Trial Under Way in 8-Year-Old Supremacist Murder Case

A tale of drugs and the workings of California’s white supremacist prison-based gang unfolded under heavy security in Orange County Superior Court Tuesday in an 8-year-old murder case just now reaching trial.

The defendant is Joe O’Rourke, 35, of Long Beach, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. He is accused of being the trigger man when three men allegedly kidnaped and killed Ricky Helt, 29, of Long Beach in a drug dispute. Helt’s body was found Oct. 9, 1977, in the parking lot of the Huntington Beach Public Library.

The chief prosecution witnesses are all former members of the Aryan Brotherhood. They are:

- Ken Waterman, who has told police he was with O’Rourke and Randy Cosgrove, 36, when O’Rourke allegedly killed Helt.

- Steve Barnes, who also testified against Angelo Buono in the Hillside Strangler case and whose father allegedly was killed by the Aryan Brotherhood after Barnes testified against other Brotherhood members.

- Michael Thompson, the alleged former head of the Aryan Brotherhood Council, a convicted murderer who claims he left the Aryan Brotherhood because innocent people--like Barnes’ father--were being killed.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Goethals asked for extra security at the trial, including the use of metal detectors to screen people entering the courtroom, because of threats by the Aryan Brotherhood against the three former members who will testify against O’Rourke.

In opening statements Tuesday, Goethals and defense attorney Robert Chatterton listed so many Aryan Brotherhood members that Judge Donald McCartin gave the jurors a rest break to absorb all the names.

Goethals told jurors that a woman living with O’Rourke in 1977, Claire Gardner, was holding $20,000 in cash and a pound of heroin for another Aryan Brotherhood member, Danny Cavanaugh, who was trying to raise bond money for another member of the white gang. Gardner claims someone stole the money and the heroin.

Goethals told the jury that O’Rourke approached Helt about the missing drugs and then killed him, either because Helt would not give him information or because O’Rourke considered him expendable after he had given information. Helt was shot in the chest and in a kneecap. The shot in the kneecap is a trademark the Aryan Brotherhood leaves on its victims, prosecutors said.

O’Rourke was not arrested immediately after the Helt killing. But 10 days later, he was arrested on charges of assaulting a police officer while attempting to steal a van. He was convicted in the van incident and sent to prison for five years.

In 1979, Waterman, while under arrest on bank robbery charges, told police he had participated with O’Rourke in Helt’s murder. But there was no corroborating evidence for Waterman’s story, so O’Rourke was not charged. The corroborating evidence did not come until 1984, when both Thompson and Barnes said O’Rourke had confessed to them while all three were in prison.

Chatterton, O’Rourke’s attorney, explained to the jurors in detail about the Aryan Brotherhood, and why, in his view, Waterman, Barnes and Thompson all have a motive to lie about O’Rourke.

Waterman, Chatterton told jurors, probably is the triggerman in Helt’s killing because he, not O’Rourke, was Claire Gardner’s boyfriend. Moreover, Barnes has a motive for striking back at the Aryan Brotherhood because of his father’s death and because an Aryan Brotherhood member fell in love with Barnes’ wife, Chatterton said. The defense attorney claimed that Barnes has another motive for testifying: the hope that Orange County officials will drop a pending assault charge against him.

As for Thompson, Chatterson argued, he is going after O’Rourke because he’s on the outs with his old gang members and because he wants the Orange County district attorney’s office to stop opposing his efforts to gain parole. His murder conviction had been in Orange County.

Before Chatterton was done, he had discussed in detail more than 20 Aryan Brotherhood members and their cases. At one point, he told the jurors, “Trust me . . . this is not a soap opera.”

Because of the kidnaping allegation, O’Rourke faces a possible death sentence if convicted. Goethals is not seeking the death penalty against Cosgrove, who will be tried later.