BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The trial of Jaqueline and Trezell West, the California City couple accused of murdering their two adopted sons Orrin and Orson West, continued for its 10th day on Tues, April 18.
The day began with Detective Paul Hernandez of the Bakersfield Police Department on the stand. Hernandez examined the surveillance video footage taken from a residence across the street from the Wests' home that was used as evidence in the case. When asked if he had viewed the footage, Hernandez answered "Once or twice."
During cross-examination, Alekxia Torres-Stallings, Jaqueline's defense attorney, pointed out multiple vehicles driving around the residence on the day the boys went missing, contradictory to some previous testimonies. She also pointed out lights inside and outside of the West residence turning on and off.
When asked about the vehicles, Hernandez testified that he did not document any of them in his report, even referring to the report while on the stand to be sure. Hernandez also did not note the lights and said he did not recall if he had seen the lights at the time.
Following this, Torres-Stallings finished her cross-examination, letting Victor Nasser, the defense attorney for Trezell, take over.
During his cross-examination, Nasser asked Hernandez if he had visited the California City home. Hernandez had not, as his job was to review the video. Hernandez also said that he did not know if anyone from the BPD had made the trip out to California City to confirm what was seen in the video. He was released from the stand shortly after.
BPD Detective Kyle McNabb was next to take the stand. According to McNabb, his job is to follow up on investigations. During this investigation, however, McNabb was tasked with gathering surveillance footage from businesses that Jaqueline and Trezell had been seen at in Bakersfield. The places he had gathered footage from were a Gasko Food Mart on East California Avenue, a Superior Grocers supermarket on Union Avenue, and a McDonald’s fast food restaurant on Weedpatch Highway.
The court was shown photos and video footage taken from the Gasko and the Superior Grocers before being let out for a 15-minute recess. After returning, the court was shown surveillance footage of the Wests' van taken from the parking lot of the Superior Grocers.
After the footage of Superior Grocers was shown to the court, McNabb explained that he was unable to retrieve surveillance footage of the outside of the McDonald's on Weedpatch Highway. He also explained that a crime scene technician, whom he referred to as Crime Scene Technician Jimenez, was unable to download the surveillance video taken from inside the fast food restaurant.
McNabb was then questioned by Nasser, during which he claimed that he was also unable to gather interior footage from the Superior Grocers location despite requesting it from the regional manager multiple times. He was then excused from the stand.
Philip Richardi, a detective with the BPD, was called to the stand following McNabb. Similarly to McNabb, Richardi was tasked with retrieving footage, this time at a Dollar General on South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard, formerly Cottonwood Road, in Bakersfield.
According to his testimony, Richardi was tasked with retrieving the footage from the chain store due to numerous purchases being made there. He retrieved the footage for four 2020 dates: Sept 12, Sept 16, Sept 20, and Sept 22. Richardi claimed that he only saw Trezell for each of the trips.
"At no point did I see anybody exit the van or anybody with Trezell West on that day," said Ricardi about Sept 12, 2020. He then gave similar answers for each day, eventually saying "Once again, the only person I saw was Trezell West. Nobody else."
Richardi was released from the stand shortly after and the court was let out for lunch.
