Stalker Trial Witness Tells of Burglaries

During the height of the series of Night Stalker crimes in 1985, a jumpy and “amateurish” Richard Ramirez committed up to 25 nonviolent, daytime residential burglaries throughout Los Angeles, using picks and heavy pliers to gain entry, a woman who claimed to be his accomplice testified Wednesday.

Sandra Hotchkiss, now serving 14 years in state prison on other burglary convictions, told a Los Angeles Superior Court jury that she broke off from Ramirez because she found him too spooky and inexperienced to work with. Had she continued burglarizing with Ramirez, she said, “I knew we’d end up in jail.”

Whereas she preferred to neatly search a home for valuables, Ramirez often sloppily “tossed” a house for no good reason, Hotchkiss said.

She testified in detail about the alleged joint burglaries only after being assured that the statute of limitations on those crimes had expired. She was called by the defense, but many of the details came out during cross-examination by the prosecutors. Judge Michael A. Tynan also appointed a private attorney, Sanford H. Perliss, to act as her counselor on potentially self-incriminating testimony.

Together, Hotchkiss said, she and the Night Stalker suspect burglarized homes in Atwater, Los Feliz, Pasadena, West Los Angeles, Glendale, Silver Lake, Montrose and Santa Monica from January to early July, 1985, usually in the afternoon or early evening.

During those months, Ramirez allegedly committed eight murders in 10 so-called Night Stalker attacks, according to Deputy Dist. Attys. Phil Halpin and Alan Yochelson, the prosecutors in the case.

During her testimony, Hotchkiss frequently cast darting looks at the defendant, who seemed more attentive on Wednesday than he has through much of the other testimony in the trial, which began Jan. 30.

Hotchkiss, over three days of testimony, said that she never saw Ramirez with a gun and that he was not a violence-prone person, even when he got “burned” by other criminals. She said she never saw Ramirez with any weapon other than a pocketknife.

Daniel V. Hernandez and Ray G. Clark, Ramirez’s lawyers, are seeking to persuade jurors that their client is a victim of mistaken identity.

Hotchkiss, whose request not to be photographed during her testimony was granted by Tynan, said she had committed residential burglaries with others, mostly on the Westside, including Brentwood, before meeting Ramirez at a downtown pool hall. But she said she got “burned out” in that part of town and, with Ramirez, began concentrating in the other areas.

Sometimes, she said, she would enter a home while Ramirez acted as a lookout in a car while other times they both broke in.

They picked out homes--apartments and single-family houses--whose occupants appeared to be away, based on the presence of mail still in the box, or after no one answered their knocks, Hotchkiss said.

Once inside, she said, Ramirez often behaved nervously, going in and out of the house while making a lot of noise.

Ramirez was, she said, “too slow” and “just wasn’t smooth,” adding: “He didn’t know jewelry.” Hotchkiss said she often paid Ramirez in cash for his half of their loot.

Ramirez, 29, is charged with 13 murders and 30 other felonies stemming from a series of brutal nighttime attacks in homes throughout Los Angeles County. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. He faces additional charges in San Francisco and Orange County.

The defense portion of the trial began May 9 and is set to resume June 5, after a long-scheduled vacation for the jury.