Craig Isom — Direct/Cross/Redirect
258 linesJUDGE WHEELER: Defense may call its next witness.
MR. DECOSTE: I'm going to walk up and get him. It's going to be Craig Isom.
JUDGE WHEELER: Okay.
JUDGE WHEELER: Good morning. We are going to swear you in again.
COURT CLERK: Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
CRAIG ISOM: I do.
JUDGE WHEELER: Thank you. You may proceed.
MR. DECOSTE: Hello again, Mr. Isom.
CRAIG ISOM: Hello.
MR. DECOSTE: Investigator.
CRAIG ISOM: Or retired investigator.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes, sir.
MR. DECOSTE: I want to pivot in reference to Ms. Magbanua.
MR. DECOSTE: When you testified for the government, you talked about circumstantial evidence. Remember that?
CRAIG ISOM: I guess vaguely.
MR. DECOSTE: One of the pieces of circumstantial evidence was the cash deposits, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And the theory was that it was payment for murder, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You'd agree with me that you can't say the source, correct? And this is in relation to her work at nightclubs. So you can't say the source because there was not a full investigation of the nightclubs, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Correct.
MR. DECOSTE: By you, there was actually zero investigation.
CRAIG ISOM: Correct.
MR. DECOSTE: And there's no reason why you didn't investigate. It was just an oversight.
CRAIG ISOM: Correct.
MR. DECOSTE: You agree with me too that you made many trips to South Florida for other investigative purposes.
CRAIG ISOM: I don't know how you define "many," but we were down there a number of times.
MR. DECOSTE: Do you know who Juan Marcos Vegas is?
CRAIG ISOM: I've heard this name during the state's case that you provided. I do not know him.
MR. DECOSTE: Did you ever meet with him?
CRAIG ISOM: No.
MR. DECOSTE: Is it your understanding that at the time he was a Latin Kings probationer?
CRAIG ISOM: I don't know him. I don't have any background on him.
MR. DECOSTE: All right. Now, you do know who Investigator Jason Newland is, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: So you were an investigator for Tallahassee Police Department.
MR. DECOSTE: Jason Newland is an investigator that is law enforcement but works for their office.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You received no information from him with respect to any information that Juan Marcos Vega had, right?
CRAIG ISOM: I recall that there was a communication between myself and Newland about someone in Central Florida. I do not recall the name, and to my understanding, whatever he found out, I don't have knowledge of.
MR. DECOSTE: Based on whatever information Investigator Newland gives to you, that would dictate what work you do, right?
MR. DECOSTE: Let me ask that a different way. If he doesn't tell you that there's somebody that has potential information about the case, it's natural that you're not going to investigate it, right?
CRAIG ISOM: I missed half of that. Are you saying that I would not investigate if someone told me there's something pertaining to the case?
MR. DECOSTE: Back up and I'll ask. Okay. So Jason Newland doesn't tell you about the importance of Juan Marcos Vega. Is it... is it been expected that you're not going to investigate something that's not important?
CRAIG ISOM: Like I said there was somebody in Central Florida, I just recall that. I don't know if that was the name, and I did not do anything as far as investigating this person you're talking about, this Vega.
MR. DECOSTE: If you were told it was important, you would have investigated.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: All right. That's the way that I should ask.
CRAIG ISOM: Okay.
MR. DECOSTE: Now, on your direct exam, on your redirect examination — and I wasn't able to get up and ask you more questions — uh, you talked about Ms. Magbanua.
MR. DECOSTE: Was alleged there was — there was testimony to flight.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: On cross-examination I asked you, and I went through a series of things, like, you know, the PC affidavits, 2020 special, and you agreed with me that she didn't flee. She did not flee the county, flee the country, or anything like that. All right. What she did was she moved, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes. I, from my understanding, she moved to her brother's home in this place.
MR. DECOSTE: This is subsequent to Sigfredo Garcia, the father of her children, being arrested, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Correct.
MR. DECOSTE: All right. So he gets arrested, she moves in with her brother, right?
CRAIG ISOM: I, I don't know for a fact she moved in with her brother, but I knew it was somewhere in South Broward County.
MR. DECOSTE: Okay. Just want to make sure we're not talking about — she fled the state, law enforcement, because the word "flee," you would agree with me, has a connotation to it.
