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Payan headed to district court |
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Wednesday, 17 June 2009 |
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By Emily Hone BLACKFOOT — Following a preliminary hearing Tuesday that lasted nearly five hours 21-year-old Courtney James Payan of Blackfoot was bound over to District Court on a charge of murder in the second degree for the May 26 stabbing death of Robert Padilla, 23.
Payan is scheduled to appear before 7th District Judge Darren B. Simpson for arraignment on June 29 at 1 p.m., and was continued in custody in lieu of $250, 000 bail.
Magistrate Judge Charles L. Roos listened to the testimony of 11 state’s witnesses before stating there was sufficient probable cause for the state to proceed with its prosecution of Payan.
Defense attorney James Archibald of Idaho Falls did not call any witnesses, and neither he nor Prosecutor Scott Andrew presented arguments.
Payan was arrested the afternoon of May 26 and charged with stabbing Padilla to death during a fight in the parking lot of the Rocking R Trailer Park on South Broadway during the early morning hours of May 26.
Epifanio Dearcos de la Ascuncion Sr., 58, is scheduled for preliminary hearing Thursday at 8:30 a.m. on a charge of aggravated battery for allegedly striking Padilla with a brass pipe during the fight.
Just as they reportedly did to police, the witnesses testifying Tuesday told conflicting stories regarding why the fight started, who was the aggressor and how many people were involved.
The latter ranged frm five or six to 10 or 11, and depending which side of the fight they were on, each said the others were the ones with weapons.
The first to testify was Padilla’s cousin, Gloria Coronado from Ririe, who said she received an abusive phone call on May 25 from Payan, who was a friend of Epifanio Dearcos Jr., with whom she has three children. Coronado cried as she talked about her cousin and said she told Payan she would tell Padilla about the phone call.
The obviously pregnant Coronado was moving restlessly on the witness stand when Archibald asked during cross examination if she were uncomfortable.
“Yes,” Coronado responded. “I”m in labor,” and shortly after that she was excused.
Padilla’s brother 18-year-old Michael Padilla and his friends, Devon Smith and Juan Mendoza, also 18, reiterated their testimony from the preliminary hearing last week of Jeffery Harrington that they were on their way home from playing a game near Blackfoot High School and stopped when they saw Harrington and Robert Padilla with a crowd of people.
The witnesses said they saw Padilla removing his shirt as he walked toward the trailer park where Payan was standing. Both said the other side had baseball bats and were throwing rocks.
Mendoza said he saw Payan walking backwards toward the trailer he had come out of as Padilla kept walking toward him. He said he helped load the victim into Smith’s car after the fight, than ran away because he was scared. When asked by Archibald why they hadn’t called 911, they said they were scared and didn’t think of it.
Smith and Mendoza both said it was dark and they couldn’t see whether anyone had a knife, but Michael said he saw Payan with a knife with a black handle and a chrome blade about five inches long.
Pointing out that Padilla was close to 6-feet tall and weighed close to 300 pounds, Archibald appeared to be trying to get Mendoza to say that the slightly built Payan was acting in self defense.
Epifanio Dearcos Jr., recounted events leading to the fight, saying everything was fine the day before when Coronado came to town and he gave her money for “the babies.”
He said then Coronado kept calling his home the next day and bothering his fiance, who lives with him.
Dearcos said he, Payan and another friend were sitting in his parents’ house that night when Padilla called and said they were coming. When they got outside, he said, Padilla said not to worry they were just there for Payan.
Blackfoot Police Det. Jeffery Dance testified that Payan told him during an interview that he had taken a knife from the Dearcos house when he went outside. “He said Robert Padilla had a bar and was swinging it at him. He said he was trying to back Padilla off and had the knife in both hands but didn’t remember stabbing him. He said he swiped at him a couple of times.”
Payan told him he dropped the knife on the ground and Dearcos picked it up along with a metal bar, Dance said. Police say the knife has not been found.
Dearcos said he and Payan ran away from the fight, and that Payan was injured and he thought he had been hit with a bat. “He was crying and saying ‘Oh my god, Oh my God.’ I said are your hurt, and he said I stabbed him, I stabbed him. I said who? He couldn’t tell me nothing. He was just crying. I told him I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to know that,” Dearcos said.
Bingham Memorial Hospital Emergency Room physician Dr. Paul Allen testified he was on duty the night two young men, who later turned out to be the victim’s brother and Smith, brought Padilla to the ER by car.
Allen said when he first saw Padilla as he was being removed from the car he was unresponsive and had no vital signs.
Allen said the victim had suffered a stab wound to the left abdomen and one to the chest near his left nipple. It was his opinion even while ER personnel made the effort to revive Padilla that he was already dead, Allen said. “At no time did I believe he had signs of life.”
He said Padilla had obvious injuries to the face that appeared trivial, but an extensive injury to his left shoulder.
He said after reviewing the autopsy results, both of the wounds were lethal. “The wound to the nipple would have killed any of us,” Allen said. “The wound to the abdomen would have killed most of us.” He said the wounds were penetrating rather than slashing, indicating an instrument stuck straight in and pulled out.
When Archibald asked whether Padilla might have been saved had his brother and friends called 911 for an ambulance instead of transporting him themselves, Allen said “Anyone who arrives at the ER with an open chest wound and no vital signs have no chance,” he said. “There’s no way in Blackfoot Idaho that he could have been saved."
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 June 2009 )
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