Magidson Takes the Stand (C. Champagne)

Monday August 15th, Michael Thorman, Mike Magidson's attorney, presented several character witnesses for Magidson. 3 witnesses were young women-- 2 girlfriends (both of whom said they had "gay friends" that knew Mike) and 1 childhood friend. The other 2 witnesses were the aforementioned "gay friends," who were actually friends of Magidson's girlfriends, neither of whom had known Magidson for any significant length of time.

The young women who took the stand all smiled and giggled at various times. Maybe they were nervous. Shabree Barton testified she had plans with Magidson the night of the murder. She tried to phone him that evening/early morning, 10 maybe 11 times. When she finally reached him, he said he couldn't talk. "Call me back in 5 minutes," she said. He did not call her back, she testified.

He did arrive at her house the following day, after burying Gwen, exhausted after the road trip, and all, needing a place to crash. He later described her nagging him, wanting to know where he'd been, why he'd stood her up. "Bugging" him, "nagging" him, he said. She testified he took a shower, ignored her, went to sleep.

On the advice of her attorney, they no longer communicate.

Another girlfriend Vivien Porter reminisced about their happy times, but admitted that although she lives in Dublin now (where Santa Rita Jail is located, where Magidson has been incarcerated for nearly 3 years), she doesn't visit him. "You know...I've been busy..."

The most unusual character witness was a co-worker of girlfriend Porter's, Ephren (sp?) Roman, who is a gay man, living and working "in the Castro, in San Francisco." He testified that he had written a letter to the judge in support of Magidson's bail.

Roman stated that he felt "safe" around Magidson, and wrote the judge that if Magidson were to secure bail, he would take him into his home.

Lamiero asked Roman on cross, "Did you really mean that?... I mean, you knew him-- how long? A total of 3 hours or so? A total of 2 or 3 lunches at work and a trip to buy hotdogs at Costco?" Lamiero asked , "How is that?"
Roman answered, "Well, there are many variables to this case."
Lamiero: "Like what?"
Roman: "Well, drugs and alcohol."
Lamiero: "In other words, Eddie/Gwen got what was coming (to her), right?"

Roman seemed flustered and answered "Incorrect."

Magidson took the stand in his own defense. He recounted early in his testimony a story about a sexual exchange he had previously, (prior to his involvelment with Gwen/Lida) with a trans woman, that Jason Cazares was aware of--that it was an old joke to them, smiling at the remembrance. I guess this was to tell us that he is/was not transphobic, and that these gay male friends of his girlfriends who testified are supposed to show us he's not homophobic.

Okay. Which is it? He attacks Gwen in a transphobic panic about his compromised straightness/masculinity, or because of his loyalty to his friends, or as he said over and over in his testimony and in his police interview--because his "mind just went blank."

I am reminded of when Magidson recounted his initial meeting with Gwen back in August 2002. He testified that he and Jason were on their way to meet some other girls, "one of them, "he said," had a little crush on Jason."

But when they saw Lida walking down the street, with a beer in her hand, they said "Hey! What's up?" Lida said she'd had a fight with her boyfriend, so they offered her a ride, and in Magidson's words, they "blew the other girls off" they were supposed to meet instead, to hang out with Lida, to take her to party at the Merel house. (Later, Magidson testified that Lida was reluctant to get in the truck with 2 guys she didn't know. But they reassured her they were "cool.")

Gwen's aunt, Imelda had to leave the court, as Magidson testified that Lida/Gwen" violated the sanctity of their place--the Merel home." The sanctity.

Magidson used language--after laughing about similar sexual behavior with others--that was hypocritical, and vulgar--and showed no remorse for his actions whatsoever. It was clear he did not/does not regard Gwen Araujo as a human being of any worth.

In light of his testimony, it is hard for me to believe that he was traumatized by his involvement with Gwen.

During the afternoon testimony, Thorman played the entire 2 hour + police interview with Magidson and Newark PD Detective Lovano. I wondered--is this supposed to make us feel sorry for Magidson? Is this another twinky defense? Why did Thorman make us--and the jury suffer through this?

It went on forever. Officer Lovano using every transphobic cliche in the book:
"Dude--did she have a weapon?"
"Dude--I'd feel the same as you, man."
"You know, those (transgender) prostitutes --they're always packing--did she have a knife, anything? Was it self-defense? You can tell me."

In my view, this went way beyond "Good Cop/Bad Cop." Folks wondered, "Who's side was he on anyway?" I had to ask myself, do all defendants in murder cases get this buddy-buddy treatment? I know that police use many tactics to gain the trust of a suspect, but it seemed like Lovano was suggesting ways Magidson could get out of his predicament.

Where was Bad Cop?

"You can tell me, man. Cos I undertstand. I put myself in all you guys' shoes."

I wondered if the officer put himself in the victim's shoes.

The videotaped interview finished at 4 PM.