Judge Rules Some of Alleged Victims List OK for Kraft Trial

Randy Steven Kraft’s attorneys failed Tuesday in their final attempt to keep out of his murder trial a handwritten list that prosecutors claim is Kraft’s own score card of his victims.

Defense attorneys claim that the list will become such an explosive focal point for the jurors that they may not be able to carefully examine the strength or weakness of the circumstantial evidence against their client.

But Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin said prosecutors should have the right to use at least part of the list.

Dead Marine Found

Kraft was arrested May 14, 1983, when two California Highway Patrol officers who stopped him for a traffic violation found a dead Marine in his car. The list, in two columns, was found on a yellow sheet among other papers in the trunk.

“It’s up to a jury to decide if it’s a death list or if it’s just hogwash,” McCartin said after a spirited hearing in his Santa Ana courtroom.

Defense attorneys did win assurances from prosecutors, however, that their use of the list would be limited to just 13 entries--out of some 63. Those are the entries that prosecutors link to some of the men Kraft is accused of killing.

Opening statements and testimony in the Kraft trial are scheduled to begin Monday.

The 43-year-old computer consultant from Long Beach is charged with 16 Orange County murders. But prosecutors have accused him of another 21 slayings, which they plan to introduce if Kraft is convicted and the trial moves to a death penalty phase.

Actually, prosecutors have even gone beyond that in their accusations against Kraft. Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas M. Goethals told the court Tuesday that his office claims that 41 entries on the Kraft list can be linked to killings committed by the defendant.

2 Entries Called Doubles

Two of the entries are doubles, in the prosecutors’ view (“2 in 1 Hitch” and “2 in 1 Beach”). Counting the Marine found in Kraft’s car (prosecutors allege that Kraft didn’t have time to make an entry on him), that number could total 44.

“That’s a good guess,” Goethals said later.

Geothals argued that if each entry on the list is taken individually, it may not mean much. But in the context of other evidence, the prosecutor said, the entries become relevant.

“It is a statement Mr. Kraft made to himself to memorialize what he had done,” Goethals contended.

If it’s not a death list, Goethals added, then “it’s the most bizarre and grisly coincidence that we can imagine.”

But defense attorney William J. Kopeny countered that it is “sheer speculation” by prosecutors that the notations are a death list.

For example, he said, one of the entries--”Airplane Hill”--is linked by prosecutors to an unidentified John Doe found in an area of Huntington Beach once known as Airplane Hill. There is no proof that Kraft knew it had once been called that, Kopeny argued.

Other entries include “Parking Lot” and “New Year’s Eve,” which prosecutors have linked to two of the victims in the 16 charges. Those terms could mean anything, Kopeny contended.

Kopeny told the court that the list puts Kraft in the unfair position of deciding whether to testify just to explain what the list actually is. And the defense lawyers, he said, will be put in the position of not only having to defend Kraft against circumstantial evidence, but “then have to take on a second job” of defending him against the list.

“The focus of the case will change in a way that is unfair to the defense,” Kopeny said.

The list has been sealed by court order since Kraft’s preliminary hearing in October, 1983. A few of the entries, however, have been made public during court hearings. Ten of the entries, which prosecutors link to dead men, have been public for several years. On Tuesday, three others related to the murder charges became public: “Hike Out LB Boots,” “Marine Drunk Overnight Shorts” and “Dart 405.”

Inadvertently, McCartin made three others public Tuesday that are not related by prosecutors to the victims in the 16 murder charges: “Stables,” “76” and “What You Got.”

The judge said “Stables” was the first entry on the Kraft list. Kraft is accused by prosecutors of the Oct. 5, 1971, murder of Wayne J. Dukette. While he is not among the 16 victims Kraft is charged with killing, he is one of the victims in the other 21 slayings of which Kraft is accused.

While prosecutors have declined to discuss details of any of those murders, Dukette was known to be associated with a former bar in Long Beach known as the Stables.

Goethals said after the court session that “What You Got” is one of the entries prosecutors have not linked to any known victim. His office does link “76” with a victim, but he would not disclose anything about it.

Kraft’s attorneys have raised the issue of the list in other motions, but each time a judge has refused to bar it from the trial.

McCartin avoided giving any personal opinions on the significance of the list. But he did say that prosecutors had a right to tell jurors their theory about it as long as they did not try to use any of the entries beyond the 13 already agreed upon.

In other matters, the judge said he will decide today whether to grant the requests of two men who want to be excused from the Kraft jury. McCartin has called another 41 prospective jurors to appear for selection today in case he does agree to release the men.

ALLEGED DEATH LIST

Here are some of the entries on a list found in Randy Steven Kraft’s car, and how prosecutors link them to 14 of 16 men that Kraft is charged with killing:

“EDM”--Prosecutors say the letters stand for Edward Daniel Moore, 20, whose body was found Dec. 26, 1972, in Seal Beach.

“Airplane Hill”--An unidentified victim was found April 14, 1973, in Huntington Beach in an area once known as Airplane Hill.

“7th Street”--Ronnie Gene Wiebe, 20, found July 30, 1973, in Seal Beach on the 7th Street onramp to the San Diego Freeway.

“Parking Lot”--Keith Daven Crotwell, 19, whose severed head was found May 8, 1975, in Long Beach. Last seen alive leaving the Belmont Plaza parking lot in Long Beach with Kraft in Kraft’s vehicle.

“New Year’s Eve”--Mark Howard Hall, 22, found Jan. 3, 1976, in a remote area of southern Orange County. Last seen at a New Year’s Eve party.

“Euclid”--Scott Hughes, 18, found April 16, 1978, in Anaheim on the Euclid Street onramp to the Riverside Freeway.

“Jail Out”--Roland Gerald Young, 23, found June 11, 1978, in Irvine shortly after his release from the Orange County Jail.

“Marine Carson”--A Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, Richard Allen Keith, 20, was found slain June 19, 1978, in Laguna Hills. Last seen hitchhiking in Carson.

“Hike Out LB Boots”-- (Made public Tuesday) Keith Arthur Klingbeil, 23, found July 6, 1978, in Mission Viejo. Wearing hiking boots when body was found.

“DART 405”--(Made public Tuesday) Michael Joseph Inderbeiten, 21, found Nov. 18, 1978, in Seal Beach. Prosecutors cannot explain “Dart,” but the body was found on a San Diego Freeway onramp.

“Marine Drunk Overnight Shorts”--(Made public Tuesday) Donald H. Crisel, 20, found June 16, 1979, in Irvine. Body was clad in shorts.

“MCHB Tattoo”--Robert Wyatt Loggins, 19, found Sept. 3, 1980, in El Toro. Prosecutors say the entry stands for Marine Corps, and that Loggins, a Marine, was last seen in Huntington Beach. He had a tattoo on his arm.

“2 in 1 Beach”--Geoffrey Alan Nelson, 18, found Feb. 12, 1983, in Garden Grove, and Rodger James DeVaul Jr., found Feb. 13, 1983, in Los Angeles County. Originally, the two deaths were linked to another entry, “2 in 1 Hitch.” Prosecutors changed their theory because of sand found on DeVaul’s body.