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Thread: Melvin Earl Forte - California Death Row

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    Melvin Earl Forte - California Death Row




    San Jose death penalty trial starts with bombshell recollection

    A seemingly minor witness who took the stand in a rare Santa Clara County death penalty trial dropped a bombshell Monday, linking the accused killer for the first time to the East San Jose carport where the young victim's bullet-scarred body was dumped.

    Ines Sailor's partially clad, shoeless body was found on New Year's Day in 1981 in the carport of an East San Jose apartment complex, the day after the 23-year-old woman disappeared from a party in San Francisco.

    Suspected killer Melvin Forte, now 60, lived in San Francisco at the time, though he worked at Langendorf Bakery in San Jose a decade earlier and "knew the streets," prosecutor Brian Welch contended.

    In his opening statement Monday morning, Forte, who is acting as his own lawyer, took pains to draw the jury's attention to the vague link between him and the city of San Jose, saying, "Working and homicide is two different things."

    But Monday afternoon that argument lost steam, as Forte began cross-examining San Jose housekeeper and artist Barbara Kelch. She was the assistant manager of the 142-unit apartment complex on Poco Way who discovered Sailor's body.

    Forte is currently serving life in prison on a murder conviction out of San Francisco. He became a suspect in Sailor's death after a positive DNA hit in 2005. If he is convicted, he could face the death penalty, in a rare capital case brought by the district attorney's office.

    Forte barely finished asking Kelch to recall the configuration of the apartment complex -- which she said included about six buildings spread over two square blocks -- when his question seemed to trigger her memory.

    "I remember seeing you," Kelch blurted, staring at his face.

    "When did you see me?" Forte asked in a skeptical tone.

    "Frequently," Kelch said, adding "in the afternoon, sometimes midday, sometimes early evening."

    Kelch acknowledged she had not identified him before during any police interviews or the preliminary hearing. No tenant records are available because the former apartment complex has been redeveloped.

    "I didn't recall you until I saw you today," Kelch said. "I'm an artist "... details are important to me."

    Adding insult to injury, Kelch didn't just claim she knew Forte.

    She also said she asked him once if he lived there.

    "You said, 'yes,' it was your apartment," Kelch said.

    She also testified that she suspected him of "suspicious activity" because he was much older than the people she saw him with and because his apartment had a steady stream of visitors.

    "I did not get a good feeling," she said, as the jury of eight men and four women listened closely.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_16...nclick_check=1

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    DNA in San Jose case not a magic bullet

    Only 1 in 62 trillion people are likely to have the same DNA as the person who raped a young woman in an East San Jose carport and left her bruised, bullet-scarred body behind.

    So "cold case" investigators logically thought they had struck gold with a positive DNA match a few years ago in the 1981 killing, and tests confirmed the unlikely match. But as jury deliberations began Tuesday in the rare death penalty trial of the man accused of the crime, it was clear DNA evidence might not prove to be quite the clincher the prosecution was counting on.

    The DNA evidence found on young German visitor Ines Sailer's body, bluejeans and red T-shirt was so old that the lab had to perform some unusually extensive tests -- which turned up a possible marker of a second man's sperm. No match has been found for that sample.

    The man accused in the killing, Melvin Forte, 60, who represented himself, argued that the "foreign" sperm proved his claim that he had consensual sex with Sailer, 23, early on New Year's Day in 1981. He argued that Sailer was kidnapped from San Francisco and then raped and killed in the East San Jose carport of an apartment complex on Poco Way by someone else.

    But his account -- that he had sex with Sailer in the booth of a San Francisco night club -- doesn't fit the timetable laid out by prosecutor Brian Welch. The club closed about 2 a.m., while Sailer was still out with friends at a New Year's Eve party, witnesses testified.

    Forte also argued that there was no evidence Sailer had been raped because of the absence of genital trauma. However, an expert for the prosecution testified that such trauma only occurs in a limited number of rape cases. Sailer's battered body was found shoeless, with her pants pulled down, her shirt pulled up, and riddled with five bullet wounds, including two shots to the head.

    Welch acknowledged to the jury that the evidence of another man's sperm made it unclear exactly what happened that night. But he presented the panel with three possibilities, insisting that each of them still proved Forte's guilt. Forte is currently serving life in prison on a murder conviction out of San Francisco, but the jurors have not been told about the conviction because it could prejudice their decision.

