Reel to Real (30 page)

“Who did the digging?”

“Larry.”

“Larry?”

“Yup.”

“They were found in your apartment.”

“Yes, but I didn’t use them.”

“When are you going to start telling us the truth, Shane? When are you going to cut the shit?”

“I’m not lying.”

“Why’d you kill five people?”

“I said, I’m not lying.”

Rojo raised his voice. “Shane, we have your guns, we have your jacket, and we have your car. All at the scene. They were all ID’d at the murder scene.”

“I didn’t do it. I wasn’t there.”

Rojo looked at Yost.

Yost abruptly stood up. “I think I’ve heard enough of your bullshit for today, Shane,” he said. Yost cracked the door and waved the uniformed officer inside.

“Sergeant, Mr. Harrison needs to get processed. We’re done here.”

***

Six officers in full riot gear assembled to escort Shane Harrison to the Bernalillo County Detention Center. He was to ride in a prisoner transport van for the short one hundred yard trip across the street. SWAT snipers with assault rifles were positioned on the roof of the jail in advance of his transport.

Outside on the street, a media frenzy was in progress. News media of every kind crowded the police station, waiting to snap pictures and roll tape of the suspected Hollywood Video killer.

District Attorney Bob Schwartz did not want any pictures taken. He did not want to taint potential witnesses before they had a chance to view Shane Harrison in a live line up. To that end, Shane was told his face would be covered when he went outside. He would have to wear a jacket over his head.

Shane didn't like the conditions of his transport. “I don’t want anything over my face,” he shouted. “I want the world to see who I am.”

“That’s not going to happen,” the sergeant said. “You don’t get what you want anymore.”

Screeching and kicking, Shane fought the police. The officers ended up putting a belly chain between his handcuffs and leg shackles to prevent him from flailing about and possibly injuring himself. The shrieking continued unabated as they chained him up.

When it was time to go, Shane refused to walk. So, with a jacket draped over his head and chained from hand to foot, Shane was lifted by four officers and carried to the waiting van. Things did not get any better inside the transport. Shane resisted the sergeant’s request to sit in his seat, and he ended up making the trip face down on the floor, still screaming.

***

In the end, it was a relief for Esther to be able to tell someone the truth about what had really happened. It was like a million pound weight had been lifted from her chest.

“How do you think we came across you, Ms. Beckley?” Geri eventually asked.

Puzzled, Esther shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said.

“Is there anyone you’ve told about this situation?”

“I don’t know,” Esther said again. Then it hit her.

“I told John,” she said, her tongue thick as a garden hose.

At that moment, Esther realized John's betrayal, and the fact that there were no real options. She took a deep breath and continued her confession. In the end, she confessed in full … twice.

At the conclusion of the interrogation the male detective said, “You understand that we’re going to process you into jail now and you’re going to get locked up.”

“I know,” Esther said with a deep frown. “I know I’m going back to jail.” She let out a long breath. “And I know I’m not getting out.”

“Justice and judgment lie often a world apart.”

E
MMELINE
P
ANKHURST

It was a relief to the victims' families, and to the public at large, when Shane Harrison and Esther Beckley were finally arrested. Then-Governor Gary Johnson immediately canceled the New Mexico early release parole program pending further review.

Subsequent to Esther’s confession, Harrison and Beckley were each charged with five counts of murder, plus armed robbery, kidnapping and other crimes. The press announced that the two blamed each other for the killings.

Thursday, March 14, 1996

Esther Beckley’s neighbors were questioned about whether they had noticed anything unusual about their now-infamous fellow resident. A woman three doors down stated that Esther was a very good neighbor, and always greeted her with a smile when she saw her in the hallways.

“She would say hi to me whenever I seen her around,” the neighbor said. “But I didn’t see her that much. I only seen her when she was taking out her trash or looking for her cat.”

Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez, another set of neighbors, said they were stunned. They did not believe she could be the one responsible for those terrible crimes.

“There’s no way she would do something like that,” Mrs. Ramirez said.

***

Bruce Connelly, the tire salesman who sold Shane Harrison his new set of tires, was called into the police station to look at a lineup. He positively identified Shane Harrison as the man who bought four new tires for his black Pontiac Fiero.

***

Sheila, an employee at Hollywood Video, phoned law enforcement after recognizing the little black car shown on TV newscasts. It belonged to the weird guy who had tried to get into the store the night before the murders. She told the police he had yelled at her to let him in.

She was asked to come down to the main station and view a lineup. The police had the men in the lineup turn, move, and speak. Sheila thought she recognized one of the men, but it was the voice that caused her to positively identify Shane Harrison.

***

Ryan Spicher was also called in as a witness. Because he was the last known customer at Hollywood Video on the morning of Sunday March 3rd, he was called to the police station to scrutinize a live lineup.

On the other side of the glass barrier he viewed six individuals who were very similar in appearance. In numerical order, the men in the lineup were asked to step forward, make a statement, turn to both sides, and then step back. Mr. Spicher was asked to fill out a form to identify the number of the individual whom he believed was the person he saw at the video store.

He chose number four, and wrote on the form: “Four resembles the offender in this case, but I am not, (he underlined the word
not
) positive.” He picked number four partly because number four did not have a goatee. He said later he could not recall the man in the store having facial hair or much facial hair.

When he viewed the women’s lineup, he was able to immediately and correctly pick Esther Beckley out of the lineup. For the record, he stated, “I’m positive.”

Friday, March 15, 1996

Lights out.

Shane was locked alone in his cell. It was an isolated maximum security cell with a bed, a toilet, and a desk. On the other side of the cell, something sat out of place; something behind one of his shower shoes. From his bunk, he stared at it. It was yellow.

