Tauna McGinnis

PROSECUTION:


Where do you work?
The Pregnancy Resource Center in Santa Cruz, it's for unplanned or unwanted pregnancies.

How long have you worked there?
Since 2000.

What is your position?
I have been the Director since 2003.

What do you do as the Director?
Train, manage, and council.

As part of your duties, do you speak to pregnant women?
Yes, first we learn their medical needs, then we set up any medical services that will be needed.


Did Asha ever show up to the Pregnancy Resource Center?
Yes, but I knew her as Joanna.

When did that first start? 
Our first meeting was May 3, 2006.


That is when you were first introduced?
Yes

Describe Asha's pregnancy on May 3.
She was 10 weeks.


When was your last meeting?
September 7, 2006.

How many meetings in total did you have with Asha?
16 visits, 5 phone calls.

How many hours total did you spend with Asha?
110 hours approximately. ***Ended up that she misspoke, 110 hours over 16 visits is about 7 hours per visit, on average, and she said they met only a few hours at a time. Her estimate drops to 11 hours upon cross examination from the Defense.

What did you do for Asha?
Support, encouraged her, helped her with services at work, medical, housing and an OB Doctor.


Did you plan on being there for the birth?
Yes.

Tell me about birth Duas?
She needed support, emotionally, Asha asked for one to be there.


Can you tell me about her housing?
[describes her various housing options].

Did you help with that?
Yes, because she was Polish she needed some help with English, and I was an advocate for her.


Tell me about her housing prospects?
Sienna house, she turned it down because she would be rooming with 3 other women, so she left. She was offered a cabin by an acquaintance.

Did it look like she was accepted for housing?
Yes, she qualified for low income housing.

When was your next housing meeting?
Monday, but she missed it.


Did you ever shop for clothing, or baby needs?
Yes.

Did she know the baby's gender?
Yes, at first it was believed to be a boy, but it turned out to be a girl during a diagnostic ultrasound.

When?
About 5 months, or 20 weeks.


Did you assist her in any way with immigration?
Yes, in Watsonville, and then a three-way call to San Francisco. She wanted help because of language, and trust issues.

What day?
August 2, 2006.


Did you document the meetings?
Yes.

Did you ever speak with Asha about a DNA test?
Yes.


What came out of that discussion?
I called a DNA diagnostic testing company that contracts to different labs, we were trying to find out the pricing.

Did you assist? What was the date?
Yes I did, August 30, 2006.


How many people did the DNA test need to be for? And why?
4 people, Asha, the baby, her estranged husband Richard, and Michael McClish.


Did you determine the cost involved?
Yes.

What was the idea behind the DNA testing?
Asha needed child support, in order to get court ordered child support, you need to know the father. She was unsure if it was her husband or McClish, tests had to be done to determine before moving on.

Did you ever talk about taking time off for the baby with Asha?
Yes, we talked about it financially, talked about state support. And HR at Ben Lomond Market about maternity leave.

Did you ever meet Richard Veil?
Yes, he did meet at our facility.


Did you ever give him your card, or contact info?
Yes, for therapy.

Did he come alone?
He was with Asha for the second ultrasound.

Did he just come once?
Yes, and he stayed outside during the ultrasound.


Did Asha ever say who she thought the father was?
**Bunch of objections from the Defense, lead to rewording of question several times, with several more objections.**
She believed the child came out of one sexual encounter specifically, with her manager Mike.

**Judge interrupts, addresses Jury: This is hearsay, but it goes to show Asha's mindset, you can't consider her thought on who the father was.**

Who was he?
 Her primary manager.

Did she ever disclose the name of the manager?
Mike


In your September 7th meeting, what subject did you address?
She decided that she needed child support. She would need the DNA test.

Did you ever talk to her about forms for the paternity test?
We talked about 2 processes, umbilical cord to determine the baby's DNA, 2 blood samples pre-ready from the males, or cotton swabs from the mouth after the birth.


When did the first Detective contact you?
September 11, 2006.

What was the subject of conversation?
 Missing person report had been filed for Asha, he asked me questions about Asha.

Did this catch you offguard?
Yes, but at this time it was just a missing persons case.

What did he ask?
He asked if I was council for Asha, and the last time I had seen or heard from her.


Anything about who she thought the father was?

Yes, that she thought it was her manager at work, that she had expressed concerns about him, that she suspected he was the father, and she was going to seek child support from him.



Was he married with children?
Yes, married with three kids. I told the Detective that.


Did you know she had been murdered?
No, I knew she didn't show up for her housing meeting Monday, which was unlike her, but I didn't know she had been killed.

How many months pregnant was she at that time?
She was in the first part of 8 months.


Who is Collet Crawford (spelling?)?
Birth Dua, I was present for part of first meeting between them.

How long did they see eachother?
 She came in for the last part of the pregnancy.

What does Collet do?
As a Dua, she helps come up with a birthing plan, she helps advocate for her with the hospital, planning of that nature.


What day did Collet meet with Asha?
Thursday, September 7.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PEOPLE'S EXHIBIT 1
Picture of Asha pregnant.

PEOPLE'S EXHIBIT 2
Picture of Asha pregnant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did you have any other contact with Asha?Wednesday the 13th, talked with Chrissy.

Was that recorded?
Yes.

Provide the name of suspected husband?
Yes, Mike

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEFENSE:
Were you close to Asha?
Yes.

You met 16 times?Yes.

Or 110 hours?
Yes.

So an average of 7 hours each time?
[she fumbles here, refers to notes, realizes it was 740 minutes total, or  ~12.5 hours, Prosecution clearly upset.]

Because of your closeness to her, were you concerned about her not showing up to her housing meeting?
Yes, it was unlike her.


You talked a lot about paternity testing?
 Yes, she needed it for Immigration, the baby's passport, and child support payments.

The Detective that called you asked for help?
Yes. I explained the hostility of her manager, his anger, and how she would avoid him. [referring to her notes, she didn't have the name "Mike" written down, just "Manager, married with three kids," the name didn't come up until later meetings. 23rd of August she mentioned 'Mike']

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another hearsay speech from Judge Burdock
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIDEBAR CALLED BY DEFENSE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOTH WITNESSES ARE ALLOWED TO TESTIFY ABOUT ASHA'S BELIEF
THAT MICHAEL MCCLISH WAS INDEED THE FATHER, EVEN THOUGH
IT IS HEARSAY, IN ORDER TO SHOW AND EXPRESS HER INTENT TO
MEET MICHAEL MCCLISH ABOUT THE PATERNITY TESTING.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIDEBAR CALLED BY JUDGE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prosecution gets redirect:
You gave the 11th as the date for when the detective called, could you refer to your notes and check that please.
It was actually the 12th.