    Under one scenario laid out by Welch, Forte had an accomplice in the abduction, rape and killing. But Welch told the jury that if that were the case, there would probably be more evidence of the man's involvement, rather than the single DNA marker the lab found.

    Welch said it is also possible Sailer had sex with someone else up to a week before the rape. But that explanation belies Welch's own argument that Sailer never would have had consensual sex with Forte or anyone else but her boyfriend, whom she met when he was stationed in Germany.

    Welch said the most likely scenario is that the unidentified DNA doesn't actually exist and is only a "false positive." However, that argument carries some risk because it could raise questions about the general reliability of the DNA evidence, including the ostensible match to Forte.

    As of March 2009, there were more than 6.8 million offender profiles in the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, a group of federal and state databases that together have produced more than 87,400 cold hits.

    If the jury finds Forte guilty, there will be a separate proceeding called a penalty phase to determine his sentence. At that time, the jury would be told about Forte's prior murder conviction.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-cou...nclick_check=1

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    San Jose jury takes less than a day to convict killer in cold case

    After deliberating for less than a day, a jury Wednesday found a man who thought he got away with a vicious crime 30 years ago guilty of the 1981 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young German visitor, whose bullet-riddled body was discovered in an east San Jose carport.

    Melvin Forte appeared rattled by the jury's swift verdict, his dark eyes widening and skin going pale, as the weight of the decision hit home. Forte, 60, now faces the strong possibility that the same jury of eight men and four women who didn't need much time to find him guilty will decide to impose the harshest penalty possible for killing 23-year-old Ines Sailer-- death.

    Forte's conviction in the rare capital case by the Santa Clara County district attorney's office was a testament to prosecutor Brian Welch's ability to clearly explain complicated DNA evidence that under one interpretation, suggested Forte may have had an accomplice. But the jury still held Forte personally responsible, finding that he used a firearm to shoot Sailer on New Year's Day five times -- including an execution-style shot to the head.

    Forte is already serving a life sentence for a 1982 San Francisco murder, though jurors weren't told about the conviction because it could have prejudiced their decision. In the Feb. 20, 1982, killing, Forte approached a young couple who were total strangers to him. As the man was parking his car in a garage and the woman stood awaiting her fiancé, Forte came
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    up and shot her once in the back and again in her face. She survived. Forte then shot the man in the head as he exited the car. He died instantly. Forte was convicted about seven months later, in September of 1982, and has been behind bars ever since.

    Now, Judge Linda R. Condron is likely to decide Thursday that the jurors in the Sailer case can be told about Forte's previous conviction as they deliberate his punishment -- a prospect Forte clearly fears, judging from his argument to the judge about it Wednesday.

    "It's a guaranteed aggravating factor,'' said Forte, referring to his prior conviction in the same rambling, virtually incoherent way he represented himself during the trial. Forte argued that the prior conviction was illegal and the judge needed to read the 300-plus pages of trial transcript before deciding Thursday whether the jury could be told about it. But Condron appeared unimpressed, saying the question at hand wasn't whether the conviction was fair since there had been decades to appeal it, but that it occurred.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_16641881

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    Victim stands up to killer in cold-case testimony

    Thirty years ago, the memory of the man who shot her in the face and killed her beloved fiance left young Dawn O'Malley cowering behind locked doors, afraid to go out, unable to stop weeping.

    On Tuesday, a much tougher O'Malley confronted her assailant in court -- and this time she was anything but cowed. No longer a fresh-faced 28-year-old, she had flown in from the East Coast, determined to persuade a Santa Clara County jury to vote for his execution for another murder he committed.

    Melvin Forte, the killer who nearly destroyed O'Malley's life, was acting as his own lawyer, so their confrontation was face to face -- and he didn't make it easy. He peppered O'Malley with repetitive questions intended to cast doubt on her account of the 1982 carjacking in San Francisco that left O'Malley in critical condition and David Wallace bleeding to death on the floor of her apartment garage.

    But O'Malley, now in her late 50s, did not crack.

    "What did you do when he put a gun in your face," Forte asked, referring to himself in the third person.

