Another search warrant executed
Still looking for evidence during trial
By Bobbi Mlynar
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Police obtained a search warrant on Aug. 22 to continue their search for a memory chip or stick for a video camera believed to be part of cases against Raul Manuel Magallanez Jr. Magallanez has been accused of numerous sex crimes against young women under 16.
The trial is in its 13th day in Lyon County District Court.
Emporia police detective Lisa Sage, who had been called as a witness by both the prosecution and the defense, testified about the search warrant this morning, under direct examination by defense attorney Julia Spainhour.
Spainhour asked Sage what officers were looking for in the latest search warrant at the Magallanez home.
“The poem book that (Girl No. 3) had testified to earlier and a memory chip or memory stick that goes inside a camera,” Sage said.
The alleged victims and witnesses have testified that Magallanez recorded videos of the girls in various poses. The videos have not been found.
During the morning, Spainhour and Sage went through, one by one, a multitude of individual telephone calls and text messages placed between the defendant and his alleged victims.
The records sometimes showed many unanswered telephone calls from one of the girls to Magallanez, as well as calls from him to the girl.
Testimony also included a numerous photographs gleaned from the defendant’s telephone and Internet accounts. About 50 of the photographs were of Girl No. 3, Sage said; some were of a young teenager who was friends with the defendant, and others were of Magallanez.
“There were also photographs of persons over the age of 18?” Spainhour asked.
“I think so,” Sage responded.
On cross-examination, Lyon County Assistant County Attorney Amy Aranda asked Sage about techniques used to interview young people.
Sage said that age and development were considered when doing the “semi-structured process” interviews of children.
“Because of different children or juveniles of different ages, we have to be able to allow for variancy in the way we conduct our interviews and the way they’re going to respond to our interviews,” Sage said.
Other factors also may complicate interviews with teen victims.
“They may have feelings for the alleged offender,” Sage testified. “They may love them.”
Aranda asked Sage about Magallanez’s MySpace.com account, which had contained photographs of the girls.
Sage said that one of the teenaged witnesses told her that Magallanez had asked him to delete information from Magallanez’s MySpace.com account after he was arrested on Dec. 7, 2006.
The defendant used “yoohookid” and “kidnapconcept” on some of his Internet accounts, and listed his date of birth as Dec. 24, 1984, 10 years after his actual birthdate on MySpace.com, Sage said.
Sage testified that log-ins to the MySpace account were made after Dec. 7, while Magallanez was being held in jail.
Aranda asked if a comment posted after that date on Magallanez’s MySpace account said, “What happened to all the pictures or 'pix'?”
Sage confirmed the comment had been posted.