things were really good in the beginning. He treated me really well and I started to fall in love with him. And that didn't last very long.

Q. For -- did you eventually; did the Defendant eventually move in with you?

A. Yes, he did.

Q. When was that?

A. Close to about a month later.

Q. So ...

A. Maybe a month.

Q. ...about a month, about a month after you met you moved in together? [069]

A. Correct.

Q. Where was that?

A. Brandywine Apartments. At the time I had a roommate and he had moved in with me and my roommate at Brandywine Apartments in Wilmington.

Q. Did you become engaged to the Defendant?

A. Yes, I did, in, I believe, October.

Q. Did he give you a ring?

A. He did give me a ring.

Q. Describe your relationship in the months following then, that would be after October of 1996.

A. It was still fairly good in the beginning and then there started to be a lot of problems between my family and Robert which in then turned caused problems between me and him and it was pretty much a rocky relationship from that point on.

Q. Did you ever discuss marriage with the Defendant?

A. We did discuss marriage and then after the problems with my family started to develop, that kind of just got pushed aside.

Q. How did you find life with the Defendant, living with the Defendant?

A. Very, very rocky. As I said, things started out to be really good and shortly after he [070] started to verbally abuse me. Once I was in the relationship and I really was in love with him, then he started to verbally abuse me, which later turned to physical violence and then I became very afraid of him.

Q. Did you and the Defendant talk about having a baby?

A. Yes, we both wanted to have -- have a child, and very soon after I did become pregnant and which I had a miscarriage, I believe that was in January.

Q. January of?

A. Of 1 96.

Q. Of -- well, you met in...

A. I'm sorry...

Q. ...September of '96.

A. ...January of '97, right, correct.

Q. January of '97 you had a miscarriage?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you want again to become pregnant and have a baby?

A. Yes, I did. I did, with the advice of my mother, want to wait a little bit longer, you know, so that things would -- I wouldn't have any more complications, but I ended up getting pregnant in March with Katelyn. [071]

Q. And when was your daughter, Katelyn, born?

A. December 12 of 1997.

Q. Describe for the jury your feelings when Katelyn was born?

A. It was the happiest day of my life. I really, I didn't think that something so beautiful could come of -- of this. And she, while I was having, in my relationship with Rob, when it was in such a rocky position and I wasn't always very happy, she brought very much happiness to my life.

Q. Describe your relationship with the Defendant in the months, in the early months after Katelyn was born?

A. I started to begin to get more and more afraid of him. It was very unpredictable. I really never knew what to expect because his temper started to really evolve more and more as I progressed in my pregnancy, and he would hit me a lot more in my back and my head and pinch me and -- and most of the times I really never knew what I did wrong.

Q. Were you afraid of him?

A. Very.

Q. What did the Defendant do to help you in raising Katelyn? [072]

A. Not very much. At times, very rarely he would offer to help make a bottle at the night, at some times. I know that he never -- he never bathed her. I always was the one to bathe her. I was mostly the one to take care of Katelyn.

Q. Were you working also?

A. Yes, I was.

Q. Where were you working?

A. I was working; at the time it was called Med Staff. This was, Katelyn was about 9 months. I had stayed home with Katelyn for a good 9 months after I was pregnant to -- to devote all of my time with her.

Q. And then you went back to work.

A. And then I went back to work after 9 months. I was in a very good position at this job. I was very happy to have this job and needless to say, due to my relationship, did not -- lost, excuse me, did not last very long.

Q. Now, Jennifer, let me direct your attention to Easter weekend of 1998; that would be in the year after Katelyn was born. Katelyn had been born in December of 1997.

A. Yes.

Q. Would you describe for the jury what happened on that weekend? [073]

A. We were invited by Tom and Sissy Whittaker, who at the time were our neighbors, to go to their family's for Easter dinner that afternoon, and earlier in the day Robert decided he wanted to clean all of the house and he was vacuuming and I was keeping an eye on Katelyn and at the time we had a small pan of water on top of the radiator heater and Katelyn was playing and I was with her playing, watching her, and she somehow got hold of the tin and knocked it over full of the water all over the floor. So, I was on the floor trying to clean up the water before Robert did come in the room to see and while I was on the floor he came in and realized or asked me what happened and I told him Katelyn, you know, spilled the water, and he got really angry and he started beating me. While I was on the ground he started beating me in my back.

Q. Tell the jury what he was doing to you, Jen.

A. He was continually punching me in my back and Katelyn was there screaming and crying. And once Katelyn started to cry, Robert said to me, look what you did, you made her cry, so he punched me more and more and I felt almost that I couldn't get up. I was afraid that I wouldn't have been able to get up but I did.

Q. You had to go to the party, this Easter [074] party at the Whittaker's, isn't that right?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you want to go?

A. No.

Q. What did you do?

A. I went to please Rob and he acted as if nothing happened and wanted to be nice and -- to me all day and I just -- I just didn't want to have much to do with him after that.

Q. Did you give any thought to leaving the Defendant?

A. Yes, I did. At that point I really did want to leave but I also was afraid. I wanted to have the -- for me and my daughter to both have the perfect way out and to keep her safe in the process, and that was my whole objective.

Q. Did the Defendant -- did the Defendant beat you again during 1998?

A. Yes, many times.

Q. Specifically, Jennifer, in the summer of 1998, do you remember an incident that occurred?

A. Speaking of June?

Q. Yes.

A. Is it the...

Q. The date's -- the date's not really [075] important. I'm more interested in what the Defendant did.

A. Okay, there was a time, Katelyn was actually younger and we were arguing in the apartment, and Katelyn had woken. She started crying so I went to get her up and Rob had -- Rob had started to come towards me while I had Katelyn in my arms and my first instinct was to run to the door and at that point he began to get really furious with me because -- and said to me, I can't believe you were going to run out the door with my -- with our daughter, can't believe and he started to get really mad, so I decided at that point to take Katelyn back to sleep and I put her back to sleep and I came back out and he started yelling to me again and he put me in a headlock and he started punching me in my head. I got free from him, he let me go and that was...

Q. Jennifer, you said that you stayed at home after Katelyn was born, for how long did you stay home with her?

A. Without working at all?

Q. Um-hum.

A. It was roughly 9 months.

Q. So, you went back to work around August of 1998? [076]

A. Actually...

Q. If you remember.

A. ... it was September, it was around September I went back.

Q. Okay, in October of 1998...

A. Okay.

Q. ...you -- you were working then, correct?

A. Correct.

Q. Where were you working?

A. At Med Staff.

Q. What's Med Staff?

A. I worked in accounts payable department and they do time slips for nurses in the medical field, and I assisted in doing that.

Q. Was that a good job for you?

A. Yes, it was a very good job.

Q. How would you describe that job compared to other jobs you've had prior to it?

A. Financially, it was much better than any of the jobs that I ever had. Working in the hair business, it's very unstable, you know, it's mostly commission and it's hard to base a living on sometimes. I had steady pay at this job and it was very, very helpful.

Q. Was the Defendant working then? [077]

A. No, he wasn't. He had stayed home to watch Katelyn at the time.

Q. So, you left him at home with Katelyn when you would go to work at Med Staff?

A. Yes.

Q. Now, would you describe please for the jury a time that you went to work and left the Defendant home to watch Katelyn.

A. I had left Katelyn home with Rob and I had been working that day. I had gotten a call, excuse me, from my mother to tell me that...

Mr. Smith: Objection.

The Court: Sustained.

Mr. Reilly: Your Honor, Mrs. Helton will be a -- will be a witness at the trial and she can be ...

The Court: It's sustained.

Mr. Reilly:

Your Honor, I would ask that the testimony be admitted not for the truth of the matter but for the fact that it was said to Jennifer and [078] acted upon. Jennifer's response is ...

The Court: I will allow it for that purpose.

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. You got a call from your mother, correct?

A. Yes.

Q. What did your mother tell you?

A. She told me that Rob had came to her work which was a few minutes away from our apartment at the time, had left my daughter in the apartment alone to go to her work and tell -- told my mother that somebody needs to come get this baby, I can't take her anymore.

Q. What was your -- what was your reaction when your mother told you that?

A. I was very upset to know that he left my daughter there unattended at such a young -- a young age.

Q. Did you make a plan with your mother about what you would do?

A. Yes, I decided -- actually, I had gone back to the apartment to talk to Rob and then at that time he told me that I had to make a choice between him or Katelyn and I said that there is absolutely no choice, and I packed my bags and went to live with my [079] parents at the time.

Q. What happened to Katelyn while she was alone? How -- how was Katelyn taken care of?

A. She wasn't...

Mr. Smith:

I object, Your Honor, she wasn't there, now we're back to the issue of the truth of the matter asserted again rather than being acted upon which was the limiting instruction here.

The Court: Sustained.

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Now, Jennifer, you left the Defendant at that time. You moved out of the apartment?

A. Yes.

Q. Where were you living?

A. I was living with my parents in Boothwyn.

Q. And you took Katelyn with you?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. For how long did you move out on the Defendant?

A. It may have been close to 2 weeks, a week and a half to 2 weeks. [080]

Q. You decided to go back to him?

A. Yes.

Q. Why?

A. He said that, you know, he was going to get a job and he was going to work things out. He was going to try harder and same old thing as -- and I believed him thinking that things would get better so I did go back.