    "Not he," said O'Malley, "You."

    "OK, what did you do when the person shot you?" he asked.

    "You shot me," she insisted, staring him down.

    O'Malley is the first of several victims scheduled to testify against Forte in his most recent case, including a prison librarian he tried to strangle.

    The hearing came after Forte was convicted last month in a rare Santa Clara County capital case of the 1981 kidnapping, rape and fatal shooting of 23-year-old Ines Sailer from Germany. The cold case was solved via DNA evidence.

    The same jury that convicted Forte in the Sailer case after deliberating for less than a day learned Monday that Forte also had been convicted for shooting O'Malley and killing Wallace in 1982. He has been behind bars ever since.

    If the jury votes for Forte's execution, he will join about 700 other condemned killers in California on death row. However, extensive legal challenges could delay his execution for some 20 years.

    Forte, aware of the possible delay, insinuated in his opening statement Monday that he'd probably die of natural causes before his case was final. "If you do (vote for execution), you do," Forte told the jury. "I'm 60. I'm not trippin'."

    Victim's voice

    Victim impact statements like O'Malley's have been allowed since 1991 under a U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned a four-year ban, but they remain controversial. According to a news report, recently retired Justice John Paul Stevens derides the practice as inflammatory in a book review set to be published later this month.

    O'Malley maintained an even tone most of the time Monday, describing fondly how Wallace sold his prized Austin Healy sportscar to buy her a "magnificent" diamond engagement ring -- and how medical personnel accidentally broke her finger while trying to remove the ring before surgery. Prosecutor Brian Welch said it is routine for patients to be stripped of all jewelry before an operation.

    O'Malley did come close to tears at one point, describing how she cloistered herself in her parents' house for about five months after Wallace was killed.

    "I had no one who could understand what I was going through," she said. "I didn't know anyone who had been shot. I didn't know anyone who lived in fear. I didn't know anyone whose wedding had been canceled like this. I didn't know anyone who witnessed the murder of someone they loved."

    Jurors reacted visibly throughout her testimony, sitting on the edge of their seats, wiping their eyes when O'Malley answered Welch's sympathetic probing. Some even winced when Forte posed repetitive questions about how she was able to pick him from a photo lineup and then a live lineup. "A face is a face, and I know your face," she told him defiantly.

    Close call


    Earlier this week in a dramatic turn of events, Judge Linda R. Condron had to decide whether to vacate the jury's guilty verdict, which would have forced prosecutors to retry the case.

    The crisis erupted after Welch revealed that he had received an e-mail from a woman who was a juror in a previous case he handled, suggesting that a juror on the Forte panel had spoken about the case in violation of the judge's strict and oft-repeated admonishment.

    The woman who wrote the e-mail came to court Monday and was questioned by the judge in a closed hearing.

    Condron wound up ruling there was no evidence of juror misconduct, saying, "I am absolutely sure there has been no impropriety that affects the fairness of the trial."

    http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-cou...ercurynews.com

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    Melvin Forte receives death penalty in 30-year-old San Jose murder

    To the end, Melvin Forte maintained his innocence, even as a Santa Clara County jury on Thursday decided he should die for kidnapping, raping and murdering a young German woman.

    The jury deliberated less than three hours before imposing the harshest penalty possible on Forte for the killing of 23-year-old Ines Sailer, whose bullet-riddled body was discovered on Poco Way in East San Jose 30 years ago.

    "This is a fitting punishment as the jurors correctly concluded the evidence in the penalty phase demanded the ultimate punishment," said Deputy District Attorney Brian Welch. "This defendant and his crimes did not warrant the gift of leniency."

    Throughout the case, Forte -- who acted as his own attorney -- denied that he had committed any of the crimes despite the weight of evidence against him.

    Sailer's case was solved a few years ago via DNA evidence. And, last month, the jury convicted him of the 1981 kidnapping, rape and murder of the German visitor.

    Forte is already serving a life sentence for a 1982 San Francisco carjacking murder in which he shot Dawn O'Malley and her fiance, David Wallace, in an apartment garage.

    Though Wallace died instantly, O'Malley survived, and relived the ordeal as she told the jury during the penalty phase of the Sailer trial on why Forte deserved to die.

