by Robert Scott
Darlene added that Steve came by their place the next day and said he hadn’t been with Darrell on the previous night watching fireworks. When she later confronted Darrell about this, he said, “Well, Steve was so drunk and messed up, he probably didn’t even notice me there.”
Detectives asked around and found that a person named Carl Frank, Darrell’s neighbor, had been at the Anderson Park setting off fireworks on the Fourth of July. Carl hadn’t seen Darrell that night at the park. Nor could anyone else place Darrell there on that evening or night.
In the second week of September, a grand jury listened to testimony from various witnesses about the allegations concerning Darrell Rich. It was important that DA Baker had gone this route instead of a preliminary hearing. In a preliminary hearing the defense could question witnesses and bring in their own witnesses as well. A preliminary hearing would also be open to reporters and the public. All of that was closed off in a grand jury. DA Baker was able to let the public know only the information he felt like divulging.
Grand jurors met in a county library conference room in Redding, and over six hours listened to twenty-five witnesses in all. Then after two and a half hours of deliberation, they brought back an indictment on twenty-two counts, which included four counts of murder.
It soon became apparent which way defense attorney Russell Swartz was heading with his case. He let it be known he was looking for discovery on all of Darrell Rich’s contacts with law enforcement officers since July 4. If some of these contacts had crossed the line of what was allowed by law, then there was going to be plenty of bumps in the road to trial. The most important for the defense would be if Darrell Rich’s Miranda rights to remain silent had been violated.
For his part DA Baker said he’d given Swartz everything the DA’s office had. “We’re cooperating one hundred percent with him,” Baker said. But then he admitted that his office might not have some written police reports about conversations between officers and Darrell Rich. Even Swartz was in agreement on this issue, and he told a reporter that the DA’s office was being very cooperative.
During court hearings, Darrell Rich wore the same clothing every time: a tank top undershirt, dungarees and casual shoes. His long hair was neatly combed and his beard was trimmed. He glanced around the courtroom; once in a while, he took notes. He never caused disruptions and sat there quietly by his attorney.
There would be more than one very odd circumstance concerning the road to trial, and the first of these was the exhumation of Annette Selix’s body. The reason was because of the bite marks that had been noted on her thigh. These had only shown up during the autopsy, and not before. A team of forensic odontologists came in and studied the area of the bite marks and made casts of them. Detective Lambert got a search warrant to have Darrell’s teeth inspected, photographed and had a cast made of them as well.
Darrell asked, “Did a victim have bite marks? I don’t remember biting anyone.”
The cast of Darrell’s teeth were compared to the teeth impressions on Annette Selix’s body. When all was said and done, there was a match between the bite marks on Selix’s thigh and Darrell Rich’s teeth. After this was done, Annette’s body was interred once more at Cottonwood Cemetery.
On September 15, there was another hearing, this time in Judge Clyde Small’s courtroom in superior court in Redding. And this time Darrell Rich pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. This was greatly going to extend the time of the trial. The first portion of a trial would be to determine if Darrell was guilty. If so, there would be a second segment to determine if he was insane at the time of the crimes. If he was not found to be insane, then there would be a third segment to determine sentencing.
All the lawyers and Judge Small had no illusions that this trial would not be going forward at any time soon. And there were still legal questions about when Russell Swartz had become Darrell’s attorney. One thing not in question was the fact that it was ruled that Darrell had the right to the public defender’s office because he did not have sufficient funds to hire a private attorney.
Because of the defendant’s plea of insanity, Judge Small decided to appoint psychiatrists, who would report their findings to the court. And if a change of venue happened, Judge Small would also appoint psychiatrists from whatever area the trial would be held. This would cut down on costs of Darrell being in one county for legal issues and in Shasta County for psychiatric issues.
As far as the change of venue went, a judicial council would pick four counties they wanted the trial to be in. Then Judge Small would choose one of those four counties. It was almost a foregone conclusion by now that a trial would not be held in Shasta County. The case was too known there and passions ran high against Darrell Rich. Judge Small noted that it would be a nightmare if the trial was held in Shasta County, and then overturned on appeal because of prejudice.
Already in newspapers there were stories that Darrell Rich had seen psychiatrists when he was younger. There were also reports that he’d been in a car accident in April 1976 and had injured his head. And there was even a report that he’d been accidentally shot in the chest by a gun in 1973 when he was eighteen years old. On top of that, Darrell had been struck in the head by a board as he worked at a job in 1976. It was wondered how all these physical injuries had harmed his ability to reason. Certainly, his defense would be bringing up these “mitigating” factors once a trial occurred.
Even by October 1978, everyone knew it was going to be a long costly trial for Darrell Rich. Plus, no matter in which county the trial took place, Shasta County would be picking up the tab. That meant that investigators, witnesses and court personnel would all have to receive travel expenses. And as far as Darrell being able to pay for a private attorney, Russell Swartz said that Darrell didn’t have that kind of money. Swartz added, “It’s obviously going to be very expensive for the county. There is no way around it. Keeping the venue here just before trial would help. That would save the county a lot of money.”
