Closing arguments begin in preliminary hearing in Korey Kauffman murder case

A prosecutor on Thursday said the “vigilante justice” that resulted in Korey Kauffman’s death started as far back as February 2011, when defense attorney Frank Carson stopped calling police to report burglaries on his Turlock property.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marlisa Ferreira told the judge that Carson had decided to set up a motion detector and snare intruders on his property, where he stored numerous antiques and pieces of scrap metal. As the burglaries escalated over the next several months, the attorney recruited others to watch over his property, the prosecutor argued.

“This is where the setup begins for what is about to occur,” Ferreira said as she presented her closing arguments Thursday.

Authorities say Kauffman, 26, of Turlock, was last seen alive in late March 2012 as he left the home of his friend, Michael Cooley, and headed to Carson’s property to steal irrigation pipes. Cooley’s Lander Avenue home and Carson’s Ninth Street property were separated by a fence.

Kauffman’s remains were found in August 2013 in the Stanislaus National Forest in Mariposa County.

Carson is being prosecuted with his wife, Georgia DeFilippo; her daughter, Christina DeFilippo; Baljit Athwal and his brother Daljit Atwal; and former California Highway Patrol Officer Walter Wells.

17-month preliminary hearing

A preliminary hearing for the six defendants began in mid-October 2015 and dragged on for 17 months, with breaks for holidays and scheduling conflicts.

The prosecutor suggested that items were placed on Carson’s property to entice burglars, including several irrigation pipes that Eula Keyes said she spotted a couple of days before Kauffman disappeared. Ferreira said Carson had created a flier that listed suspected thieves to target.

Carson and his wife encouraged her daughter, who lived on the Ninth Street property, to act as lookout, according to the prosecutor. Ferreira argued that Georgia DeFilippo instructed her daughter to call her, instead of police, if the motion detectors were set off by an intruder.

Linda Burns has testified about confrontations between her brother, Cooley, and Carson over the thefts. In the first encounter, she spotted Carson searching her station wagon for stolen items. She said Carson was pretending to be a private investigator and was “freaking mad.” In another confrontation, she heard Carson tell Cooley, “Just let me catch you on my property,” according to the prosecutor.

Ferreira also referred to an encounter Robert Jaquish had on Carson’s property sometime around Christmas 2011. Jaquish told a detective that a man jumped out of the bushes and grabbed him after Jaquish was caught, presumably trying to burglarize the attorney’s property. Before he got away, Jaquish said he saw a man with a rifle looking for him on the property. Jaquish later gave police a conflicting identification of the man with the rifle.

Patrick Hampton has claimed Carson recruited him to deal with thieves stealing from his property in exchange for Carson’s legal services and reduced bail costs. Ferreira said Hampton never followed through with the attorney’s requests “to take care of Michael Cooley.” He told investigators that Carson was tired of burglars ripping him off “and basically wanted to get a message out to them,” she said.

Perspective from both sides

The prosecution believes Carson recruited a group of people to send a violent message to burglars, which resulted in Kauffman’s death after he was caught stealing.

The defense says it is a case of wrongful prosecution by vindictive prosecutors intent on ruining a prominent Modesto attorney who has been successful in defending his clients. The defense attorneys have argued that the prosecution has presented numerous witnesses who have provided contradicting stories not supported by evidence.

Robert Lee Woody has testified that Kauffman was shot to death on Carson’s property during a scuffle with Baljit Athwal and Daljit Atwal. Woody worked for the brothers at their Turlock convenience store. Woody said Carson asked him and Baljit Athwal to get the people who were stealing from him.

Woody has also been charged in Kauffman’s death but has agreed to a plea deal in exchange for his testimony against his co-defendants.

The prosecutor also played portions of wiretapped phone calls between Georgia DeFilippo and her daughter, who told her mother about a missing-person flier for Kauffman and Detective Ken Barringer questioning her about Carson’s property and one of his tenants speculating that someone might have been trapped in a barn on the property.

“Don’t worry Chrissy, there’s certainly no dead body over there,” Georgia DeFilippo told her daughter.

Christina DeFilippo is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and being an accessory; the other defendants each face a charge of murder. The prosecution has already said it will only seek against Wells felony charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and acting as an accessory after the alleged murder was committed. Wells was released from jail Dec. 13 on $50,000 bail.

In late December, Judge Barbara Zuniga abruptly released Carson, Atwal and Athwal on their own recognizance after prosecutors revealed that they had located more evidence not handed over to the defense.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Closing arguments begin in preliminary hearing in Korey Kauffman murder case."