Stalker Case Witness Says Memory Is Dulled

Blaming a fading memory, the first survivor of an alleged Night Stalker attack conceded in court Wednesday afternoon that she can no longer positively identify suspect Richard Ramirez as the man who fired a shot at her face nearly four years ago.

But Maria Hernandez, whose Rosemead condominium roommate was allegedly murdered by Ramirez, stood by her earlier identifications of the defendant as her assailant. She made those identifications at a police lineup Sept. 5, 1985, five days after Ramirez’s arrest, on March 11, 1986, at a preliminary hearing in court and at another court proceeding on April 7, 1987.

“At the time of the preliminary hearing,” she said, “I still had a better, more accurate memory of what happened.”

Prosecutor’s Concern

Hernandez’s inability to identify Ramirez on Wednesday underscored a longstanding concern by prosecutors who have consistently worried about such memory lapses with each delay in the case, which began with Ramirez’s arrest Aug. 31, 1985.

But Hernandez’s testimony aside, Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Phil Halpin has told the jury that there would be massive physical evidence to link Ramirez to the 13 murders and 30 other felony charges pending against him.

Such evidence--as Halpin noted in this opening statement Monday--includes distinctive shoe prints found at more than a half dozen crime scenes, fingerprints and ballistics evidence.

Hernandez had taken the stand in mid-morning Wednesday and identified Ramirez as her assailant. Pointing toward the defendant, who was sitting slouched in a chair at the defense counsel table, she said: “The man on the end in the dark suit, dark glasses.” Ramirez showed no reaction.

But by mid-afternoon, under questioning by defense attorney Daniel V. Hernandez, the woman conceded that she could not positively point to Ramirez as the man who shot her.

At one point, she said with a sigh, “It’s been four years.”

Not So Clear Today

At another point, when attorney Hernandez asked her if she could identify Ramirez in court as her attacker, the witness replied: “Today? If I had to? No.”

Halpin and co-prosecutor Alan Yochelson contend that, after wounding Hernandez as she arrived home, Ramirez entered the condominium and shot the woman’s roommate, Dale Okazaki, 34, in the forehead before fleeing.

In his opening statement Monday, Halpin told the jury that Ramirez murdered another woman with the same .22-caliber handgun about a half-hour later just a few miles away in Monterey Park.

Hernandez’s testimony came on the third day of the Night Stalker trial, in which Ramirez faces a total of 43 felony charges stemming from a series of night-time residential attacks throughout Los Angeles County more than three years ago. Aside from the murder counts, the charges include attempted murder, rape, sodomy and oral copulation.

If convicted, the 28-year-old drifter from El Paso, Tex., could receive the death penalty. Ramirez also faces a 14th murder charge in San Francisco and attempted murder and sexual assault charges in Orange County.

Hernandez, 23, testified in a calm manner that belied the terror of that night. Asked by attorney Hernandez about the many details that followed the attack, she repeatedly said that she could not remember.

“Time has made my memory less than it was immediately afterward,” Maria Hernandez said. “Two years ago, I could still remember.”