Affidavit lays out theory of Korey Kauffman killing

A detailed, sometimes rambling arrest affidavit lays out the case: Modesto defense attorney Frank Carson and eight other suspects – including one former and two current California Highway Patrol officers – conspired to murder Korey Kauffman, a scavenger and thief who prosecutors say was killed March 31, 2012, on Carson’s property in Turlock.

But attorneys for the defendants have criticized the 326-page affidavit since authorities made it public earlier this month. They call it a collection of confusing, garbled circumstantial evidence used by prosecutors and police in a personal vendetta against a prominent defense attorney who had been successful in court.

“The idea of Frank being involved in something like this is absolutely absurd,” said Stephen Krimel, a defense attorney who said he’s assisting Carson with his case. “This is a man who makes $250 an hour and he’s going to whack some clown behind some stolen pipe. I don’t think so.”

Carson is accused of orchestrating a criminal conspiracy that resulted in Kauffman’s death and the cover-up of his murder. Investigators say Carson was frustrated after years of metal thefts from his property, so he gathered a small group of accomplices to search for thieves and send them a message.

Prosecutors on Friday declined to discuss the affidavit, the three-year investigation into Kauffman’s disappearance and death or criticism from Carson’s supporters.

“Both the prosecution and defense are entitled to a fair trial in a court of law where all the evidence may be presented to a neutral jury,” said John Goold, a spokesman for the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office. “It would be unethical for us to comment publicly on the facts of this case when it may impact the potential jury pool.”

The details in the affidavit were used to obtain the arrest warrants for the defendants, but it’s apparently not all the evidence gathered. Prosecutors have said in court there are about 10,000 pages of discovery evidence and a list of a few hundred potential witnesses.

As attorneys argued last week, investigators and an independent attorney searched Carson’s downtown Modesto law office. Madera Superior Court Judge Mitchell Rigby, who signed the search warrant, appointed the Fresno-based attorney to act as a “special master” to preserve attorney-client privilege.

“We facilitated the service of a search warrant conducted by the special master, and I was in the office with him,” said Stanislaus County sheriff’s Detective Cory Brown, who also authored the affidavit. “We were later accompanied by (Carson attorney Percy) Martinez’s private investigator, who was in the office with us and observed what we were doing.”

Any evidence relevant to the Kauffman murder investigation would be handed over to the Madera County judge, who determines what should be released to investigators.

“Frank has 71 cases pending and none of them have anything to do with this case so the special master is there to make sure no one peeked into the special privileges of his clients,” Krimel said.

Listed as evidence sought in the search warrant were cellphones, computers, iPads, writings, logs, news articles or other items referencing the Kauffman murder or the investigation.

Krimel questioned the timing of the search.

“Why is it in the course of a three-and-a-half-year investigation the office was not searched but only after Georgia and Frank are in custody?” Krimel said. “The whole thing is just nonsense, and ultimately it will be proved nonsense, but that doesn’t help Georgia and Frank right now.” Carson’s wife, Georgia DeFilippo, also faces charges in the case.

The investigators at the law office also were looking for a .22-caliber rifle and ammunition. Authorities didn’t find a rifle, but the special master took four computers, including one from inside a safe.

Case has convoluted history

Hunters discovered Kauffman’s remains in a remote area of the Stanislaus National Forest in Mariposa County on Aug. 19, 2013, more than a year and a half after his disappearance. Authorities have not publicly disclosed the cause of his death. Investigators found an expended bullet with his remains, according to the arrest affidavit.

In December 2013, state Department of Justice criminalist Heidi Elliott notified investigators that degraded, partial results indicating a mixture of DNA from at least two people was found on a portion of the apparent tissue removed from the spent bullet.

Five of the nine defendants, including Carson, could face capital murder charges if prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty. The case is eligible for the death penalty based on a special-circumstances allegation that the murder was committed while lying in wait for the victim.

Carson’s wife is one of the other defendants who face a capital murder charge. Her attorney, Tim Pori, has said there was nothing in the affidavit that shows her culpability in Kauffman’s death. He said all he found was a joke his client made about killing a cat.

Investigators discovered text messages sent Oct. 12, 2011, in which Carson’s wife and her daughter discussed a motion detector activated at Carson’s Ninth Street property in Turlock, where the daughter lived and the attorney stored scrap metal and antiques.