Meanwhile, despite the admonitions from Russell Swartz not to talk to detectives, Darrell could not keep his mouth shut. At one point he sent for Detective Lambert and asked him, “Why don’t you like me?”
Lambert replied that he didn’t dislike Darrell. Then Lambert said, “Having viewed the bodies, I can see where someone wouldn’t like you. But I don’t feel that way. It’s not a matter of ‘like’ or ‘dislike.’ I’m just doing my job. I could see how a citizen might become enraged after seeing those things.”
Darrell said, “Yeah. I know that feeling. I saw the bodies, and the only reason I got caught was because I wanted to get caught.”
It didn’t come as a surprise to anyone when Judge Small finally agreed to a change of venue. Judge Small said, “I don’t think it would be good for the public or the defendant for an extra trial in this case. It’s going to be harrowing enough for all concerned.” Small added that he wanted all pretrial hearings to still take place in Shasta County. The reason was, as Swartz had suggested, to save money and time for all parties.
The first county that Judge Small approached about a change of venue was Lake County, about 120 miles south of Shasta County. Lake County centered around beautiful Clear Lake in the Coast Range. (Clear Lake was California’s largest natural freshwater lake.) The judicial council also picked Mendocino, Yuba and Yolo Counties as possible sites for the trial. Swartz preferred Yolo County, but Judge Small was aiming for Lake County. One thing that could be problematic down the line was that Lake County only had a population of a little more than twenty thousand people and one superior court judge. A judge might have to be “imported” for the Darrell Rich case, and there would also be an issue of the lack of courtrooms in Lake County.
And there was a new wrinkle to all of this as well. Shasta County DA Robert Baker had lost a recent election to Will Hawes as the district attorney. Baker, however, wanted to be the lead prosecutor in the upcoming Darrell Rich case, because he had so much knowledge about it. Hawes agreed w
ith this, and said that Baker should be the prosecutor in the case, since he’d been looking at all the material since Rich had been charged. In the end Robert Baker got his wish and was appointed as special prosecutor in the case.
Darrell was understandably depressed during his stay in jail. It became so apparent that Detective Lambert told Lieutenant Eoff that Darrell might be contemplating suicide. Lambert went and talked to Darrell, who admitted, “I tried to hang myself.” Then he pointed to a shoe box and said there was a letter inside.
Just what was written in the letter wasn’t revealed to the public at that present time. But down the road the public would know exactly the wording of that dramatic letter that Darrell had penned.
Chapter 17
“God, Help Me”
December 1978 found Russell Swartz bringing forth a very explosive subject in court. And he requested that Werner Ahrbeck assist him as counsel in future proceedings. Ahrbeck had by this time become a co-counsel defense attorney in Darrell Rich’s case. After Ahrbeck retired from being a judge, he took over the role that was requested.
Swartz declared that law enforcement officers had kept questioning Darrell Rich illegally after he had invoked his Miranda rights to remain silent. The crux of the matter concerned Darrell’s “confessions” about two of the murders. During Darrell’s first polygraph test, according to Swartz, the agents accused Darrell of lying. And the next day the agents kept questioning Darrell after he was arrested at the Oarlock Bar, even though he had invoked his right to remain silent. Obviously, Darrell said some damaging things during that questioning.
Special Prosecutor Baker, however, said that Darrell waived his rights regarding the questioning and volunteered information. According to Baker, “After learning of Darrell Rich’s statements, Brewer was duty-bound to arrest him for public-safety reasons.”
Swartz countered that after a second polygraph session (the one at the Burney jail facility), Darrell had asked that a lawyer set him up to talk to a psychiatrist, and this had not occurred. Also, Tom Hodges, who had given the polygraph test to Darrell in the first session, originally had agreed that questions would only be about Annette Selix, not the dead girls at the Igo dump.
Baker countered that after the test, Darrell had told Agent Baker, “I’ve got something to tell you, but not now.” And Baker added that at that point Darrell Rich was only one of many suspects, and one person out often who did polygraph tests.
Just in case the prosecution lost on this motion, Baker let it be known that he was going to try and get Darrell’s statements to various friends, after he failed the first polygraph test, admitted in as evidence. When Baker stated that, it was the first time the media heard about those statements. Just what the statements were, no one in the public sector knew as of yet.
On December 7, Darrell Rich took the stand for the first time in a hearing, to determine just what he had said to law enforcement agents around the time of his arrest. Before Russell Swartz asked any questions of his client, Judge Small admonished Swartz to “not get careless with your questions.” This was because anything that was brought up would then be open to cross-examination by Robert Baker. It could well backfire on the defense if they let in information that they had not intended to present.
In a quiet voice Darrell answered all the questions put to him. Darrell responded to one question concerning the fact that he had agreed to have Russell Swartz be his lawyer even before the second polygraph test. Darrell testified that Swartz had given him two business cards at that point. One card had a message written on the back: I do not wish to talk to any police officer. This was what Darrell was supposed to show to any police officer who wanted to talk to him. It became questionable as to whether Darrell ever showed an officer that card.
