The Star Chamber

Councilman Donnagher, who is the only member to vote against the proposal...

said he was not at all convinced that the proposed site...

was the only suitable place for such a facility.

He went on to say that this is not the first time...

the utilities commission has come up with a site...

that it insisted was the only suitable place.

In South Los Angeles, the body of a woman was found in an alley...

behind a row of abandoned automobiles.

She was identified as 68-year-old Margaret Howard.

She'd been shot in the head at close range.

Sergeant Thomas Spota told Eyewitness News reporter Chuck Hurley...

this appears to be the work of the same person or persons...

who have committed a series of similar attacks in the area in the past few weeks.

She had apparently cashed her welfare check about a block and a half away...

at approximately 4:00 in the afternoon.

She was shot at close enough range...

with a .38 caliber bullet to leave powder burns.

Forensics estimates the time of death...

at somewhere between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Do you have any suspects?

No. Not really.

Five elderly women have been murdered and robbed in this area in the past two months.

Is one man responsible for all of them?

Well, we haven't finished our ballistics check yet...

except that all of the other victims were shot with a .38...

all were robbed of their welfare checks...

all were killed in the afternoon.

The ballistics on the first four match. I expect they will on this one.

Anyone with any information on the Southside Killer...

should call our Eyewitness hotline number.

555-4545.

You don't have to give your name.

The only possible lead reported by the police...

is two people who claim they saw a male Chicano leaving the alley...

at around 4:30 p.m.

He is described as in his mid-20s...

approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and slender.

600,000 to catch a goddamn baseball.

Now we gotta worry that he's sensitive.

Shit. You give me 600,000, you can call me any name you want.

Shit. You give me 600,000, you can call me any name you want.

You gotta know how to

you know, get the best out of them.

Hey. Check this cutie out.

- Where? - Green jacket.

- You know him? - No.

So what about him?

I don't know. What's he doing bopping around 6:00 in the morning? Tell me that?

Maybe he's coming from a physics lab at USC.

Right. Let's check him out.

- Are you shitting me? - This dude ain't right.

- You got a hunch, right? - Right.

- Instinct, right? - Right.

You're watching too much television again.

Wonderful.

- Wait! Don't touch it! - Is it wired?

No, no. Of course not. You just can't search it. We need a warrant.

- Right. - For real.

- You're crazy. - Probably, except we need a warrant.

I know because it happened to me once before.

How about if I knock on the garbage can...

and identify myself as a police officer...

and the can gives me consent?

You can fart around all you want.

The guy's garbage can is his private property and we need a warrant.

I don't believe this.

We got a pile of slime...

making tracks as soon as he sees us.

He stops long enough to drop something in a garbage can.

Think he just can't stand to litter?

You also think we're gonna get a warrant in the next 30 seconds...

because that's when the can is going in the truck.

Time out. I got it.

This can is going to that truck.

We can't search this can...

But we can search the truck.

We're talkin' genius here.

Don't pull no lever. Police.

Join the police and see the world.

Join the navy and see the world.

Shit. I joined the wrong thing.

Yecch.

Bingo.

Gimme a pen.

Hello, turkey!

Judge Culhane is never too busy.

We live in a selfish age.

They like to call this the "Me" generation.

Well, Jim thinks this should be the start of the "Us" generation.

He lives his life that way. We should live ours that way.

When Community Hospital needed the new wing...

it was Jim Culhane who spent two years...

calling old friends...

starting the fund drive, following through.

It was Jim you called when there was a problem, any problem.

Now, Community Hospital has that wing, thanks to Jim.

Thanks to the countless hours he spent doing thankless work for us all.

In the past 11 years...

Jim's record as a superior court judge...

has been a model of fairness and courage.

There's probably no more difficult task for any public official...

to bridge the gap between public understanding and civic responsibility.

Judge Culhane has never shirked his responsibility...

and he's managed to engender the trust of the community.

Jesus Christ.

Superior Court Judge James Culhane was found dead tonight...

the victim of an apparent suicide.

