Witness tells court of Luddon death threat ™.XJfclLU SEP 11 7986

MARTINEZ - A key witness in the slaying trial of James For­rest Luddon said yesterday she did not contact police after she discovered her home spattered with blood because Luddon had earlier threatened her with the same fate as his alleged victim.

Luddon, 36, of Richmond, is charged with murder and con­spiracy to commit murder in the death of Elizabeth C. Duarte of San Pablo in January 1981. John

^ap^;;)has admitted that killing, among others, and has implicat­ed Luddon.

The witness, Laura Norris, testified that she and her former husband, Tony Goularte, shared Luddon's home between Decem­ber 1980 and February 1981, and that Luddon told her Sapp want­ed him to "set Liz up." because she knew about another murder and was going to go to the police.

Sapp offered Luddon "thou­sands" of dollars to do this, she testified.

Duarte's skeletal remains were found in May buried on Walnut Creek's Lime Ridge.

Sapp, his hands manacled in

front of him and wearing dark glasses, asserted his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination yesterday before Judge Ellen James of Contra Costa County Superior Court.

Norris testified she heard Luddon tell Sapp on the tele­phone he had learned Duarte carried a small gun, and said tu Norris, "I've just turned myself an extra bonus for that informa­tion."

The week before Duarte dis­appeared on Jan. 24. 1981, Nor­ris said she heard Luddon tell Sapp that Duarte would be tak­ing her son to her parents' house that weekend, according to testi­mony.

When Norris returned home from working as a cocktail wait­ress at an El Cerrito bar at about 2:30 a.m. Jan. 25, she said, she found blood spattered on walls in the dining room, hallway, bath­room and on doors.

She immediately cleaned up most of the blood with a wash-rag, she said, but left some blood along the baseboards in the din­ing room and hallway, "just so i t could be used later."

By Manns Gomchalk The TrOHine c^"^

MARTINEZ — Slaying sus­pect James Forrest Luddon said yesterday he didn't know John '^app^as going to kill Elizabeth uuarte and that Sapp threatened him if he didn't do as Sapp asked.

Luddon, the only defense wit-s in his own trial in Contra ta County Superior Court, is rged with murder and con-acy to commit murder in the h of Duarte in January 1981. ipp too, is charged with

du irte's murder. Her skeletal r l i lains were uncovered in May ip he Lime Ridge area of Wal-ti\ Creek after Sapp led author-it ;s to the gravesite. He was ar-i-isted April 25 near Grass Val­ley and is awaiting trial on charges of killing Duarte and two Concord men last year.

Sapp asserted his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination Tuesday and re­fused to testify in Luddon's trial.

Luddon met Duarte when she came to work at Chevron Re­search, where he also met Sapp, and Luddon dated her for six or seven months before she ended the relationship.

Luddon testified Sapp ap­proached him January 1981. "He wanted me to bring Liz Duarte to my house for him."

Sapp didn't say why, Luddon testified, "but he threatened me if I didn't do i t . '

On Jan. 23, Luddon said, Sapp called him and asked him if he

had thought more about it. " I said I would do it," Luddoi

testified, "because he threatenei my life."

Luddon called Duarte the next night, asking her if she "wanted to do cocaine," and picked her up at 8.30 p.m. He drove her to ms home where Sapp was waiting. Duarte was confronted by Sapp who was hiding in the bathroom.

Luddon said he went into the garage to work on his car "be­cause I figured they wanted to talk." Sapp had said he wanted to get back together with Duarte.

Luddon re-entered the house about 45 minutes later, he said, when he heard the front door close. He had heard nothing, he said, and saw no one nor any blood.

" I went in the kitchen and walked out the front door." going to a bar, from which he returned about 2:30 a.m.

He was confronted then by Laura Goularte Norris, who lived in Luddon's house for a short time with her husband, Tony. She asked about the mess in the house. Luddon said he didn't know what happened.

Richmond police Lt. Michael Tye testified that John Sapp ad­mitted to him that he beat Eliz­abeth Duarte to the point ol semi-consciousness that night with such force that he split oper her forehead and could see hei skull.