Q. Now, Katelyn's first birthday would have been in December of 1998, is that correct?

A. Correct.

Q. And that began Katelyn's -- Katelyn was 1 year old, that began her second year.

A. Yes.

Q. Were you working at that time?

A. Yes, I was.

Q. And how about the Defendant, was he working after Katelyn's first birthday?

A. He -- he may have been. I know he -- he worked different jobs on and off. Normally, they didn't last very long. Some went for a few weeks, maybe a month, I'm not really positive because there were so many jobs in between, I really couldn't keep track.

Q. Were you the person who was earning the money for your family? [081]

A. Most of the time, yes.

Q. Describe for the jury your relationship with the Defendant between December of 1998 and July of 1999.

A. Very rocky, a lot of abuse, many times he would stay out all hours of the night. Sometimes he wouldn't come home till the morning. I would be left alone with Katelyn, verbal abuse, physical abuse was more constant.

Q. Were -- were you thinking of leaving him...

A. Yes...

Q. ... in July of 1999?

A. Yes, more and more I wanted to leave and I was considering it.

Q. Now, Jennifer, I want to direct your attention to July the 26th of 1999. That was a – that was a Monday. You had made arrangements, you were making arrangements with your mother regarding a doctor's appointment.

A. Um-hum.

Q. Would you explain to the jury what happened?

A. Rob had got mad at me, I don't remember for what, and he had made some remarks that I take my [082] mother everywhere and I'm not -- to call her up and tell her I can't take her this time. I'm not going to take her to her doctor's appointment come Monday, and...

Q. And what was your reaction?

A. I was very upset because my mother doesn't drive and she really has no other means, especially during the day when my father and my brother are working, I really didn't want to tell her I couldn't take her.

Q. What happened?

A. I -- Robert actually had gone out at Sunday night and he didn't come home until ten o'clock the next morning in which he slept the whole entire day until probably nine o'clock that night, so I really did get the chance to take my mother to the doctors and take Katelyn to my mother's to see.

Q. Now, the following day is July the 27th of 1999 and that's Tuesday.

A. Um-hum.

Q. You were scheduled to work that day?

A. Yes, I was.

Q. Where were you working?

A. I was working at Your Hair in Aston, Pennsylvania. I worked part-time as a hairdresser.

Q. Was there a time you were scheduled to be [083] at work?

A. Yes, I was scheduled to be at work Tuesday morning at 9.

Q. And what happened when you woke up on Tuesday morning?

A. Robert had got -- got up that morning, frantic and wanting to do laundry and clean everything in the home and at the time we had many bags of laundry because we had recently just moved to this apartment. He decided he wanted to do all the laundry and he wanted me to stay home and help him. So, I had called out that day to help him.

Q. And what did you do?

A. We went and did all the laundry. Everything was going pretty well. By the midafternoon we had come home. All the laundry was done. We started to put stuff away and he also wanted -- he washed the car seat fabric that goes around the car seat so we were putting that together.

Q. You were putting -- putting what together?

A. Putting the car -- the fabric back onto the car seat.

Q. Okay, describe what happened?

A. I was helping him, trying to help him. [084] He was having trouble, we were both having trouble getting it back on as it was. He was getting mad at me because I couldn't find the directions of how to put this back on and he starts going -- threatening me with the screwdriver that I don't ever listen to him and keep the records...

Q. Tell the jury what his words were.

A. You never listen to me. You never listen to me, I told you over and over to keep these in a file and you don't do that. What, do you like getting hit? Hit? You must like it and...

Q. What did you say?

A. I said, I don't, I really don't.

Q. What did he do then?

A. He continued to put it back together and he told me to pull this strap and I pulled the strap and I guess I pulled the wrong strap and it pulled the fabric off of the car seat. It was still intact, it just ripped the fabric off. He got really furious and mad that I destroyed Katelyn's car seat so he took the car seat and took -- and destroyed it, I believe he went and got a hammer and destroyed it to where it was no useable ever again.

Q. What exactly did he do to it?

A. Just ripped, tried to rip it and [085] dismantle as much as he could.

Q. What was -- what was he doing with the hammer?

A. Banging it and trying to twist it and the car seat...

Q. And what did he tell you?

A. He said he was leaving and that if anything ever happened to his daughter, that he would kill me and bury me and lie.

Q. Now, Jennifer, the following day was July the 28th, and that's a Wednesday. I want to direct your attention to the next day, that's Thursday, July the 29th.

A. Um-hum.

Q. Of 1999.

A. Okay.

Q. Tell the jury what happened that day.

A. We -- I took Katelyn to daycare that morning. I did have off that day. We had some errands to run so we did those during the day...

Q. Were you working that day?

A. I wasn't working that day. I did have off.

Q. How about the Defendant, was he working that day? [086]

A. No.

Q. He was not?

A. No, he wasn't. Later on that afternoon we had come home from finishing our errands and he wanted to go to his friend's house, he had his watch. He said he was going to return it to him, and I asked him when he would be home and he wasn't sure. I told him, could he be back by 5, I really need to go to the store to get Katelyn some things. He left. While he was gone I decided I wanted to walk to the store to get Katelyn's things just to get it out of the way in case he didn't come home in time. So, I noticed when I grabbed my keys to leave and I noticed his keys were still hanging up so I went next door to the neighbors and I told the neighbor that if Rob comes while I'm gone, please tell him I went to the Eckerd's to get some things for Katelyn.

Q. What were you going to buy?

A. I needed some handy wipes; I think I needed diapers, things of that sort. I'm not positive.

Q. Where was the Defendant going?

A. He was going to Sean's, his friend Sean's house.

Q. He was going to his friend's house.

A. Yes. [087]

Q. So, did you leave the house and you went to Eckerd's?

A. I left the house...

Q. You took Katelyn with you?

A. No, Katelyn was at the daycare still at the time.

Q. Okay.

A. I was going to pick her up after the fact, that's another reason why I wanted him to come home so that I could get her.

Q. Okay, so you didn't have -- you didn't have the car.

A. No.

Q. You had to walk to Eckerd's?

A. Right.

Q. And did you go there?

A. I went to Eckerd's.

Q. You bought what you had to buy?

A. I did, I walked back, and when I came back I noticed Rob was talking to Sissy Whittaker and while he was talking to her he was trying to put the door back together. It was off the hinges and he was putting it back, trying to put it back intact.

Q. Jennifer, how long were you gone from the time that you left the house until the time you [088] returned?

A. It may have been close to a half an hour, at the most maybe 45 minutes.

Q. You were walking.

A. Yeah, I was walking and there was, you know, it was a line in the store so I had to wait a little while.

Q. What did you see was the condition of the door?

A. It -- it was, looked like it had been broken off. It was kind of dangling and he was trying to fix it so that it would stay together and close.

Q. You had left and you had locked the door, the door was intact when you left, right?

A. I did have locked it and I also noticed that the lock, around the doorknob, it was broken. The wood was broken.

Q. What happened then?

A. I came back. He was still talking to Sissy. Sissy had left and I proceeded to come in and he started to holler at me and tell me that he had a pile of my clothing and a pair of my shoes behind the door, that he had ripped with a utility knife and he told me that every time that I would make him mad, that he was going to take a handful of my clothes and my things and [089] destroy them, and I started to get really furious at that point. He started to continue to go on and on about how he had been with this woman or that woman and I never even knew and at some point in between our -his -- the argument, he had punched me in my back and I then had called the police.

Q. What did you decide then?

A. I decided that I was leaving him.

Q. So, what did you do?

A. I called the police. They came to the house. They had told me that because both of our names were on the Lease, that they couldn't ask either one of us to leave, so later on that evening, I decided to go home to my parents.

Q. You got some of the things from your apartment?

A. I got what I could in the time that I was given to pack a bag and go to my parents.

Q. Where was Katelyn when this happened?

A. Katelyn, at the time then was at my parents' house. I had called her to ask her to pick Katelyn up from daycare for me, please.

Q. And Katelyn stayed with you at your mom's.

A. Yes. [090]

Q. And that's July the 29th of 1999.

A. Correct.

Q. Now, the following day, Jennifer, is July 30, 1999, that's a Friday.

A. Um-hum.

Q. Did you return to the apartment that day?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Why?

A. I realized the night before I was given by the police a number for the Protection from Abuse, a number to call to execute that, and I realized I left it in the apartment along with my license so I...

Q. What license?

A. My driver's license, I'm sorry. So, that morning I decided I was going to walk over to the apartment to get these things.

Q. Do you remember what time you went over there?

A. Between 10 and 11, I think. I'm not positive.

Q. I had gone over. I had come in the house and Rob, I approached Rob and he told me that he -- he destroyed everything of mine. He left me this small bag of some of my things. So, I went through, started to go -- I went back to the bedroom and I started going [091] through the drawers and I found some of my jewelry and a few other things and I proceeded to come back out into the kitchen and to put those in the bag, and I proceeded toward...

Q. In which bag?

A. In the bag that he had given me, the few things he saved for me. And I proceeded towards him and asked him why he was doing this to me? I don't understand, you know, all I did was love him and then he started coming towards me and I started going for the door and he got me around my neck and held me and was punching me in my stomach and he put his hand over my mouth and I was screaming and he said to me, you swear you'll shut up? You swear you'll shut up? And I said, yes, so he let my hands go -- his hands go free from my mouth and then I started to leave, I tried to go out the door and he said, no, you're not going anywhere, I'm not done with you yet. He made me go back into the kitchen and he had a utility knife and he grabbed my hair and he chopped it off in the back with a utility knife, and then he made me go ...

