Boom Boom Boom Boom, I saw muzzle flash

Second witness to testify today was Sean Butler Smith. His lawyer Kaleb Cockrum was in court today. Smith is also under immunity for testifying at this trial. His testimony is key because he is the individual who testimony ties the attempted murder in Eureka and the Arcata murders.

Smith said that he arranged for a ride for Bodhi Tree in exchange for the promise of heroin. While he was using heroin last year, he is clean now.

From doodling Mickey Mouse with uzis while Bodhi Tree went to Rhett's door to describing how police banged on his cousin's door after the Eye street shooting in Arcata, pulled guns on him and his cousin Shane, Sean Butler Smith testiminy took up most of this morning.

"He fired 4 times, boom boom, boom, boom, and I saw a muzzle flash," said Smith.

According to Sean Butler Smith, the revolver used was a "a sub nose 38 with a brown handle".

He talked candidly about his heroin addiction, becoming clean. Today is the first day we found out first hand of who, why and the events connecting the Eureka attempted murder and the Arcata murders of Christina and Sunshine.

Both Crow and Smith were given immunity for their testimony. Casey Russo, one of the two public defender's who is representing Bodhi Tree, is questioning all Eureka witnesses. When he cross examined Smith, he was able to get him to admit to some inconsistencies between his testimony today and what he said in the preliminary hearing as well as some testimony given to law enforcement.

Rives, Crow and Smith all have said to Mr. Russo at some point, these things happened a year ago and they cannot remember some details or they don't recall exactly in response to certain questions. Smith has been the most detailed and clear but towards the end of today's court proceedings when a couple of inconsistencies were pointed out, he finally said in exasperation, that he did not need to see the report to refresh his recollection, he would take Mr. Russo's word for it.

He was cool during the entire time Mr. Russo dragged his past criminal history but when it came to the reports and Mr. Russo repeatedly and aggressively asking him questions over and over again, even after he had said he did not recall some details, when Mr. Russo was able to get him to admit to a couple inconsistencies, he responded with, "I don't like being tripped up on my words."

Sean Butler-Smith's testimony started with him telling MS. Firpo that he knew Crow because he was his younger brother's friend. Smith said Crow was an acquaintance and that he knew him since the 6th grade.

He said he had just met Bodhi Tree in April 2013 and he knew him through his cousin Shane Goodrich, who at the time of the incidents lived in Sunnybrae. The incidents happened in May 2013 and Ms. Firpo said,"You had not known Bodhi for a long," and Smith said that was correct.

"Shane always had people hanging out in his house," said Smith. He said he had met Bodhi Tree two or three times.

Smith said that he had known Bodhi Tree's younger brother for a few years, "since 2005 or 2006".

On May 12, Smith saw Bodhi Tree around the Arcata Plaza. "We met up and went to a party." He said Bodhi Tree had no injuries at that time, said Smith. The next time he saw Bodhi Tree, Smith said "maybe two days" later, at Wildberries while he was getting a sandwich, "Bodhi had two black eyes. He said he got jumped."

"I kept trying to ditch him (Bodhi Tree) but he kept following me. I did not want to fight anybody." The latter comment Smith said was because Bodhi Tree told him he got jumped. "I finally ditched him." Smith saw Bodhi again the following day in Arcata. Smith said Bodhi Tree asked him for a ride to Eureka but did not tell him why.

Smith said he was walking and saw Charlie Crow parked by Subway at end of G Street and asked him to give them a ride. He did not offer Crow money but he said Crow was offered money. "I was promised drugs by Bodhi Tree so I helped him get a ride". They stopped at a Shell gas station, let a kid named Andrew out of the car, then stopped at a house on 14th Street in Eureka and Bodhi Tree got out of the car. Bodhi Tree was giving directions, because Smith and Crow were not familiar with Eureka and admitted he thinks it was 14th Street.

After Crow parked the car, Smith said Bodhi Tree got out of the car, knocked on a couple of doors and then said "I got one more spot to go to". Then he said they went to Sonoma Street, again Bodhi Tree gave directions. When the car was parked, Smith claims Bodhi Tree got out of the car and said that he was going to fight somebody and get dope. "I don't like Eureka, " said Smith. "I was trying to ditch him."

"Bodhi got out, looked around for a bit, knocked on the door walked down to the alley and hid." Smith showed Ms. Firpon the locations on People'saerial map. Smith said he had never been to this residence before and had heard about Rhett August from his cousin. "Charlie wanted to go home. I was drawing pictures of Mickey Mouse on a note pad and watching Bodhi. "

After the knock on the door, I heard someone say, "Who's there?"

