Tuesday, April 13, 2010

California Prop 69 and its extension to arrestees.

The much criticized Proposition 69 that added convicted felons to a database and the later extension to those merely arrested for a felony would probably have annoyed me when I was twelve, but as I've become older civil liberties have become less of a conern. Perhaps that is a bad thing.

A Ventura County, CA security guard and motorcycle enthusiast has been arrested in connection with the triple murder involving the Husteds who were residents of the gated-community known as Faria Beach. The 20 year old security guard's dna entered the database after his arrest for armed robbery of a gas station.

The primary suspect in the case was always an unknown man who entered the nearby camping ground on a motorcycle and probably went down to the beach to drink beer. The rising tide may have closed off his return route or he may have chosen to use the private staircase that lead him past the unlocked patio doors leading to the Husted's kitchen.
A simple robbery attempt probably that turned bad as the pregnant Mrs. Husted and then her husband were repeatedly stabbed while the young son hid and the daughter slept. Sheriff deputies are now reviewing telephone logs to see if there had ever been any prior contact between the suspect and the husband's wrought-iron business employees.

And although the police had placed the suspect under surveillance, the primary tool used was the DNA database that had an entry due to an arrest for a violent felony.

1 comment:

FleaStiff said...

Although the case has been solved in so far as the identity of the perpetrator has been determined, the question of motive remains. Many thought it was simply a random crime, the work of a passerby who took the staircase up from the beach and availed himself of an opportunity. However, he was armed with a pistol and the knife used came from the home apparently so it seems strange. The 20 or 30 stabbings even after obtained money from the victims seems strange too. A drugged or drunken state is possible. Police continue to investigate connections to a possible long-term mistress although it seems unlikely.