Q. Jennifer, how long was your hair at that point?

A. To the middle of my back, it was pretty long. [092]

Q. How much of your hair did he chop off?

A. A good, I'd say 6-7 inches.

Q. Let me show you what's been marked as Commonwealth's Exhibit C28, and then C28A. First, take a look at the photograph, C28, would you tell me what that is?

A. This here's the utility knife.

Q. And what is the utility knife on top of?

A. It's on top of our microwave table.

Q. Now, next to it on the table in front of you, C28A, would you tell us what that is, please?

A. It's the same utility knife that is on the microwave table.

Q. And what did the Defendant do with the utility knife?

A. He took it and he grabbed my hair and just chopped it, may hair in the back, one -- one chop and he had it -- had my hair in his hand and then he told me to look in the mirror after he had done that, and he told me that if I wasn't going to look good for him, that I wasn't going to look good for any man. Then, okay...

Q. Jennifer, let me show you next, why don't you step down. This is Commonwealth's Exhibit C27A. Would you take a look in here and tell me what you see? [093]

A. This is my...

Q. Take it out.

A. ...this is my apron from...

Q. Take it out and show the jury.

A. That I used to cut hair, put around them to keep the hair from going around the person. These are a pair of my shoes. These were another pair of shoes. This is part of a bathing suit I had. More shoes. Part of the clothing that I was wearing that day that he made me take off.

Q. Tell the jury what he did.

A. He told me to take my clothing off...

Q. Is that what you were wearing?

A. This, I was wearing this shirt.

Q. When you went over to the apartment.

A. When I went over to the apartment. He made me take it off, all of my clothes, and he ripped them up like this, and then he told me he had another short set in the drawers he thought that I could put on.

Q. Did you do that?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Jennifer, what's that?

A. That's my hair that he cut.

Q. After he cut your hair what did he do?

A. He then told me to look in the mirror. [094]

Q. Okay, what did he do with the hair after -- after he cut your hair?

A. He threw it in the trash with the bag, I believe.

Q. Now, Jennifer, would you take a look in here at the bottom.

A. Yeah.

Q. Could you pull those things out?

A. These?

Q. Um-hum. What are they?

A. These, oh, these aren't mine. This was a curling iron that I had. My implements to use in my work. This is the cord to my clippers or my curling iron.

Q. Jennifer, looking into this bag would you say that this bag is full of paper?

A. I'm sorry, full of paper?

Q. Would you say that this bag is full of paper?

A. No.

Q. What's it full of?

A. It's full of my clothing, my shoes, my work implements, of my belongings destroyed...

Q. Your hair.

A. ...my hair. [095]

Q. You can take your seat. Jennifer, for how long did this incident go on?

A. I'm not positive. I believe it was at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half to 2. It seemed like forever but I really couldn't give you a definite, estimated time.

Q. How did you feel when the Defendant was doing this to you?

A. I was afraid for my life. I really didn't think I was going to make it out of there alive.

Q. How did you get out?

A. At one point after I had tried to leave numerous times and he wouldn't allow me to put my shoes on to leave, I was standing close to the door, around the corner from the backdoor and he was still at the time cutting up most of the stuff in the bag, and I sat and thought for a minute, if I had time to get away and I tried. I ran out the door and just ran until I went to the restaurant where I -- I went for help.

Q. You had no shoes on your feet?

A. I had no shoes on my feet.

Q. What were you wearing?

A. I was wearing a pair of shorts and a long T-shirt and no shoes. That was it.

Q. You called the police at that point? [096]

A. Yes, I went to, it was at the time E and M's Restaurant and I asked them to call the police and they actually called the police for me.

Q. Officer Greg Kennard responded, is that right?

A. Yes.

Q. And did you ask Officer Kennard to file charges against the Defendant?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. What did you -- what did you do then?

A. Officer Kennard told me that he had to wait to get backup to go into the house to obtain -- to get Rob and he made -- he told me to write down on paper what had happened in the apartment and he asked me if I wanted an ambulance and I told him that I wanted to make sure that they had gotten Rob first and the ambulance had come before that happened anyway.

Q. Where did you spend that night?

A. I spent that night at my parents'.

Q. Did you see the Defendant again that day?

A. Yes...

Q. Where.

A. ... at the hospital.

Q. Tell the jury what happened.

A. I was riding in the ambulance after that [097] incident, to the hospital, and just as I -- they came up to the emergency doors and I went out of the ambulance and I heard my name and I looked over and it was Rob and he was in my parents' van and he was telling me to get in the van and I was pretty hysterical at that point and very afraid and I ran in and told the guards that he had taken my parents' van and that the police did not get him yet.

Q. Now, you stayed at your parents that night?

A. Yes.

Q. Had you made a decision by that point, Jennifer?

A. I made a decision to leave him before I had gone to the apartment.

Q. Had you decided that it was over between you and him?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Now, after you left the hospital that day, Jennifer, July 30th, where did you go?

A. I went to the Media Courthouse and to Domestic Abuse to file Protection from Abuse Order.

Mr. Reilly:

Court's indulgence for a minute, please, Your [098] Honor.

[Off record]

[On record]

Mr. Reilly:

I'd ask that this folder be marked as Commonwealth's Exhibit C33 for identification.

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Jennifer, I'm going to show you a document that's within this folder, Commonwealth's Exhibit C33. There are multiple pages to this document. I'd ask you to flip through that and tell me if you recognize that document.

A. This is ...

Q. Tell us what it is.

A. This is the emergency, the Order for PFA, the application.

Q. Okay, it's an Order for Protection from Abuse, is that right?

A. Correct.

Q. Where did you get this?

A. I got this from Media Courthouse.

Q. You came here to the Media Courthouse?

A. Yes. [099]

Q. What did you do?

A. I believe, actually, I went to Domestic Abuse first and then I went to Media Courthouse and I had to fill one of these out.

Q. Okay, and what -- tell us what is Domestic Abuse. You said you went to Domestic Abuse before you went to the Courthouse.

A. Domestic Abuse project, they handle all abuse cases for victims and they help you to obtain these to stay safe from the abuser.

Q. And what kind of information did you have to put in this application for temporary Protection from Abuse Order?

A. I had to state why I was afraid and what Robert had done to me on the twenty-ninth...

Q. And did you do that?

A. ...and the thirtieth.

Q. Did you put that information in there?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. And after you had filled that document out, what happened?

A. I was given a date, August 5, for a -- to make it a permanent Order.

Q. Okay, and was this signed by a Judge?

A. Yes, yes, it was. [100]

Q. That's on the fourth page?

A. Um-hum.

Q. It's signed by who?

A. Ann Osborne.

Q. And what is it? What's the date on there?

A. July 30, 1999.

Q. And is that stamped by Delaware County?

A. Yes, it is.

Q. And what was the Defendant required to do?

A. "Defendant shall not abuse, harass, stalk or threaten any of the above persons in any place where they might be found. Defendant is evicted and excluded from the residence at 2804 Chichester Avenue."

Q. Was the Defendant told not to have contact with you? Or does this Order include the requirement that the Defendant have no contact with you?

A. Me and Katelyn.

Q. Okay, he's required, as well, not to have contact with Katelyn, is that correct?

A. Right, yes.

Q. And there was also a hearing that was scheduled for August the 5th of 1999, at 8:30.

A. Yes. [101]

Q. Is that right?

A. Right.

Q. Now, you went and you lived with your parents between then and August the 5th, is that right?

A. That's correct. No, actually, I actually lived with my aunt and my uncle and then I, on August 5, on that day, the night before that I had gone back to my parents.

Q. Okay, what did you do on August 5?

A. I -- we went to Court, me and my family, had gone to Court to finalize...

Q. Where did you go to Court?

A. Family Court here in Media. Here, I believe it's at the Courthouse also.

Q. Um-hum, and please describe what happened.

A. I went before a Judge to -- and the Judge issued me the permanent order and gave me custody of Katelyn and I agreed to supervised visits, that Robert would have supervised visits with Katelyn.

Q. Was the Defendant present at that hearing on August the 5th?

A. Yes, he was.

Q. Did you speak to him that day?

A. Yes, he insisted on speaking with me, [102] trying to speak with me, and my lawyer, attorney, at the time agreed to let him have 5 to 10 minutes to speak with me. In that time he was pleading with me to drop the charges or to not to show up to Court for that -for the following abuse because if I didn't show up to Court that they would drop the charges and he was going on about how many, the things that he had done wrong and he was sorry and was pleading with me to -- to also allow him to live in the apartment.

Q. And was there a formal hearing in front of the Judge regarding this permanent Protection from Abuse Order?

A. Yes, there was.

Q. And did the Judge tell the Defendant he was to have no contact with you?

A. Yes, he did, or she did, I'm sorry. She told him...

Q. And the Judge also told the Defendant that you had custody of Katelyn, correct?

A. Correct.

Q. Now, that Protection from Abuse Order allowed the Defendant to have supervised visits, is that right?

A. Yes.

Q. And did the Defendant have a supervised [103] visit with Katelyn that day?

A. Yes, he did. It was his birthday that day so he had asked the Judge if he could see her, and the Judge agreed so they had set it up, my mother actually had met with him at a park that afternoon.

Q. So your mother...

A. With Katelyn.

Q. ...your mother supervised the Defendant's visit with Katelyn.

A. Yes.

Q. Now, Jennifer, I want to direct your attention next to August the 10th of 1999. That's the day on which you would next go to Court.

