Love Me or I'll Kill You

by Lee Butcher

  “Correct.”

  “You say, ‘I’ll call you back.’ Chino says he wanted a private conversation with Miss Gutierrez and he says, ‘I’ll call you back,’ and you say, ‘A few minutes,’ and he says, ‘Give me five, ten minutes.’ You say, ‘Okay, a couple of minutes. I’ll call you back.’ You want to get back in there?”

  Batista said he wanted Chino to have some time, but he wanted to resume the connection as soon as possible. During this break the tape recorder was turned off. There was no way of knowing how many minutes it was not recording, Batista said. Batista said he didn’t speak to Paula again and didn’t interview her at the police station.

  Athan finished her cross-examination and felt that she had scored some points. She had helped establish that Paula was under Chino’s control and that Chino’s fits of rage were unpredictable. At least that was how she hoped the jury saw it. The state had no further questions for Batista and he left the witness stand.

  Pruner called Corporal Lawrence McKinnon, a hostage negotiator who was in charge of the audio and video equipment during negotiations with Paula and Chino. After McKinnon identified a videotape, Pruner introduced it into evidence without objection from the defense. Portions of the video and audiotape were played for the jury.

  CHINO: Have to kill (inaudible). We made—it’s a mistake (inaudible). Uh, you know, who fuckin’ (inaudible). Blow off our faces, fuck, man.

  BATISTA: You can surrender and we can get this done, you know. Paula can see the little girl, I mean, Ashley. Ashley’s at the babysitter’s. You know she needs you. She’s going to need you for a long time to come. You’re her father and mother. Ashley is a two-year-old little baby. She’s a beautiful baby. She’s got her whole life ahead of her, you know. What do you say, man?

  CHINO: Sounds good.

  BATISTA: You want to come out first?

  CHINO: I’ll send Isaac out first.

  Chino described what Davis was wearing and that he was a black man. Batista told Chino to have Davis wear only his shorts out because it would be safer. The police, he said, would know he wasn’t carrying a concealed weapon. Chino said to give him a minute and he would call back. In the courtroom the tape was still running, showing what was happening on the camera the police had sneaked inside.

  CHINO: What do you want to do? Tell me.

  PAULA: Huh?

  CHINO: I’m not giving myself up.

  PAULA: You know she’s been crying.

  CHINO: I know. Just hear TV from where I’m sitting. I’m sitting behind the screen. I can’t see what’s going on.

  (The telephone rang and Chino picked it up. Batista was on the line.)

  BATISTA: How you coming along? Are you coming out?

  CHINO: I’m just talking to Paula right now and—

  BATISTA: Make sure when he comes out that he follows the instructions of the SWAT guy. Just listen to the guys. They’ll give him instructions, where to walk, how to walk, what to do. Okay: Okay. Do you want him to just step out, get down on his kney: Just listen to the SWAT guy. He’ll tell him what to do.

  CHINO: Let me talk to Paula. I’ll get back to you in a minute on the telephone.

  (Chino hung up and Batista called right back.) : Are we ready?

  CHINO: Getting him ready.

  BATISTA: I’ll stay here with you and kind of walk you through this.

  CHINO: Isaac, come on, man.

  BATISTA: You going to be okay? We got to get through this. We got to resolve this. Your mother is here waiting for you. Ashley is down the street. We’ll get Ashley to see you, okay. We’re going to get through this. Just hang in there.

  CHINO: Ashley is not here yet?

  BATISTA: She’s at the babysitter’s, the last time I knew. She may be with your mother. Are you coming out soon?

  CHINO: No.

  BATISTA: Okay. George, we need to go get Ashley. We’re going to send somebody to go get your mom and Ashley right now.

  CHINO: Okay. Just once I see Ashley and my mother, then I’ll come out. How does that sound?

  BATISTA: Well, what about Isaac and Paula? CHINO: I’ll send Isaac out. I’ll look out the window and see my mother and Ashley across the street by the truck.

  (Batista told him he couldn’t do that because it wouldn’t be safe. He told Chino that he had sent someone to get Ashley.)

