Ex-Girlfriend’s Testimony in Race Rights Suit : Threats Led to Lies Before Grand Jury

The ex-girlfriend of Michael Maas, the man accused of waging a racial hate campaign against a Normal Heights couple, testified Wednesday that she lied before a federal grand jury after Maas threatened to kill her if she told the truth.

Deana Tolentino said that, even though Maas had told her he had put a burning cross on the black couple’s front yard and had set their pickup truck afire, she denied any knowledge of the racial incidents when she was questioned by the grand jury because she feared for her life and the lives of her two children.

“He told me if I didn’t (lie), he would kill me,” Tolentino said in response to a question by Assistant U.S. Atty. Lynne Lasry, “and I believed him because of what he had done to me before.”

Tolentino, who has been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying against Maas, was referring to a May, 1985, attack in which Maas broke both her arms with a spiked baseball bat. Maas is serving a three-year state prison term for the attack.

Tolentino is the government’s key witness against Maas, who is charged in a 10-count federal indictment of violating the civil rights of George Shelton and his wife, Michelle, by launching a series of racial attacks against them after they purchased a Normal Heights home in the fall of 1984. The case is being tried in U.S. District Court by Judge Earl Gilliam.

Besides allegedly setting fire to the couple’s truck in their driveway and placing a burning wooden cross in their yard, Maas also is accused by the government of sending the couple a racist hate letter. Because of the incidents, the Sheltons earlier testified, they came to fear for their lives and decided to move.

Additionally, Maas is accused of beating and threatening Tolentino and of encouraging her to lie before the federal grand jury.

Maas also faces charges in San Diego Superior Court involving an April, 1985, assault on two black men outside a Normal Heights convenience store.

In his opening statements Tuesday, defense attorney Mario Conte told jurors that he would prove Maas was not responsible for the racial incidents. He also attacked the credibility of Tolentino, who he is expected to cross-examine today.

On Wednesday, Tolentino testified that she first met Maas, whose nickname is Micky, about 11 years ago, and moved into his home in October, 1984. That same month, she said, a neighbor of Maas’ told them that the Sheltons had moved into the neighborhood.

“Micky said we weren’t going to have any . . . niggers living in this neighborhood, that there hadn’t been any living there before,” Tolentino testified.

Tolentino testified that Maas told her that he had set a burning cross on the Sheltons’ lawn on Oct. 25, 1984, telling her that authorities would suspect the Ku Klux Klan.

The next April, he also admitted to her that he had set fire to the couple’s truck, driving her by the Sheltons’ house to point out how the fire had nearly spread to the residence, she testified.

Tolentino also told jurors that, while she was in the hospital in May, 1985, recovering from her two broken arms, Maas paid her a visit and apologized. When she informed him that FBI agents had been there earlier to subpoena her to testify before the grand jury, Maas told her to lie and to tell the panel she did not know about the racial incidents, including the one outside the convenience store.

Although she did lie to the grand jury in May, 1985, Tolentino said Maas did not believe her, and during the summer he drove the two of them to the Bonita area. After stopping at a church and telling her she should say her last prayers, Maas drove to an isolated area and told her he was going to kill her, Tolentino testified.

After ordering her out of the car, she testified, Maas chased her with the vehicle, telling her she had better “tell him everything.” About 15 minutes later, Tolentino said, Maas ordered her back into the car and made her lie on the floor. Holding a semi-automatic rifle next to her head, he fired one round, shattering a car window, she testified.

To end the attack, Tolentino testified, she then told Maas what “he wanted to believe”--that she had told the grand jury what she knew about the racial incidents when, in reality, she had not. Maas then ordered her to sit up and brush her hair, then drove them home, she said.