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People v. Bell2/27/2003
't big." She was not good at estimating height, but "he was taller than the truck. He wasn't really tall, just average. About 5'5" is a guess." She did not recall telling the police that "the suspect at the scene was 5'5", 5'6", 150, 160 pounds, thin build[.]" In court she thought LeMaire looked like the female, but she was not certain. The male was "not a real thin person." It could have been Bell, but she could not be sure. Defense counsel asserted Bell was 6'1" and weighed 220 pounds; when Bell stood in court, Kidd said "I am really bad at weights and heights. It could have been him." "If you didn't tell me what he weighed, I would have said 150. I don't know." The trial court stated that he did not think Bell appeared to weigh even 200 pounds. Kidd agreed with the trial court: "He [Bell] doesn't look it [i.e., that heavy] to me. He looks nice."
Kidd did not recall telling the police the man wore a blue or black hat, and she did not recall a hat. When booked, Bell had a blue or black baseball cap in his possession. An officer testified Kidd reported the male had "a dark baseball cap." Kidd saw the man pull a light grey or white sweatshirt hood over his head.
Dr. Stacy Riffell was awakened by her dog and found a $350 Mongoose mountain bicycle was missing from her attached garage. She later saw it in the back of Bell's truck.
The police arrived and found LeMaire in the driver's seat of the truck. Deputy Lancaster, an expert police tracking dog handler, pulled up behind the truck and "noticed immediately that [LeMaire] appeared very nervous. She was glancing in her rearview mirror and appeared surprised at my appearance. [ ] She kept glancing at the gate to [Dr. Riffel's yard] and then looking back at the mirror, looking down in the truck, looking back at me." Deputy Lancaster asked LeMaire what she was doing, and LeMaire said she did not live there, did not know anyone who did, the truck had broken down "and her boyfriend had gone into the backyard to look for help." After Deputy Lancaster turned LeMaire over to Sergeant Toupin, she loosed her dog on a scent by Dr. Riffell's garage, and followed the scent and fresh foot tracks over several fences until officers found Bell hiding in some bushes. The scent led directly to Bell. When asked "But you don't know if that scent is attributable to Mr. Bell or is attributable to Mr. Timblin, do you?", she testified: "Yes, I do, because we found someone at the end of the track, and that's what the dog is trained to do." Had the dog crossed over another person's scent, "he's trained to ignore those scents and stay on the scent that he originally is tracking." Deputy Lancaster was certain her dog followed the proper scent, which, as stated, led to Bell. Bell resisted arrest until he was pepper-sprayed. He was not wearing a sweatshirt, but Deputy Lancaster testified fugitives often discard clothing to throw off tracking dogs (which are trained to disregard this tactic).
Meanwhile, Sergeant Toupin asked LeMaire what happened and she claimed Bell went into a backyard to urinate. She first claimed not to know how the bike got into the truck in which she was sitting. Then she said "some guys" put it there, but she did not know who they were nor where this event took place. After she was taken to jail, LeMaire made even stranger claims to Officer MacDonald: She thought she was in Folsom, and said Bell had been arrested in Roseville that night for being intoxicated on drugs. There were two "carloads" of people and she and Bell were in different vehicles. She claimed she and two men (names not stated) had been detained for questioning. She thought that was why she was in jail. She said nothing about Bell needing to urinate in Roseville. Alth
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