Defendant’s mother challenged on testimony in Korey Kauffman killing

Defense cross-examination on Monday challenged the credibility of a mother testifying about her son’s involvement in the death of Turlock resident Korey Kauffman.

Beverly Woody, Robert Lee Woody’s mother, says her son did not kill Kauffman. But she claims Robert Woody confessed to her that he was on Frank Carson’s Ninth Street property in Turlock, where Kauffman was killed, and that her son helped his co-conspirators cover up the slaying.

Defense attorney Robert Forkner on Monday morning asked the mother about her own criminal past. She confirmed she has been convicted of forging checks, receiving stolen property and petty theft in the early ’80s and mid-’90s.

“I’m not the one that is on trial here,” Beverly Woody said in court. “Do I have to answer this, your honor?”

The judge directed the mother to answer the attorney’s questions. She said those convictions happened long ago, and she has not been convicted of a crime since.

Her testimony is part of a lengthy preliminary hearing for Carson and five co-defendants charged in Kauffman’s slaying. Authorities say Kauffman, 26, last was seen alive March 30, 2012, leaving Mike Cooley’s Lander Avenue home. Cooley’s home and Carson’s property on Ninth Street were separated by a fence.

Carson, a prominent Modesto attorney, is accused of being the ringleader in a criminal conspiracy to thwart thieves from repeatedly stealing antiques and scrap metal.

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 believes this is a case of wrongful prosecution by a vindictive District Attorney’s Office intent on ruining Carson.

Woody says her son was called to Carson’s property on the night Kauffman was killed. She has testified that Carson arrived at the property. She said two officers also were there, including Walter Wells, now a former California Highway Patrol officer charged in the Kauffman slaying.

One of the officers took Carson to his downtown Modesto office to establish his alibi, while the other ordered Robert Woody to clean up the mess where Kauffman was killed on Carson’s property, according to Beverly Woody. But she never mentioned the two officers when she initially spoke to investigators.

Forkner on Monday asked the judge to listen to audio recordings of a series of interviews with Beverly Woody. The first interview was conducted before her son was arrested in March 2014, and the information she provided to prosecution investigators changed over the next year.

Woody initially told lead investigator Kirk Bunch that her son drove two men responsible for the Kauffman killing to the airport, so they could flee to India. “Robert ain’t no killer,” she said.

At that point, Bunch was trying to enlist her help in convincing Robert Woody to cooperate with authorities and tell them exactly what happened to Kauffman. Bunch told her that Robert Woody had already been secretly recorded claiming responsibility for Kauffman’s death and discarding his body.

“We want to make sure we get everyone who’s involved in this,” Bunch told Beverly Woody. “Frank Carson’s involved, and we have a lot of evidence to show that.”

But he warned the mother that her son would be considered for leniency only if he was completely truthful. “He would be the first one at the table, and we could work something out,” Bunch told her.

Robert Woody refused to cooperate, claiming investigators were “grasping at straws,” so he was arrested. He was in custody for more than a year before he changed his mind as his co-defendants were arrested in August. The prosecutor has said they are negotiating a plea deal for Woody in exchange for his testimony.

In an interview after Carson’s arrest in August, Beverly Woody told investigators that her son had told her that brothers Baljit Athwal and Daljit Atwal were involved in a fight with Kauffman, and that he jumped into the fight to try to stop it. She claimed her son said Kauffman beat up Athwal during the fight, and that Atwal shot Kauffman.

By then, Robert Woody had already answered the investigators’ questions. Bunch said he took Woody to Carson’s property, where he pointed to where Kauffman was killed.

Bunch also took Woody to the Pop-N-Cork liquor store in Turlock, where authorities say Kauffman’s body was initially buried before it was unearthed a month later and dumped in a remote area of Stanislaus National Forest in Mariposa County. The investigator told Beverly Woody that her son provided plenty of details at each location.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Defendant’s mother challenged on testimony in Korey Kauffman killing."