He eventually walked over and picked it up. It was a pencil. One of the attorneys must have left it behind.

Immediately, he knew it would be useful to him, but he had to be quick. The sadistic guards typically strip-searched him three times a day, sometimes more. In fact, a guard might be by any minute.

He got up and pushed his head against the small hole that lead to the hallway and looked out. He saw only dim ceiling lights that illuminated cement walls with chipped white paint.

He sat back down, rolling the pencil between his fingers, liking the way it felt. It was hard and smooth at the same time. The tip had been sharpened to a nice point. He wouldn’t have minded rolling the pencil between his fingers all night, but he didn’t have time. He had to get down to business.

Gritting his teeth and not making a sound, he plunged the pencil deep into his left arm. The blood spurted upward and outward, essentially all over his cell and himself. He hadn’t expected the excessive spurting, but saw it as a benefit. He even squeezed the wound a little more to create maximum blood residue.

He took a deep breath and watched his arm bleed. Why had he ever gotten involved with that idiot bitch Esther in the first place? She screwed everything up. Everything. Why had he even kind of trusted her? In hindsight, he realized he should have done something about her earlier. The cops told him she had sung like a canary; had given them every detail. As a result, not only was he facing life imprisonment, but he was most likely looking at the death penalty as well.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. He needed something to convince the powers that be that he wasn’t involved in this Hollywood Video thing. Something dramatic; something headline-catching.

Dipping his right thumb into in his left forearm he stood up and painted the words “I did not do it” with his own blood on the wall of his cell. He chuckled as he wrote the words, anticipating his audience’s reaction.

A little after 1 AM, a Metropolitan Detention Center guard who was on his rounds found Shane flinging blood all over his cell. Everything was a bloody mess. Shane appeared agitated and uncooperative, ferociously fighting the officers who were sent to take him the hospital.

“Stay away from me,” Shane shouted. “I have AIDS. Do you want me to give you AIDS?”

The officers ignored his threats and put him in arm-and-leg irons. He was transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital to treat his wounds. At the hospital, he received four stitches in his arm and an unappreciated lecture.

Thirty minutes later, he was returned to his cell.

March 24, 1996

A man named Larry was arrested for two miscellaneous armed robberies. Upon his arrest he told APD officers, without being asked, that he was the Larry mentioned in the Hollywood Video murder case. He told police he knew a lot about the Hollywood Video murders, and that he had been involved in the planning of a different robbery with Shane Harrison. He said he drove to the East Mountains with Harrison and saw a cache of buried guns. He said Harrison did not know his last name.

March 26, 1997

Esther’s glasses were fogged from crying. After all the running and all of the threats and fears over losing her boyfriend, she finally felt the full force of regret regarding the events at the video store and in the mountains. She finally felt the guilt. She also felt hate — against herself. Everyone else at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, New Mexico hated her, too. Even the other convicted murderers.

At least that’s the way it seemed. Despite the fact that she was kept in segregation, she could hear other inmates screaming derogatory remarks at her whenever they were within earshot of her cell. Ugly things, like “kid killer” or “fucking killer bitch” or “cold blooded whore.”  She heard it all.

There was a lot of local political pressure to get a conviction in the video store murders. This was a high profile crime and nothing less than the harshest of sentences would do. A special prosecutor was appointed to lead a team from the District Attorney’s office. The team worked around the clock to prepare a prodigious case for the prosecution.

Esther was informed by her public defender that she had been offered a plea deal by the DA’s office. She was advised that this deal would be the only deal she would be offered. Otherwise, her option would be to stand trial. She would most certainly face the death penalty if she did stand trial, she was told. An important component of her deal required her to testify at Harrison’s trial.

In order to save her life and to appease her damaged conscience, Esther Beckley pled guilty to ten felony counts and agreed to take the witness stand against her former partner in crime, Shane Harrison.

She admitted to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of felony murder for the slaying of the McDougall's. She also pleaded to conspiracy to commit those murders, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and the kidnapping of both the McDougall's.

April 28, 1997

Esther Beckley's sentencing

When given the chance to speak to the victim's family in the courtroom, Esther Beckley took it. Instead of a mumbling an apology directed at the judge, Beckley turned and faced the assembled friends and family head on.

“I'm so very sorry,” she sobbed. “I'm sorry for what I have done.” She went on to say she was sorry for the tragedy that happened and for not trying harder to prevent that tragedy.

Esther Beckley was sentenced to 95 ½ years in prison, including two 30-year life sentences for the murder of the McDougall's, plus 35 ½ years for armed robbery, conspiracy and other felonies. Even with good-time credit, she would not be eligible for parole until the age of 120.

May 8, 1996

Jason’s vacuum wasn’t working, so he got down on a knee to tip it over. He saw a lot of string and lint and unidentifiable leavings underneath.

With the help of a pair of scissors and a screw driver, he pulled out a large knot of scunge from the under-workings of the vacuum. Then he turned it on again, pushing it back and forth.

It still did not pick up correctly. Determined to figure out what was causing the trouble, he unzipped the dust bag to peer inside. He saw pieces of something plastic and he scratched his head. Then he realized what he was seeing.

“Hello?” he said and pulled out a tiny little piece of cut-up video tape. He phoned up a buddy with a video camera and asked him to come over. This needed to be recorded, he told his friend. It might be significant.

Eventually, the tiny little pieces were removed with a pair of tweezers, and each piece was carefully placed inside a plastic bag. Jason then called the District Attorney’s office to inform them of the development. The next day the pieces were delivered to Detective Vicky Ortiz, who ultimately was unable to obtain anything usable.

As potentially significant as the pieces might have been, by the time the case finally went to trial, they were not allowed into evidence. They had been discovered too long after the fact, the judge ruled.

May 15, 1996