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| | Kelly Soo Park Found Not-Guilty Of First Degree And Second Degree Murder. Court Room Explodes With Volatile Emotions And Outbursts Of Grief For Juliana Redding.
By Lonce LaMon - June 4, 2013
It was a brutally shocking late morning in the downtown Los Angeles Criminal Courthouse in Department 109 when defendant Kelly Soo Park was acquitted for both first degree murder and second degree murder for the March 15th 2008 murder of aspiring actress and model Juliana Redding in Santa Monica, California.
The first degree murder acquittal announcement was not too much of a shock when it was read by the clerk because yesterday everyone knew the jury had come to this verdict. The judge overnight simply held it in suspension and asked for a restatement of the verdict from the jury—if that’s what the jury absolutely intended. She did this because of what she felt was definite ambiguity.
The jury foreman had written on the Verdict Form declaring Not-Guilty of First Degree Murder that a couple of the jurors were not following the court’s instructions. The judge responded to that by asking the foreman to write out in a note and send it back to her what information would help them to understand the instructions better. Soon, the note came back, and in it was a request that they wanted further clarification on the definition of first degree murder versus second degree murder, plus an enhanced explanation of first degree murder, along with an enhancement of page 10, item 4 of the jury instructions.
This juxtaposition of events concerned the judge. She expressed her feeling suggesting how could it be the jury has already come to a verdict of Not Guilty of First Degree Murder when they, the jury, don’t seem to understand what First Degree Murder is because they are asking for an enhanced explanation of it; they are asking for it after the fact that they filled out their Verdict Form stating Not Guilty of First Degree Murder.
“I’ve never gotten a comment like that on a jury form,” Judge Kathleen Kennedy said when confronted by vigorous opposition from Kelly Soo Park’s defense attorney, George Buehler.
Juliana Redding's friend, Sarah, is shown here arriving to the courthouse just before 8:30 am this morning. Sarah broke down in sobs when the verdict of not-guilty was read for second degree murder. Copyright Lonce LaMon. All rights reserved.
George Buehler vociferously expressed his objections by accusing Judge Kennedy of sending a message to the jury that the court was not happy with the Not Guilty of First Degree Murder verdict. But Judge Kennedy serenely countered by telling Buehler that the note on the Verdict form plus the note requesting enhanced explanations made the Verdict ambiguous and that the way she was handling it was the safest way to proceed.
Buehler then asked the judge to please explain to the jury that “the court did not intend to influence them or discourage them” from a Not-Guilty of First Degree Murder conviction. But Judge Kennedy assured Buehler with her words, “if they say that the verdict as signed is their unanimous decision, I will take that.”
But Buehler was not convinced; he was worried and thus continued to argue.
The jury came out and announced their verdict of Not-Guilty of First Degree Murder. The foreman had rewritten a clean verdict form this time and it did not have a note on it making the verdict ambiguous. The judge’s appropriate intention had been to make the verdict unequivocal and clear.
Patricia and Greg Redding are shown here leaving the courthouse walking down No. Broadway on May 15th 2013, the third day of the trial. Patricia cried out today after both verdicts were read to defense attorney, George Buehler, "How would you feel if your daughter was murdered?!" Copyright © Lonce LaMon; all rights reserved.
When the jury came out a second time to announce their verdict for the second degree murder charge, everyone packed the court room in anxious anticipation. When the verdict was read, the clerk spoke, “We the jury find the defendant not guilty of the crime of 2nd degree murder.”
The clerk continued reading from the document she’d been handed by the bailiff, and at first the court room surprisingly continued to remain silent. But suddenly a plaintive cry pierced the silence. A woman had broken down and was weeping in heartrending sobs.
It was not Kelly Soo Park crying. It was a woman from the Redding family clan. Kelly Soo Park wept quietly as George Buehler placed his hand on her arm. However, soon it was discovered the woman crying with unleashed grief was Sarah, a friend of Juliana Redding who is a beautiful young blonde who wore a very becoming black and grey tailored suit with a petite skirt. She sat near the aisle end of the second row bench with the Redding family.
The bailiff tried to silence her with admonishments. But then other women, one whom I believe was Kelly Duncan, who was a witness in the trial and also Juliana Redding’s friend who went out with her to Tengu restaurant in West L.A. the night of her murder, wept as well. Then the wailing became a chorus and thus it was impossible to distinguish who in particular was crying. It’s possible Patricia Redding, the victim’s mother, was crying also. Patty was sitting in close proximity to Sarah and Kelly Duncan.
Then, Kelly Soo Park turned around to walk out through the gate to the gallery area and assumedly out the front door of the court room. Upon that moment one of the young women yelled “you bitch!” followed by “murderer!” and “you killed her!”. And with that, the court personnel responded to quell the situation.
