236 1 call at this time Joe Slack. 2 ---------------------------------------------------- 3 JOE SLACK 4 after having been duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole 5 truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: 6 DIRECT EXAMINATION 7 THE COURT: You may proceed. 8 BY MR. CORGAN: 9 Q State your name, please. 10 A Joe Slack. 11 Q Mr. Slack, what is your business, profession, or 12 occupation? 13 A Police officer. 14 Q And how long have you been employed in that capacity 15 as a police officer? 16 A A little over 12 years. 17 Q And do you hold a particular rank with the 18 Bartlesville Police Department? 19 A Senior patrol officer. 20 Q And do you hold any type of particular awards or 21 commendations, Officer Slack? 22 A As in what, sir? 23 Q Have you received any awards or commendations as a 24 result of your service as a senior patrol officer for the 25 Bartlesville Police Department? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
237 1 A I have a life-saving award recently presented to me. 2 Q And what was that for, sir? 3 A A result of resuscitating a six-week-old baby. 4 0 So do I -- am I to gather from that, that you have 5 some medical training or experience? 6 A Yes, sir, I do. 7 Q And what is that, please? 8 A I'm a nationally registered emergency medical 9 technician. 10 Q Tell me what that means. 11 A I work with ambulance services. We have basic 12 on-the-street medical training where we can do emergency 13 services, stop bleeding, do CPR, things of that general 14 nature. 15 Q And how long have you been certified? 16 A This last certification was three years ago. 17 Q Now, Officer Slack, have you had occasion to be 18 involved in this case? 19 A Yes, sir, I have. 20 Q Tell me how you first became aware of something 21 involving this case. 22 A I have a radio at home that's on at all times, and I 23 picked it up from radio traffic. 24 Q Would that be what we sometimes call a scanner? 25 A Yes, sir. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
238 1 Q You had that on; and after hearing that information, 2 what did you do? 3 A I got in my city marked patrol car and went to the 4 scene or to the general area of the scene. 5 Q Did you let anyone know you were doing that? 6 A Yes, sir, I did. 7 Q How did that come about? 8 A I contacted dispatch and, I believe, the shift 9 lieutenant by radio and requested information as to what 10 they were looking for and if they needed additional 11 assistance. 12 Q And, I assume, since you responded, that they did. 13 A Yes, sir. 14 Q Where did you go? 15 A Limestone area. 16 Q And what did you do once you got into the Limestone 17 area? 18 A I'd already received information as to what a 19 possible suspect was to be dressed like and general 20 information of that sort. I began a perimeter search. 21 Q And where did you search? 22 A The general area around Limestone, points from all 23 direction of that and more of a circular motion up and 24 down streets and side streets, anything I could find. 25 Q How did you search? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
239 1 A By vehicle, driving, looking, spotlights and the 2 alley lights on the visabars. 3 Q And did you ever get out of your vehicle during that 4 search? 5 A No, sir, I did not. 6 Q While you were conducting your search in that area, 7 did you observe anything out of the ordinary? 8 A No, sir, not that I remember. 9 Q How long would you say that you were involved in that 10 search? 11 A Probably 45 minutes to an hour. 12 Q And what did you do after that? 13 A I responded to a radio call from the investigator on 14 the scene. 15 Q And after getting that call, where did you go? 16 A To the Allen residence. 17 Q And when you went to the Allen residence, where did 18 you go? 19 A I stopped at the south side of the house. The area 20 was cordoned of f by the yellow tape marked police line, do 21 not cross. 22 I did cross that line and proceeded to the 23 garage door where I was met by the first responding 24 officer and advised him of what I needed. He went in and 25 got Officer Mason for me. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