CRAIG ISOM: Yeah, it could be a lot of different things. I mean, fleeing from one house to another house next door, fleeing three miles down the road, fleeing halfway across the country. To say that she packed up and never returned wouldn't be accurate of what happened.
MR. DECOSTE: She packed up and moved to another address, right?
CRAIG ISOM: That's correct.
MR. DECOSTE: Now, May 2016, you went to that house, right?
CRAIG ISOM: May of 2016, yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You went to the first house that you moved out.
CRAIG ISOM: I went to the house on 122nd Street.
MR. DECOSTE: Now, this is the same day that other law enforcement are out speaking to Sigfredo Garcia, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Correct.
MR. DECOSTE: Sorry about that.
MR. DECOSTE: So at the same time law enforcement is speaking to Sigfredo Garcia, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You and a Miami Beach Police Department detective go to Captain McManus' house and you knock on the door.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Were you in uniform?
CRAIG ISOM: No.
MR. DECOSTE: What were you wearing?
CRAIG ISOM: Civilian clothing with a Tallahassee Police Department badge displayed on my belt, clearly visible.
MR. DECOSTE: You would agree with me that you didn't do anything letting her know that you were there for her?
CRAIG ISOM: Specifically for her, no. I just know that I was told because of the wire, the phone, that she was stating to a third party that the police are out front.
MR. DECOSTE: So you'd agree with me that when you're knocking on the door, she doesn't know that you are there to speak to her?
CRAIG ISOM: Specifically to her, no. We're looking for a response at the door.
MR. DECOSTE: Now, at the same time, and you just referenced those intercepts, at the same time on those intercepts, she knows that Sigfredo Garcia is getting questioned by the FBI, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Let's now go to our last topic, Louis Rivera. October 4, 2016, his statement is recorded, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: September 30, 2016, you agree it was not recorded, but it could have been.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And should have. I'm not going to say that that was instructed by the State Attorney's Office not to record it. This office?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: What did Louis Rivera tell you about when he found out there was going to be a murder? When
CRAIG ISOM: They were en route on the first trip in June, the first attempt, when they were on the way to Tallahassee from Miami.
MR. DECOSTE: All right, Investigator, you — you wrote a report summarizing what he told you on September 30, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Do you have that report with you?
CRAIG ISOM: Not right here.
MR. DECOSTE: Did he not tell you — did you not write that he told you it was before the June trip, before leaving Miami?
CRAIG ISOM: I recall that the original trip was for a robbery, because he specifically states that's his specialty — he robs drug dealers.
MR. DECOSTE: Investigator, would a refresher of recollection — to take a look at the report — for what he told you about when you learned?
CRAIG ISOM: Yeah. Reviewed.
CRAIG ISOM: It. Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: He told you they learned about it before the June trip, before leaving Miami, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: It's during departure. The date of departure is when he learned it was a murder. Yeah.
MR. DECOSTE: Investigator you would agree with me that if we had the recording, it would be the best way to interpret his words, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And what you wrote was not "on the way." What you wrote was: "Once the departure date arrived, June 2014, Garcia told Rivera it was actually a murder he was hired to do and wanted Rivera to commit the homicide."
MR. DECOSTE: "Rivera was promised $30,000 to commit the murder. After leaving Miami, en route to Tallahassee, Garcia provided more information."
CRAIG ISOM: That's what I wrote, and that was the way I understood it.
MR. DECOSTE: And you agree with me that what you didn't write was that it was on the way to Tallahassee that he was told it was going to be a murder?
CRAIG ISOM: It says "on the date of departure." You can interpret that as being driving on the date of departure, or "we haven't left yet and we're talking about it in the driveway."
MR. DECOSTE: Who did he say — who did he say did the hiring for the murder?
CRAIG ISOM: Rivera.
CRAIG ISOM: Rivera stated it was a mother that wanted her kids in South Florida.
MR. DECOSTE: He said that it was Wendi that did the hiring, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: I don't know if it was specifically Wendi. I remember it was a mother, a woman.
MR. DECOSTE: Who did?
CRAIG ISOM: Sure.
MR. DECOSTE: Your Honor, if I could approach — page three.
JUDGE WHEELER: Okay.
MR. DECOSTE: Told you Wendi did the hiring, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Eventually he uttered the name Wendi, yes.
MR. DECOSTE: All right. Now, he also told you on the June trip that Garcia drove the whole trip, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Emphasis on the word "whole trip" — or two words, "whole trip."
