ALHAMBRA — The fate of an Alhambra man accused of killing his girlfriend and leaving her body in a trash can in Arcadia is now in the hands of a jury after attorneys on both sides gave their closing arguments Tuesday.
Isaac Campbell, 36, is charged with murder in connection with the Aug. 12, 2007 death of Liya “Jessie” Lu, 31, of San Gabriel. Just over a month after her disappearance, her body was discovered wrapped in a dozen plastic trash bags and placed, along with kitty litter, inside a trash can Campbell had stored at a friend’s house in Arcadia, according to testimony heard in Alhambra Superior Court.
Deputy District Attorney Steve Ipson argued he was a calculating killer who began covering up his heinous crime within minutes of committing it.
Duffy, on the other hand, made a case that Campbell was a peaceful and non-violent man who panicked after discovering his girlfriend dead in his Granada Avenue apartment in Alhambra and hid the body, but did not kill her.
“The only reasonable interpretation is that he murdered her and he covered it up,” Ipson said, and Campbell’s behavior since the killing shows “no remorse at all.”
Though coroner’s investigators were not able to determined Lu’s cause of death, Ipson contended that she died as the result of a “sleeper hold” wrestling move performed on her by Campbell – an aficionado of mixed martial arts. A video and books seized from his computer demonstrate the maneuver.
Duffy countered that the prosecution’s theory depended on “pure speculation” and lacked convincing evidence.
“There was no murder,” he said. The defense argued that Campbell merely discovered the body and handled the situation poorly.
Through Campbell’s testimony, “He told us that he panicked. That he freaked out. That he never meant to kill Liya Lu,” Duffy said.
Campbell did not call an ambulance because it was obvious Lu was already dead, the defense attorney said.
Furthermore, he had been arrested for marijuana possession in 2001 after reporting an assault to the police, and as an admitted marijuana dealer, he had a significant amount of pot in his home at the time of Lu’s death, Duffy said.
Additionally, as Lu’s boyfriend, “He knew they would suspect him,” Duffy said.
Campbell testified during the trial that he had merely pushed Lu during an argument, and later found her dead.
“He believed he had something to do with her death. He had horrible experiences with the police and he had weed in his house. He panicked,” Duffy said.
“(The prosecution) have not proven this case by any stretch,” he said. “The people are relying on your passions.”
The prosecution repeatedly showed photos of Lu and replayed the same voice mail messages repeatedly, Duffy said. “The people are filling in the blanks in this case by putting up pictures of Liya Lu,” Duffy said. “What it shows is their lack of evidence.”
“They are relying on you looking at (Campbell) as a marijuana dealer and an MMA guy, gruesome pictures and everything else,” the attorney added.
Duffy pointed out inconsistencies in witness statement and argued that several of the witnesses had a personal bias against Campbell.
Additionally, Duffy drew the jury’s attention to the fact that coroner’s investigators had been unable to determine how Lu died and found no trauma on her body.
Ipson instructed the jury that, “Just because someone kills someone and it’s not by obvious means… it’s still the same crime as if it was done with a gun, if it was done on video, if it was done in front of witnesses.”
Duffy fired back, saying, “They don’t have (the cause of death), so now it becomes not important.”
Testimony by Los Angeles County coroner’s investigator Pedro Ortiz explained that Lu could have died from being strangled in a “sleeper hold” as alleged by the prosecution, however the defense pointed out that he also would not rule out the possibility of a natural death.”
A defense expert witness, Dr. Arthur Kowell, testified that in his opinion, the death could have been due to a natural cause such as a seizure disorder.
Ipson called Kowell, “nothing more than a hired gun,” who received $2,000 for his half day of testimony.
Campbell’s statements to investigators have been inconsistent and untruthful, which Campbell himself admitted when he took the witness stand during the trial, Ipson pointed out.
“His story changes with the wind,” Ipson said. “If he hadn’t done anything wrong, all he had to do was pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1.”
Instead, Ipson said, Campbell hid Lu’s body at his apartment for four days, before depositing it in a storage unit he rented on Aug. 16. Three days later, he placed the body inside the trash can and left it at a friend’s house in the 1700 block of S. Baldwin Avenue, where it remained undiscovered until Sept. 15 when the friend became suspicious and opened it up.
Meanwhile, Campbell had traveled to Minnesota where he was staying with an old friend, officials said. It was there that he was ultimately arrested.
In court Tuesday, Campbell remained largely emotionless, except for when he flashed a large smile toward family members in the audience as the courtroom was sent on a lunch break. He wore a gray sports coat and glasses as he took notes and occasionally exchanged whispers with his lawyer.
Lu is believed to have died during a 45-minute window in the early morning hours of Aug. 12. She was in the process of moving out of the Alhambra apartment she had shared with Campbell.
At 1:29 a.m., Ipson said, he used her phone to send a text message to a friend who had been waiting for her outside.
The message said that Lu was tired and had decided to spend the night at Campbell’s apartment, Ipson said. “She was already dead.”
Campbell checked the voice mail messages on Lu’s cell phone three times in the hour following her death, according to phone records displayed in court, Ipson said. Days later, he even left a voice mail on Lu’s phone asking where she was, though he later admitted he already knew her to be dead.
“Instead of being overwhelmed by grief, as he wanted everybody else to believe, he’s already covering it up,” Ipson said.
The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Wednesday. They were given the options of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Campbell could face 25 years to life in prison.
