Dark Justice(21)

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

TRANSCRIPT

(Continuation of testimony following noon break)

Representative ELKIN MORSE (Chairman, Homeland Security Committee): Sergeant Wade, you again take your seat to testify regarding your actions as lead investigator of the murder of Morton Leringer and subsequent events. As you are well aware, those actions have raised much suspicion. This morning you took an oath to be truthful, sir, and we will expect no less of you as we continue.

Sergeant CHARLES WADE (Sheriff’s Department Coastside): You will receive no less.

MORSE: So I will resume our questioning by asking: did you know about the FreeNow organization before these events?

WADE: No.

MORSE: Never heard of them?

WADE: Never.

MORSE: Really. Is it not true that law enforcement professionals have a sixth sense, a gut feel about people and situations?

WADE: Often, yes.

MORSE: Haven’t you spoken about your own gut instincts regarding various former cases to your colleagues?

WADE: Yes.

MORSE: Have those instincts proven right?

WADE: Most of the time.

MORSE: Then how is it, Sergeant Wade, that you missed this powerful terrorist faction right under your own nose?

WADE: A gut instinct is about something that happens. Until the days in question, no events had occurred that would lead me to suspect the existence of FreeNow.

MORSE: Frankly, I find that hard to believe.

WADE: I would ask you to remember, Chairman Morse, that you are forming your opinions and today’s questions based on hindsight. Of course it’s easy to look back and see things differently. But I am testifying about that day as I saw it unfold, moment by moment. You have to look at my actions as based on what I knew at any given time.

MORSE: We will move on. Tell me, what was your impression of Hannah Shire? As she left the substation, did you believe she’d told you the truth?

WADE: I wasn’t sure. I did take the cautious approach and order surveillance on her home. But I was concerned at her admission that she’d initially lied to Deputy Harcroft. She’d changed her story. Sometimes people change their story because they’re coming clean. But all too often, a story changes in order to hide something.

MORSE: And what did you think she might be hiding?

WADE: I didn’t know. Perhaps having some involvement in the death of Morton Leringer. Or at least knowing more about his death than she was telling us. What I did know was there were two strikes against her. She’d lied to Deputy Harcroft when there seemed no reason to do so. And she was the last person to be with the victim of a stabbing that proved fatal. And one more thing. Her story about why she was on Tunitas Creek Road didn’t ring true. That’s a very unusual route to take from Highway 1 to San Carlos.

MORSE: I assume Deputy Harcroft shared your suspicions?

WADE: Yes. He told me he’d questioned Mrs. Shire about her presence on that road.

MORSE: Would you say Harcroft’s suspicions helped form your negative opinion of Mrs. Shire?

Sergeant Wade?

WADE: No.

MORSE: So these gut feelings were your own.

WADE: I’ve already told you why I had suspicions regarding Hannah Shire.

MORSE: Yes, you have. But you’ve also told us your instincts are usually right. In this case you were wrong.

Have you nothing to say to that? I remind you again you’re here to tell us the truth.

WADE: And I remind you, sir, that you’re here to believe the truth when you hear it.

(Pause in testimony as committee confers.)

MORSE: Sergeant Wade, we now want to turn to the video. In order for us to understand the chain of command—what did you do with the flash drive that evening?

WADE: I bagged it as evidence in the homicide of Morton Leringer. It was around 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday. I knew that on Monday morning a deputy with technical knowledge would be on duty. I planned to have him look at it.

MORSE: You saw no need for more immediate action?

WADE: Nothing I saw on the video made me think immediate action was needed.

MORSE: Yet you have testified you recognized the machine on that video as a power generator. And you and Deputy Harcroft discussed the possibility that the video might signal some kind of terrorist attack.

WADE: We discussed it, yes. But Harcroft’s emerging opinion was that it just showed a generator going haywire. Beyond that we had no evidence or any indication whatsoever that it was connected to a terrorist attack.

MORSE. It certainly seemed to be an important video. It was slipped into the pocket of a woman by a dying man. And two men posed as FBI agents to gain possession of it.

WADE: At the time we didn’t know those two men were in pursuit of the video. In fact, evidence pointed to the contrary. According to Mrs. Shire, they didn’t say anything about it when they were at her house. She was the one who told them about the video.