by Joyce Nance
At the conclusion of the interrogation the male detective said, “You understand that we’re going to process you into jail now and you’re going to get locked up.”
“I know,” Esther said with a deep frown. “I know I’m going back to jail.” She let out a long breath. “And I know I’m not getting out.”
EPILOGUE
“Justice and judgment lie often a world apart.”
EMMELINE PANKHURST
It was a relief to the victims' families, and to the public at large, when Shane Harrison and Esther Beckley were finally arrested. Then-Governor Gary Johnson immediately canceled the New Mexico early release parole program pending further review.
Subsequent to Esther’s confession, Harrison and Beckley were each charged with five counts of murder, plus armed robbery, kidnapping and other crimes. The press announced that the two blamed each other for the killings.
Thursday, March 14, 1996
Esther Beckley’s neighbors were questioned about whether they had noticed anything unusual about their now-infamous fellow resident. A woman three doors down stated that Esther was a very good neighbor, and always greeted her with a smile when she saw her in the hallways.
“She would say hi to me whenever I seen her around,” the neighbor said. “But I didn’t see her that much. I only seen her when she was taking out her trash or looking for her cat.”
Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez, another set of neighbors, said they were stunned. They did not believe she could be the one responsible for those terrible crimes.
“There’s no way she would do something like that,” Mrs. Ramirez said.
***
Bruce Connelly, the tire salesman who sold Shane Harrison his new set of tires, was called into the police station to look at a lineup. He positively identified Shane Harrison as the man who bought four new tires for his black Pontiac Fiero.
***
Sheila, an employee at Hollywood Video, phoned law enforcement after recognizing the little black car shown on TV newscasts. It belonged to the weird guy who had tried to get into the store the night before the murders. She told the police he had yelled at her to let him in.
She was asked to come down to the main station and view a lineup. The police had the men in the lineup turn, move, and speak. Sheila thought she recognized one of the men, but it was the voice that caused her to positively identify Shane Harrison.
***
Ryan Spicher was also called in as a witness. Because he was the last known customer at Hollywood Video on the morning of Sunday March 3rd, he was called to the police station to scrutinize a live lineup.
On the other side of the glass barrier he viewed six individuals who were very similar in appearance. In numerical order, the men in the lineup were asked to step forward, make a statement, turn to both sides, and then step back. Mr. Spicher was asked to fill out a form to identify the number of the individual whom he believed was the person he saw at the video store.
He chose number four, and wrote on the form: “Four resembles the offender in this case, but I am not, (he underlined the word not) positive.” He picked number four partly because number four did not have a goatee. He said later he could not recall the man in the store having facial hair or much facial hair.
When he viewed the women’s lineup, he was able to immediately and correctly pick Esther Beckley out of the lineup. For the record, he stated, “I’m positive.”
Friday, March 15, 1996
Lights out.
Shane was locked alone in his cell. It was an isolated maximum security cell with a bed, a toilet, and a desk. On the other side of the cell, something sat out of place; something behind one of his shower shoes. From his bunk, he stared at it. It was yellow.
He eventually walked over and picked it up. It was a pencil. One of the attorneys must have left it behind.
Immediately, he knew it would be useful to him, but he had to be quick. The sadistic guards typically strip-searched him three times a day, sometimes more. In fact, a guard might be by any minute.
He got up and pushed his head against the small hole that lead to the hallway and looked out. He saw only dim ceiling lights that illuminated cement walls with chipped white paint.
He sat back down, rolling the pencil between his fingers, liking the way it felt. It was hard and smooth at the same time. The tip had been sharpened to a nice point. He wouldn’t have minded rolling the pencil between his fingers all night, but he didn’t have time. He had to get down to business.
Gritting his teeth and not making a sound, he plunged the pencil deep into his left arm. The blood spurted upward and outward, essentially all over his cell and himself. He hadn’t expected the excessive spurting, but saw it as a benefit. He even squeezed the wound a little more to create maximum blood residue.
He took a deep breath and watched his arm bleed. Why had he ever gotten involved with that idiot bitch Esther in the first place? She screwed everything up. Everything. Why had he even kind of trusted her? In hindsight, he realized he should have done something about her earlier. The cops told him she had sung like a canary; had given them every detail. As a result, not only was he facing life imprisonment, but he was most likely looking at the death penalty as well.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. He needed something to convince the powers that be that he wasn’t involved in this Hollywood Video thing. Something dramatic; something headline-catching.
Dipping his right thumb into in his left forearm he stood up and painted the words “I did not do it” with his own blood on the wall of his cell. He chuckled as he wrote the words, anticipating his audience’s reaction.
A little after 1 AM, a Metropolitan Detention Center guard who was on his rounds found Shane flinging blood all over his cell. Everything was a bloody mess. Shane appeared agitated and uncooperative, ferociously fighting the officers who were sent to take him the hospital.
“Stay away from me,” Shane shouted. “I have AIDS. Do you want me to give you AIDS?”
The officers ignored his threats and put him in arm-and-leg irons. He was transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital to treat his wounds. At the hospital, he received four stitches in his arm and an unappreciated lecture.