A. Um-hum.

Q. Why did you go to Court that day?

A. Went to Court that morning for the – the abuse hearing from the July 30 incident.

Q. Was the, the Defendant had been charged with a crime, correct, as a result of your complaint?

A. Yes, he was.

Q. And were those the charges that were to be heard that day?

A. Yes.

Q. Now, where did you have to go for that hearing? [104]

A. I went to Linwood District Court.

Q. And where is the Linwood District Court?

A. I can't think of the -- at Ninth Street or ...

Q. Okay...

A. Ridge Road, I believe it is.

Q. Okay, it's not far from your home, right?

A. No.

Q. How far is it from...

A. Maybe 5 minutes.

Q. Okay, when you arrived at that hearing did you see the Defendant?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Where was the Defendant?

A. He was, I believe, on the left side seated at the Defendant's table.

Q. And did you -- did you have to do anything at that hearing?

A. No, I believe they -- there was a few - there were quite a few charges that they had dropped in his favor and there were still a few that were outstanding, I believe.

Q. So, there were some charges that were drop.

A. Correct. [105]

Q. Some charges that were held?

A. Yes.

Q. Is that correct?

A. Um-hum.

Q. And his case was going to be sent to Media, is that right?

A. Yes.

Q. It was going to be sent out here for trial.

A. Yes.

Q. Now, did you speak to the Defendant at all on the morning of the hearing?

A. No, he was trying to talk to me but I tried to keep my distance and not -- not talk to him.

Q. Now, where was Katelyn when you went to the hearing?

A. That morning I had taken her to daycare.

Q. Where was her daycare?

A. On Second Avenue, it was at the house of Sheila Clendening which, who was her provider.

Q. And is that also nearby your house?

A. Yes.

Q. Or near your apartment I should say.

A. It's much closer to my apartment and my - - also just as close to my parents. It was merely 3 [106] minutes down the road.

Q. How did you dress Katelyn that day?

A. I dressed her in a yellow shirt with white flowers around the neck with yellow shorts to match, yellow socks, little Bobo sneakers with little flowers and rhinestones on the front and the side.

Q. Do you remember what time you dropped Katelyn off?

A. I believe it was fairly early, close to seven o'clock on the morning, around between 7 and 8.

Q. Have you seen Katelyn since then?

A. No.

Q. That was the last time you ever saw her?

A. Yes.

Q. Once the hearing was over, what did you do?

A. I left with my aunt and we decided to stop at the Wawa to get something to eat for breakfast first. I proceeded to the Wawa. Went in, I was standing there waiting for my bagel and I noticed Rob walk in the door and I -- my heart sunk to my feet and I was really afraid and wondering why he was there. He started to talk to me. At one point he was...

Q. What did the Defendant say to you?

A. He said that he was going to go to Puerto [107] Rico and he was going to go live with his father and I said to him, that's great, you know. He asked me if things were over between us. I said, yeah, actually, I said that I wasn't sure. That he really needed -- had problems that he needed to deal with and maybe after he deal with those that we could talk. I didn't want to leave things open or closed, and he kissed me on the cheek at one point and then my aunt intervened and told me that I needed to go to the car, he shouldn't be talking to me, I shouldn't be talking to him. So, I proceeded to the car where a few seconds later he opened the door and he grabbed me by my throat and he carried me to the parking lot.

Q. Jennifer, describe exactly what he did. What did he do -- how did he place his hands on you as you were sitting in the car?

A. He had both his hands literally, he just grabbed my neck and literally carried me by my neck to ...

Q. He had both his hands on your neck.

A. Yes.

Q. And that's how he got you out of the car?

A. That's how he got me out of the car. [108]

Q. How did you respond physically? How did you feel when he did that?

A. It felt, it hurt and I felt very -- it was starting to feel like I almost couldn't breathe at one point. I was afraid for my life. I thought then that he was going to kill me. And then I was trying to get free from him. I was kicking and...

Q. How far did he take you from -- from the seat in your car...

A. Probably close to the distance between me and you.

Mr. Reilly: Indicating for the record, Your Honor, approximately 20 feet, 25 feet.

The Court: Satisfactory.

The Witness:

He got me down somehow and he got a good hold of my hair and he was dragging me around the parking lot by my hair for a -- for a good while.

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Were you on your feet?

A. No ...

Q. How... [109]

A. ... my feet were dragging on the parking lot. I was trying to get up and trying to get away from him.

Q. Were you face down or on your back or side?

A. I believe...

Q. If you can remember.

A. ...I was mostly on my bottom while he was dragging me. I -- I remember trying to look up but it was very hard since he had my hair. I really didn't have very much control.

Q. What was he saying to you?

A. Oh, this wouldn't happen if you would have just talked to me. All I want to do is talk to you. And basically that's, I believe that's all I remember him really saying.

Q. Where was your aunt?

A. My aunt was not very far from me. She was very upset to see this happening and after he was dragging me around for some time she had gotten on top of me thinking that she could get me free with more weight, and he actually drug both of us around for -for a short period of time.

Q. What happened next?

A. I think some other pedestrian, I'm not [110] sure, someone had, I don't know, threw something at him or somehow they had gotten him away from me and he fled in his car which at the time I didn't know, I thought he had stolen a car, and then he drove away in the car. I was on the ground and I thought that he was going to run me over. He said that, no, I'm not going to run you over, he said, and then he sped off.

Q. The Defendant's speeds off and where are you when he takes off?

A. I'm at the Wawa still, waiting for the police to arrive with my aunt.

Q. What were you thinking about at that point?

A. Well, I knew in my heart that he was going to get Katelyn and I had my aunt to tell my parents to hurry and get over there as fast as possible and it was too late when they arrived anyway.

Q. Jennifer, I want to show you a series of photographs, C19 through C26. Will you take a look at those and tell me if you recognize them.

A. Yes, I do.

Q. What are those pictures?

A. Those are the pictures, all the bruises and scrapes and the hole in my scalp from where he pulled my hair out of my head, I guess the size of a [111] golf ball.

Q. Jennifer, first let me ask you about C19, would you tell me, what's that picture?

A. It's a picture of me looking quite terrified and I know my mouth looks swollen, I don't know why.

Q. Picture C20, tell me what that picture is?

A. I guess impressions from his hands around my neck.

Q. C2l.

A. More prominent impressions around my neck in the front.

Q. Jennifer, what's picture C22?

A. That's a picture of a good size hole in my scalp where the hair had come out. It was bald, a bald spot.

Q. C23 is a picture of your left arm and what's that right at your elbow?

A. It's a brush burn, scrape.

Q. C24 is a picture of your back?

A. Um-hum, and it's also scraped.

Q. C25, what's that a picture of?

A. A pretty good scrape on my knee with my -- and my nylons were with a huge hole and destroyed. [112]

Q. And then C26, what's that a picture of?

A. The same, my shoe with the sandal on and a big hole with a scrape.

Q. Jennifer, would you describe for us the injuries that you received as a result of the Defendant's assault in the Wawa parking lot?

A. Loss of my hair, which took a few, close to a year to grow back. Scrapes and bruises, and that's physical.

Q. Okay.

Mr. Reilly:

Your Honor, I would ask that C19 through C26 be admitted and asked that they be published to the jury.

The Court: Any objection?

Mr. Smith: Objection.

The Court: Publish them to the jury. They are admitted.

[Off record]

[On record]

[Side-Bar Discussion] [113]

The Court:

Is this the appropriate time where you'd like me to give that instruction with respect to other offenses, other conduct?

Mr. Smith: I think this would be fine.

The Court: I think this would probably be the end of that, pretty much.

Mr. Smith: After they see the pictures would be the perfect time to tell them.

The Court: Yeah.

[End Side-Bar Discussion]

By Mr. Reilly:

Q. Now...

The Court: Before you do that...

Mr. Reilly: Yes, sir.

The Court: [114]

...ladies and gentlemen, you've heard evidence, if you accept that evidence, tending to prove the Defendant was guilty of improper conduct for which he is not on trial, that is the testimony with respect to this witness, if you accept that testimony that on numerous occasions he punched her, pulled her hair, did acts such as that. This evidence is before you for a limited purpose that is for the purpose of tending to show motive. This evidence must not be considered by you in any way other than for the purpose I just stated. You must not regard this evidence as showing that the Defendant is a person of bad character with criminal tendencies from which you might be inclined to infer guilt. If you find the Defendant guilty, it must be because you're convinced by the evidence that he committed the crime charged, not because you believe he has committed some other improper conduct. Satisfactory?

Mr. Smith: Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.

By Mr. Reilly: [115]

Q. Jennifer, before we move on I want to show you 2 -- 2 exhibits.

A. Okay.

Q. First, I want to show you Commonwealth's Exhibit C12, for identification. Can you see that?

A. Just...

Q. Did you want to step down?

A. Yeah.

Q. Why don't you step down? Would you take a look at that for a minute?

A. Um-hum.

Q. Do you recognize that?

A. Yes.

Q. Would you tell me, tell me first of all, what does this map depict? What is the area that it depicts?

A. The area in which I live, the Wawa store where this all happened, and...

Q. Okay, this is a map of Upper Chichester, the area where you lived at the time and where you live right now, is that correct?

A. Um-hum.

Q. There are four different tags on here that identify particular places, let's start down at the bottom right-hand corner on C12. Would you tell the [116] jury first of all, what's -- what does that depict?

