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Harrington’s charges dropped |
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Friday, 12 June 2009 |
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By Emily Hone BLACKFOOT — Charges have been dismissed against 30-year-old Blackfoot resident Jeffery Harrington for allegedly withholding information from police about the March 26 slaying of Robert Padilla.
Magistrate Judge Charles L. Roos dismissed the charge of accessory to a felony against Harrington Thursday following a preliminary hearing at which family members of Padilla and friends of his and Harrington’s testified.
Padilla was dead on or shortly after arrival at Bingham Memorial Hospital around 2 a.m. on March 26 of stab wounds to the chest and abdomen following a fight on South Broadway.
Courtney James Payan, 23, is charged with second-degree murder in the slaying and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 16.
Epifanio Dearcos de la Ascuncion Sr., 58, is charged with aggravated battery for allegedly striking Padilla with a metal pipe the night he was stabbed. His preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 18 .
Harrington, a friend of the victim’s, was arrested May 27 and accused of “willfully” withholding or concealing information about the crime from police.
In dismissing the charge, Roos said the statute under which Harrington was charged did not require a witness to take affirmative action regarding a crime, but was intended to prosecute people who deliberately mislead police or try to conceal a crime.
Prosecutor Scott Andrew called six witnesses for the state during the hearing — Padilla’s mother, brother and cousin, two of his friends and Det. Charles Carroll.
Michael Padilla testified that he and his cousin and a few friends had been playing a game called Fugitive near Blackfoot High School that night. He said when the game was finished they started home and when they got near the Short Stop on South Broadway, saw his brother, Robert, with a group of people that included Harrington walking in the middle of the street.
Padilla said they stopped to see what was gong on and a fight started between his brother and another man, which he thought was just one-on-one. “Then a guy came out with a bar and hit my brother on the back and the top of the head,” he said.
Padilla said Harrington was trying to separate his brother from the man with the bar, then he saw his brother fall to the ground and Harrington trying to pick him up.
Padilla testified that he, Devon Smith and his cousin Uriel Rodriguez loaded him into Smith’s car and took him to Bingham Memorial Hospital. Harrington helped load him into the car, he said, but didn’t ride with them.
Padilla said at the hospital they put his brother on a stretcher, then left and went out to the parking lot where they saw Harrington.
Padilla said he didn’t go back into the hospital afterwards because he was scared and he didn’t know what to do.
Smith, Rodriguez and Juan Mendoza basically corroborated Michael Padilla’s testimony.
Smith said the game was completed around 1 a.m. and they were on their way home when they saw the group of people in the middle of South Broadway. He said two people were fighting, then he went to move his car and someone threw a rock through the back window.
When he looked again, Smith said, Robert Padilla was on the ground and Harrington was pushing people off him and trying to shield him from rocks that were being thrown. He said there was blood on the victim’s head and stomach, and he was unconscious when they put him into the car.
When they arrived at the entrance to the Emergency Room, he ran inside to get assistance, and they helped load Robert onto a stretcher, Smith said.
They saw Harrington outside the hospital afterwards, and he told them they’d better leave, Smith said.
Defense attorney Steve Blaser asked Smith on cross examination why Harrington told them to leave.”He didn’t want us to get into trouble,” Smith said. “He was concerned about the people on the other side. He didn’t tell us not to report anything or talk to the cops.”
Padilla’s mother, Lorena, said she visited Harrington at the Bingham County Jail to convince him to cooperate with the police. “He told me they were loyal to each other, but I don’t know what that means,” she said.
Det. Carroll testified that Harrington had not called 911 to report the stabbing or made a report to the police about what happened that night. Defense attorney Steve Blaser said that out of five witnesses to the crime only one reported it, but none of the others were arrested. He said Harrington didn’t tell them not to tell anybody what happened and had not tried to conceal the crime.
Andrew argued that when Harrington told Padilla and the others to”get out of there they have your license number,” he was not referring to the opposing side but to law enforcement.
Referring to the charges against Harrington, he sad “This may not be the most egregious matter, but it’s out there.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 15 June 2009 )
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