  BATISTA: You’re not going to back out on me, are you?

  CHINO: No, I’m not backing out.

  (Chino and Batista discussed getting Davis ready to exit the apartment. Chino said Davis had stripped down to gray shorts and told Batista that Davis had been vomiting.)

  CHINO: He’s been throwing up. There’s no need to rough him up.

  BATISTA: No, no. Believe me. Is he at the door yet?

  CHINO: He’s almost there.

  BATISTA: No surprises.

  CHINO: Isaac, lift up your chin.

  CHINO: I’m going to put the phone down.

  BATISTA: Why? Why? Just let me know what’s going on.

  CHINO: I need to take a leak first.

  BATISTA: Let me talk to Paula.

  CHINO: Okay, all right. Hold on.

  BATISTA: Paula, Paula? Hey, Paula. You doing okay?

  PAULA: Yeah. Isaac’s doing it.

  BATISTA: We’re not going to rush anybody. We’ll take it one step at a time. I sent somebody to go get Ashley. Come down and you can be with Ashley. Then you and Chino can spend some time together, okay?

  PAULA: Spend time together, you know, you said, yeah. I know you won’t let us see Ashley.

  BATISTA: I promise you I will.

  PAULA: Did Isaac make it to the door yet?

  CHINO: He’s holding it.

  BATISTA: Is he all right?

  CHINO: It’s fine. He just feels really ill. . . . He’s really sick. He’s been throwing up for two weeks. He has had nothing [to eat] since yesterday and he’s really ill.

  BATISTA: He’s probably dehydrated if he’s throwing up a lot. We’ll get him some medical help. Where is Isaac at this point?

  CHINO: He’s out the door.

  BATISTA: How you doing on the cigarettes?

  CHINO: They’re gone.

  BATISTA: Chino, we’re not going to rush you. I cooperated with you. We don’t want anybody to get hurt.

  CHINO: You can’t do it.

  BATISTA: Is he out the door yet?

  CHINO: Almost. I’m going to count to three, and on three he’s going to go out the door. BATISTA: Count to three, and on three he’s going to go out the door?

  CHINO: One, two, three. Okay, Paula? One, hey, fuck.

  BATISTA: What happened?

  CHINO: I’m going to kill her. I’m doing it. BATISTA: Why you going to do that?

  CHINO: I can’t go to jail.

  BATISTA: Come on, man. Don’t do that. Chino, come on. You got too much going here. Come on. Is Isaac out the door?

  CHINO: No.

  BATISTA: Why not? Why don’t you let Isaac go, man? I thought you said you were going to let him go on three?

  CHINO: You didn’t need to on three.

  BATISTA: Let him go. Let Isaac go. He’s got nothing to do with this. Chino, talk to me, man. You don’t want to do this. I know you don’t. It’s a lot easier to surrender. Your mom is out here. Ashley, your little girl, is out here. Chino, pick up the phone, man?

  CHINO: One, two (sound of gunshot).

  BATISTA: One shot. Pick up the phone. Pick up the phone. Paula, Paula, pick up the phone. Paula, Paula, pick up the phone. She may be armed.... Paula, pick up the phone.

  PAULA: Hello.

  BATISTA: What happened?

  PAULA: He’s dead.

  BATISTA: Paula, come on out. Paula, put your hands on your head and come on out. Just give yourself up. Paula, there is nothing you can do for him. Paula . . . it’s over. Your daughter needs you. . . . Don’t go out like him. Paula, it’s over. Don’t do what he did.... Your daughter is never going to forgive you if you kill yourself. Come on out, Paula.


  PAULA: They’re going to charge me with the killing of the officer.

  BATISTA: No, they’re not. You didn’t kill the officer.

  PAULA: I know I didn’t.

  BATISTA: You’re not going to be charged with that. What about your daughter? Ashley needs you. Just come on out.

  PAULA: All right.

  BATISTA: Just hang on to that phone. Keep talking to me. I’ll walk you through this.

  PAULA: Why, to see this?

  BATISTA: Close your eyes. Go up to the door and walk outside and follow the instructions of the SWAT guys. They’re not going to hurt you. . . . Put your hands on your head and walk out the door.

