Part 32

December 17, 1990, PEOPLE v. CLIFF ST. JOSEPH, 226 Cal. App. 3d 289, DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, HABEAS PETITION DENIED, Conviction For First Degree Murder Perpetrated by Torture Affirmed.

Overview: Appellate documents stated defendant, Cliff St. Joseph, was convicted of the murder by torture of John Doe No. 60, and the sodomy and false imprisonment of Ricky Hunter. At trial, the court permitted an accomplice, Mr. Bork, to testify under a grant of immunity to the charges.

As background, four people were arrested for disturbing the peace. One of the parties arrested, Mr. Hunter, had been taken to the apartment two days before by appellant. Ricky Hunter claimed St. Joseph and the others had held him against his will and assaulted him; there was talk of Satanic worship and the other three people had been speaking of "sacrificing" him. At the apartment he was restrained and repeatedly assaulted by appellant, Mr. Bork, and another person by the name of Mr. Spela. Bork was present in the apartment when the murder victim arrived. He left the apartment after he heard screaming from the bedroom and saw appellant slashing the victim’s chest.

A body was later discovered in San Francisco, California on June 15, 1985. "John Doe" had multiple stab wounds, genital injuries, and a pentagram had been carved into his chest. The court notes that there was "substantial evidence" that it was a sadistic, ritualistic human sacrifice consisting of whipping with a chain, slashing the victim's lips, dripping wax into the victim's eyes, burning and carving the victim's flesh with a knife, multiple stabbings, tying the limbs with guitar wire, and genital mutilations. The identity of the victim was never established. One of the offenders stated he had been present when St. Joseph had "John Doe" in his home and he helped St. Joseph dispose of the murdered victim described above. The court found that there was sufficient evidence proving that the injuries had been inflicted on the victim while he was still alive. The Coroner testified that some of the wounds inflicted were consistent with sadomasochistic practices, but the Court made a point of highlighting that the manner in which the victim was murdered, along with inferred intent, indicated that this was a ritualistic sacrifice.


July 14, 1990, DETROIT, MICHIGAN, Agustin Pena and Jaime Rodriguez Jr., Convicted of First-Degree Murder, Sentenced to Life in Prison

Overview: News reports state that Agustin Pena and his cousin, Jaime Rodriguez Jr., were convicted of killing Stephanie Dubay in 1991.

Prosecutors described the slaying as ritualistic activity and part of Rodriguez’s devil worship. Both Pena and Rodriguez lost their appeals in the State court system in the mid-1990’s. The Medical examiner said Dubay, a 15 year old runaway, was killed in a ritual crime, based on her tattoos, wounds and the “meticulous mutilation” of her body.

Dubay was decapitated, her skull skinned and saved in a freezer, and her tongue, right index finger and spleen were removed, all with surgical precision. Dubay had been stabbed 10 times in the back and chest and dismembered in the basement of Pena’s house. Body parts were buried in three plastic bags in a shallow grave, and a fourth bag was found in the front seat of a car in the garage. Law enforcement experts stated that each of these acts had a significance in some satanic belief systems They believe that extraordinary powers can be captured and controlled through stylized sacrifice, mutilation, or taking specific body parts. See “Dismemberment Skills Hint at Other Crimes, Police Say, Detroit Free Press, July 14, 1990; “Beheading Murderer Seeks to Overturn Conviction,” The Macomb Daily, August 27, 2006

February 22, 1990, STATE OF UTAH v. ALAN B. HADFIELD, SUPREME COURT OF UTAH, 788 P.2d 506, Convictions for Sodomy and Child Molest; Remanded Back to Court for Evidentiary Hearing.

Overview: Appellate documents state Alan Hadfield was convicted of sodomy and sexual abuse of his children after his children testified against him. He appealed based on claims of "newly discovered evidence." This was an allegation by a paralegal who stated that therapist Barbara Snow, who was involved in counseling Hadfield’s children and others in this Mormon community, was the common factor in these cases, and inferred that the therapist was responsible for the allegations.

The appellate opinion cites that at "least fifteen adults and fifteen children were identified as participants in various unusual sexual activities, including instances of group abuse of children by adults. The activities described by the children involved Satanic ritual, costumes and masks, photography equipment, men dressing in women's clothing, and frequent episodes of playing with and consuming human excrement. A specific instance of abuse related to Dr. Snow by W. and described by her at trial for example, involved defendant's removing feces from W.'s rectum with a spoon and forcing him to play with it." The court stated that the defendants strategy of undermining the believability of the children by attacking the practices of the therapist was ultimately unsuccessful with the jury.

The appellate court remanded the case back to court for an evidentiary hearing to see if the affidavit by the paralegal had merit.

Note: On 9/2/98 Assistant Attorney General Robert Parrish stated to this author that the Judge reviewed the information about claims against the therapist and found that there was no evidence to support the claims of the paralegal. Alan Hadfield's conviction still stands and he was released from probation in 1998. See: Video “Promise not to Tell” which documents the Hadfield case. Ordering information can be found at HYPERLINK "http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889650/maindetails" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889650/maindetails

See Part 33