Right to Counsel: A Lawyers Struggle to Defend a Serial Killer

Excerpt from Chapter 1: The Crimes It was July of 1978 in Los Angeles-a time for picnics, treks to amusement parks, couples exchanging marital vows, and, unfortunately for some families, a summer that ultimately brought the type of pain that no parent should ever have to endure. Unbeknownst to my wife Betty and me, it was a summer we would never be able to forget. We were expecting our second child. We found the prospect of adding to our family exciting, but it was overshadowed by a complicated pregnancy that kept Betty confined to the house. Adding to her discomfort was a very hot summer and a husband working fulltime while attending law school five nights a week, year-round. Unfortunately, my schedule left very little time for Betty and me to be together. Between my schedule and the emotions of pregnancy, she constantly admonished me to spend more time with her. The pressure was enormous for a 27-year-old man-working a full-time job; trying to get an education that ultimately might create a lifestyle most people dream about, but that also required endless hours of study; a complicated pregnancy; Saturdays at the library; and, a wife making demands that felt somewhat unrealistic under the circumstances. Unbeknownst to us that summer, Michael Dee Mattson-a name that would become too familiar to us in time-was on parole from an Oregon state prison. The reason for his stint in prison: On August 1, 1971, while hitchhiking, Mattson was picked up by a teenage girl, Jeanette Kors, and her brother Joe. He pulled a knife on the pair, ordered Joe out of the vehicle while they were parked on the side of the road, and kidnapped, raped, and robbed Jeanette off the main highway. Later that same day, Mattson was captured while driving Jeanette's car. At the time, he was just shy of his 18th birthday. Following his conviction and subsequent two-year incarceration, apparently already planning on committing more crimes, Mattson vowed he would kill all his future victims to prevent any of them from testifying against him. By 1978 Mattson had returned to Southern California and taken up residence in nearby La Mirada. One late Saturday afternoon that summer, after spending another eight-hour day at the library, I cut my study time short and headed home, hoping to spend some time with my wife. I found Betty, a small-framed woman with dark-brown hair, glasses, and a light-skinned complexion that denoted her Louisiana heritage, in the bedroom, and I could see that she was upset. On the screen of our fifteen-inch television was a newscaster reporting on a 9-year-old girl who had gone missing from a local pool. While I wondered what kind of human being would kidnap a 9-year-old girl, I felt lucky that it did not affect us personally. Unfortunately, I did not realize the effect this kidnapping would have on our lives after all. Michael Dee Mattson's first victim after his release from prison was 9-year-old Cheryl Kristy Gutierrez, who disappeared at approximately 4:00 p.m. on August 11, 1978, from the parking lot of Santa Fe Springs High School. Cheryl had been swimming in a public pool with her sisters, 12-year-old Sylvia and 5-year-old Toni. The girls were only one mile from their home. Cheryl and Sylvia had an argument over what time they should finish swimming. Cheryl wanted to go home earlier than Sylvia, so she left the pool area, angry and upset. Sylvia, thinking Cheryl had gone to call their mother from the pay phone outside the pool to pick her up, was not concerned. The last time her sisters saw her, Cheryl was wearing only a two-piece, floral bathing suit, a pair of flip-flops, and was carrying a white beach towel. Approximately thirty minutes later, their mother, Esther Gutierrez, arrived to pick them up at the prearranged time. She had never received a phone call from Cheryl. After a brief conversation with her oldest daughter, Esther and Sylvia looked for Cheryl for two anguished hours, without suPotts, James is the author of 'Right to Counsel: A Lawyers Struggle to Defend a Serial Killer', published 2008 under ISBN 9781572486690 and ISBN 1572486694.