A. The District Court.

Q. That's the District Court...

A. ... in the morning.

Q. ...where you went to a hearing on August the 10th?

A. Yes.

Q. Now, up here right on Chichester Avenue, what's there?

A. That's the Wawa store where I was attacked.

Q. Now, Katelyn's baby-sitter, what's Katelyn's baby-sitter's name?

A. Sheila Clendening.

Q. And would you show us on the map where she lives?

A. Up here.

Q. Is that Second Avenue?

A. Yes, it is.

Q. And at the time you were living with your parents, is that right?

A. Yes.

Q. And where is that residence?

A. Right here, 2623 Sharpless Avenue.

Q. And that's tagged, "Helton residence", is [117] that correct?

A. Yes.

Q. Okay, why don't you just stay right there for just a minute?

A. Okay.

Q. Okay, I want to show you a second exhibit, that's Commonwealth Exhibit C1, for identification. I want you to take a look at, just photograph "1A".

A. Okay.

Q. Okay? Do you recognize the vehicle that's depicted in photograph "1A"?

A. Yes.

Q. What is that?

A. That's the car that Rob had gotten into after -- after I got away from him.

Q. At the Wawa.

A. Yes.

Q. Thank you. You can take your place. Jennifer, after the Defendant sped off, what happened? The police came to the Wawa?

A. Yeah, they eventually came to the Wawa and they had taken me and my aunt to the police station to write a report and to take my picture, a picture of my abrasions and injuries. [118]

Q. When did you learn that the Defendant took Katelyn from the baby-sitters?

A. When I arrived at the police station I was told that Rob had gone to the daycare and taken Katelyn and shortly after that I -- I had to go to the hospital for my injuries.

Q. Okay, so you went to the hospital?

A. Yes.

Q. For how long did you stay at the hospital?

A. I think, believe it was a couple hours I was there waiting for a little while.

Q. So, you were down there for a considerable period of time?

A. Yes.

Q. What happened when you left the hospital?

A. When I left...

Q. Where did you go?

A. I went home and...

Q. Describe your state of mind at this point.

A. Was very, very upset. You know, my daughter, he had taken my daughter and I -- I didn't know what to think and I was just worried for my daughter's safety. [119]

Q. Had you heard...

A. And upset.

Q. ...did you have any update? Did you know what was going on at that point when you got home from the hospital?

A. When I got home from the hospital my cousin and her, now husband, had come over to the apartment and they had told me that Rob had been trying to reach me all day. I believe he had called the social worker and he was trying to reach me and shortly after they were in the house he had actually called my home.

Q. Would that have been about quarter after 4?

A. Yes, that's about right, I believe.

Q. Did you answer the phone?

A. Yes, both I answered it and also Brian, we both picked it up at the same time.

Q. Tell me what the Defendant said to you.

A. He asked me where -- where I've been, where I've been all this time, and I said I was at the hospital. And he said, why, I didn't punch you, and I said, no, you just drug me around the parking lot, I guess that's all right. And then he told me that...

Q. What were his words, Jennifer?

A. He said, me and Katelyn are going to go [120] with Bill. Katelyn is going to go to heaven and I'm going to go to hell. Do you want to say goodbye to her for the last time? And...

Q. Jennifer, the Defendant made reference to Bill.

A. Yes.

Q. What did he say about Bill?

A. He said that him and Katelyn were going to go with Bill.

Q. And had you and the Defendant previously discussed a man named Bill?

A. Yes.

Q. Tell the jury who Bill was?

A. Bill was a man I was involved with prior to Rob in Florida and he was a Merchant Marine and he was in -- in terrible accident and the barge capsized and sunk and he had died.

Q. Had you talked about Bill to the Defendant before?

A. Yes, I had.

Q. What was your reaction when the Defendant said those things to you?

A. I was very upset and I was pleading with him, no, please, please don't do that. I don't remember my exact words but I was pleading with him to please not [121] to harm Katelyn.

Q. How did that phone call end?

A. He abruptly said he had to go. He'd call me back. He was afraid I was tracing the call and he called back a few minutes later.

Q. Do you remember how much later he called? How much time passed?

A. It wasn't very long, a few minutes, I think.

Q. How long did that conversation last? Do you remember?

A. The first conversation?

Q. If you remember, yeah, the first conversation with the Defendant on the telephone.

A. Maybe 10-15 minutes. Not very long. It might not even have been that long.

Q. Defendant calls back, this would be his second call.

A. Yes.

Q. What did he say?

A. He said that he was going to give me a chance to get Katelyn. That he wanted me to meet him at the Tri State Mall, at Kmart and no police, do I swear to him, no police, and I agreed to meet with him and the phone call ended. [122]

Q. What was your agreement? What was the agreement you made with him?

A. The agreement was that I would meet him at the Kmart.

Q. Did you set a time to meet?

A. Within the next few minutes, it was supposed to have been right after that.

Q. How far did you live from the Tri State Mall and Kmart?

A. Ten minutes, 5 to 10 minutes. It's roughly about a mile from my house.

Q. What did you do after you hung up?

A. I called the police. I told them and they informed me or told me not to get in the car with him alone. They, I believe they had gone to the Kmart and I got another call from Rob shortly after and he was pretty irate that I told -- he told me not to tell the police and I see all these unmarked cars here. You lied - to me ...

Q. Now, Jennifer, did you actually go down to the Tri State Mall?

A. No, I didn't.

Q. You called the police.

A. Yes.

Q. And the police told you not to go? [123]

A. The police told me not to go. They told me to stay there and not to get in the car with him.

Q. So, the Defendant called you back.

A. Yes.

Q. And tell the jury what the Defendant said. What were his words?

A. He said that, I told you not to call the police. I told you to meet me with no police. You said that you were going to come meet me alone. And that's about all I think I remember, and then it was another call.

Q. Okay.

A. They were very short.

Q. And he hung up at that point.

A. He, yeah, he said that he seen unmarked cars there.

Q. Now, did you see the Defendant shortly thereafter?

A. Yes.

Q. Describe to the jury what you saw?

A. He called me again and said that he would -- he wanted to give me another chance and that he wanted Michele Lupi, the person who's car he had was getting upset and she wanted to have her car back so he wanted me to get my parents' van and him and Katelyn would go and we [124] would all get into my parents' van and we would drive off and I...

Q. Now, Jennifer, hold on for a minute. Who's Michele Lupi?

A. He was -- she was a friend or girlfriend at the time of Rob's...

Q. Of the Defendant?

A. Yes.

Q. And whose car was the Defendant driving?

A. Michele Lupi's car.

Q. Did he tell you that?

A. Yes, he did.

Q. What did he tell you about Michele Lupi's car?

A. He told me he borrowed, he borrowed the car in the morning and she wanted her -- she was getting mad, she wanted her car back that evening. She kept on hassling him about it and he wanted to switch.

Q. So, he wanted to return the car to Michele Lupi.

A. Yeah, he said he wanted...

Q. And what did he want you to do?

A. He wanted me to take my parents' van and to -- for him -- him and Katelyn would get in the van and we would go wherever he wanted. [125]

Q. Did he say where you were going to go?

A. No.

Q. What did you say to him?

A. I -- I said, okay, I agreed. I actually proceeded to go outside. I seen he was outside in the car with Katelyn and Michele Lupi was in the back seat.

Q. So, he's -- he was in that red car that the jury saw in the picture?

A. Yes, he was in that red car.

Q. And where -- were you at your parents' house?

A. Yes, I was.

Q. Where did the car pull up?

A. It pulled up, at one point it was pretty close to the house and actually, I went out, I got into the van and I started to -- I -- because he -- I was trying to play along as he was saying he was going to get in the van, and I got in the van, I started to proceed and he -- he started to go, as I started to get a little closer to the car he started to go further and further away from the house, so I backed the van back up and got out.

Q. And where did he go?

A. He turned the corner and went, I couldn't see him so I -- I don't know. [126]

Q. How close did you come to that red car?

A. I came a few feet away. I wasn't very far from it.

Q. Were you able to see into the car?

A. Yes.

Q. What did you see?

A. I seen my daughter sitting in front...

Q. Where was she sitting?

A. She was sitting in the passenger, at the right side, passenger seat in the front.

Q. She was in the front seat?

A. Yes.

Q. Did she -- was she in a car seat?

A. No, she was sitting on the seat.

Q. Did she have a seatbelt on?

A. I couldn't really tell if she had a seatbelt on. If, I didn't see one going across this way so I, I don't know.

Q. And you said Michele Lupi was...

A. She was sitting in the back, the middle of the back seat.

Q. The Defendant drives away.

A. Yes.

Q. What happened next, Jennifer?

A. He called me again. I believe he, at [127] that point he wanted me to meet him down the street near the Brandywine Apartments we used to live in at a laundromat there. He was going to give me another chance to, and he said he was going to give Katelyn to me if I would meet him...

Q. Jennifer, Brandywine Apartments, where are they?

A. They're right over the Delaware/Pennsylvania line, Carpenter Plaza, near Carpenter Plaza.

Q. What's Carpenter Plaza?

A. It's a shopping center, and that's where I met -- he wanted me to meet him.

Q. How far is that from your parents' house?

A. Again, about a mile.

Q. About what time was this? Do you recall?

A. I think it was close to 6 or 7.

Q. And what exactly did the Defendant want you to do?

A. He wanted me to meet with him. He said he wanted to talk to me and that he would, you know, give me Katelyn.

Q. Did he give you any other instructions about coming down there?

A. No police, come by myself, no police. He [128] was always very stern about that.

Q. So, what did you do? What did you say to him?

A. I said I would be there, and I called the police right afterwards. My cousin's husband and I decided to drive there together. He -- he was a police officer. He was not on duty that day, and...

