TESTIMONY, from page 1 Defendant’s alibis are shaky
LAX COURTHOUSE — The man suspected of kidnapping a Santa Monica elderly woman twice, then escaped from authorities while on trial for unrelated charges, took to the stand in his jury trial on Wednesday and claimed he had never been to Santa Monica.
Alfonzo Fitzgerald Taylor also testified on Wednesday that crucial evidence with traces of his DNA found near the scene of the crimes — a T-shirt and snowcap — were stolen from him prior to the incidents, though no record of the theft was produced by his attorney.
Taylor walked away from the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles the day before a separate jury trial was set to begin last May on charges of receiving stolen property and unlawful driving of a vehicle, an incident independent of the two alleged kidnappings of a Sunset Park woman that occurred in the fall of 2004.
Taylor, in his 40s, was captured in Georgia and returned to custody in Los Angeles County within weeks of his May 2005 escape, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Taylor’s jury trial, which began last Friday, concerns the kidnapping and home robberies that occurred in the 1000 block of Bay Street in Santa Monica. Taylor faces seven felony charges related to those two incidents that occurred on Oct. 18 and Nov. 4, 2004. Last February, Taylor was charged for the Sunset Park crimes that included one count of kidnapping, two counts of first-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree residential robbery and two counts of making criminal threats.
Taylor has also faced one count of unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, one count of receiving stolen property, one count of resisting a police officer and one count of driving as an unlicensed driver. Those charges, which he was to stand trial for last May, stem from him allegedly stealing a car in Las Vegas, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
On Wednesday, Taylor took the stand as the last witness in the Sunset Park kidnapping case. Wearing a blue and white striped, long-sleeved dress shirt and blue jeans, Taylor admitted that he had been convicted of several crimes since 1984 that occurred in California and Georgia, but vowed that he’d never even set foot in Santa Monica.
“I’ve never been to Santa Monica, and I didn’t do it,” Taylor told the court.
In California, Taylor is a twice convicted felon — he served two years in state prison for a 1991 conviction for burglary and served another 12 years in state prison for a 1994 burglary conviction. Both crimes occurred in Torrance, according to the DA’s Office. Prior to his California convictions, Taylor had been convicted in Georgia of several robberies and thefts that date back to 1984, according to the DA’s Office. Taylor, who has short black hair, brown eyes and a beard, stands six feet, four inches tall and weighs 215 pounds. The defendant seemed attentive, calm and polite during Wednesday’s proceedings.
Prosecutors allege that in the fall of 2004, Taylor kidnapped Betty Tomeo, 76, whom he stole from and threatened to kill, first with a syringe and later with a screwdriver.
Closing remarks are to be concluded by Thursday, after which the jury is expected to begin deliberating on the case.
TAYLOR’S TESTIMONY Originally, former Olympic Silver Medalist Danny Harris was charged with the kidnappings in November of 2004. Police arrested Harris after trained bloodhounds following the scent of the black snow cap left by the kid-napper led authorities to Harris’ room at the Clare Foundation, a rehabilitation facility located off Lincoln Boulevard south of Interstate 10.
Harris tested positive for drugs in 1996 and was barred from competition. He has struggled for years with cocaine addiction. Harris, who captured a silver medal in track in the 1984 Olympics, spent nearly two months in jail before he was cleared of the charges.
Subsequent laboratory tests showed the kidnapper’s snowcap contained Taylor’s DNA. According to the DA’s Office, scientific analysis indicated there was a one in fifty million chance the snowcap may not have been Taylor’s. In addition to the snowcap, prosecutors said a black T-shirt was found near the crime scene that also belonged to Taylor. According to DNA analysis, it was even more certain the T-shirt belonged to Taylor than the snowcap. The odds of an error were one in a trillion, prosecutors said.
Taylor was already in custody on the stolen car charges. The two men, who share similar physical characteristics, claimed not to know one another.
Prosecutors initially refused to drop the charges against Harris, claiming the two men may have been working together. Although Tomeo only saw one kid-napper, at one point she said the kidnapper threatened to kill her and burn down her house, and referenced that he had two accomplices.
Prosecutors at the time pointed to three eyewitnesses who picked Harris out of a photo lineup. The three witnesses were a next-door neighbor who chased off the kid-napper with a gun, a nearby resident who saw the kid-napper strip off his shirt while fleeing the scene and the victim, who picked Harris along with two other people in the photo lineup as possibly the person who assaulted her. Tomeo testified last week she was “positive” it was Taylor who robbed her, but waited to see all the possible suspects before making her determination official, because she wanted to be certain she wasn’t mistaken.
Deputy District Attorney Kevin Halligan, prosecuting the case, told the court on Wednesday that when Taylor was initially questioned about the crimes, he denied having taken part in them. Then, after the DNA analysis pointed to him as the main suspect, he admitted he must have been the perpetrator, since the evidence proved it. Later, as the case approached trial, Taylor said he had been a drug addict when the crimes took place and couldn’t recall if he had committed them or not, prosecutors said.
Taylor told the court on Wednesday that the snowcap and T-shirt had been stolen from him in early October of 2004, weeks before the alleged kidnappings had taken place. Taylor said the items were in a bag which he set down while playing basketball at Venice Beach. After finishing his game, Taylor said he went to retrieve the bag, but it was gone.
Taylor’s attorney, Charles Elliot, was unable to provide the court with a copy of a police report to document the alleged theft.
Halligan rebutted that, prior to Taylor’s testimony on Wednesday, Taylor had neglected to tell investigators the snowcap and T-shirt had been stolen.
Halligan asked Taylor if he hadn’t committed the kid-nappings where he was when the kidnappings took place.
During the first kidnapping, Taylor said he was likely writing in an alley located behind the homeless shelter where he was living.
“I’m a writer,” Taylor told the court. “I often write about the world and government.”
During the second kidnapping, Taylor said he was likely hanging out with a friend.
There were no witnesses available to vouch for Taylor’s whereabouts at the time the crimes were committed.
“It’s clear Taylor didn’t have a chance to come up with a story, until now,” Halligan told the court.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 26, 2006. Read the original PDF.