240 1 Q Did you go into the house that evening? 2 A No, sir, I did not. 3 Q Why not? 4 A I didn't have any business in there. 5 Q So you stayed outside. 6 A Correct. 7 Q And did you meet then with Officer Mason? 8 A Yes, I did. 9 Q And as a result of meeting with Officer Mason, what 10 did you do? 11 A I went to the hospital emergency room. 12 Q And what was your purpose in going to the emergency 13 room? 14 A To be near the victim and her husband. 15 0 And when you arrived at the emergency room, did you 16 have some contact with the defendant in this case? 17 A Yes, sir, I did. 18 Q Tell us where you had that contact. 19 A Mr. Allen was in a room that's just off the emergency 20 room office. He was back in the southeast corner of the 21 emergency room office complex. 22 Q And what did you do at that time? 23 A I visited with him to verify that he was okay and 24 then left and talked to the ER staff. 25 Q Can you tell us the general nature of your questions DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
241 1 to him at that time? 2 A Just checking and see if he's okay. 3 Q And did he respond to those questions? 4 A Yes, he did. 5 Q Did you have any trouble understanding his response? 6 A No, sir. He was quite coherent. 7 Q After you left him and talked with the emergency room 8 staff, what did you do then? 9 A After visiting with the ER staff, I went back into 10 the emergency room -- or the room where Mr. Allen was. 11 Q And what was your purpose in returning to Mr. Allen 12 at that time? 13 A I had been requested to obtain any clothing that I 14 might from Mr. Allen. 15 So I obtained a set of surgical greens from the 16 ER staff and took them with me and asked him if he would 17 like to change clothes rather than wear what he had on in 18 the emergency room. 19 Q And did he do that? 20 A Yes, sir, he did. 21 Q And did you receive some clothing? 22 A Yes, sir, I did. 23 Q And what did you receive? 24 A A pullover shirt, pair of walking shorts, and a pair 25 of tennis shoes. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
242 1 Q And once you received those items, what did you do 2 with those items? 3 A I placed them in a plastic bag provided by the 4 emergency room staff and took them back to the scene and 5 turned them over to Officer Pottroff with instructions to 6 take them in to Officer Mason. 7 Q Now, when you returned to the scene, this would be 8 your second trip to the house; is that correct? 9 A Yes, sir. 10 Q When you returned, did you go into the house when you 11 returned a second time? 12 A No, sir. 13 0 Why not? 14 A I didn't have any business in there. 15 Q After you turned the clothing over to Officer 16 Pottroff, did you have any further contact with them? 17 A With who? 18 Q With the clothing. 19 A No, sir, I did not. 20 Q Now, the person that you received the clothing from, 21 do you see that person in the courtroom today? 22 A Yes, sir. 23 Q And for the record, would you state where that person 24 is and how that person is dressed? 25 A He is seated over here at the defendant's table DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
243 1 dressed in a dark suit. 2 Q Now, Mr. Slack, did you have occasion in your contact 3 with the defendant that night to make any observations 4 about his emotional state? 5 A Yes, sir, I did. 6 Q And what, if any, observations did you make? 7 MR. CARLSON: Objection, Your Honor. Not a 8 proper predicate. 9 THE COURT: Overruled. You may answer. 10 A I just noticed that Mr. Allen was very calm. Didn't 11 seem to be too terribly upset. 12 His color was what would be considered normal, 13 to me. He was just very calmed down. 14 MR. CORGAN: That's all. 15 ----------------------------------------------------- 16 CROSS-EXAMINATION 17 BY MR. CARLSON: 18 Q Mr. Slack, you said you have no business in the 19 house. Was that your testimony? 20 A Yes, sir, it was. 21 Q Why do you not have any business in the house? 22 A Because I was not the investigating officer nor the 23 first officer on the scene. 24 Q You know from experience the only people that have 25 any business in the house basically are the crime scene DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