Q. What's his name?

A. Brian Logue; and they worked it out with the police to -- for him to go with me and he was going to duck down and I was driving so it would look as though I was meeting -- going to meet Rob alone, but...

Q. So, you -- what car were you driving?

A. My parents' van at the time.

Q. And Brian Logue, who's the husband of your cousin?

A. Yes.

Q. He's an off-duty police officer?

A. Um-hum.

Q. He went with you.

A. Yes.

Q. How about the police? Do you know what the police were doing?

A. The police were aware of -- of our venture and actually, I passed a police officer on a [129] side street right before I had gotten to the shopping center.

Q. So, you drive to the shopping center.

A. Um-hum, yeah...

Q. What happened then?

A. ... we drove to the shopping center. At the time Brian was still sitting up. We pulled into the driveway or into the parking lot and we didn't see Rob so Brian still didn't duck at this point, but he was parked, Robert was parked right as you would come into the driveway, he was parked right on this side so he actually had seen, he had seen us probably before we had seen him, until we realized...

Q. Did you...

A. ...and then I parked...

Q. Okay.

A. ... on the opposite side.

Q. Was there a point at which you saw the red car?

A. Yes.

Q. When did you see the red car?

A. Just after we had pulled into the parking lot there was a row of cars and in between the row of cars, I seen the red car in between.

Q. Did you see the Defendant? [130]

A. Yes.

Q. Were you able to see Katelyn at that point?

A. No, I -- I drove past and then I parked on the other side and I -- he kept hollering to me, get in the car, get in the car...

Q. Okay, hold on for just a minute, Jennifer.

A. Okay.

Q. As you drive past the red car where the Defendant's seated, what's Brian Logue doing?

A. He was still sitting...

Q. He was still sitting up.

A. ...beside me, yes.

Q. So, you drive past, you go and park.

A. Right.

Q. Then what happens?

A. Then Rob is hollering to me to get in the car, so I got out of the van and I started walking -running towards the car...

Q. Towards the red car.

A. ...towards the red car and...

Q. Where was Brian?

A. Brian was nearly right behind me. He was starting to come out, I guess, out of the car after me, [131] and every time I would get closer to the car, Rob would inch away further and further until he drove right out of the parking lot, and then Brian went running after the car. I went back into the van and I drove off to go get Brian. I noticed that at that time Rob had made a right and Brian had thought he was in the left lane because he had seen another red car in the left lane, and he had gone to that car, and I told Brian that he went right and he got in the car and we drove down and met police down on the way.

Q. Okay, now you, did you ever see Katelyn in the car at any time while you were at Carpenter Plaza?

A. No, I couldn't -- I couldn't honestly see her because he kept inching away as I got closer and closer to the car so I couldn't, I couldn't see her at that point.

Q. And the Defendant, when the Defendant drove off he turned one way?

A. Yes, he turned right.

Q. And...

A. Well, he turned left and then he turned right onto another road.

Q. And what did Brian do?

A. Brian ran on foot after the car. [132]

Q. Okay.

A. And I got back into my father's van and drove out of the parking lot.

Q. But the Defendant was gone.

A. Yeah, I seen his car go to the right.

Q. What did you do then, Jennifer?

A. I told Brian to -- Brian got back in the car and we proceeded to go up Route 202 to try and find Rob, try and follow him but I didn't see him and then halfway down the road we had met police that were waiting there and I...

Q. Did you go back -- did you go back to your house, your parents' house?

A. Yes, yes.

Q. What happened when you got back there?

A. I had another call from Rob.

Q. Do you remember what time it was?

A. It was, I believe it was getting fairly late at this point. I -- I want to say like 8, I'm not positive, but...

Q. The Defendant calls after you return from Carpenter Plaza.

A. Right.

Q. What did he say?

A. He said, I told you, you know, he was [133] furious again that I...

Q. Tell the jury what he said. What were his words?

A. I told you not to, you know, to come alone. I don't know who that person was and he said he would give me another chance. Will I swear on my daughter's life, I said, yes ...

Q. What did he want you to do?

A. I believe actually the call before that he had me swear that I wouldn't bring the police, that I swear on my daughter's life that I wouldn't bring the police to him. That was actually before, before I had gone with Brian.

Q. Before you went to Carpenter Plaza.

A. Right, and then when he called back after the fact, that's when he was furious that I had someone else in the car. I swore on my daughter's life. And he was -- he was mad. He said that was the last time I would talk to him.

Q. What did he say he was going to do?

A. I don't -- I don't remember that he said.

Q. Did he tell you -- did he give you any instructions or tell you anything more?

A. No, actually, he had spoke to Detective Reardon [ph], I believe, or at one point he had talked [134] to -- and they were making arrangements. He was going to drop Katelyn off that -- that night. I think it was close to nine o'clock, around nine o'clock when I -- we last -- I last talked to him, and then Detective Reardon spoke with him to make arrangements for him to come, he was -- and we waited until 2 in the morning for him to bring Katelyn like he said he was.

Q. So, so, the last time you heard from the Defendant was around nine o'clock.

A. Yes.

Q. And you were, after that you were waiting and hoping he returned?

A. Yes.

Q. And you and Detective Reardon waited until when?

A. Two o'clock in the morning.

Q. And the Defendant didn't return.

A. No.

Q. Jennifer, I show you what's been marked as Commonwealth's Exhibit C34, would you step down?

A. Yeah.

Q. Would you just take a look at that? Do you recognize this?

A. Yes.

Q. What is this? [135]

A. This is Katelyn's diaper bag that I packed every day before I took her to daycare.

Q. Okay, tell the jury what's inside.

A. These are medicines, just like regular cough medicine, Motrin, Tylenol...

Q. What else? What else is inside?

A. Diapers, a change of clothing, her allergy medicine, Trigestin, sunscreen...

Q. Did Katelyn have allergies?

A. Yes, she did.

Q. What were her allergies?

A. She had watery eyes, red -- coughing, sneezing...

Q. When did you pack this diaper bag?

A. The morning...

Q. Of August the 10th?

A. Yes.

Q. When you dropped Katelyn off at the baby-sitter...

A. Yes.

Q. ...what did you do with this bag?

A. I gave, I left it with Sheila.

Q. And when -- did you find out afterwards, after the Defendant had taken Katelyn, where this bag was? [136]

A. I found out that it was still at Sheila's...

Q. Were these things that -- were these things that Katelyn needed during the day?

A. Yes.

Q. Katelyn was obviously in diapers? You can take your seat.

A. Yes, she was.

Q. Describe for us, please, Jennifer, Katelyn's daily routine. What kind of attention did she need, physical things did she need during the day?

A. She needed a diaper change...

Q. How often did she need her diaper changed?

A. Oh, goodness, well, I'd say by the afternoon, a good 6 times or so, I mean...

Q. Jennifer, let's say...

A. ...maybe less. I...

Q. Let's say between the time that the Defendant leaves the Wawa at eleven o'clock in the morning, and the time that you last speak to him...

A. Um-hum.

Q. ...how often would Katelyn need her diaper changed?

A. I would say close to five or six times at [137] least.

Q. How about feeding Katelyn, how often did Katelyn need to be fed during the day?

A. Katelyn loved to eat so, Katelyn, she definitely had 3 meals a day and then some.

Q. Would she drink from a bottle?

A. She, actually, I used to fill the bottles just so they wouldn't spill and then she would drink from the cup. The only time she would drink from the bottle still was at night. She -- it was hard to break her of that.

Q. What was Katelyn's reaction if she wasn't fed on time?

A. She'd get very irritable.

Q. Did Katelyn sleep during the day?

A. She took a nap, yes.

Q. When would she take her nap?

A. Most of the time between 2 and 3.

Q. Between 2 and 3 in the afternoon?

A. Yeah.

Q. She would sleep for an hour?

A. Yeah, usually about that, sometimes longer.

Q. What would her -- what would her reaction be if she didn't have a nap? [138]

A. Again, she would be very fussy, very irritable and...

Q. What time did she go to bed? What was her regular bedtime?

A. She -- sometimes, she went to bed close to around, 9, between 9 and sometimes she did, it was a little later, sometimes 10.

Q. When you would pick her up from Sheila's and, from the baby-sitters, and bring her home, what would you do? She'd take her nap?

A. No, she would have already taken her nap at Sheila's. We would come home and I would fix her dinner.

Q. And then after dinner what would she do?

A. Play, play...

Q. Until it was bedtime.

A. Yes, go outside or something.

Q. Now, Jennifer, you -- did you go to bed about 2 a.m.?

A. Yeah, I was...

Q. You said you waited until 2 a.m.

A. Waited until 2 in the morning and Detective Reardon had to me at that point to get some sleep, so I...

Q. And were you able to sleep that night? [139]

A. Not very much. It took me a long time to fall asleep, then I did eventually, but...

Q. Now, that was 2 a.m. That actually would have been August the 11th, would have been into the following day.

A. Yes.

Q. By that point.

A. Um-hum.

Q. What happened after you got up? Did you have any further contact with the Defendant once you got up on the eleventh?

A. He called, again, about 10 or 11 in the morning...

Q. What did he tell you? Tell the jury, please, what his words were.

A. He said that he had given Katelyn -- he had given Katelyn to a lady who -- who had lost a baby and she was really happy to have Katelyn. She -- he said, she's fine. She's in a better place. I don't have to worry about her anymore. She's -- she's okay. And that was the first...