Thirty minutes later, he was returned to his cell.
March 24, 1996
A man named Larry was arrested for two miscellaneous armed robberies. Upon his arrest he told APD officers, without being asked, that he was the Larry mentioned in the Hollywood Video murder case. He told police he knew a lot about the Hollywood Video murders, and that he had been involved in the planning of a different robbery with Shane Harrison. He said he drove to the East Mountains with Harrison and saw a cache of buried guns. He said Harrison did not know his last name.
March 26, 1997
Esther’s glasses were fogged from crying. After all the running and all of the threats and fears over losing her boyfriend, she finally felt the full force of regret regarding the events at the video store and in the mountains. She finally felt the guilt. She also felt hate — against herself. Everyone else at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, New Mexico hated her, too. Even the other convicted murderers.
At least that’s the way it seemed. Despite the fact that she was kept in segregation, she could hear other inmates screaming derogatory remarks at her whenever they were within earshot of her cell. Ugly things, like “kid killer” or “fucking killer bitch” or “cold blooded whore.” She heard it all.
There was a lot of local political pressure to get a conviction in the video store murders. This was a high profile crime and nothing less than the harshest of sentences would do. A special prosecutor was appointed to lead a team from the District Attorney’s office. The team worked around the clock to prepare a prodigious case for the prosecution.
Esther was informed by her public defender that she had been offered a plea deal by the DA’s office. She was advised that this deal would be the only deal she would be offered. Otherwise, her o
ption would be to stand trial. She would most certainly face the death penalty if she did stand trial, she was told. An important component of her deal required her to testify at Harrison’s trial.
In order to save her life and to appease her damaged conscience, Esther Beckley pled guilty to ten felony counts and agreed to take the witness stand against her former partner in crime, Shane Harrison.
She admitted to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of felony murder for the slaying of the McDougall's. She also pleaded to conspiracy to commit those murders, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and the kidnapping of both the McDougall's.
April 28, 1997
Esther Beckley's sentencing
When given the chance to speak to the victim's family in the courtroom, Esther Beckley took it. Instead of a mumbling an apology directed at the judge, Beckley turned and faced the assembled friends and family head on.
“I'm so very sorry,” she sobbed. “I'm sorry for what I have done.” She went on to say she was sorry for the tragedy that happened and for not trying harder to prevent that tragedy.
Esther Beckley was sentenced to 95 ½ years in prison, including two 30-year life sentences for the murder of the McDougall's, plus 35 ½ years for armed robbery, conspiracy and other felonies. Even with good-time credit, she would not be eligible for parole until the age of 120.
May 8, 1996
Jason’s vacuum wasn’t working, so he got down on a knee to tip it over. He saw a lot of string and lint and unidentifiable leavings underneath.
With the help of a pair of scissors and a screw driver, he pulled out a large knot of scunge from the under-workings of the vacuum. Then he turned it on again, pushing it back and forth.
It still did not pick up correctly. Determined to figure out what was causing the trouble, he unzipped the dust bag to peer inside. He saw pieces of something plastic and he scratched his head. Then he realized what he was seeing.
“Hello?” he said and pulled out a tiny little piece of cut-up video tape. He phoned up a buddy with a video camera and asked him to come over. This needed to be recorded, he told his friend. It might be significant.
Eventually, the tiny little pieces were removed with a pair of tweezers, and each piece was carefully placed inside a plastic bag. Jason then called the District Attorney’s office to inform them of the development. The next day the pieces were delivered to Detective Vicky Ortiz, who ultimately was unable to obtain anything usable.
As potentially significant as the pieces might have been, by the time the case finally went to trial, they were not allowed into evidence. They had been discovered too long after the fact, the judge ruled.
May 15, 1996
Sgt. Adam Romero received notice that his commander wanted to talk to him. The Albuquerque Police wanted to know more about a gun he had sold. He was told that an APD detective would be by the next day to meet with him.
Suspecting he might know the reason for the police visit, Romero went to the library that afternoon to look up old newspaper articles relating to the time period he sold his TEC-9. While at the library, he came across a photo of the two individuals who were arrested for the Hollywood Video murders. He recognized both individuals as the people who had purchased his gun.
June 19, 1996
John Lausell was given a lie detector test by Jim Wilson, an established New Mexico polygrapher. It was Lausell’s idea to take the test. In fact, he had been asking to take it from the time he first met with detectives. Lausell was required to sign a document that the information obtained from the polygraph could be used against him.
July 23, 1996
John Lausell collected a $93,000 reward from Crime Stoppers. He said he would probably buy a car, possibly a Cadillac, with some of the proceeds.
March 3, 1997
On the first anniversary of the murders, several former Hollywood Video employees spent part of the night outside the empty Hollywood Video store in tribute to their fallen friends.
December 1 to December 17, 1997
Due to the extensive publicity surrounding the case in Albuquerque, Shane Harrison’s trial was moved to Las Cruces. He was charged with five counts of first degree murder along with numerous other felonies.
District Attorney Bob Schwartz sought the death penalty.
