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	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?

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	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.
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	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?

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	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.

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	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
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	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.

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	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

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	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
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	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


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	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.

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	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
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	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
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	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	-----------------------------------------------------


 

lh1998-99, 2000