  PAULA: I’m scared.

  BATISTA: I know you’re scared. As soon as you get down, I’ll talk to you. Everything will be fine. SWAT TEAM MEMBER: Come to the door. Shut the door. Get there. Lay down. Don’t move, ma’am, and do not fuckin’ move. Keep going. Officer, this is a crime scene. Don’t mess anything up. Don’t move anything. Don’t pick up the fuckin’ gun.

  The tape ended. The jury sat transfixed by what they had heard. Pruner ended his direct examination and Athan had no questions. The next witness for the state was Isaac Davis, who had been held hostage. Pruner said his testimony would be lengthy. Padgett said they would stop for the day and resume testimony the following Monday.

  Padgett addressed the jury and told them not to watch, listen to, or talk about the case. “And something else I wanted to tell you, I haven’t told you yet,” Padgett said. “Don’t anybody go by there looking at these places. You know, we don’t need any detective on the jury. If one of you goes out and looks at the scene, that’s information you’re not getting in the courtroom. It’s not fair for those people to do that. Refrain from doing that, too.”

  The court recessed for the weekend.

  Chapter 19

  Older faces peered from the gallery as Paula and her attorneys took their seats. Trial watching is a favorite pastime of certain Florida retirees and they become good at predicting a trial’s outcome. But the trial watchers were undecided on Paula’s guilt or innocence.

  One of the jurors had called in sick, with a notification from her doctor that she couldn’t continue. After she was replaced by an alternate, who had seen and heard all of the previous evidence, the trial resumed. Before taking the testimony of Isaac Davis, Pruner called Jacquelyn Rojas and Tangela Williams, both crime scene technicians with the TPD.

  During their testimony they described pertinent items they found at the trial scene, including clothing that matched the description of what the robbers wore at the Bank of America. Piece by piece, Pruner built his body of evidence. But the testimony everyone was waiting for would come from Davis, the former hostage.

  Davis was a slim, handsome black man, who had recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tampa. He was alert and clearly intelligent as he sat in the witness chair. Davis acknowledged Paula with the glimmer of a smile.

  Davis testified that he was home, sick with the flu, in his apartment at the Crossings when he heard what he thought were firecrackers going off outside, followed by kicking on his door. The door was smashed open, and as he approached it, Davis testified, a woman came in holding a gun that was pointed at the floor. Almost simultaneously, Davis testified, a man with a gun burst through the door. He identified Paula, who wore a pretty bluish green dress, as the woman with the gun.

  Davis described how he had run into the bedroom to jump out the window. But, he said, he was too weak from being sick. He tried to hide in the closet instead. That is where Paula found him, Davis testified, and both she and Chino took him back to the living room. Davis said he begged for his life and that Chino assured him he wouldn’t be hurt.

  Chino marched him to the door at gunpoint and yelled that he had a hostage, Davis said, and then opened fire. Davis said Chino barricaded the door and started talking at him when they went back into the apartment. He said it wasn’t a conversation, just Chino talking.

  “He was just saying, ‘We did something really bad.’ He never said what it was, but he was really frantic. He was ‘Oh, my God, what are we going to do?’” Davis said that Chino was “confused and scared,” and Paula was “more so calm, but still kind of scared.”

  Davis said Chino and Paula watched television news, showing the standoff. They became increasingly nervous, Davis said, when the newscaster talked about SWAT teams arriving.

  “They got more wired,” Davis said. “They were more scared than they were before. It was kind of like they were running out of time, like, ‘What are we going to do?’”

  Davis testified that when Chino entered the apartment, he held cash that was stained red. He testified that Chino asked about his health and how Davis was feeling about five times over the next few hours. Paula came to the bathroom once, Davis said, and asked if he wanted water.

  Chino and Paula started to talk about committing suicide, Davis testified, when the television announced that a police officer had been shot, and Chino thought he had killed her. “He was explaining to Miss Gutierrez that either way they’re going to die—they’re either going to die in prison or they’re going to die by their own gun.

