ER - Children of slain man take the stand in his murder trial

Children of slain man take the stand in his murder trial
by Kara Machado, 5/21/2007

The girlfriend and two children of a murder victim testified Monday, the first day of Thomas Arthur Applegate’s trial.

Applegate, 44, has been charged with the May 4, 2003, murder of Joey Patrick Church, 34, with a special allegation that he did so with a firearm; the May 4, 2003, attempted murder of Ross Condemi, 48, with a special allegation that he discharged a firearm during the commission of the crime; the May 4, 2003, assault of Condemi with a firearm with a special allegation that he used a .44-caliber pistol and another special allegation of great bodily injury.

Humboldt County Public Defender Kevin Robinson said Applegate has entered two pleas: First, Applegate pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, as well as entered denials to all special allegations; and second, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

In Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos’ opening statement to jurors, he painted a time frame from the days leading up to the killings to the day Church was killed and Condemi was injured.

On Thursday, May 1, 2003, Gallegos said, Applegate told his employer he would be going to Mexico for four days. The following day, he stayed with his father in Paso Robles.

On Saturday, May 3, 2003, Applegate drove one hour south to the San Luis Obispo airport, where he parked his black Jeep and rented a gold Kia.

He then returned home to get a .44-caliber handgun that he would eventually bring up to Humboldt County, Gallegos said, and told his girlfriend he would be going to Mexico for four days.

Applegate soon ended up in Ukiah, where he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. The next morning, he called some friends and asked them to go with him to Bridgeville to look for property.

Prior to going home to have Applegate meet them there, one of Applegate’s friends saw the .44-caliber handgun on a nightstand.

At the friends’ house, Applegate allegedly participated in the ingestion of methamphetamine, Gallegos said, before the group left for Bridgeville.

At about 4:58 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, 2003, the gold Kia arrived in Bridgeville for the first time, Gallegos said.

Then, at 6:22 p.m., Applegate allegedly arrived at Church’s house, where he asked Church’s girlfriend, Carrie Erickson, if the house was for sale. Erickson told him no.

At 6:29 p.m., Applegate left the Bridgeville area, Gallegos said. His friends wanted to go home, but Applegate asked them to call their son to pick them up at a gas station.

“(Applegate) told them when he got back from Bridgeville (again), he would drive by the gas station to see if they were still there,” Gallegos said, “(and, if so,) he would pick them up.”

At 8:06 p.m. the gold Kia went back to the Church household, where two of Church’s three children — then-7-year-old Brandi and then-10-year-old Alexander — Erickson and Condemi were watching “The Simpsons” on television.

“Either he opened the door, the door was open or he forced it open, (but) he is (somehow) in the (doorway’s) threshold and asked if the house was for sale (or the town),” Gallegos said. “Church said no; Applegate said, ‘Kids, go to the room’; he pulled out the .44-caliber (handgun and began shooting).”

Gallegos said Church was first shot in the left shoulder. The bullet went through his chest and lodged under his armpit.


Condemi, Gallegos said, pulled his legs up to his body and was shot in the leg, “shattering the bone.”

As Church attempted to run, Applegate allegedly shot him in the hip. The bullet from that shot went into his leg. Church then collapsed and died, Gallegos said.

During Brandi’s testimony, she said just prior to the shooting, she had come home from a friend’s house and was telling the household about her day.

“‘The Simpsons’ just came on and about 10 minutes later (the shooter) came in,” Brandi said.

When asked where everyone was sitting prior to the shooting, Brandi said she didn’t know and broke into tears.

She later said she remembered someone knocked on the door and he was let in.

Brandi, Alexander and Erickson all testified they identified Applegate as the shooter in a past photo lineup, but he looked different in court Monday.

Erickson — who sobbed during most of her testimony — said she only knew Applegate as the person who “shot my baby’s father” and Condemi.

She said when Applegate asked if the house was for sale again, during the second visit to Church’s home, Church said the town was for sale, not just the house.

Applegate, Erickson testified, was wearing a black and white checkered button-up flannel, pants and a T-shirt.

The gun he allegedly drew on the household came from his left side, Erickson testified.

During the shooting, Erickson said she and the children ran into her and Church’s bedroom. When they thought the shooter left, they climbed out a window and ran to a neighbor’s house.

Both Brandi and Erickson testified they saw the first time Church was shot.

Alexander said on the way out the bedroom window, he grabbed his father’s .22-caliber rifle “as protection.”

Erickson said she left the children at the neighbor’s house and came back to the house to check on Church.

“Joey was in the house on the floor laying next to the bathroom and he wasn’t breathing.”

Erickson is scheduled to resume her testimony today at 9 a.m. in Humboldt County Superior Court Judge John T. Feeney’s courtroom.

Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.

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