„ S A T SEP 2.7 1986 ; , . Sapp pleads mnocent to three HtgS

MARTINEZ Jfi l inia£g>n-•tered a* not \guilty pVea~nn"Mt. Diablo Municipal Court yester­day to* three counts of murder • and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

,Sapp, 3S, of Walnut Creek, is charged with killing Robert Ed--win Weber, 35, of Concord, whose body was found in Colusa ' County in August 1985; Eliza­beth C.Duarte, 26, of RictunOnd.

in January 1981, and John Ed- ; ward Abono,. 22, of Concord, who disappeared in December 1975. • -Sapp is also suspected in a riiiniber of other slayiitgs, includ­ing that of his mother, Geral-dine,' wbo vanished frolm her Oroviile home in June 1985. \n Sapp was arretted April 29.- in Grass Valley, he was arrried with seven rifles and pis­tols and admitted to' several ki l l ­ings, aiithorities sai^., *

>lt..I>iabloM.unicipal Court. Judge J'bhii HAtzenbuhler set

• Feb. 9 ^ a preliminary hearings 'date.' ,

Jiack Ranch, deplity public de-• fender who isrepresenting-Sapp, sa d of'special circumstances in the case which could mean the deatSh penalty if convicted: "No one can be convicted of a crime

. if ;the only evidence is the'per­son's own-statement. I don'fbe-Ueve^it is enough for-special cirr

-cumstances." -t' '

Murder suspect * says he'll confess

T H D OCT 2 1986 , to more crimes By Lynn Kidder

RICHMOND - During a court hearing yestecd^y accused nnurderer John (gap£)said he plans to confess to more crimes.

His latest statement was a bi­zarre twist in the preliminary hearing to determine whether Larry Leroy Brownson, 38. should stand trial for the fatal shooting of Roger Dale Garner of Rodeo. I

Sapp, who has pleaded inno­cent to three muifders, made a surprise confession last August, saying he gunned down Garner,

Alter learning tiiat brownsuii faced trial for theishooting, Sapp said he decided tO;Come forward and take the blame.

Moreover, Sapp, 33. testified yesterday in Bay Municipal Court: "There are numerous crimes I haven't admitted to and I'm going to admit to."

But Deputy District Attorney Larry Barnes questioned Sapp's confession in Garner's slaying.

Sapp has not been charged in that case.

Before the hearing. Barnes said Sapp gave contradictory in­formation in confessions.

Sapp said yesterday he re­ceived $10,000 to either recover illegal drugs from Garner's Ro­deo apartment or to kill him.

He refused to divulge the identity of the person who paid him.

Sapp said he was accompan­ied to Gamer's apartment by a man he would identify only as

Suspect John Sapp Confession doubted

"Jerry." Sapp said Jerry fired three or four rounds at the vic­tim after Sapp had already downed him.

But Shirley Guinn, who wit­nessed the shooting, said Sapp was a foot shorter than one of the gunmen.

Guinn, Garner's live-in girl friend, testified that Brownsof' shot Garner and threatened (' kill her. She did not recogniJ the second gunman, she said. J '

More witnesses will be call^ in the preliminary hearing tl * is scheduled to resume at 9 a today before Judge Joseph Orr.

th

not at murder sceRe, witness testifies By Marine Go Th* Tribuns

[MV 1987

MARTINEZ - The girlfriend of a Rodeo man killed more than two years ago testified yester­day that the man who admitted to the shooting had not been at the murder scene.

Shirley Kay Guinn. a major witness for the prosecution in the murder trial of Larry Leroy Brownson in the shooting death of Roger Dale Ganier.-^aid she did not see JohpCgapp^t her .'jpartment the morning of Oct. 4, 1984.

She stated the first time she found out about Sapp was through a newspaper story her mother sent to her in Texas.

Sapp last summer allegedly admitted he was responsible for Garner's death. Sapp reportedly handed a note to Brownson while both were in a holding cell in which he took responsibility for the murder, according to Brown-son's attorney, Paula Gorelick.