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You know what I'm gonna show you, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: What am I gonna show you?
CRAIG ISOM: Speeding ticket.
MR. DECOSTE: Now, he also told you that on this first trip, the June trip, that he never saw Professor Markel, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: No, it's not.
CRAIG ISOM: It's a citation.
MR. DECOSTE: You'd agree with me, though, that there is a citation.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And that citation would mean the obvious, which is that Luis Rivera was actually driving, correct?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Now, the other question — I don't believe you gave an answer — that he stated he never saw Professor Markel on the first trip.
MR. DECOSTE: If you don't remember.
CRAIG ISOM: I'm sorry.
CRAIG ISOM: I believe that's accurate.
MR. DECOSTE: He also tells you that on the murder trip, the July trip, that there was one gun brought, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Not two, correct? Next.
MR. DECOSTE: With respect to the call after the murder by Sigfredo Garcia to Katherine Magbanua — he originally told you that Garcia told him what was said?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And then he changed it to "he overheard"?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes. Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Nowhere in the September 30th statement did he say that there was a separate third trip between King Anthony and Sigfredo Garcia, right?
CRAIG ISOM: No mention of that. No.
MR. DECOSTE: The morning of July 19th — he told you he was at a barbershop?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: That Katie called him?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You've reviewed the call detail records. Luis Rivera actually called Katie, right?
CRAIG ISOM: I believe so, if I remember right. Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: There was no mention ever by Luis Rivera in that statement or any other ones but on that morning, everybody apparently had burner phones.
CRAIG ISOM: I believe Garcia's phone had already been disposed of, if that's what you're asking.
MR. DECOSTE: I'm going to get laser-focused with this one.
CRAIG ISOM: Good.
MR. DECOSTE: September 30, 2016 — did Luis Rivera tell you that Katherine Magbanua had a burner phone?
CRAIG ISOM: I don't recall that.
MR. DECOSTE: No, because you would have written it in the report.
CRAIG ISOM: Right.
MR. DECOSTE: You had always worked under the theory that Luis Rivera had his 8153 phone on him and that Ms. Magbanua had her 1312 phone number.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Luis Rivera never told you that he gave that 8153 phone to King Anthony to go do narrowing for him, right?
CRAIG ISOM: To go do?
MR. DECOSTE: To go pick somebody up. He never said that to you, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: One brief moment, Your Honor.
MR. DECOSTE: I can approach or treat the document. I've got one question. Mr. Isom, I just want to confirm. On the day that Ms. Magbanua was arrested, when Ms. Kawass was asking you for a copy of the arrest warrant, your testimony is that you didn't have it and you couldn't provide it, right?
CRAIG ISOM: I didn't have a hard copy, a paper version. I could have obtained an electronic version, but I did not have it with me at the time. I didn't have a paper copy with me.
MR. DECOSTE: So you had it in email, right?
CRAIG ISOM: I could have gotten it in email from Tallahassee. It could have been sent.
MR. DECOSTE: You didn't already have it from Investigator Bennett?
CRAIG ISOM: I may have. I mean, the warrant was already in the NCIC/FCIC system. It had already been entered in the computer system.
MR. DECOSTE: What we're talking about is you providing it to Ms. Kawass.
CRAIG ISOM: We never met. We never met to provide her anything. I was expecting her to call me after she met with her client at the Broward Main Jail.
CRAIG ISOM: Never heard anything back about that.
MR. DECOSTE: Mr. Isom, you would agree that on that day you're text messaging back and forth, you're talking on cell phones back and forth, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You don't have to meet in person to send somebody an email, right?
CRAIG ISOM: No.
MR. DECOSTE: You could have emailed it to her.
CRAIG ISOM: It was never requested. I didn't know.
MR. DECOSTE: Nothing further, Your Honor. Thank you.
JUDGE WHEELER: Cross-examination.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: You specifically mentioned to the defendant at the time of her arrest that we were looking to do a control call to Charlie Adelson?
CRAIG ISOM: No, that was not mentioned.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: We were asked about a few things in your report. I wanted to ask you again about — one was this issue about, did Rivera tell you that he learned on the first trip — a couple lines of your report were read to you, omitting this first line.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Could you read the highlighted point?
CRAIG ISOM: Okay.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Go ahead.
CRAIG ISOM: Read it out loud?