Q. Did the Defendant tell you anything about your ability to see Katelyn?

A. He said to me that I swore against -- I swore on her life last night, but he was going to give [140] me another chance if I would meet him again today, I believe at that time he wanted me to meet him at the Chichester High School, and he would give me another chance and he would take me where Katelyn is.

Q. Did you follow-up? Did you have a further conversation with him about that?

A. Yeah, I told him that I would go, I would meet him there and again, I called the police and they informed me not to -- not to go. He called back after that, furious because I'd been taking too long, and then he showed up on the street again.

Q. Do you remember what time it was that he showed up on the street?

A. No, actually, before that he -- he ...

Q. Go ahead.

A. ... he called, I'm sorry, I just remembered.

Q. Go ahead.

A. He had made another call for me to -- he wanted me to run outside my apartment, run down the street and he would pick me up on the -- on Meetinghouse Road and he would give me a chance, then he would take me to Katelyn. Then I -- actually, at that time my brother and my father had seen him on the street and we were still waiting for the police to look them him so [141] they proceeded on their way to try and get him and I was very upset to be in the house with just me and my mother and I then proceeded to go across the street to the neighbor's house and call the police and told them I wasn't going back into the house until they had the detective back there again. And then shortly after, Detective Reardon came to the residence to surveillance.

Q. Did your father and your brother get involved in this at one point?

A. Yes.

Q. Explain to the jury what happened.

A. My father and brother went after him to try and get him. I don't know, obviously, they didn't. I really honestly don't know that many details as far as that because I had gone over to the neighbor's.

Q. Okay, did -- you had received a call from the Defendant, is that right?

A. Yes, after I had gone back to the house after Detective Reardon...

Q. And what did the Defendant say he was going to do?

A. Then he said he was going to give me another chance. He wanted me to come out -- meet him again at the school, and I didn't go out fast enough and then I heard a car beep, and I went outside on the foyer [142] and he was down in front of the house.

Q. What did you see?

A. I seen Rob in the red car and he was yelling to me to get in the car now, get in the car.

Q. What did he say?

A. To get in the car now, just get in the car.

Q. Where was Katelyn?

A. She was not in the car. I don't know where she was.

Q. But he wanted you to get in the car.

A. Yes.

Q. What did you do?

A. At the time Detective Reardon was inside the house and he wanted me to keep him there as best I could while he had gotten back outside, so I just stood on the porch trying to stall him and after a few minutes he got tired of waiting and started to go speed away and then the police did blockade the road.

Q. And he was arrested?

A. Yes.

Q. That was just down the street from you?

A. Yes, it was.

Q. Okay, Jennifer, I want to hand you what's been marked as Commonwealth's Exhibit C35. [143]

A. Okay.

Q. Would you just, there are multiple pages to that document, would you just flip through there and tell me if you recognize that?

A. Yes, I do.

Q. Would you tell the jury what that is?

A. This was my interview with Donna Cabby [ph] from the FBI from my starting of the relationship when I first met Robert, all the way through most of the incidents I can remember, and all the way until the...

Q. Okay, so, what's in here is the FBI's summary of the interview -- of their interview with you.

A. Yes.

Q. Is that right?

A. Correct.

Q. Now, Jennifer, I want to direct your attention to the last page of this document, page 12, and I want you to read the first full paragraph there at the time and then I want to ask you, does that refresh your recollection about the first call on the morning of August the 11th?

A. "The following..."

Q. Okay, no, just...

A. Okay.

Q. ...read it to yourself. [144]

A. I'm sorry. Yeah, yes, I do remember.

Q. Okay, do you remember now the Defendant's first call on ...

A. Yes.

Q. ... on August the 11th?

A. Yes.

Q. And that call occurred at about 10:30 a.m.

A. Yes.

Q. Is that right?

A. Yes.

Q. Tell the jury what the Defendant told you on that first call.

A. He told me that Katelyn was fine. That she was in a safe place. That I would never find her and that he would take her whereabouts to the grave, to his grave.

Q. Jennifer, the words in C35 on page 12, they said, "He told Helton it is most likely she would never see Katelyn again, and that he would take her whereabouts to the grave." Was it that you would never see Katelyn again or that you wouldn't find her? Do you remember what his words were?

A. I'm pretty sure that it was that I wouldn't see her again. [145]

Q. You wouldn't see Katelyn again.

A. Yeah, I mean when I did that my memory was much more -- I remembered much more clearer than probably now.

Q. This interview occurred on August the 12 of 1999, is that right?

A. Yes, yes.

Q. That was the day following...

A. Correct.

Q. ...him speaking those words to you.

A. Yes.

Mr. Reilly: That's all, Your Honor.

The Court: Mr. Smith?

Mr. Smith: Thank you, Your Honor.

CROSS-EXAMINATION

By Mr. Smith:

Q. Ms. Helton, when you were pregnant with Katelyn did you take Lamaze classes?

A. Yes.

Q. Did Robert go to all the classes? [146]

A. Yes, most, yes.

Q. Okay, but he went with you to all the classes, right?

A. Yes.

Q. And, in fact, weren't there extra classes that -- for prospective parents to take?

A. Yes, like parenting type...

Q. And didn't you both take the extra classes?

A. Um-hum.

Q. And wasn't that because one of the reasons was that Robert suggested he wanted to take those extra classes? He wanted to do more?

A. Yes.

Q. All right, and...

Mr. Reilly:

If I could just interrupt you for a minute. Your Honor, I have no further questions of Miss Helton at this time. I've indicated to Mr. Smith I would be recalling Miss Helton at the end of our case and that's with his agreement. I just wanted that to be clear to the Court.

Mr. Smith: [147]

I understand that they're reserving their right to call her for additional testimony about other matters later.

The Court: Okay.

Mr. Smith: No objection to that.

Mr. Reilly: Thank you.

Mr. Smith: And I'll reserve my cross-examination only to the subjects agreed.

By Mr. Smith:

Q. I'm sorry, Miss Helton, I don't know if we were in the middle of a question or an answer to let me just go back to that. I -- I was just touching on the Lamaze classes. You took the extra classes and one of the reasons that I asked you the question, Rob was one of the people -- Rob suggested, let's take these extra classes.

A. I honestly don't know that he was the one who suggested it. I wanted to take them as well. I think it was something we both agreed on together.

Q. So, you both wanted to take the extra [148] classes.

A. Yes.

Q. And you took those classes.

A. Yes.

Q. And when Katelyn was born, who cut the umbilical cord?

A. Robert.

Q. All right, and he took a lot of pictures there didn't he?

A. Yes, he did.

Q. And he was pretty excited about having a baby girl wasn't he?

A. Um-hum.

Q. And, in fact, it was sort of -- he was taking too many pictures. He was kind of getting in the way wasn't he?

A. Um-hum.

Q. They asked him...

A. Yes.

Q. ... to stop jumping around taking all these pictures and just kind of back off a bit, right?

A. Yes, I think so.

Q. But then he got to cut the umbilical cord didn't he?

A. Yes. [149]

Q. And who dressed her? Who was the first person to dress her after she was -- wasn't it Rob?

A. I think so. I wasn't in very good condition right after that.

Q. And when -- when Katelyn came home she was -- well, during your pregnancy, let's go back to the pregnancy, you went to the doctor during all the pregnancy, all the usual prenatal visits, all that sort of stuff.

A. Yes.

Q. Rob went with you on those visits didn't he?

A. To most of them, yes.

Q. Most of them or all of them?

A. I don't know all of them.

Q. Do you remember...

A. The majority.

Q. ...any specifically that he missed?

A. No, not really.

Q. So, if it -- if it wasn't all of them it was darn close to it though, right?

A. Yes.

Q. And he was enthusiastic about it, is that a good way to describe it? He was excited about having a baby, right? [150]

A. Yes.

Q. He wanted to have this baby didn't he?

A. Um-hum.

Q. He was excited about being her dad, right?

A. Yes, I guess so.

Q. And after Katelyn was born you took her a lot of places together, right? You remember going to

Salenville [ph] Orchards with her when she was little?

A. Yeah, but we took her there mostly when she was a little older than early on. We didn't go right...

Q. Okay, but when she was a little older you took her there, right?

A. Yes.

Q. Rob went on all those visits.

A. Yes.

Q. And when she was sick when she went to the doctor did Rob go on the visits to the doctor?

A. He didn't go to all the visits but he went to a good bit, yes.

Q. So, if I said he went to most of them, more than half of them, that a fair statement?

A. Probably so.

Q. I'm sorry? [151]

A. Probably so, yes.

Q. And he went -- he went willingly. I said before, he was enthusiastic...

A. Um-hum.

Q. ...I don't know if you can be enthusiastic about going to the doctor but he -- he wanted to go, is that a fair statement to make?

A. Right.

Q. He wanted to be part of what was going on with Katelyn, didn't he?

A. Yeah.

Q. Okay, now, did Rob ever feed her, take care of her? Clothe here?

A. Well, when I would leave Katelyn alone with Rob, I would literally set everything out for Katelyn and I -- I honestly don't know what she would eat because when I would come home quite a few times, the food would still be in the refrigerator and he would say that she wasn't hungry and I honestly don't know because I wasn't there.

Q. But you continued to leave her with him and he, during the time he had Katelyn he had to change her diapers, you know, those sort of things, right?

A. Right.

Q. Now, you mentioned earlier, for example, [152] there were things in the house like handy wipes and diapers and stuff, wasn't Rob sort of fastidious about always having handy wipes around in the house?