Guinn, who had moved in with Garner within a week before the shooting, left the state under the Witness Protection Program.

On cross-examination by Go-lick. Guinn defended her testi-pny. She said she remembers "very ell what I need to remember." "What do you need to remem-sr?" Gorelick asked. "Who was in my apartment

lat night, who stuck a gun in my I ice and who killed my boy-t riend." i "Why?" asked Gorelick.

"Because I ' l l never forget i t . ' t3uinn declared.

Early Oct. 4. 1984. Guinn tes­tified, she awakened Garner, ^ying she beard noises. Taking 9 sawed-off shotgun he had re­

cently purchased. Garner went to investigate. Just after opening the door. Garner was shot.

Two men entered the apart­ment, firing several more shots at Gamer. One man went inlo the kitchen where Guinn was hiding and attempted to shoot her but was out of bullets.

Deputy District Attorney Lar­ry Barnes told the jury in open­ing arguments Monday that man was Brownson.

Gorelick denied it was Brown­son and said the prosecution's case is based on lies told by Guinn.

Sapp testifies he, not man c i trial, is guilty 0 kilhng By Marina Gottachalk Jh» Tribune

MARTINEZ - John(gapp3es-tified in Contra Costa Superior Court that he was paid to kill Roger Dale Gamer more than two years ago, a murder that Larry Leroy Brownson is charged with.

Sapp took the stand yesterday as a witness in Brownson's trial-

Garner was shot in his Rodeo apartment in the early morning hours of Oct. 4, 1984.

Law enforcement officials have expressed skepticism about Sapp's confession, saying it con­flicts with other evidence in the case.

Sapp said he confessed to Gar­ner's murder last summer "be­cause I killed Roger Garner."

"Is there any doubt in your mind?" asked defense attorney Paula Gorelick.

"No doubt in my mind at all," responded Sapp. ^

Sapp has been in custody since April on charges of murdering three other people in 1975, 1980 and 1985, to which he has con­fessed. He has been held at San Quentin since November. A pre­liminary hearing on the three murder charges is scheduled for February.

Sapp said he has been advised )y law enforcement officers that be is a suspect in as many as 20 Dther murders. : He testified yesterday that he las killed other people, some-imes for money, but has not >een charged with the crimes.

Sapp said he confessed to Gar-jer's murder last summer after le heard two men discussing the nurder, and who was charged vith committing it, outside his ;ell at the Main Detention Facil-ty in Martinez.

He sent a note to Brownson

See SAPpjpIge B-2

^**Mfir\rv Continued from Page B-1 i

I via another inmate, he said, say-ing he had killed Garner and that Brownson's attorney should con- i tact him. |

Sapp said he had not met I Brownson and had no contact 1 with him because Brownson was jj in "administrative segregation'* -j on the other side of the module.;

Sometime later the two men met in a court holding cell. They were introduced by another in­mate.

Sapp said he expected Brown­son to come at him, that he would be angry with him be­cause Brownson had been in jail for two years for a crime that he had committed.

"Brownson stood up, came over to me, hugged me and said 'Thank you,' then went and sat down in the corner."

Sapp said he was hired as a bodyguard and to accompany an­other unidentified man who was to "collect drugs, chemicals or cash from Garner." He was to kill Garner if there was a prob­lem.

Sapp was to be paid by a third

man whom he did not identify. " I decided to kill Roger Dale

Garner when he came out the door and pointed the shotgun at me," Sapp said.

Did he know prior to going to Garner's home that he would kill him? Gorelick asked.

"Truthfully, no. Only if there was a problem between me, the person I was with and Garner," Sapp responded.

He suspected it could happen, he said, because "from what I was told about Garner, his per­sonality, he was usually armed, on drugs and might have other people there who had guns."

Arrangements were made about two weeks prior to the' shooting, Sapp said. He was to be paid $10,000 for killing Garner, i

He drove down from Northern California — Butte and Plumas counties — where he had been, living about a week before the: shooting and was driven by Gar­ner's apartment in Rodeo, "to know what I was getting myself into, how the house was situat­ed."