Sarah walks to court this morning to hear the verdict. The pink ribbon she wears on her lapel is a symbol of love for victim Juliana Redding. She and her other young friend yelled out in the court room after the verdict was read, "You bitch!" "Murderer!" "You killed her!" Copyright Lonce LaMon. All rights reserved.
Kelly Soo Park was stopped and directed to walk out through the judge’s chambers. She walked through the gate of the clerk’s area and back through the open door of the judge’s chambers on the opposite side to the back door which led to the jury room. Kelly was not allowed to walk through the front door. The Redding family left the court room through the front door in total shock and moved to the elevators.
It was clear that Patrick Redding, Juliana Redding’s brother, was in shock as he looked ashen faced and was speechless. This writer expressed to him how sorry she felt, but he could neither respond with a facial expression nor speak. Brian Van Holt, the actor who was with Juliana Redding and her friend Cher Brooks the night before the murder, was there in a brown checked shirt looking stunned but in control. He got in the elevator with the family and made the trip up to the 17th or 18th floor District Attorney’s office.
When Patricia Redding together with her husband, Greg Redding, first got to the area in front of the two sides of elevators, she saw defense attorney George Buehler about to step into an elevator. She said something to him referring to what he had done, and then she shrieked at him, “How would you feel if your daughter was murdered!”
Kelly Soo Park, leaving the courthouse on May 23rd 2013 during the trial. Copyright Lonce LaMon. All rights reserved.
This writer caught Buehler before he arrived to the elevator bank. I asked him, “Did you feel you were going to win the case?” and he replied, “Well… you don’t ever know… you just don’t know that… ” Then I asked, “So, how do you feel right now?” and he replied, “Good.”
Karen Thompson, the lead detective of the Santa Monica Police Department, and Stacy Okun-Wiese, the Deputy District Attorney who tried this case and took it over from Alan Jackson and Eric Harmon, stood together at the elevators as they waited to get an elevator up to the District Attorney’s office. This writer stepped forward to tell Stacy she had done an extraordinary job, but Karen Thompson reacted instantly and strongly. She stated with powerful emotion that I was interjecting in a private conversation and I needed to back off. An elevator opened which was going up and Karen walked deftly to catch that elevator with Stacy.
Karen was overwrought, which is so understandable and excusable. I felt no offense, only complete comprehension of her overwhelming feeling of loss. Karen Thompson has worked arduously and doggedly for almost five years on this case, and her teamwork with the prosecutor, Stacy Okun-Wiese, took out of her no less than a Herculean effort.
Stacy Okun-Wiese’s performance as a prosecutor was extraordinary and brilliant. Her opening arguments laid out the case with a solid summary of the copious evidence and the ample testimony against the defendant. She spoke well without hesitation as the most adept of orators. She questioned the witnesses deftly and probingly. Her closing arguments tied together the enormity of the DNA evidence, the testimony of witnesses, and the link to unscrupulous businessman and former surgeon--who now has a revoked medical license in California--Munir Uwaydah.
Mark Kassabian holds the door as George Buehler walks ahead of him after court at day's end yesterday. Buehler and Kassabian got Kelly Soo Park acquitted of both first degree murder and second degree murder as charged by the Los Angeles District Attorney. Copyright Lonce LaMon. All rights reserved.
This is a frightening event which can reasonably predict there’s going to be more insurance fraud for California, the rest of the nation, and the world. There will be more workers’ compensation fraud perpetuating itself.
It’s a terrifying invitation for Uwaydah to return from exile in Lebanon, thinking he’s been exonerated, and pick-up where he left off in raping the workers’ compensation system with his female James Bond, Kelly Soo Park, in California, or elsewhere. It's an opening for him to perpetuate his frauds in real estate, court, child custody, other insurances, and anywhere else he can apply his creative genius for fraud.
Make no bones about it: Kelly Soo Park’s exoneration exonerates Uwaydah. It’s like an invitation to steal, to rape, to pillage, plunder, and murder. It’s a re-entry for Uwaydah into California and other places in the U.S. and the world.
This is a very dangerous verdict. The evidence against Kelly Soo Park was copious and overwhelming. The testimony against Park was damning. The district attorney’s case was solid and Stacy Okun-Wiese did her job to a level of the most admirable competence.
There is no explanation for the jury’s bizarre decision except for the conjecture that they either could not comprehend the case, did not have the intellectual rigor to comprehend the concepts and definitions of First Degree Murder and Second Degree Murder, are not well educated enough or sophisticated enough, went with their prejudices, or simply acted against common sense and basic reason.
The consequences of this case will be far-reaching. And terrifying….
This isn’t good.
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