  “Either way, he’s not going to let the state kill him,” Davis continued. “He said he was going to kill himself. And he was saying how they had talked about it before, that if anything went wrong, that they were supposed to kill themselves.”

  Davis said Paula was trying to talk Chino out of it, saying that jail wouldn’t be so bad. “And he was saying, ‘No, this is the only way it has to happen.’”

  Throughout the next few hours, Davis said, Chino and Paula continued to discuss suicide. Davis described how Chino had made him close the blinds, check the windows, and get the telephone the police delivered outside the door.

  “Did you feel threatened for your own safety, feeling these strangers had the guns in your house?” Pruner asked.

  “Yeah, he had the gun pointed at me every time I closed the blinds or looked out of a window.”

  During the approximate 3½ hours they were in the apartment, Davis said, he never saw Paula and Chino touch one another. Paula eventually agreed to commit suicide, Davis said, after prolonged discussions with Chino. Initially, he said, Paula had rejected suicide.

  “It was like she changed her mind,” Davis said.

  “Did she show any demonstrable signs of fear when she agreed with him?”

  “What do you mean by ‘demonstrable’?”

  “Crying, shaking. Did you notice any reluctance on her part to express a disagreement about committing suicide?”

  “Yes. She didn’t want to do it. She would rather go to jail.”

  Davis testified that Chino had a gun in his hand when they talked about suicide. Paula, he said, was unarmed, but the gun Paula had taken from Lois was within easy reach. Pruner asked if Davis had heard Chino tell Paula that something wasn’t supposed to happen.

  “I was sitting in the archway of the hallway and he was standing up, kind of pacing between the dining-room table and the television,” Davis said. “She was sitting down at the end of the table and he was walking back and forth. And he was like ‘This was not supposed to happen. You never said this would happen.’”

  “What did she respond?”

  “She would say, ‘I know, I know.’” Davis put his hands on his forehead. “She put her hands like this, at the end of the dining-room table, as if she was thinking.”

  Davis said he had been sick for two weeks and hadn’t been able to eat much. He said Chino went into the kitchen for juice and crackers, but didn’t take the gun. Both guns were within Paula’s reach.

  They talked more about suicide, Davis said. “Miss Gutierrez said, ‘Well, I was just there for the bank. I can just be there for the bank robbery.’ And he was saying, ‘Don’t you understand? You’re an accomplice.’”

  Davis said Chino had the MAC-11 under his chin and was talking on the telephone and to Paula at the
same time when they decided to release him. “He would talk on the phone, but at the same time, talking to Paula,” Davis said. He added that Chino said he was going to let him go on the count of three. He said Chino mentioned it several times. Paula, he said, was in his bedroom with Lois’s gun. Under Pruner’s questioning, Davis described his eventual release and Chino’s suicide.

  The assistant state attorney was trying to establish several key points: Paula wasn’t under Chino’s domination; she could have run when he left the room; she could have armed herself with both guns. Pruner also raised doubt about Paula’s claim that she didn’t know about the robbery in advance. It appeared that she and Chino had previously discussed suicide if things went wrong.

  On cross-examination, Athan did her best to show inconsistencies in the statement Davis gave to the police and the information he provided in a later deposition. Davis admitted that he had described Paula as being calmer than Chino, but Athan asked, “Did you describe her as looking like she was trapped like a dog?”

  “I described both of them like that.”

  “As a matter of fact, you agreed, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights?”

  “Yeah, that was further, when they were in the apartment, yes.”

  Davis admitted that he was confused when Chino and Paula first burst into his apartment. He said that when he was handcuffed and taken to police headquarters for an interview, he was “disheveled.” Athan pounded at Davis’s confusion, such as thinking gunshots were firecrackers. “You’re sick and you’re not really registering what’s going on, right?” she asked.

  Before his apartment was invaded, Davis said, he was watching television and didn’t hear helicopters outside. He told Athan that he heard screaming and then somebody banged on his door. Davis said he was scared when the door frame came flying in.

  “Adrenaline is pumping?” Athan asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What’s in your memory is the first thing you see is Miss Gutierrez, right?”