Friday, Jul. 04, 2008

Thompson cleared of killing Merced County girls

Atwater families shocked after 2nd trial of 1986 case

MERCED -- A man accused of killing two Merced County girls more than two decades ago was found not guilty Thursday.

Robert Thompson, 43, accused of killing 12-year-old Jodi Ragsdale and 15-year-old Sheila Carter in 1986, wept as a court clerk read the verdicts in his second trial.

Less than an hour later, he walked out of the Merced County Jail, where he's been held for two years, and into the embrace of his wife, Angie. Seated in the passenger seat of a black sport utility vehicle, Thompson said he hopes the killer will be brought to justice.

Thompson, a reputed Hell's Angel, faced life in prison had he been convicted on either first-degree murder charge.

Carter's and Ragsdale's friends and family members cried and gasped as the verdicts were read. Friends held Carter's mother, Pat Gulnac, trying to console her.

"It's sad that two girls are dead and the murderer is going to walk free," said John Wetzel, Ragsdale's uncle. "They are never going to try this case again, obviously."

Thompson's first trial in February ended in a hung jury. The eight women and four men on Thompson's second jury left without comment Thursday.

The killings, which occurred during the early morning hours of Dec. 13, 1986, shocked Atwater residents. The battered bodies of the girls were discovered along the shoulder of Campodonica Road.

Thompson was arrested Aug. 18, 2006. The murder weapon, a car jack, was determined to have blood on it with Carter's DNA. The car jack was found in a white 1965 Mercury Comet that investigators said belonged to Thompson at the time of the murders.

Randy Thomas, Thompson's attorney, emphasized during the trial that no DNA, fingerprints or hair from Thompson were found on any of the evidence.

"You could never put the murder weapon in my client's hands at all," Thomas said. "You couldn't prove who put that weapon in the trunk. You couldn't tie him to this case, scientifically or otherwise, as far as I am concerned. The integrity of the evidence told it all."

Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II expressed disappointment with the verdicts. saying Thompson will have to answer to a "higher authority.

"We remain convinced that we had the right guy."

Deputy District Attorney Mark Bacciarini, who handled the case with Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Moranda, said he respected the jury's decision.

"Of course, we're disappointed. Mr. Moranda and I believed in our case," Bacciarini said. "It's not for Mr. Moranda and I to decide his guilt or innocence. That's up to the jury."

Prior to their deaths, the girls had been joy riding after midnight and had spoken briefly with Thompson outside a bowling alley.

Thompson said he had told the girls to go home and had not seen them again.

The last time the girls were seen alive was at a 7-Eleven on Winton Way about 4 a.m. Their bodies were discovered about five hours later.

During the two-week trial, Thompson's ex-girlfriend Becky Tilton testified that she saw him crawl through the bedroom of their residence covered in blood the morning of the murders.

A woman whom Thompson was convicted of abducting 10 days after the murders also testified, saying that he admitted during the abduction that he had killed two girls. Thompson was sentenced to 14 years for the kidnapping in 1987 and served seven years.

Thompson's defense took aim at the murder weapon itself, arguing that Merced County sheriff's deputies botched the chain of custody on the car jack and couldn't produce the warrant that led to the discovery of the murder weapon in the Comet's trunk.

Thomas said there were questions about how the car jack turned up in the Comet's trunk, particularly because the car wasn't in Thompson's possession for 19 days before it was seized by investigators.

Department of Justice investigators never found any blood inside the mobile home where Thompson had lived with Tilton, Thomas said.