Joseph Naso's Murder Trial Opens: KRON 4 Report from Marin County, June 2013

Name: Joseph Naso's Murder Trial Opens: KRON 4 Report from Marin County, June 2013
Uploaded: 2013-06-18T00:00:00Z
Duration: 2 min 25 s
Description: A KRON 4 report from the first day of Joseph Naso's Marin County murder trial in June 2013, when prosecutors showed the jury photographs of the four victims and Naso, 79, sat as his own lawyer.

A KRON 4 report from the first day of Joseph Naso's Marin County murder trial in June 2013, when prosecutors showed the jury photographs of the four victims and Naso, 79, sat as his own lawyer.

Subject: Joseph Naso
Recorded: about June 17, 2013
Runtime: 2:25

Content warning: Describes crime-scene photographs of four murdered women and refers to a "rape diary".

The Interview

This is not an interview with Joseph Naso, and he is not heard in it. It is a KRON 4 News report from the evening of Monday, June 17, 2013, the first day of his murder trial in Marin County, where cameras were allowed in court for the start of the trial. Reporter Terisa Estacio describes the prosecution's opening statement over pictures of Naso in the courtroom. The YouTube title refers to Naso's own opening statement to the jury, but this report ends by promising his words for the station's 6 p.m. newscast, which is not part of this video.

Historical Context

Joseph Naso, a photographer born in Rochester, New York, in 1934, was living in Reno, Nevada, when a 2010 probation search of his home turned up photographs, diaries and a list of "10 girls" with places beside them. In April 2011 Marin County prosecutors charged him with the murders of four women: Roxene Roggasch, 18, found near Fairfax in January 1977; Carmen Colon, 22, found in Contra Costa County in August 1978; Pamela Parsons, 38, found in Yuba County in September 1993; and Tracy Tafoya, 31, found in Yuba County in August 1994. Because each woman's first and last names began with the same letter, the press linked the case to the "alphabet murders".

Circumstances of the Recording

Naso, 79, represented himself at trial, with a public defender beside him as an adviser. Opening statements were given in Marin County Superior Court in San Rafael on June 17, 2013. KRON 4 aired this report in its 5 p.m. newscast that day.

What the Interview Covers

According to the report: - prosecutors showed the jury graphic photographs of the four women, whose bodies had been left naked by the road, and some jurors looked away or were in tears; - Naso at times smiled during the prosecution's opening; - prosecutors read from what they called his "rape diary"; - DNA on pantyhose used to strangle Roxene Roggasch matched Naso, and the pantyhose also carried his wife's DNA; - Roggasch's body was found off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Marin County in 1977. The report also says that the cases went unsolved for years until Naso's 2010 arrest for a probation violation in Nevada.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report records the opening day of a rare capital trial in which the accused, a man in his late seventies, acted as his own lawyer. It shows the courtroom on the day the jury first saw the evidence.

Archival Importance

The anchor says cameras were allowed in court for the beginning of the trial, so the report shows the courtroom on the day the jury first heard the case.

Important Caveats

- Naso is not heard. Do not use the YouTube title's "Bizarre Monologue" as if the monologue were in the video. - The evidence described (the DNA, the diary, the victims' circumstances) is the prosecution's case as reported on the first day, before any verdict. - "A public defender" is the reporter's description of Naso's advisory counsel.

Announcer: This is the Bay Area's news station. KRON 4 News starts now.

Anchor: New tonight at 5 o'clock: the trial of accused serial murder suspect Joseph Naso started today. He is the man charged with murdering four young women and dumping their bodies on the side of the road. Cameras were allowed in court for the beginning of this trial. As KRON 4's Terisa Estacio reports, during opening statements today, some members of the jury wiped away tears.

Terisa Estacio: Here in Marin County, during opening statements of accused serial killer Joseph Naso's murder trial, prosecutors presented graphic photos of all four victims. They had been left naked on the side of the road. The photos of their decomposing bodies were so disturbing that some jurors looked away, and one fought back tears. This is Joseph Naso, the 79-year-old former photographer charged with murdering the women. At times he smiled while prosecutors presented their case to the six women and six men on the jury. He also appeared smug. Naso is representing himself. A public defender you see here sitting next to him is offering him some legal assistance.

Terisa Estacio: Besides crime scene photos, prosecutors showed excerpts of what they call Naso's rape diary, where he allegedly chronicled sexually assaulting several women. Cameras were not allowed to show evidence being presented. This is a picture of all four victims presented to the jury. Prosecutors also talked about how DNA evidence found in pantyhose used to strangle victim Roxene Roggasch is a match to Naso, and that the pantyhose contained the DNA of Naso's wife. It was here in Marin County, off of Sir Francis Drake, that Roggasch's body was found in 1977.

Terisa Estacio: Prosecutors say that Roggasch worked as a prostitute in Oakland near Naso's home at the time. [unclear: "Authorities" / "Prosecutors"] also told the jury how many of these cases went unsolved for years. That is, until Naso was arrested in 2010 in connection with violating his probation on a theft charge in Nevada. Coming up on KRON 4 News at 6 o'clock, find out what Naso had to say about the charges against him and what his first words were to the jury, who is now contemplating his fate in this death penalty case. In Marin County, Terisa Estacio, KRON 4 News. ---