"He fired four times, boom, boom, boom, boom. I saw muzzle flash. Bodhi ran to the car and said drive!"
Smith said he did not see anything in Bodhi's hand. He said Bodhi was saying, "Drive mother fucker, drive. I got that motherfucker for sure."  Smith said he saw the gun later that night.

In response to Ms. Firpo's question about how Crow and he were feeling at that time, Smith said, "We both were freaked out. What just happened?"

Smith identfied Bodhi Tree in court and said where he was sitting and what shirt he was wearing. Smith said he was using heroin then but is clean now. He said before going to Eureka, Bodhi Tree and he were at the Eye Street house in Arcata and after the shooting at Rhett August's house, they got dropped off at the Eye Street house. "Bodhi continued to stay with me. I wanted to get away from him."

Smith said at the Eye Street house, he and Bodhi Tree did ecstasy. "I was feeling, what did this guy do. I was fearful, I did not want to get shot." He said when Bodhi Tree got "argumentative with males" at the Eye Street house, he thought, "here we go again" and left the party without Bodhi. Smith said he was half awake, trying to sleep but had been woken up earlier by Shane and his friend Ian who had come to visit. Smith said Bodhi had "agressive body language and said, "I got 2 more."

Smith went home to Valley West and then then to his cousin's house with food and beer. His cousin was not home so he slept in the woods and went back to his cousin's house the next day. He said Bodhi Tree showed up "around 2:30 a.m." He put a gun on a table. Smith described it as a snub-nose, 38 with a brown handle." And told Ms. Firpo by snub nose, he meant it had a shorter barrel.  He said his grandfather was in the armed forced and since he was 10 years old, he learned about gun safety and firearms.

He said Bodhi Tree told them what happened but "I did not believe it." He said that Bodhi told them , he was at a party, in a room, some dude and his girlfriend were talking shit to him. He shot her and then him." At this point, Ms. Firpo showed him a report to refresh his recollection of events. He then continued and said Bodhi told them, "I drank my 40 and went back into the room and shot them." Bodhi then told Smith, Shane and Ian he heard sirens and he jumped the fence and came to Shane's house.

Smith said he did not believe Bodhi Tree until the next morning when he grabbed a cell phone and went to the APD bulletin website and learned of a double homicide. "Oh shit, the dude really did kill them," he testified. Smith said he realized that he was the one that took Bodhi Tree to the Eye Street house.

He then said his cousin has a closed circuit camera and "saw  police on the TV. Bodhi was on the couch,he hopped up, grabbed the gun, jumped the fence and went out the back door." Smith said that while this was going on, his cousin went to open the door because police were banging on the door. "They drew guns on Shane, told him to get down, they put guns on me, cuffed me and told me to get down on the floor."

He said APD took him outside the house and his cousin was inside the house and they gave separate statements and then Sgt. Martinez took him down to the station and he spoke with Sgt. Martinez in the interrogation room. When they were still at the house, he told police that Bodhi Tree had "hopped out back" and if they looked for him, they could probably find him.

In response to a question by Ms. Firpo, Smith said it was unusual for him to speak to the police. When Ms. Firpo asked him to explain why, Smith said he did it because two people were killed. IHe thought one of them was his friend and then found out from the police that it was his friend Sunshine Marcet. "I did not want to be involved," said Smith. "If I had not taken him to the house in the first place, he would never have been at the party to kill him."

In an effort to "not deal with what happened" Smith said his heroin addiction got worse. "To feed my addiction, I attempted a robbery of the Noodle House next to Los Bagels with a BB gun but the dude just chased me out with a butcher knife." Because of this incident, Smith was prosecuted and incarcerated and cleaned up from heroin while he was in jail. He remembered the exact dates he went into custody and when he was released and is living in a clean and sober house. He is on felony probation.

"I struggled with opiates most of my adult life, said Smith. "I have been on heroin since I was 24 years old."

When Ms. Firpo asked him what caused him to want to be "clean", Smith responded, "No one wanted to be around me. What happened with this trial and where I was going with my life, I was either going to end up dead or in prison. I got a chance to be clean and I like it."

Smith said he was served with a subpoena but he was testifying willingly.

He said on May 25, 2014 last year what led to him speaking with EPD was that he was arrested by APD for possession of heroin.

He was asked to draw a picture of Mickey Mouse. He often doodled this picture. In court, he just drew the face, usually he draws the body with Mickey Mouse holding two uzis. He said "like Savage Henry Magazine."