LAKEPORT — A man on trial for murder told investigators he killed the victim but didn”t explain much about the incident, according to an audio recording played for his jury Wednesday.
Ivan Garcia Oliver, 34, faces a total of three felonies for the Nov. 20, 2007 stabbing of Michael A. Dodele, a registered sex offender whose criminal history did not involve abuse against children.
Authorities allege Oliver killed the 67-year-old because of information he obtained from the Megan”s Law online registry. The two lived in the same Lakeport mobile home park.
Oliver pleaded not guilty to all counts and denied the special allegations in the case.
The jury listened to a nearly two-hour recording of a jail interview investigators conducted with Oliver three days after the stabbing.
Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO), who completed his third day of testimony, introduced the recording before jurors heard it Wednesday at the Lake County Courthouse.
Oliver did not answer a majority of the questions during the interview as investigators probed him about the series of events and a possible motive.
Oliver referred to Dodele several times as a “(expletive) piece of (expletive)” but deflected or ignored many of the questions posed by the LCSO officials, according to the recording.
The investigators were “trying to get what happened inside the trailer,” Paulich said.
Oliver said he owned two knives recovered in connection with the case, according to Paulich. The prosecution alleges he stabbed Dodele about 60 times.
Paulich said investigators believed during the interview that Oliver, whose son was 4 years old at the time, thought Dodele was a child molester.
Jerry Pfann, a former LCSO evidence technician, was the second witness called by chief deputy district attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Pfann testified about the evidence he collected during the investigation and the chain of custody of items in the case, which included knives, shoes, clothing, a rug and blood samples.
He also said he attended and photographed Dodele”s autopsy.
Defense counsel Stephen Carter, who represents Oliver, did not begin cross-examining Pfann on Wednesday.
Judge Arthur H. Mann said the trial would resume today at 9 a.m.
The proceedings met with about two hours of delays Wednesday, with the morning session starting about 90 minutes late because of an undisclosed issue and the afternoon session slowed 30 minutes because Mann conducted a series of unrelated arraignments.
For live trial coverage on Twitter, follow @JeremyDWalsh or search #Olivertrial.