244 1 people; is that correct? 2 A Normally, yes, sir. 3 Q All right. And, generally, you're suppose to keep 4 that down to one or two or three crime scene people; isn't 5 that correct? 6 A It depends on the crime scene. 7 Q But you know that from the police academy that's 8 generally what they teach you, don't they? 9 A Yes, sir. 10 Q All right. Now, you were requested to obtain any 11 clothing from Steve; isn't that correct? 12 A Correct. 13 Q All right. And who requested that you do that? 14 A Officer Mason. 15 Q And when you got to the hospital, did you tell Steve 16 that you had been requested to get his clothing? 17 A No, sir, I did not. 18 Q And you say Officer Pottroff told you that. Do you 19 know why Officer Pottroff told you to get Steve's 20 clothing? 21 A He didn't. 22 Q Did you tell Steve that you wanted his clothing for 23 evidence? 24 A No, sir. 25 Q If I understood what you said, you said would you DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
245 1 rather wear these, meaning hospital greens; is that 2 correct? 3 A Yes, sir. 4 Q Now, you said that you were in the area in your car, 5 and you drove around for awhile around the Allen home; is 6 that correct? 7 A In the general vicinity, yes, sir. 8 Q And you drove around. Can you tell me what general 9 vicinity? 10 A Within several blocks of the Allen residence in all 11 directions. 12 Q And who was coordinating your movements at that 13 particular time? 14 A The on-scene supervisor. 15 Q All right. And the on-scene supervisor would have 16 been whom? 17 A Lieutenant Gus Davis. 18 0 Were you in radio contact with Mr. Davis at that 19 time? 20 A Yes, sir. 21 Q And did you ever get out of your automobile? 22 A Only at the Allen residence. 23 Q But you never got out of your automobile when you 24 were conducting this search; is that correct? 25 A That's correct. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
246 1 Q Do you have any particular expertise, sir, in 2 psychology? 3 A No, sir. 4 Q Would you agree with me, sir, that all of us act 5 different under different circumstances? 6 A I would. 7 Q And the way one person might act in a situation, it's 8 hard to tell how another person would act. Isn't that a 9 fair statement? 10 A Yes, sir. 11 Q And it's hard to tell when a person's in shock and 12 when they're not. Isn't that true also? 13 A In some cases. 14 Q People will exhibit shock differently; isn't that 15 true? 16 A Yes, sir. 17 Q You know that from medical training, don't you, sir? 18 A Yes, sir. 19 MR. CARLSON: Bear with me a minute, Your 20 Honor. That's all we have, Your Honor. 21 THE COURT: Redirect. 22 ---------------------------------------------------------- 23 REDIRECT EXAMINATION 24 BY MR. CORGAN: 25 Q Mr. Slack, you say you don't have any particular DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
247 1 training or expertise in the area of psychology. 2 What about do you have any experience in having 3 contact with people or families of people who have 4 undergone some type of traumatic experience? 5 A Yes, sir. 6 Q And would that be through your EMT training? 7 A Yes, sir, it would. 8 Q And how did the defendant appear to you in regard to 9 the observations you made of him in regard to your EMT 10 training and having been in those situations before? 11 MR. CARLSON: Objection, Your Honor. 12 That's been asked and answered. We simply asked if he had 13 training in psychology and other areas. 14 THE COURT: He has already answered it. 15 Q (By Mr. Corgan) Now, Officer Slack, I believe you 16 said that it depends on the crime scene as to how many 17 people you have in there? 18 A Normally, yes, sir. 19 Q What do you mean by that? 20 A Well, if you have a rather large crime scene, you're 21 going to need a little more security on it and depending 22 what all happens as to how many investigators you're going 23 to want. 24 MR. CORGAN: That's all. Thank you. 25 MR. CARLSON: That's all we have, Your DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
248 1 Honor. 2 THE COURT: Thank you, Officer Slack. 3 MR. CORGAN: Your Honor, might he be 4 finally excused? 5 THE COURT: Yes. 6 MR. CARLSON: Your Honor, we have -- I 7 think we subpoenaed Mr. Slack. 8 But he can go back, if he'll just remain on 9 call, he can go back on duty or on vacation or to his 10 home, whatever he wants to do. 11 THE COURT: Be on call. Next witness. 12 MR. CORGAN: Your Honor, we call Herb 13 Cline. 14 MR. CARLSON: Your Honor, may we approach 15 the bench? 16 (AN OFF-THE-RECORD DISCUSSION WAS HELD AT THE 17 BENCH OUT OF THE HEARING OF THE JURY) 18 -----------------------------------------------------
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