On Oct. 3, Sapp said, he drove down again and parked his Ford

van at an observation point off Highway 80 in Vallejo. He was picked up by the man whom he was to accompany to Garner's apartment.

They drove to another uniden­tified man's house in San Pablo where, Sapp said, he acquired shells for his 12-gauge, pump-ac­tion shotgun. He was also armed with a .45-caliber automatic, which he wore under his arm in a shoulder holster.

Sapp testified he and the other man drove to the area of Gar­ner's apartment some time after midnight, drove around for about one-half hour while the other man checked out the area for cars, then drove back to Garner's apartment.

They went through an adja­cent lot and climbed over a chain-link fence.

Garner opened the door and was holding a shotgun, Sapp said.

Sapp testified he shot Garner from the bottom of the staircase leading to Garner's apartment, about 22 feet away. He saw Gar­ner fall back through the door- .' way. ;

He and the other man went up '

^ the stairs. " I wanted to see if he i was dead." f Sapp said he fired his "second ' shot into Garner's head."

The other man then picked up Garner's weapon and shot Gar­ner.

Sapp said he had received a portion of the money he was to be paid prior to the shooting and received the remainder a few

' days after the shooting, ff-

Sapp again insists he's the real killer * John (gappj stated repeatedly yesterday on the witness stand in Martinez that he — and not Lar-fy Leroy Brownson — murdered p.oger Dale Garner in October |«84. ' Sapp has been a key witness for the defense in Brownson's trial in Contra Costa Superior Court for the shotgun slaying of Garner in the victim's Rodeo apartment.

Sapp would only identify his partner as "Jerry," for whom he was to act as a bodyguard while Jerry collected drugs, chemicals or money Gamer owed him. He was to shoot Gamer if any prob­lems developed. Sapp said he shot Garner because Garner came out of the apartment and pointed a shotgun at him.

He would not divulge who hired him or who paid him near­ly $10,000 for Garner's murder.

Both sides close argumei s in weird killing tria By Marina Gottachhalk 7Tm Tiibunm

0>

MARTINEZ - The prosecution and de­fense yesterday summed up arguments in the unusual trial of a man who is accused of a murder that another man insists on claiming.

Larry Leroy Brownson, 38, has been on trial since Jan. 5, accused of shooting to death Roger Dale Gamer, 34, in his Rodeo apartment Oct. 4, 1984, and attempting to shoot Garner's girlfriend, Shirley Guinn.

John(Sapp^33, who is awaiting trial in Contra Costa County Jail here on three other murder charges, testified in court on Jan. 20 that he, not Brownson, committed the Garner murder.

But authorities have said Sapp's confes­sion conflicts with other evidence in the case.

Acting like an "anthropologist, archae­ologist and paleontologist," the prosecu­tion "uncovered the tracks of an animal

who for 2Vi years said Deputy Dist Barnes yesterday.. murder conviction

But defense at countered that th' presented evidence tions.

ed to cover them," t Attorney Larry ng for a first-degree 3rownson. ley Paula Gorelick osecution had not back up its conten-

tured Brownson as on penny-ante dope checks of a woman Id" in the woman's

ing released from

The prosecutor "living as a parasii deals and the welfa and her 2-year-old * San Rafael home aftci prison in August 198 >

He was a rival Garner, "another crankster gangster' rho was also out of prison and invading rownson's turf, said Barnes.

According to the . osecution's version, Brownson and an un entified companion went to Garner's aj rtment. Brownson shot Gamer from th*' )ottom of the stair­well as he came out th front door to inves­

tigate noises. He shot Gamer four more times and the other man also shot Gamer with his own gun. Then he tried to shoot Guinn, but was out of ammunition.

Guinn testified that it was Brownson, not Sapp, who came after her that day.

But the defense attorney contended that there was no evidence that Brownson was ever involved in homicidal behavior and that there was no proof for many of the prosecution's points.

What's more, said Gorelick, there was no evidence of personal contact between Brownson and Sapp or of communication through visitors — yet, Sapp confessed to the murder and provided police with de­tails.