MR. DECOSTE: Objection? Is the witness refreshing, or just reading the document?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No, sir. He's reading the complete portion of the report that he was asked about in part.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right, I'm going to allow it. Since you read it out loud, I'm going to — so you can read the first sentence, which was before what was read. If you can center that. Okay.
CRAIG ISOM: "Garcia initially told Rivera about a high robbery he wanted to do with Rivera in Tallahassee."
CRAIG ISOM: "Once the departure date arrived, June 2014, Garcia told Rivera it was actually a murder he was hired to do and wanted Rivera to commit the homicide."
MS. CAPPLEMAN: You were also asked about—
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Here. Wendi. Did he say the name Wendi? Did he say — did Rivera indicate that he knew the name Wendi initially?
CRAIG ISOM: No.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So first he knew it was a lady, right? And then what?
CRAIG ISOM: Yeah.
CRAIG ISOM: "During more discussion with Garcia, while waiting to see the target, Rivera learned the ex-wife's name, quote, 'Wendi,' end quote, who Garcia said hired Katie to have her ex-husband killed."
MS. CAPPLEMAN: You know, not recording the first interview — there, you documented the first interview in this report, right? Okay, so if there was anything inconsistent with Rivera's testimony between this first report and the recorded interviews later, you would have documented that, right? Hold on a second.
MR. DECOSTE: Objection — speculation.
JUDGE WHEELER: Overruled.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: That's the purpose of a police report.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: To document what's said, what happens, what you observe, what you learn.
CRAIG ISOM: Correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I want to ask you about what happened when you went to interview Katherine Magbanua. I know we've kind of beaten this to death, but you attempted to interview her, and on that day, that's the day she left that apartment, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So she packed up and left the apartment the day of the interview attempt?
CRAIG ISOM: The interview attempt at her home, when I knocked on the door and she did not respond.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Yes. And she did not return to that apartment?
CRAIG ISOM: Not to my knowledge. Never stayed there again, no.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And after she left that apartment, police had a difficult time tracking her. We didn't know where she was staying, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: In reference to Rivera and the speeding ticket — Rivera initially, and really still, maintained what about the scene? What was his recollection of the scene?
CRAIG ISOM: He remembers it — that the ticket was given to him on the second trip when he was driving.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Well, he got a ticket in the Prius, right?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Maybe. I'm getting it confused.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Let's find the actual...
JUDGE WHEELER: 65.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right, so it's 65.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So what is the actual date of the tail? And what vehicle was he in?
CRAIG ISOM: The citation was issued on June 4th, 2014, 9:12 a.m. to Luis Rivera. The car is listed as a 2011 Hyundai four-door.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Yes.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes, he maintained that. I've never corrected him.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. He thought he got a ticket in the Prius, but it was actually the Hyundai.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So was the fact that he got a ticket in the Hyundai something that had been documented in police reports and provided in discovery?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So if Rivera was studying the reports to memorize them and regurgitate them, he would know that he got the ticket on the first trip.
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. But his memory was that it was the Prius and the second trip.
CRAIG ISOM: Correct. All right. Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Nothing further, Judge.
JUDGE WHEELER: Redirect?
MR. DECOSTE: So Rivera claims that Wendi hired Katie, right? That was your testimony, right? That, that — and I'll read it back. Garcia said — this is Rivera saying it — Garcia said, Garcia said, hired Katie to have her ex-husband killed. So Wendi, who Garcia said... I'm sorry, this, I've got to read your words here again: "Wendi, who Garcia said hired Katie to have her ex-husband killed." That's what you wrote, right? Can—
CRAIG ISOM: Can I look at it again?
JUDGE WHEELER: Yeah.
MR. DECOSTE: You would agree with me that it would be easier for us to have a recording than you trying to interpret your own work. Could you just direct me—
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Objection. Asked and answered.
JUDGE WHEELER: That's asked and answered several times.
JUDGE WHEELER: Okay. Can we repeat the question, now, please?
MR. DECOSTE: What you wrote about what Rivera said that Garcia said — Wendi, Wendi hired Katie, right?
CRAIG ISOM: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Has Wendi been arrested?
CRAIG ISOM: No.
MR. DECOSTE: Nothing further.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. Whose item is this?
MR. DECOSTE: It's my report. I'm figuring he's going to give it to me when he gets off the stand.
JUDGE WHEELER: Okay. All right. You are excused. You might be subject to recall, so still under the rule.
CRAIG ISOM: Okay. Thank you.