The incident occurred during a testimonial dinner for Judge Culhane...

in which he was being honored...

as Southern California Legal Association Man of the Year.

Judge Culhane had served on the superior court bench for 11 years.

He leaves a wife, Michele, two daughters and five grandchildren.

And then what did you do?

Detective Mackay remained stationed outside the defendant's house...

while I took the gun to a lab.

We ran a ballistics check on it...

and it turned out to be a gun used in four previous killings on the Southside.

Killings that were known as the Southside Murders?

We also found a clean set of fingerprints on the weapon...

and based on that evidence, obtained a search warrant.

We returned to the house where Detective Mackay was stationed.

- You conducted a search? - Yes, sir.

- What did you find? - We found jewelry... watches and rings...

that kind of stuff... in a shoe box in a closet.

We also found four women's handbags with wallets in them.

The wallets contained driver's licenses...

social security cards and food stamp cards...

all belonging to the Southside victims.

- Are these the items you're referring to? - Yes, sir.

And they were all found in the home of the defendant, Mr. Hector Andujar?

- Yes, sir. - And then what happened?

We arrested him and then we Mirandized him.

What do you mean when you say you Mirandized him?

We read him his rights. We told him he had a right to an attorney...

that one will be appointed for him if he couldn't afford one...

that he had a right to remain silent.

You know, his rights. All of 'em.

And then what happened?

He confessed. Now, we told him he didn't have to say anything...

that he could have a lawyer, all that stuff.

He said he wanted to confess and waived his Miranda rights.

We asked him if he knew what he was doing, if he understood.

He said, yes, he understood...

and he confessed to the killings.

We took him downtown and booked him. He repeated his confession to a stenographer.

Thank you, Detective Wiggan. No further questions, Your Honor.

Yeah. Detective Wiggan...

I'd like to go over some of your previous testimony if I may.

Of course.

Now, you stated that you didn't search the garbage can...

in front of Mr. Andujar's home because you didn't have a warrant.

Yes, sir.

Right. So you waited for the contents of the garbage can...

to be deposited in the garbage truck?

Yes, sir.

You then searched the contents in the garbage truck itself?

Okay. Detective...

tell me exactly what kind of garbage truck it was.

What?

What kind of garbage truck was it?

I don't know. It was a garbage truck...

the kind that comes up the street and collects garbage.

Well, let's be a little bit more specific than that, shall we?

Was it a big open truck? Was it an enclosed truck?

Was it the kind of truck that had a big scoop in the back?

- Was it a... - Yes, that kind with a...

The kind with a scoop.

- That kind? - Yeah.

Now, did you search the contents of the scoop...

or did you wait until the contents of the scoop...

were dumped into the body of the truck?

Well, we searched the scoop after the trash had been emptied from the can.

- I... I don't understand. - Was the scoop empty...

before Mr. Andujar's trash was put into it?

Yes.

Thank you, Detective Wiggan.

I don't understand. That was a perfectly good search.

Thank you, Detective. There's no further questions.

Your Honor, may counsel approach the bench?

Yes. Detective, you're excused.

I move that all the evidence obtained by Detectives Mackay and Wiggan...

be ruled inadmissible in this case, dismissed immediately.

On what grounds? They were meticulous in their procedure.

They waited until the garbage can was emptied. Andujar waived his rights.

- On what grounds? - Your Honor, under the rule...

my client had a reasonable expectation to privacy.

The police cannot search his garbage can without a warrant.

They did that. They waited until the garbage can had been emptied.

However, they searched the scoop of the garbage truck.

They did not wait until Mr. Andujar's garbage...

had been mixed with the rest of the garbage in the truck...

thereby rendering it common garbage.

As long as Mr. Andujar's garbage was there by itself in that scoop...

as long as that garbage hadn't been mixed with other garbage in the body of the truck...

the police could not search without a warrant.

- I don't believe this. - There is ample precedent

specifically People v. Krivda...

I know the precedent, Mr. Karras. Thank you.

Since the gun was the grounds for the warrant...

and the evidence and the ensuing confession...