ATTORNEYS
Defense Attorney: Gary Mitchell
Prosecutors: Special Prosecutor Michael Cox and Assistant District Attorney Julie Altweis
District Court Judge: Frank Allen Jr.
Special Prosecutor Michael Cox began the opening statements.
“We are all here today because of Shane Harrison’s simple vow. He said, ’Next time I do an armed robbery, I won’t leave any witnesses.’
“And if he’d kept that simple promise, he wouldn’t be sitting there right now. Well, he almost kept it. He killed five of the witnesses to his robbery of the Hollywood Video store on March 3rd of 1996.
“He killed Zachary Blacklock, Jowanda Castillo, Mylinh Daothi, George and Pauline McDougall. He executed five innocent people who were witnesses to his crimes. But he left alive a sixth witness, a witness who was not, by any shape of imagination, in any way innocent. That was Esther Beckley.”
Cox’s explanation was that Shane Harrison planned the robbery and the murders, using Esther Beckley as his stooge. He said Harrison was obsessed with movies and violence and had vowed after an arrest years earlier that he would never again leave a witness alive. He said that after Harrison and Beckley successfully robbed Mac’s Steak in the Rough, Harrison planned the more elaborate Hollywood Video robbery.
Part of Mr. Cox’s theory contended that Harrison was the person who shot the Hollywood Video employees and Esther Beckley was the one who gunned down the McDougall's with the shotgun. Harrison, he said, then finished off the grandparents, shooting them both repeatedly with the TEC-9 handgun.
Defense Attorney Gary Mitchell said Shane Harrison could not have committed these crimes because he never stepped foot inside Hollywood Video that night. Mitchell said the whole thing was master-minded by Esther Beckley, and possibly John Lausell and/or unknown others. He also stated that Harrison had nothing to do with the Mac’s robbery.
Esther Beckley was the star witness for the prosecution. She testified for three days. The prosecution walked her through the events leading up to the crime, starting with her release from prison. She spoke of her romantic relationship with John Lausell, her ill-fated tryst with the 17-year-old boy, her first robbery committed with Harrison at Mac’s Steak in the Rough, as well as the Hollywood Video killings.
She admitted her involvement in both crimes, but said Harrison called every shot and dictated every detail. In contrast to what Special Prosecutor Cox said in the opening statement, Beckley insisted that Shane Harrison was the one who fired the shotgun at the grandparents. He did all the shooting, all the killing, and she shot no one. She stated that after the murders, Harrison became increasingly paranoid and repeatedly threatened to kill her if she told anyone what had happened.
On Beckley’s cross examination, defense attorney Gary Mitchell created a timeline for the jury based on Beckley’s recollections of events. The timeline, written on large sheets of paper, was meant to account for Beckley’s time after the crime. The prosecution did not produce a written timeline for the jury.
Following Esther Beckley on the witness stand, various Harrison acquaintances and neighbors testified as to their particular knowledge of the defendant. Witness after witness testified that Harrison was a liar and a law-breaker. Some-time roommate Raina testified that he was a slick talker and told outrageous stories. Others testified about his obsession with and ownership of guns. The purchase of the shotgun and the taking of the leather jacket were discussed at length.
The testimony then turned to the discovery of the bodies by the store employees and the subsequent massive police investigation and search for the killers. The last customer of the night of the m
urders, Ryan Spicher, described to the jury who and what he saw. However, his inability to specifically identify Shane Harrison as the man at the video store was exploited by the defense.
Numerous experts from the Albuquerque Police Department were called to speak regarding their respective and extensive testing performed on the physical evidence found at both scenes. Fingerprint, DNA, gun, and blood experts were among the many professionals who explained what was discovered and what their conclusions were.
For the benefit of the jury, the District Attorney’s office constructed an exact replica of the Hollywood Video back office inside the courtroom. In addition, three young individuals were hired to represent the victims in the store. It was noted that the bodies occupied nearly all of the available floor space.
With the actors lying face down on the floor, hands behind their backs, APD detective Guy Pierce described what happened on that fateful night.
“The first two shots were to Zach’s head,” Detective Pierce said. “Then two to Mylinh. And then stepping into the room and firing three shots into the head of Jowanda; and upon leaving the room, firing one more shot each into the head of Mylinh and Zachary.”
According to Pierce, the position of the shooter was surmised to be either standing between Jowanda and Mylinh or “possibly straddling Mylinh and leaning over, just shooting her in the head.”
Detective Pierce also explained what he saw regarding the mountain scene evidence. He noted there were shoe prints around the vehicle and “tire tracks on both sides of the car.” He found twelve 9mm spent casings and four shotgun hulls.
Another piece of evidence found by Pierce at the mountain location was determined to be from the Fiero. When the Fiero was seized into custody, it was discovered that a “plastic air dam underneath the vehicle was broken in half and appeared to have a large piece missing.” After that discovery, two detectives returned to the scene and found that missing plastic piece, which was located north of the McDougall’s vehicle.
Defense Attorney Gary Mitchell pointed out that despite the thoroughness of the investigation, no blood spatter, hairs, fibers or fingerprints were found at either scene that could be tied to Shane Harrison. Detective Pierce agreed with that assessment.