Prosecutor: Couple Studied Murder
Feb. 6, 2002
OAKLAND —A former Pleasanton man and his ex-girlfriend gorged themselves on stories of ghastly assaults and killings before launching a sexually torturous crime spree that ended in the death of a local woman, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
During opening statements in the trial of James Anthony Daveggio and Michelle Lyn Michaud, deputy district attorney Angela Backers told jurors the pair raped a half-dozen women before setting their sights on Vanessa Lei Samson of Pleasanton.
"They became involved in a relationship unlike any other," Backers said during an opening statement that will continue today. "The mission of this partnership was to prey on the young and the vulnerable."
Daveggio and Michaud face the death penalty if convicted of charges accusing them of kidnapping Samson, 22, from a Pleasanton street while she walked to work Dec. 2, 1997. Her body was discovered two days later down a snowy embankment in a remote part of Alpine County.
Unraveling a yarn of what she called "depraved" and "profoundly disturbing" behavior, Backers painted a picture for jurors of a couple chained to methamphetamine whose deep-hearted desires drove them to brutal assaults and ultimately murder.
There were few boundaries for Daveggio, 41, and Michaud, 43, and even fewer feelings for the victims they left behind on darkened, lonely streets, she said. For the couple who hung around biker bars and a man with a sexually violent past, there was no fear, no remorse and no looking back, jurors were told.
With Samson's family huddled in the courtroom's packed gallery, Backers told the five-man, seven-woman jury that the couple seated at separate defense tables before them studied how to kill and idolized a murderous pair from Sacramento. Daveggio, she said, combed over a book documenting the exploits of Gerald Gallego and his common-law wife, Charlene Williams, who are thought to be responsible for 10 murders.
Gallego has been sentenced to death in California and Nevada, while Williams received little more than a 16-year-sentence after testifying against her husband.
But the admiration didn't stop with the book, Backers said. Daveggio and Michaud, she said, kept the second of a series of trading cards glorifying serial killers with the Gallego card placed at the top of the 55-card stack.
"These were their personal heroes," Backers said. "They talked about one day how they hoped they would have their faces on trading cards themselves."
Backers brought up the abduction and rape of a Reno student, an attack that took place during a 100-mile drive in the back of the couple's van. Michaud later pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the assault and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Daveggio was ordered to serve 25 years behind bars.
"Daveggio told (the student) that 'You should feel lucky, you should feel lucky that you got picked up by such nice people,'" Backers said, after explaining to jurors how the woman was allowed to live.
Wearing a white shirt that stretched across his burly frame, Daveggio shook his head at times and stroked his thick, gray beard as Backers spoke. Unlike Michaud, whose eyes roamed over the defense table for most of the day, Daveggio looked directly at jurors and the prosecutor.
Panel members peered back at the man during particularly disturbing accounts of the crimes the couple is accused of committing.
Backers said they used "deceit and trickery" as well as crank to lure teen girls into "traps" that ended with death threats if they told police. They made up stories for victims to tell family, friends and authorities to explain injuries sustained during assaults, she said, adding that they made use of a gun to raise fears, and beatings and duct tape to subdue victims.
A judge's gag order prevents attorneys from talking publicly about the case.
Outside the courtroom, Samson's mother, father, sister, brother and other family members wore purple and white ribbons. Describing the hearing as "difficult," Vincent Samson said they wanted justice for his sister.
"There are a lot of emotions going through your mind at the time," he said. "It's a pain that never ends. It doesn't end no matter what goes on."