"The only way Sapp could know what happened was to have been there,' said Gorelick, labeling the prosecution's case one of "speculation and conjecture and not proved by the evidence."

Victim's father testifies ii i Sapp murder hearing T U E FEB 10 1987

Tht TribUM

MARXU^EZ — The preliminary hearing of John(Sapp^charged with three murders to which he has confessed, began in Mt. Diablo Municipal Court yesterday with testimony from the father of one of the victims.

Manuel Duarte said the last time he saw his daughter, Elizabeth Corrine Duarte, 26, alive was Jan. 24, 1981, when he picked up her young son for a weekend visit. When he returned the boy the next day, his daughter was not at home and could not be located. He filed a missing person's report with the Rich­mond Police Department.

Sapp, 33, was arrc ed last April and Eliz­abeth Duarte's remair were found in May in the remote Lime K Mge area of Walnut Creek.

James Forrest Lu( on, 36, was convicted last September of Du. te's murder and con­spiracy to commit n: rder because he was paid to deliver Duartt

An autopsy showe<: times.

Sapp is also char ^ John Abono, 22, of Co ert Weber, 34, of Rod. found in August 19i

0 Sapp. be had been shot four

1 with the murder of ord in 1975 and Rob-whose remains were in Colusa County.

Abono's body has not been recovered. Sapp is also charged with special circum­

stances — multiple murders and murder for hire — which could bring the death penalty if he is convicted. Other charges include two counts of personal use of a weapon and a felon in possession of a gun.

Municipal Court Judge Mark B. Simons quashed a subpoena issued by Jack Ranch, deputy public defender, to get Erin Halissey, a Contra Costa Times reporter, to produce her notes of a jailhouse interview with Sapp during which he admitted the killings.

By Marina Gottschalk Th9 Tribune C*

MARTINEZ^— The widow of a man John(^apo^s charged with killing said yesterday in court that the last time she saw her husband, more than 11 years ago, was the night he went to meet Sapp on a drug buy.

At a preliminary hearing held in Mt, Diablo Municipal Court, Cathy Nelson said her husband, John Abono, 22, also known as John Nelson, left their Concord home about 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 22, 1975. He was going to join Sapp, "his best friend," to buy three pounds of stolen marijuana, she testified.

Abono was to be home by 8 p.m.. Nelson testified. He was looking forward to a duck dinner they had invited friends to share.

Nelson, eight months preg­nant, never saw her husband again,

She contacted family and friends and filed a missing per­son's report with Concord police the next day. After Abono's car was found, it was Sapp, the trust­ed friend, who drove her to the police station to discuss the case further with detectives.

Nelson said Abono smoked marijuana and used heroin, but was trying to get off drugs. He was temporarily unemployed because his foot had been crushed by a fork-lift at work. They lived off the proceeds of a

l ^ s t set up by his grandfather. me testified. I One of the last people to see ftbono alive may have been his friend Timothy Bowler, who tes-

fied yesterday that they went Ihristmas shopping at SunVal-ey Mall. Afterwards, he saw ibono park his car on Shasta Jourt, in front of the home of Jm Williams, another friend, a Bw blocks from Sapp's house. It iemained there that evening, he sstified. Also taking the stand yester

ay was Abono's mother, Debo-ah Abono.

. After offering a reward for in­formation about her son's

iwhereabouts, she testified, she weccived calls threatening th

ives of her two young daugh ers. , She even consulted a psychic.

"She told me he was dead an was buried on a dirt road i Clayton," the mother testified.

She hunted fruitlessly for hia( body along dirt roads in Claytonf for a week.

Sapp, 33, is also suspected of the murders of Elizabeth Duarte 26, of Richmond in 1981, an Robert Weber, 34, of Rodeo.

Trial order on murder i T h . w S A T F E B l 41987

MARTINEZ - Mt. Diablo Municipal Court Judge Mark R Siijjons yesterday held John

(Sap^to answer on three counts STTTTurder. two special circum­stances enhancements and ^ charge of being a felon in pos­session of a weapon.

Sapp. 33, has confessed to the three murders, according to au­thorities.

