Elizabeth Larson – Record-Bee staff
LAKEPORT The trial of a Nevada man for the 2002 murder of his girlfriend entered its third day on Thursday.
Prosecutor Richard Hinchcliff continued building his case against 46-year-old Paul Smiraglia, who is charged with first-degree murder with a special allegation of using torture in the July 2002 murder of 43-year-old Diedre Coleman.
Coleman, whose body later was found bound and wrapped in a blue tarp along Highway 20 near Cache Creek, had been Smiraglia”s girlfriend, according to a line of witnesses that began testifying Tuesday morning.
The couple had reportedly lived with friends and acquaintances around Clearlake, many of whom have testified that Smiraglia cooked methamphetamine and Coleman, herself addicted to drugs, transported the necessary chemicals for him.
Thursday”s testimony included accounts from four witnesses, most of whom knew Coleman, Smiraglia and Sharmon Hawley, the woman who Coleman and Smiraglia were staying with when Coleman disappeared. According to accounts from witnesses thus far, Hawley and Smiraglia became a couple shortly before Coleman was last seen.
The day”s first witness, Charles Clift, was transported from prison, where he is serving a term for felony assault with a firearm. During the summer of 2002, Clift was working as a locksmith in Clearlake. He testified that Hawley asked him to make a key for the white Volvo sedan that had belonged to Coleman after Coleman had disappeared.
Clift said the car had been hot wired, and neither Hawley nor Smiraglia explained why they didn”t have the key, although Smiraglia claimed to own the car. Clift, however, didn”t make the key for them.
The prosecution”s next witness, Mary Wisterman, told the court she had stayed at Hawley”s home for a short time during the summer of 2002, moving out about the time that Smiraglia and Coleman moved in. She said Smiraglia and Coleman stayed mostly to themselves, and showed few signs of affection for each other.
Lawrence Serigney, who followed Wisterman to the stand, is the brother of David Simmons, who gave lengthy testimony Wednesday regarding his interaction that summer with Smiraglia and Coleman, who lived with him for a time. Part of that same summer, Serigney also lived at Simmons” 12th Street home.
After he moved out, his mother, who still lived in the house, called to ask Serigney for help protect her grandchildren against “criminal activity” around the house.
Serigney recounted one incident in which Coleman and Smiraglia were arguing. “I showed up, calmed things down, sat on the porch and had a few words with Paul,” he said.
The argument on the porch, Serigney said, ended with Coleman threatening to call the cops and report Smiraglia”s meth manufacturing activities. As she walked back into the house, Serigney said Smiraglia who was “strung out” after a meth binge turned to him and said he was going to kill Coleman. At the same time, Smiraglia waved around a small revolver Serigney believed it was a .38 caliber pistol which Serigney told him to put away.
After Coleman disappeared, Serigney explained that the white Volvo that she prized “just up and disappeared after awhile” after Hawley and Smiraglia tried giving it to his brother, Simmons.
The next witness of the day gave close to three hours and 15 minutes of testimony. The male Clearlake resident, who has received threats of retaliation for offering his testimony, is here referred to as Witness Four in an effort to protect him from potential harm.
At times during his lengthy testimony, Witness Four looked both frightened and exhausted. Many of his answers to questions were punctuated with long pauses, as if he were afraid to reply.
Like many of the trial”s other witnesses so far, Witness Four met Coleman and Smiraglia during 2002”s summer months. He knew the couple were involved with drugs he witnessed Smiraglia cooking meth on several occasions and was himself an almost daily user of the drug.
His wife, who was friends with Coleman, became suspicious after Coleman”s disappearance, and wanted to go to police, but he was concerned about retaliation, and he tried to convince her not to get involved. “She was going to do what she thought was right.”
In fact, Witness Four”s testimony proved to be some of the most compelling offered so far.
He recalled a summer day in 2002 when he and his wife walked to Hawley”s house to drop off money owed to Coleman. When they got there, it took several minutes for anyone to answer the door, and it was Smiraglia who let them in. Both Smiraglia and Hawley were extremely agitated, he said, talking amongst themselves, with Smiraglia telling Hawley to be quiet.
When Witness Four”s wife asked to use the bathroom, she was told not to touch anything and to be quick. As his wife came out of the bathroom, the witness said he spotted something lying along the full length of the bathtub, wrapped in black plastic.
“I remember the house smelled really bad, too,” he said.
Later that day, Witness Four said Smiraglia and Hawley came to his home. He told Smiraglia, “My old lady thinks you killed Diedre,” to which Smiraglia replied, “Loose lips sink ships.”
Either later that night or the next evening Witness Four was unclear on the exact time he said Hawley and Smiraglia came back to his home in a car and asked him to go for a ride with them.
Witness Four got in the back seat; Hawley was driving, Smiraglia was in the front passenger seat. As they drove, Smiraglia allegedly pointed a sawed-off shotgun at Witness Four”s face in an alleged attempt to scare him into keeping quiet about his suspicions.
Defense attorney Doug Rhoades asked the witness why he continued to associate with Smiraglia after the shotgun incident. Witness Four said he was trying to keep things “smooth” with Smiraglia. He also testified that he went for a drive with Smiraglia to show him an area near Borax Lake where he could dump garbage, but that Smiraglia found the area unsuitable.
Witness Four gave a 12-page statement to police in February about the black plastic in Hawley”s bathroom and other encounters with Smiraglia after Coleman disappeared.
Rhoades, during cross examination, asked Witness Four if the testimony was offered in an attempt to get a break on pending criminal cases against him in the county, which the witness denied.
The court is in recess until 9 a.m. Tuesday, when the trial will resume in Judge Arthur Mann”s Department 3 courtroom.
Contact Elizabeth Larson at elarson@record-bee.com.
