Kraft Jury Not Allowed to Hear Psychic Testify

The judge in the Randy Steven Kraft trial refused to permit the jury to hear testimony Wednesday by a psychic who defense attorneys contended would point to a different suspect in one of the 16 murders of which Kraft is accused.

Kraft attorney C. Thomas McDonald wanted to use the psychic, whose full legal name is Joan, to show a connection between the 1979 death of Donnie Crisel, a 20-year-old Marine, and convicted sex molester John McMillan, who committed suicide a week after Kraft’s arrest.

Kraft, 43, has been linked by prosecutors to a total of 45 murders in Southern California, Oregon and Michigan. Some experts believe his trial could be the most expensive criminal proceeding in the state’s history. If he is convicted of any of the 16 deaths of young men at his Santa Ana trial, prosecutors could use most of those other deaths at a penalty hearing in an attempt to send Kraft to the gas chamber.

Law enforcement officials hired Joan in 1979 to aid in the investigation of about 18 unsolved deaths of young men in Southern California. Joan told police that a cult operating in Silverado Canyon practiced human sacrifices and was involved in Crisel’s death. McDonald told the court that if Joan were allowed to testify in front of the jury, he would then produce evidence that McMillan had told one of his molestation victims that he wanted to take him to Silverado Canyon.

“Obviously, we see a relationship between McMillan” and Crisel, McDonald said outside the courtroom. “But the full story hasn’t come out yet.”

Three Suspects

McMillan was one of three suspects in the death of Crisel, whose body was found in Irvine, but police decided after a surveillance operation that none of them was involved.

McMillan’s name was given to Irvine police investigating Crisel’s death by the federal Criminal Investigation Division (CID), which had gotten the name from an informant. A police report produced by Kraft attorneys showed that Irvine police, trying to learn the informant’s name, even placed one CID official under surveillance.

Joan was finally permitted to testify outside the jurors’ presence. She complained that police never found any evidence in Silverado Canyon because the police helicopter pilot did not follow her directions.

Joan also testified that she led police to a trailer park where one of the three suspects was living.

Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin, who did not hide his impatience with the whole psychic issue, interjected his own question to former Irvine Police Detective Ronald G. Veach: “What was turned up as the result of surveillance of those three suspects?”

“Nothing,” Veach replied.

Despite vigorous argument from McDonald, the judge said his decision about whether the psychic’s testimony was relevant was not “even a close call.”

In mid-afternoon Wednesday, the defense ran out of witnesses for the second day in a row. Earlier in the trial when that occurred, the judge had ordered that witnesses be lined up “three deep” from then on.

The Kraft trial is scheduled to break early today because of a juror’s personal conflict. It will resume Tuesday.

Kraft’s attorneys now have presented defense evidence on six of the 16 murders in the charges.