He is charged with the murder of John Abono, 22, of Concord, in 1975; his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth C. Duarte, 26, of Richmond, in 1981; and Robert Weber, 35, of Concord, in 1985.

The special circumstances — which make Sapp liable for the

M for Sapp harges death penalty If convicted — are for multiple murders and the for-hire killings of Duarte and Weber.

Sapp's attorney. Deputy Pub­lic Defender Jack Ranch, asked Simons to dismiss the charge in­volving Abono's death since the young man's body was never found, but the judge denied the motion.

Sapp has been jailed at San Quentin Prison since he was found to have a weapon Oct. 29 at the Main Detention Facility here. He has been charged with possession of a deadly weapon.

Simons set a Feb. 27 date for arraignment in Contra Costa Su­perior Court.

Sapp retracts confessions in three murders v^^iUnHMRl 1987^

MARTINEZ - John<§ap^33, who confessed to three murders last spring, pleaded not guilty to those murders Friday.

He is charged with the mur­ders of John Edward Abono. 22, of Concord in Decemt>er 1975. Elizabeth Corinne Duarte, 26. of Richmond in January 1981, and Robert Edwin Weber, 35, of Con­cord in August 1985.

Sapp was brought into the courtroom in ankle chains and with handcuffs attached to a waist chain, which remained on during his brief court appear­ance. Sapp also pleaded not guilty to two special circum­stances enhancements — multi­ple murders and murder-for-hire — and to pos.session of a concealable firearm by a felon.

Mt. Diablo Municipal Court Judge Mark B. Simons held Sapp to answer on the charges Feb. 13 after a nearly weeklong prelim­inary hearing,

Sapp will appear before Con­tra Costa Superior Court Judge Richard E. Arnason June 2 for a trial date to be set and for de­fense motions to be heard.

Judge ord WED*mJG5 1987

By Tbt Trlbuim ataftand n»w» »«rWc«it

MARTINEZ — A Contra Cos ta County Superior Court judj^' ruled yesterday that a newspy per reporter must testify am) produce her notes related to a jail interview with a man wh i confessed to three murders.

Erin Hallissy, a reporter for The Contra Cjista Times, inter­viewed John^SaE^^4, last yem while he was incarcerated in thr Main Detention Facility.

Sapp. who was arrested in Apri l 1986, was charged witii murder in the deaths of John Abono, 22, of Concord, in 197r> Elizabeth C. Duarte, 26, of Rich mond, in 1981; and Robert We ber, 35, of Concord, in 1985 Duarte was a former girlfrienii of Sapp's.

Jack Rauch, the deputy public defender representing Sapp, sub poenaed Hallissy and her inter view notes for the preliminary hearing in February. Mt. Diablo

rs reporter n Sapp caa to testify W e tliink the very basic privilege is at stake.'

— Contr."

Municipal Judge Mark B. Si­mons quashed the subpoena.

Rauch appealed that ruling and Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Norman Spellberg over­turned it yesterday.

The judge ruled that her testi­mony is necessary for Sapp to ho given a fair trial. Spellberg or dered the case returned to the lower court so the preliminary hearing can be reopened, with Hallissy's testimony to be taken Sept. 16.

Ernie Hines, editor of the Times, said it is "definitely our intention" to appeal.

"We think the very basic issue

sue of reporter

osta Times Editor Ernie Mines

of reporter privilege is at stake," he said.

The newspaper will argue that the ruling violates Hallissy's j rights under the U.S. Constitu- * tion's First Amendment and un­der the California Constitution.

Lucy Ablan, the attorney rep­resenting the reporter and the \ newspaper, said prior rulings in such cases protect Hallissy from having to testify unless her knowledge could affect the out­come of the case.

Rauch said Sapp has con­fessed to crimes he did not com­mit, and Hallissy's testimony \

T wil l point out inconsistencies in ' • his statements. i

Ablan said defense lawyers must prove they have no other source for such information. She argued that Sapp could recollect i'is conversations with the re-:)>>rte]^

The case could set a legal precedent. Ablan said. She said it IS the first case she knows of in California in which the death penalty is involved in the sub-•>oena of a reporter.

