RAP SHEET

Operator: 911 . . .

Caller: Yeah. There's a man out here on, uh, Morningstar Drive.
O: OK.
C: And I been out in the back cutting grass and stuff and he pulled a knife on me... I was out there cutting grass and he scared the daylights out of me. He pulled a knife on me.
O: OK, did he assault you or anything? Did he hit you?
C: No, he didn't hit me. He pulled a knife.
O: Did he... ?
C: He said, "What are you doing here?" and I said, "I work here, sir."
O: OK. What's your name?
C: My name's Johnnie. And I help at Bob's place.
O: OK, we'll send somebody right out. Did he take off walking?
C: Yeah, he's walking. Started walking east. Towards the highway there.
O: OK, we'll get somebody right out there. Do you know what color shirt he was wearing?
C: Yeah, a black shirt. A dark shirt and had, uh, looked like a sack or something. I don't know. He just pulled a knife on me and I said, "What?" I'm out there doing my job, my work for Bob here.
O: Uh-huh.
C: Got to make sure I get the backyard cleaned up, get more hay ground and get the high stuff cut so he can see the highway.
O: So he was hiding in the weeds or something?
C: Hiding in the brush. Along the fence line.
O: OK, we got somebody on the way, OK?
C: OK, thank you. Bye.

Officer's Report: Dispatched on a report of a person pulling a knife on another. Johnnie reported that he was clearing brush along a fence line at the edge of a field behind a property on Northwest Morningstar Drive and just south of I-80. The resident of that address is Bob, who is not able to do the work himself. Johnnie stated that as he was working a man suddenly emerged from a hiding place in a clump of trees along the fence line. The man was 35-40 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 150 lbs, short dark hair, no facial hair, wearing a dark shirt with buttons, dark long pants and he was carrying a black bag, possibly a plastic garbage bag. The man said, "What are you doing here?" Johnnie responded something to the effect that he was working for the landowner. Johnnie said that when the man emerged from the trees he already had the knife in his hand. He opened the blade. It was a folding knife with a shiny blade about 4-5 inches long and a black handle. Johnnie said that the way the blade opened he thought it was a switch blade. The man pointed the knife at him and advanced toward him. Johnnie said that if he hadn't moved back he might have been stuck. Johnnie said that the man then started to walk to the east along the fence line on the south side of I-80 at a normal walking pace. Johnnie went to the house to call 911. He said it took him about five minutes to get to the phone. Several deputies checked the area, but the man was not found.

Docket Diving

From the perspective of the jury, Eric Esse simply couldn't get his story straight. When Timothy Mammen was discovered dead in his Plymouth home on Thanksgiving Day 2002 with four bullet shots to the head, Esse was questioned three times by authorities. And in each interview, his story changed.
Having admitted that he had previously bought drugs from Mammen and owed him $600 at the time of his death, Esse first told officials that he had left Mammen's residence by 5 p.m.- seven hours before the estimated time of death. Next, Esse acknowledged that, thanks to drug-induced confusion, he might have actually been at the murdered man's home until 1 a.m., but knew the identity of the killer and had been bribed into silence with money and drugs. Finally, in the third interview, Esse back pedaled to his original story, adding that he knew all the grisly details of the crime only because he had returned the next day, discovered Mammen's body and took off with a stack of cash. Having raised too many red flags in the minds of investigators, Esse was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in the Thanksgiving crime.
In addition to tapes of the police interviews, the jury in the case also heard testimony from the man Esse said was the killer: he had an alibi. They heard from Esse's wife: she said her husband's claim that he discovered Mammen's body the next day was bunk because she had the family's only functioning car that afternoon. And, to make matters worse, they heard evidence from a weapons expert suggesting Esse had borrowed a gun with ammunition consistent with the bullets found in Mammen's brain. Faced with such evidence, the jury found Esse guilty of both charges. But Esse appealed, arguing that the district court had erred in failing to instruct the jury on how to address questions of reasonable doubt, witness credibility and circumstantial evidence. The Court of Appeals agreed - just barely: "With one exception, we conclude all his claims of instructional error are without merit."
That one exception pertained to the manner in which police questioned Esse during the nine hours of interviews. Esse argued that, "the agents asserted [Esse] was lying and told him that they had substantial evidence and information that he was involved in this murder." A defendant, the appeals court noted, is entitled to have his guilt or innocence determined solely upon evidence, not suggestive hearsay implying the police knew more than the evidence confirmed. While Esse perhaps overemphasized the breadth of the problem, "the interviews do contain several statements that, if viewed as evidence, indicate Esse was lying or the agents had unspecified evidence of Esse's involvement beyond that which was introduced at trial," Judge Van Zimmer explained. "For example, the agents repeatedly stated that there was 'no doubt' Esse was involved in the murder, and that '[i]t's either you or you know who did it.'"
So, without specific instruction from the bench to counterbalance that unsubstantiated perception, the judges concluded the jury could have been prejudiced by assertions that should not have held any legal heft. "Because we cannot know what weight it may have placed on the agents' statements, we conclude Esse was prejudiced by the court's refusal to give a limiting instruction," the Appeals panel ruled. "Accordingly, Esse's convictions must be reversed," they determined, sending the case back to the district for a new trial.

