Jury views video of Bolden’s interrogation

At 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday, the People of the State of California v. Javier Bolden resumed at the downtown Los Angeles Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. The prosecution, represented by Deputy District Attorney Daniel Akemon, started the fifth day of trial by continuing to examine the lead detective in the case, Detective Vincent Carreon. The jury also saw the remainder of a video that was shown on Tuesday depicting Bolden’s interrogation on May 18, 2012.

The video showed two LAPD detectives interrogating Bolden for a couple of hours. They were seen leaving the interrogation room several times. Carreon claimed that during the beginning of the interrogation Bolden was evasive. That did not seem to be the case after the detectives told Bolden that Bryan Barnes, the other suspect in the case, had accused Bolden of being the shooter.

Carreon said in his testimony that Barnes, in fact, had not been interrogated. The detective said he had fabricated the statement in a ruse to elicit more truthful testimony from Bolden.

Bolden’s criminal defense attorney, Andrew Goldman, from the Office of the Alternate Public Defender, objected to several of Carreon’s statements.

After the interrogation, Carreon said, Bolden was taken to the 77th Street Regional Jail where he was put in a cell with a police informant.

Goldman’s cross-examination of Carreon focused on the fabrications conveyed to his client, as well as the lack of DNA evidence on the scene. The informant had portrayed himself to Bolden as a veteran member of the Bloods gang. Goldman also made a point to highlight the fact that no DNA or fingerprint evidence belonging to his client was found on the scene. During re-direct, however, Akemon elicited testimony that demonstrated that no DNA or fingerprint evidence was recovered.

Akemon then called the lead medical examiner in the case. Dr. Vladimir Levicky introduced himself to the jury as a chief medical examiner with over 24 years experience in forensic pathology.

After laying foundation for Levicky’s expert status, Akemon began the inquiry of Ming Qu’s autopsy. Levicky testified that upon examination he concluded that the bullet entered Qu’s body below and behind the left ear and exited through his right cheek. Judge Stephen Marcus allowed Levicky to stand up and demonstrate the trajectory of the projectile with Akemon using a yardstick to show how the bullet entered Qu’s body.

Levicky testified that the bullet perforated through the soft tissue of the neck, large blood vessels, the pharynx and maxillary bones of Qu’s right cheek. He explained that the most damaging part of the wound was caused by the perforation of large arteries, which made it increasingly difficult for Qu to get enough oxygen to his brain. The official cause of death was the single gunshot wound to the head.

Akemon introduced as evidence photographs of Qu’s autopsy displaying his face and left hand. Several secondary wounds on Qu’s neck matched those of injuries on his left hand.

According to Neon Tommy, LAPD Detective Sean Hansen also took the stand to explain how law enforcement was able to effectively detect Bolden’s location around the time of the murders. Det. Hansen said he used analytics from the Cellular Analysis Survey Team, a federal task force which links the location of the defendant’s cell phone when a call is placed from that device.

After a lunch break, Hansen retook the witness stand. According to his testimony, records showed that Barnes and Bolden used their phones near the crime scene at 12:55 a.m.