Tuffree Jury Visits Site of Deadly Fight

Sixteen jurors in the Daniel Allan Tuffree murder trial quietly walked through his bullet-riddled home Tuesday, gazing for the first time at the modest brown house where a deadly gunfight broke out last year between the former schoolteacher and Simi Valley police.

Tuffree is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Officer Michael Clark on Aug. 4, 1995. He also faces charges of armed assault and attempted murder for firing at another officer after police entered his yard to check his well-being. Tuffree was reportedly suicidal after taking Valium and alcohol and had stopped answering his phone.

For nearly four weeks, the jurors have heard testimony from police officers, crime scene investigators, ballistics experts, neighbors and others.

They have also seen numerous drawings, a video and a model of Tuffree’s Simi Valley home. But Tuesday they finally saw the real thing.

Instructed by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Allan Steele not to talk to one another or ask questions, the jurors silently walked around the perimeter of the house, tracing the steps of the officers who came to Tuffree’s home on a hot August afternoon a year ago.

One at a time, the jurors walked to the front door where Clark and Sgt. Anthony Anzilotti knocked before entering Tuffree’s backyard. Then they walked to the rear fence.

They studied the thin wood gate where Clark, Anzilotti and Officer Michael Pierce pulled out their pistols and stepped into the yard--the exact location where Pierce later took cover behind a short concrete step during the gunfight that broke out minutes later.

The jurors seemed to take a particular interest in the busted-out kitchen window where the gunplay broke out between Tuffree and Clark--who stood only about six to eight feet away on a concrete patio.

The window has since been removed, but a large open space rimmed with broken white tile provided a view inside the kitchen, where Tuffree was apprehended after a police standoff.

Outside the home, broken glass still lines the stucco walls where the family room windows were shot out during Tuffree’s fight with police. The windows are now boarded with plywood.

A 15-foot section of the exterior wood fence--which an armored SWAT truck leveled to create a barricade to rescue the fallen Clark--is now replaced with chain-link fence. Large holes in the stucco home are still visible from where the vehicle smashed into it.

Inside the home, more than two dozen bullet holes marked by investigators give testimony to the barrage of gunfire exchanged between Tuffree and police during the standoff after Clark was shot.

Bullets blasted into kitchen cabinets, walls, a stereo speaker, a chair. Larger holes could be seen along the dining room where police rocketed tear gas into the home, and burns on the carpet indicated where “flash-bang” grenades had landed.

The jurors spent about half an hour touring Tuffree’s home, taking notes on yellow pads and standing in various positions identified by the attorneys during the previous court sessions. During the visit, the lawyers, judge, court clerk and various Simi Valley police officers and investigators stood in the shade and watched.

Although no testimony was given at the scene, a court reporter stood in the middle of Hietter Avenue with a stenograph just in case something “monumental” arose at the scene, one attorney said.

The field trip to Tuffree’s home was requested by both prosecutors and defense attorneys, who said they wanted to help jurors visualize the court proceedings.

“I think it allows a jury to come and see exactly where this happened,” said Deputy Public Defender Howard Asher. “And it allows them to better understand the testimony.”

Tuffree did not attend the afternoon field trip to his Aztec Court house. His attorney said the visit would have been too emotionally upsetting for him.

A bank is expected to foreclose on Tuffree’s home in the coming weeks, Asher said, and the home will probably be sold at a public auction.

Tuffree, who has been in jail for more than a year, has been unable to make his mortgage payments and his family cannot afford to continue to pay for the home, Asher explained.

Testimony in the trial is expected to continue today.