Death penalty urged for Indiana man's killer
April 02, 2002
By Glenn Chapman STAFF WRITER
A Dilbert calendar Charles Hass flipped to Jan. 29, 2001, before leaving his office -- never to return -- is on a shelf near Harry Potter and Star Wars figurines he adored.
The Federal Express engineer's coffee mug bearing the company logo is among the mementos salvaged from his desk after he was fatally stabbed outside a West Oakland liquor store Jan. 27 of last year.
The painful void created in the lives of those who held Hass dear and the violent history of Willie Green, the man convicted of murdering him, were depicted for jurors who must decide whether to sentence Green to death.
"It has been very difficult without Charles," Louise Hass said outside Alameda County Superior Judge Philip Sarkisian's courtroom. "It was such a shock last year at Christmas, the first Christmas without him. ... It is sad when my 3-year-old grandson tells me Uncle Charles isn't here anymore, he has gone to heaven."
Charles Hass would have turned 29 years old on May 18. Last year, in honor of his birthday, a group of his friends took Louise Hass to dine at her son's favorite Italian restaurant in Indianapolis. A native of Indiana, Hass was transferred to a Bay Area office of Federal Express shortly before he was murdered.
"Charles has absolutely golden friends," Louise Hass said. "They've sent me pictures,...stopped by to see me...and had a Web site up in tribute to Charles within 48 hours of what happened."
The Internet address of the site is www.charleshass.org.
Green confronted Charles Hass and Aaron Merritt as they stepped from Bay Area Liquors on Peralta Street on Jan. 27, 2001, according to the case presented by Deputy District Attorney Michael Nieto. The 6-foot 4-inch Green purportedly announced he was a police officer and shoved Hass to a side of the store.
A second man held Hass by the jacket while Green searched him for valuables, Nieto said. Green stabbed Merritt in the lung when Merritt went to rescue Hass, who was knifed in the heart, the prosecutor argued in court.
Jurors found 45-year-old Green guilty of a murder punishable with execution.No longer safe
"I used to tell my friends West Oakland was a safe place to live or visit ... I don't say that any more," said 29-year-old Merritt, who has moved from the neighborhood. "I'm a little more wary; something like this can't ever be gone."
The brother of a woman shot dead by Green in 1983 was among those called to testify by Nieto, who is urging jurors to sentence the career criminal and prison gang member to death.
"I want Willie Green to pay for what he was doing," the slain woman's sibling, 54-year-old Robert Whitfield, said after stepping from the stand. "He just killed people, and he's sitting there like it ain't nothing."
Green pleaded guilty to manslaughter for slaying Whitfield's sister, Wilma Colbert, and served time in prison. He contended he was targeting a man standing near Colbert when he opened fire with an assault rifle.
Whitfield was in the car that day with Green, who was reportedly bent on killing a man he believed tried to gun him and two associates down on an Oakland street. Whitfield said he saw Green taking aim out a car window and shouted, "Don't shoot, that's my sister."
"Willie Green knew he was shooting my sister," Whitfield asserted.
An array of police officers also took the stand to tell of Green's defiance and belligerence during encounters with the law.
Nieto closed his presentation to jurors by playing a tape recording of an ebullient Charles Hass dancing at his sister's wedding reception.'Devastation'
"Charles was so happy," Louise Hass said. "If Mr. Green had a change of heart, he would have some understanding of the devastation he has wrought in the lives of Charles' friends and family."
Green's attorneys, Daniel Horowitz and James Giller, begin calling witnesses today in an effort to convince jurors to sentence Green to life in prison instead of execution.
Correspondent Monica Sagullo contributed to this report.