DeFilippo’s daughter, Christina Anne DeFilippo, texted that she hoped a cat had activated the motion detector. Her mother then told her they needed to shoot that cat. Her daughter replied “no” but wrote that it would be OK to shoot a raccoon.

Investigators suggested in the affidavit that these messages were further evidence they were using the motion detector to catch people stealing from the property at night, and the reference to shooting the cat leads to a conclusion that they were armed while trying to catch intruders.

Christina Anne DeFilippo is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and being an accessory. She was studying at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., when local investigators questioned her as part of the Kauffman murder investigation. She told them the investigation was a vendetta against Frank, because he was winning cases and shining a spotlight on police corruption.

“DeFilippo said she was sorry but Frank is a good guy, and she did not think he could hurt a fly,” according to the affidavit.

The investigators told the daughter they had not tied anybody else to Kauffman’s disappearance. They had recovered Kauffman’s remains that month, and the evidence at the scene led them to believe he was murdered. They also told her that their investigation led them to Carson’s property.

On July 16, 2012, police wiretaps intercepted a phone call in which Carson told his wife about the search warrants served at his property the day before, according to the affidavit. His wife’s first question was, “Did they find any bodies?” The investigators said she did not appear to be joking.

Carson’s answer to his wife was, “No, hell no. There isn’t any.” She then asked about investigators. “OK, are they done with us then, or... ?” Carson replied, “No, I don’t think we’re, they’re done with us by a long shot.”

Robert Lee Woody was the first person arrested and charged in Kauffman’s death. He has been in custody since last year, but was moved to an out-of-county facility for his safety after the Aug. 14 arrests of the others.

Brothers draw authorities’ attention

Investigators suggest that Woody was being paid off to keep quiet about a conspiracy by Baljit Athwal and Daljit Atwal. The brothers, who spell their last names differently, own the Pop-N-Cork Liquor stores in Turlock. The brothers are charged with murder and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Intercepted phone calls indicate Woody and his family said they were receiving money or other aid from the brothers, according to the affidavit. Woody was apparently receiving this financial assistance while incarcerated, even after the brothers were aware Woody had spoken to investigators and implicated them in Kauffman’s killing. The investigators suggested that money caused Woody to change his story, telling them the brothers had nothing to do with the death.

A confidential informant linked the Turlock store owners to the husband of a bailiff, who no longer works for the Sheriff’s Department. The informant told investigators that Danny Martinez works for a Turlock garbage company and is friends with the brothers. The informant was discussing the Kauffman investigation with Daljit Atwal, and Martinez was behind the counter helping at the store.

The informant said Martinez would stop the discussion as if “shielding” Daljit Atwal from answering specific questions about the investigation, according to the affidavit. The informant also told investigators that Martinez patted down the informant to make sure the conversation wasn’t secretly being recorded.

Martha Carlton-Magaña, Baljit Athwal’s attorney, has said her client is innocent and that authorities have invented a circumstantial case based on claims from a few drug-addled thieves and felons.

Martinez told the informant that he was married to Adrian Martinez, a sheriff’s deputy working as a bailiff in Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Scott Steffen’s courtroom.

The investigators say they discovered the bailiff searched her husband’s name and the names of the Turlock brothers in a confidential law enforcement database. The database provides information, including criminal records, warrants, concealed weapons permits and restraining orders. Law enforcement members are allowed to search the database only for official business.

The affidavit indicates the bailiff searched for her husband’s name and the names of the Turlock brothers on March 10 and 19, and April 30, 2014, not long after news of Woody’s arrest and searches of the Turlock brothers’ home and store was published in The Modesto Bee. Investigators say the brothers had no pending cases in this county at the time, and there was no legitimate reason for the bailiff to search their names in any law enforcement database.

The investigators later questioned the bailiff about her husband’s friendship with the Turlock brothers. The bailiff told the investigators she never searched their names or her husband’s name in the database. The affidavit indicates the investigators believe Adrian Martinez provided false statements about the investigation and the database searches and forwarded that information to the sheriff’s internal affairs investigators.

Adrian Martinez on Friday declined to comment about the affidavit and the allegations made about her and her husband.

Sheriff Adam Christianson said Friday that Adrian Martinez no longer works for his department. When asked about the allegations that implicate one of his former deputies, the sheriff said it would be inappropriate to comment on the case or personnel matters.

The case returns to Stanislaus Superior Court on Tuesday for a continued arraignment.

This story was originally published August 22, 2015 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Affidavit lays out theory of Korey Kauffman killing."