Packer guilty: 1 Felony, 2 Misdemeanors.

Former security guard and sole suspect in the Brock Husted murder case in Ventura County was tried in a closed courtroom due to the chief witness suffering from extreme agoraphobia. The jury convicted him of one felony and two misdemeanors. The felony conviction will have an effect on his sentencing after his trial on three murder counts for the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Husted and the viable fetus.

It is thought that the crime was a spur of the moment robbery after he drank beer down on the beach but was trapped by the incoming tide and was escaping via the private staircase through the gated community of expensive houses. Packer's DNA was found on a motorcycle helmet's faceplate left at the scene but there was no match in the database at the time.

It seems all his crimes have been impulsive behavior and were often accompanied by alcohol consumption. He didn't learn his lesson on the more minor offenses. Perhaps he has learned now but its too late for the Husteds.

Exculpatory evidence? Non-Evidence?

In a motion that is sure to fail, the public defender is seeking dismissal of the murder indictment against security guard, Packer, in the murder of Brock and Davina Husted of the Farina Beach gated community near Santa Barbara.

I have every confidence in this being a spur-of-the-moment burglary committed by Packer while he was alone and unaided. However, an unknown fingerprint was found on the helmet visor left at the scene of the crime.

I do not consider this to be exculpatory evidence since it could easily be some salesman's fingerprint from years before. It does not even suggest the presence of an accomplice in the burglary or murders.

However, I would not consider it to be "Non-Evidence" as the prosecutor alleges. I'm sure the house has fingerprints in it that are not identified. I do think it should have been disclosed and disclosed far more promptly.

NOTE: As expected, security guard Packer will go to trial on April Fool's Day.

Packer's attorney requested the charges be dropped, alleging prosecutorial misconduct in withholding a crime scene fingerprint was lifted from a motorcycle helmet. The print did not match Packer or the victims.

Death Penalty charged in Ventura County

This is news?

The DA has announced that he will proceed with Death Penalty charges against the former security guard whose DNA implicates him in the murder of Brock and Davina Husted of the Farina Beach gated community in Ventura County, CA.

Sure there is no unseemly rush to proceed in such a manner and a great deal is made of consultation and contemplation of the issue but it was a foregone conclusion right off. A successful couple, wealthy and well-liked in the community killed in a brutal fashion in their own home inside a gated community. Even if you don't throw in the added features of the woman being several months pregnant and her two older children being in the home at the time, you've got an outraged community. Of course the death penalty will be pursued by the DA. There was never any real doubt even in the Public Defender's office, despite their usual mouthings at the announcement about surprise, disappointment and allegations of involvement of others as well as innocence of their client.

It was probably just a drunken interlude on the beach and when a beer soaked biker had his return path to his motorcycle blocked by the rising tide, he took the available stair case which passed by the unlocked patio doors of the Husted's home. A simple opportunity presented itself to an armed motorcyclist with a criminal history. How it turned to dozens of needless knife wounds will probably never be known but he may simply have wanted to eliminate the witnesses. Had his DNA not been found on the helmet visor left at the crime scene this case would probably never have been solved.

Ventura will file additional charges for fleeing the scene of an accident, battery and intimidation of a witness for a vehicular incident involving the defendant having struck a parked vehicle about seven months after the murders. Its not known why the DA is bringing the additional charges or why a trial and sentencing for battery should precede the murder charge. More publicity? More fees to a public defender?

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.