Sapp faces special circum­stances charges related to the multiple murders and because .authorities allege Duarte and Weber's deaths were for-hire killings. If convicted, he could ince the death penalty.

Rauch had sought to have the •harges involving Abono's death dismissed because his body was never found, but that request was denied.

Sapp has been jailed at San Quentin State Prison since a weapon was found on him at the Martinez jail Oct. 29.

^ §FtPp 3 ^ ^ ^ order WALNUT CREEK - The

Contra Costa Tinnes is appealing a judge's order that one of its reporters surrender her notes and testify this month about her interviews wiih confessed mur­derer ^ohm^a^p^ an attorney for the newspaper said yesterday. ' The emergency appeal, which the Walnut Creek-based paper said will be filed with the 1st Appellate District of the state Court of Appeal in San Francis­co today, stem.s from an Aug. 4 ruling that a defendant's right to

fair trial in a death penalty case is more important than a reporter's First Amendment rights. . Contra Costa County Superior

Judge Norman Spellberg said it would be "a travesty" to give precedence to reporter's privi­lege in such a case.

Oakland attorney Lucy Hab-lan. representing the Times and reporter Erin Hallissy. called the appeal "extremely impor­tant" because no California ap­pellate court has defined the scope of the reporters' shield law in a death penalty case. The shield law was elevated to state constitutional status in 1980.

If the Times loses the appeal and Hallissy refuses to testify at a Sept. 30 hearing in Contra Cos­ta Municipal Court, she could be held in contempt of court and sent to jail.

Reporter faces showdov/n in court today over notes »,n,.r,J£aS£P..3 0 1987

SAN F H A N C r s C U The state Supremo Court refused yesterday to intervene on be­half of a Contra Costa Times reporter whose notes of a jail-house interview are being sought by a lawyer for,-4*iple-murder defendant John&app^

The unanimous action sets the stage for a Municipal Court hearing today at which reporter Erm Hallissy could again be told to produce her notes and testify about the interview or face a jail

sentence. Hallissy's lawyer, John Carne.

noted that the Supreme Court was still considering the report-ers request for a hearing in the case and had simply declined yesterday to halt the Municipal Court proceedings.

One option for Municipal Court Judge Mark Simon would be to defer action until the court had considered the case, Carne said.

He said he still hoped that Si­mon, despite an unfavorable rul­

ing by a Superior Court judge, would "recognize that he has no power under law to compel dis­closure of the information."

Sapp, 34, of Concord, is charged with killing a Richmond woman and two Concord men, and with murder for hire in two of the killings. He could be sen­tenced to death if convicted.

A May 1986 article by Hallis­sy, ba.sed on a jailhouse inter­view, quoted Sapp as confessing to those three murders and sev­eral others.

Reporter declines to divulge notes, may face contempt action j n» .r^n[HUOCTl mi

CONCORD — A newspaper reporter politely refused yester­day to answer questions involv­ing a jailhouse interview with triple murder suspect John Sapg])despite a judge's orders to

" 3 0 S 0 .

Mt. Diablo Municipal Court Judge Mark Simons, who or­dered reporter Erin Hallissy to answer the questions, postponed action until Oct. 13 on whether to rule her in contempt of court for not answering and whether to send her to jail.

In the Contra Costa Times re­porter's May 9, 1986 interview, Sapp, 34, confessed to murdering several people, including three whom he is charged with killing.

His alleged victims were John Abono, 22, of Concord, in 1975; Elizabeth Duarte, 26, of Rich­mond, in 1981; and Robert We­ber, 35. of Concord, in 1985.

Sapp's defense attorney, Dep­uty Public Defender Jack Rauch, has said he wants use in­formation garnered by Hallissy during the Martinez interview to show that i t was inconsistent with information that Sapp gave to police.

Yesterday, Hallissy declined; to answer more than 20 ques­tions the defense lawyer askecj her about the Sapp interview.' Her lawyer, John Carne. con-J tended that the state and United States constitutions protect re-! porters.