Sucks to be you

Name: James Carson Effler, Jr.
Place of Incident: Des Moines
Posed for this picture because: One minute, the 20-month-old toddler was playing at her babysitter's feet. The next, she was locked in the Downtown Public Library bathroom with a convicted sex offender. Having already served time in Texas for sexually assaulting a 31-year-old woman, James Effler allegedly snatched the child while her caretaker surfed the Internet. Effler sexually assaulted her in the men's restroom until employees heard a child scream and scrambled to bypass the locked door. Effler, who is now subject to the much-debated 2,000-foot rule and was not living at the residence he provided authorities, was arrested on charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse and violation of the sex offender registry last week.

Unfinished Business

According to Des Moines' October report:

- The Iowa Department of Administrative Services owes the city $10,225 for fire department overtime reimbursement, which was due Sept. 9.
- CenturyTel Fiber Co. LLC owes the city $6,629.50 for a communication system license, which was due Sept. 1.
- The Iowa Events Center owes the city $3,450 for two instances of fire department overtime, due Sept. 12 and 27, respectively.
- Clear Channel Radio owes the city $3,713.50 for services rendered by the police department during the Taste of Des Moines, which was due Sept. 30.
- Matt Carpenter owes the city $913.01 for police services at the 515 Alive event on July 30, which was due Sept. 30.
- Mister Money USA South owes the city $2,280 for a pawn broker license, which was due July 8.

On the Clock

Des Moines Police - Oct. 6

4 a.m. Assault with a weapon in the 900 block of East 29th Street involving a male victim "hit with a metal rod object on the head" by a suspect who knocked on the victim's door, and asked, "Why did you hit my son?" before assaulting him.
8:12 a.m. Burglary in the 3800 block of 38th Street, involving an employee arriving to work to discover the electric meter had been removed, the phone line cut and drawers ransacked.
8:30 a.m. Burglary in the 5300 block of Twana Drive, involving the door kicked and the theft of remotes to items previously stolen from the home on Sept. 14.
11:08 a.m. Assault in the 1300 block of Harrison Avenue, involving a victim who had been trying to contact a business partner to discuss the partner's unauthorized use of company funds, before he was unexpectedly attacked by the partner at a construction site, where the suspect threw him against a wall, punched him, choked him and "threatened to ruin him."
12:34 p.m. Assault in the 800 block of 42nd Street, involving a clerk at a Git-N-Go who told a suspect to leave the business due to past problems, before suspect threatened to "kick victim's ass," and "rammed his chest into victim's several times and then threatened him."
4:40 p.m. Burglary in the 1200 block of East 33rd Street, involving a couple returning home to find their TV, DVD player, VCR and stereo stolen, although there were no signs of forced entry and all windows and doors were locked.
5:15 p.m. Assault causing injury in the 600 block of Southeast 26th Street, involving a victim returning to her trailer to discover a suspect rummaging through her property, who when confronted, pushed the victim and a witness and told them to get off the property.
6 p.m. Burglary in the 500 block of Twana Drive, involving a woman visiting the owner of a residence that had been burglarized earlier in the day and finding the apartment unlocked and a bedroom door kicked in. The owner also reported that his father and he had received phone calls from someone threatening to kill them.

(Alleged) Drunk Drivers

Name: Miguel Alejandro Jiminez
Arrested: Oct. 5
First offense

Name: Beau Charles Bonanno
Arrested: Oct. 5
Second offense

Name: Regan Ray Jones
Arrested: Oct. 5
Third offense

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