One point is certain.
That truth is one and immutable;
until the jurors all agree,
they cannot be all right.
- Washington Irving
Mariet Ford’s motion for a new trail now depended on the defense’s final witness.
It would take a few minutes to get him. The judge called a short recess and left the bench.
Mariet’s mother sat clutching her Bible in the back of the courtroom. The in-laws who believed he was guilty sat in another row.
No one knew much about this final witness. Supposedly, this guy could possibly be able to identify the real killer, not Mariet, a white guy.
After taking the stand, would he invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent or testify?
No one seemed to know. But the word was that the district attorney had refused to extend him immunity. Every word the guy uttered could and would be used against him in a court of law.
The bailiff brought in the final witness.
All six-foot and four-inches of this 200 pounder walked into the courtroom. The guy was white. He swore to tell the truth and said, “My name is Rockland Riggs.”
The defense attorney asked questions, establishing Riggs’ character.
Like Mariet, Riggs had a college degree – unlike the majority of less educated suspects in criminal trials. Riggs had graduated from Sacramento State with a degree in marketing. Mariet had studied sociology and played football for the Bears at the University of California at Berkeley.
Their similarities ended with their education level.
Mariet was black, five inches shorter and had weighed no more than 160 pounds even while playing college football. With Mariet’s determination, he might have taken a body Riggs’ size to the National Football League’s Hall of Fame.
The state had convicted Riggs of several burglaries and once arrested him for assault with a deadly weapon – some sort of knife.
Mariet had no prior convictions.
Even Riggs’ own mother considered her son a criminal. She had accused Riggs of stealing from her not once, but on multiple occasions.
Even charged with the murder of her daughter-in-law and grandsons, Mariet’s mother still had testified on behalf of her son.
But the burden of proof had long since shifted from the prosecution to the defense.
Knowing full well that Riggs was an inmate at the Sierra Correctional Center, the defense attorney asked Riggs his current address.
“At this time I refuse to answer the question,” Riggs said. “My answer would tend to incriminate me.”
To Mariet’s supporters, this sounded almost like an admission of guilt or at least enough of a shadow of a doubt to garner Mariet a new trial.
The defense attorney asked if Riggs was a licensed driver.
“I refuse to answer based on the self-incriminating nature of the answer,” Riggs said.
The defense attorney handed Riggs exhibit E-1 and E-2 – two pictures of a yellowish truck.
Riggs had previously told investigators that he was getting gas for this truck when another professional burglar, Will, whose last name Riggs never learned, had approached him with a stolen gold ring, which Riggs traded so they could share some crack.
Riggs then had driven Will to unincorporated south Sacramento County to smoke crack while casing a house that looked awfully similar to the Ford family’s for a burglary. This had been about the time of the Ford murders.
Rockland Riggs had seen it on TV.
“Do you recognize that vehicle?” the defense attorney asked.
“I refuse to answer,” Riggs said.
“Same grounds?” the defense attorney asked.
“Same grounds.”
The judge interrupted.
“And Mr. Riggs,” the judge asked, “is that your intention? To refuse to answer any questions pertaining to the Mariet Ford incident?”
“At this time,” Riggs said. “That is correct.”
“All right,” the judge said. “Mr. Riggs is exercising his right to remain silent.”
The U.S. Constitution guaranteed this right, of course, but to Ford it felt like he had suffered an injustice.
An activist group called the Innocence Project wants crime analysts to test potential DNA found at the crime scene against Mariet Ford's to determine whether he is, in fact, innocent or guilty.