A. Yes.

Q. That was one of the things that he was, like a personal quirk of his, having the handy wipes around to take care of the baby, keep her clean, you know...

A. He had a very big fetish with cleaning, yes.

Q. But he wanted...

A. And, I'm sorry, germ -- germ-type, you know, anything like that, yes.

Q. Right, and he used those -- those handy wipe things for cleaning the baby and things, too, keep her hands clean, keep her face clean, all...

A. Right, yes.

Q. Did he participate in buying clothes and, you know, going shopping for her? Doing that sort of stuff?

A. When he had these jobs that he had, when he had the money, yes, but he wasn't working on an ongoing basis so ...

Q. Did Rob ever go and buy diapers and things for her? [153]

A. Yes, we both went together.

Q. So, he on the day that he took out of the daycare, for example, he knew -- he knew what kind of diapers she wore didn't he? He'd put diapers on her before.

A. I imagine.

Q. So, he could go and buy more of them couldn't he?

A. I don't know.

Q. You don't know that he could go buy more diapers?

A. Well, I don't know that he did. I don't know what...

Q. You don't know that he did but you know that he could.

A. Um-hum.

Q. And he knew enough about her to know what kind of diapers to buy, say, if he would buy diapers to put on her, right?

A. Right.

Q. He could do that, because he bought them before.

A. Um-hum.

Q. Bought the handy wipes before.

A. Right. [154]

Q. Went to, like that little bag that was there at the daycare place, those cough syrups and things that you kept in there, that was stuff that you kept in there fairly regularly, wasn't it?

A. Yes.

Q. And Rob knew that stuff was in there didn't he?

A. He knew it was in there but it's not something he would go in and look at to know where and what to buy. I was the one that took care of the medicine.

Q. He knew -- he knew what the medicines were that were in there. He knew there was cough syrup in there didn't he?

A. I guess so. I -- I don't honestly know that he knew all of, as far as the medicines.

Q. Who was it that took -- who was it that took Katelyn to daycare, did Rob participate in taking Katelyn to daycare?

A. When I was working the part-time job, a few times he would take her in the morning because it was easier with me working and he would take her since he wasn't working.

Q. How many times would you say he took her to daycare? [155]

A. Maybe ten.

Q. Total?

A. Yeah.

Q. Wasn't it more like half the time...

A. No.

Q. ...that she went there Rob took her?

A. I don't -- I don't think that it was more like half, no.

Q. So, you don't think it was more than half?

A. No, I don't believe so.

Q. Do you think it was about half?

A. Not quite, maybe.

Q. Not quite, maybe.

A. Yeah.

Q. So, that's more than 10 times though isn't it?

A. I don't have an exact number. I really don't.

Q. She went to daycare more than 20 times, right?

A. Right.

Q. How often did she go to daycare?

A. She went just about, most -- most of the time when I was at work, she went during the week. We [156] had to keep her there regularly during the week.

Q. Now, you said back in the beginning when you first met Rob that he seemed okay at first and then some family issues arose between your family and Rob, right?

A. Yes.

Q. Your family didn't like Rob did they?

A. Rob was very disrespectful to my family and that's why they did not care for him.

Q. Did they like his ethnic background?

A. I don't...

Mr. Reilly: Objection, Your Honor, to the...

By Mr. Smith:

Q. Did they like his background?

The Court: If they said something.

The Witness: They did not say anything, so I...

By Mr. Smith:

Q. They never said anything. [157]

A. No, not, no.

Q. Not to you, not to Rob.

A. No.

Q. You're sure about that.

A. Yeah, I don't recall it, no.

Q. Well, there's a difference between not recalling it and it being positive it didn't happen, so I'm just trying to see if there's a difference in your mind. Like, is it something you say it absolutely didn't happen? Or are you saying it may have happened, I just don't remember it?

A. I don't remember it, no.

Q. On the day when -- the day when this trash bag full of stuff, you said that it lasted about an hour to an hour and a half, maybe 2 hours, I believe was your testimony on direct, right? And during the time is that when Rob was cutting things up? What was he doing in that hour, hour and a half to 2 hours?

A. Yeah, he was cutting stuff up.

Q. Okay, and is all the stuff he cut up in this bag?

A. Yes, well, I don't -- I mean I don't he was cutting things up but I recognize this stuff. I don't know what you're saying so ...

Q. What I'm trying to get to is what was he [158] cutting up that's not in this bag? What did he cut up that day? You said he cut up shoes and you showed shoes and things in here.

A. Right.

Q. Several shoes that you said you can see where they're cut in a couple of places, right, and then you showed this big hair towel and a blue top, and you said he cut those things, right?

A. Um-hum. Some -- some of the stuff in the bag he had cut prior to when I was there. He had told me that all night, that's all he did was destroy all of my things and cut them up.

Q. Okay, so -- so, for this -- this time that you were there when you came into the house and he was angry at you...

A. Right.

Q. ... he was cutting things up and putting them in this bag.

A. When I first arrived there, no, he didn't -- he wasn't -- he had given me the bag that he had left of the things that were still intact.

Q. And then he told you that he had cut some things up.

A. He told me he had cut all...

Q. All... [159]

A. ...all of my belongings, all of my clothes, he destroyed all of that stuff.

Q. All night long.

A. Yes.

Q. And then he cut things later on during the time you were there.

A. Yes, yes.

Q. And all that stuff's in this bag.

A. Yes, my shirt, he made me take off my clothes, they're in there.

Q. Now, Rob was angry that day and you were having an argument, right?

A. Yeah, I was asking him why he was doing...

Q. And you said, I believe, why are you doing this to me, because you said all I ever did was love him, right?

A. Right.

Q. Wasn't he angry because you were going to go out and do some things that he didn't want you to do?

A. No, I don't recall that.

Q. You weren't going to do any – any modeling or posing or anything like that that was bothering him and had him upset?

A. No. [160]

Q. You weren't doing any of that.

A. No.

Q. So, that...

A. Not at that time, no.

Q. No. Wasn't that one of the reasons that your relationship with Rob had a stormy part to it?

That you were -- you were doing those things...

A. No.

Q. ...that you, obviously, earning money, you know, but just doing those things but he was unhappy about it.

A. No, he wasn't. He never ever voiced that to me.

Q. Okay, but does that mean you were doing them and he wasn't unhappy with it or you weren't doing them?

A. I -- I don't know, he ...

Q. You -- you were...

A. I don't know what you mean.

Q. You were like an artist's model, I think at one point.

A. Yes.

Q. You got paid for that.

A. Right.

Q. And he never told you that he was unhappy [161] about that.

A. No, he didn't.

Q. Okay, and did he ever say to you that there were things that you were doing like that that made him unhappy?

A. No.

Q. And you said, for example, there was, I believe you said there was one occasion when he went out and stayed out all night or something.

A. Yes.

Q. Were you angry with him when he came home that time? For being out all night?

A. I told him, please do not do that to me again because I sit home worry, wondering, not knowing where he is, what happened to him, if he's dead or alive. You know, if something happened to Katelyn I have no way of reaching him. I asked him not to do that to me, please.

Q. Did you ever...

A. Yes, I was a little upset.

Q. Did you ever, when you were angry at him, did you ever hit him?

A. No, never.

Q. Never hit him.

A. I was afraid to ever lay a hand on him. [162]

Q. So, you never hit him when you were angry at him.

A. No.

Q. Did you ever threaten him when you were angry at him that you were going to take Katelyn away from him and he'd never see her again?

A. No, I never did that.

Q. Never said that to him.

A. No, never.

Q. So, then the things that he was angry with you about that day, you're saying to him, why are you doing this to me because you have no idea why he's unhappy and he's never voiced any of these things to you that we've just -- that I've just asked you about.

A. No.

Q. Okay, now, when you said you met in, it was September of 1996?

A. Um-hum, correct.

Q. Would that have been September the 15th watching Monday night football at Barnaby's? Is that when that was?

A. Yes, I believe so.

Q. And then you had, I believe you said you had a miscarriage shortly after you started living together, right? [163]

A. Yes, correct.

Q. And was Robert upset about that?

A. Yes.

Q. What was he upset about?

A. He was upset that I had it, but then also because when we were at the hospital I recall that, with the problems he was having with my family, he was -- he told me he was going to leave and go back to New York and leave me.

Q. Did you buy -- did you buy Robert a wedding ring around that time?

A. Around that time?

Q. Like -- I'll make...

A. No.

Q. ... it easier, did you buy him a wedding ring?

A. Yes, later.

Q. And you wanted him to wear the wedding ring, right?

A. Yes, sometimes.

Q. You wanted him to wear it even without going through the marriage ceremony part, right?

A. No, he had brought that up about wearing it and he would only wear it as if -- if it was a good night, if I was -- I don't know how to explain it but if [164] things were going good between us, in his eyes, that night. Other times he would hide my engagement ring from me.

Q. Remember when, after Katelyn was born, do you remember how much Katelyn weighed when she was born?

A. I'm sorry?

Q. Do you remember how much Katelyn weighed when she was born?

A. When she was born?

Q. Do you remember...

A. Six pounds, 7 ounces.

Q. And after that she was -- she was sick after she was born, right?

A. Yes.

Q. And one of the things that the doctor said was they wanted -- they wanted to make sure that she was eating properly, right? You know, see what kind of food, she was drinking bottles and all that?

A. She was -- she had a problem with constipation, being colicky so we had to change different formulas a lot.

Q. And didn't Robert keep track of the times she d