    O'Malley was one of several victims who testified about Forte's violent past, including a prison librarian he tried to strangle.

    Court Judge Linda Condron is scheduled to sentence Forte on Feb. 23.

    If Forte is sentenced to death, he will join about 700 other condemned killers in California on death row.

    However, extensive legal challenges could delay his execution for about 20 years -- a scenario the 60-year-old Forte apparently was well aware of when he told the jurors during opening arguments that he would probably die of natural causes before his case was final.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-cou...ce=most_viewed

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    According to the prosecuting attorney, Forte's sentencing has been postponed.

    Dear Ms. Salazar,

    The sentencing hearing for Mr. Forte has been scheduled for Friday, May 6, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. in department 31, the Honorable Linda Condron. The hearing was continued at the request of Mr. Forte.


    Brian M. Welch
    Supervising Deputy District Attorney
    Homicide Team
    Office of the District Attorney

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    Judge imposes death penalty on man convicted of killing German tourist in San Jose

    After sodomizing, raping and executing a young German tourist; after firing a bullet point blank into another young woman's face and gunning down her fiance; and after sneaking up on a prison librarian to strangle her, Melvin Earl Forte was annoyed Friday.

    Judge Linda R. Condron wouldn't postpone her ruling. She'd put it off once to give him more time to prepare. But that wasn't enough for the condemned man.

    "I worked my fingers to the bones," complained Forte, who was acting as his own attorney. "I still have lots to do."

    But Condron had had enough of Forte's rambling. While members of the jury who convicted Forte last year of the cold-case 1981 killing of German Ines Sailer looked on, the judge ruled in the rare capital case.

    "The question isn't whether you are diligent in undertaking whatever it is you want to undertake," the judge said. "The issue is, what is the law."

    Under the law, Condron had to decide whether the evidence presented during the penalty phase of Forte's trial warranted the jury's recommendation that she impose the most serious possible penalty -- death.

    It took the jury less than three hours in December to support the ultimate punishment after considering Forte's record, including the 1981 killing of Sailer, which was solved by DNA evidence decades later; the shooting of Dawn O'Malley and slaughter of herfiance, David Wallace, in 1982; and the strangulation attempt years ago in prison.

    In a grave tone befitting such a serious decision, the judge noted she had spent "hundreds of hours" independently reviewing the record, weighing both "mitigating" and "aggravating" factors. She even took an extra 90 minutes Friday to read through briefs Forte filed at the last minute.

    The only positive factor she said she found in Forte's favor was that he has tutored inmates and played in a prison jazz ensemble. Otherwise, she said, he has essentially led a brutal and callous life.

    "Based on a careful and independent review of the evidence, the court finds the weight of the evidence supports the verdict of death," Condron said.

    The jurors -- including a patent attorney, a teacher, an aircraft mechanic, a security manager and an electrical engineer -- were gratified their decision was affirmed.

    "He's taken too many lives and ruined so many more," one juror said.

    If Forte is sentenced to death, he will join about 700 other condemned killers in California on death row. However, extensive legal challenges could delay his execution for about 20 years -- a scenario the 60-year-old Forte apparently was well aware of when he shrugged off the possible sentence during his trial, saying he would probably die of natural causes before he could be executed.

    Condron also ordered Forte to pay $11,447.53 in restitution to Sailer's family for such expenses as her funeral and coffin. Prosecutor Brian Welch said the judge also will allow the police to release -- after 30 years in the evidence storage room -- a ring with a small black stone Sailor's grandmother had given her, which she was wearing when her body was found in a San Jose apartment carport.

    The restitution to Sailer's family is largely symbolic since Forte has no means. But the killer disputed the issue anyway, demanding a restitution hearing that would prolong his stay in the local jail.

    Condron granted the hearing -- but set it for next week, meaning Forte will be bused within weeks to San Quentin.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-cou...nclick_check=1

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On June 17, 2015, counsel was appointed for Forte's direct appeal before the California Supreme Court.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...doc_no=S193769

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    On March 23, 2018, a prosecution response to Forte’s direct appeal was filed.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...xRICAgCg%3D%3D

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    Forte's direct appeal has been fully briefed before the California Supreme Court since August 20, 2018.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...xRICAgCg%3D%3D

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