SCSO detective Randy Brewer testified that Darrell Rich never showed him that card. And Brewer said that Darrell seemed anxious to talk to officers and did so voluntarily. In fact, Brewer said that Darrell “felt much better. He felt relieved to get this out in the open. He even said he was going to turn himself in. He was glad he was caught. He wanted to get caught.”
And then something new came to light, as far as the media was concerned, about why Darrell Rich moved from simply being a “person of interest” in the murders of Linda Slavik and the yet-unidentified woman in the Igo dump. It came about when on August 22, fifteen-year-old Shannon Rodriguez, of Red Bluff, identified Darrell in a photo lineup as the man who had kidnapped and sexually assaulted her. So far, this had been a mystery in the newspapers as to what was the critical factor that had led to Darrell’s arrest.
Because of this, Brewer said that he and Bradd McDannald began to look at Darrell Rich more closely than before. They became even more suspicious when they considered his well-maintained motorcycle. They wondered why he would ride it on rough, dusty roads at the Igo dump.
About the first polygraph test, Brewer testified, “[Darrell] became white in the face and said he couldn’t understand why he had flunked the test. He became very unresponsive and would look down for periods of thirty seconds. He appeared to be very upset.”
When Darrell left after the test, he asked for Brewer’s business card and said he would have something to tell him in three days. Before that happened, Darrell was arrested at the Oarlock Room.
Russell Swartz, for his part, let it be known that he had been on his way to visit other clients in Burney when he heard on the radio about Darrell Rich’s arrest and removal to Burney for safety reasons. Swartz went to Burney, gave Darrell his business card and said that he wanted to represent him. And much of the confusion stemmed from this because Swartz could not obtain a client without the person’s permission.
Robert Baker now told the court that when Darrell Rich did not request the services of an attorney, a second polygraph test was administered. “This test was learned of by Swartz and angrily interrupted,” according to Baker, when Swartz returned to the jail.
Judge Small eventually did allow in a seven-minute taped conversation between Detective Brewer and Darrell Rich, which was made shortly after Rich’s arrest. Russell Swartz particularly wanted this to come in because he said it showed that Darrell was “emotionally upset, and had consumed alcohol, before being illegally questioned by police.” And Swartz said that around that time Darrell Rich had made six different requests to talk to an attorney—all of these requests were ignored.
When Judge Small finally ruled on these matters, he decided that the statements Darrell made to Brewer and McDannald could be presented by the prosecution to jurors in a trial. In Judge Small’s verbal opinion: “It is not believed that any person with common sense, in light of these declared facts, could argue that the consent was given.” In other words, it had been Darrell Rich who voluntarily gave the information, and he was not coerced or tricked into doing so. It was a real blow to Darrell and his lawyer, since these statements were so damaging. In fact, Darrell had done about as much as anyone else to ensure he would be arrested.
Russell Swartz contemplated an immediate appeal on this decision by Judge Small, but he waited until he read a written statement by the judge for his reasoning. And on another matter, Judge Small intended to send Darrell down to the state prison facility at Vacaville to await trial. The reason was, Darrell was currently in a very small secure area at the Shasta County Jail known as the “kitchen lockup.” At that place Darrell had very limited opportunities for exercise. And, as usual, he was being kept away from other inmates in the jail for his own protection. The last thing that authorities wanted was jailhouse justice. No matter what, Darrell Rich was assumed to be innocent until found guilty by a jury of twelve individuals.
Knowing that he was going to be going to Vacaville soon, Darrell wrote a letter to Judge Small on December 17. He was very polite, as he had been to Randy Brewer and the other detectives:
I don’t know if I should be asking this or not, but I’ve got to, I wouldn’t feel right knowing that I didn’t ask! You see, I have a girlfriend and
sometime in the future we plan to get married, but right now I have an engagement ring that I would like to place on her finger, it just wouldn’t be the same if she put it on herself. If it’s at all possible that I could see her for five minutes or so to do it, it would be appreciated very—very much. Please let me know, alright. Then we can set a time, before I go to Vacaville.
Yours truly sir,
Darrell Rich
Court papers did not indicate whether Judge Small later allowed this to happen or not.
One thing was for certain: There wasn’t going to be any trial in Lake County on January 15, 1979, as initially planned. There was plenty of evidence and discovery that the defense team had not even looked at as of yet.
Something was always roiling the waters concerning the legal matters and Darrell Rich. Soon after his transfer to Vacaville, Russell Swartz wanted Darrell Rich back in a jail cell in Shasta County instead of the medical facility at Vacaville. Swartz said that the cell in Vacaville was even worse than the one that Darrell had been in at Redding. There was no window in the cell, and the only exercise Darrell got was one hour a day spent walking up and down a corridor. Judge Small granted the movement of Darrell, partly because it made things a lot easier for the upcoming court hearings, which were still held in Shasta County.
Prosecutor Baker was not happy about the slow pace of proceedings and wanted the trial in Lake County to take place as soon as possible. Judge Small, however, was not going to hurry anything. He said, “It would be an exercise in futility to set a trial date now.” He noted that an appeal by Russell Swartz might still be forthcoming concerning Darrell’s statements to officers.