‘I Bought the Cop’ — Witness Quotes Stanley Lloyd Jr.

In the preliminary hearing Thursday for a Barona tribal member accused in the murder of a Santee teenager, a woman testified that she heard the accused say last fall that he “bought the cop” after a visit by tribal law enforcement to a party they attended.

The party was on Barona Indian Reservation. It was about two nights after the disappearance of El Capitan High School student Christopher Carioscia. .

Stanley Virgil Lloyd Jr. is charged with first-degree murder in Carioscia’s death. The preliminary hearing is being held at the El Cajon courthouse.

The woman’s testimony came on the heels of statements by another woman Wednesday that Lloyd boasted at the party that tribal law enforcement doesn't bother him because he “runs Barona.”

Around midnight on Oct. 26, 2010, Carioscia called his mother to say he was at Barona Casino visiting friends.

There are no known reports of him alive after the phone call. His body was found in an isolated area southwest of Barona Speedway.

In day two of the preliminary hearing on Thursday, Kirsten Craig, 18, took the stand. She described going with her friend to a bonfire near the recreation center on Barona Indian Reservation two nights before Halloween last year.

It was about two nights after Carioscia’s disappearance. Her testimony was similar to that of her friend, Kimberly Dewhurst, who testified Wednesday. Both described Lloyd at the party showing off a gun, which he had in his pants. Both told the court Lloyd talked about how he had used the gun to kill several people. They each recalled Lloyd — known as Scooter — approaching tribal law enforcement when they arrived at the party of drinking teens around a bonfire. They said he was the only one to approach the vehicle. The women gave testimony that indicated Lloyd had little concern about law enforcement.

Dewhurst remembered asking him whether the officer might do anything about their party.

“No, they don’t do anything ’cause I run things up here,” she testified that he said.

“I bought the cop,” is what Craig remembers him telling the gathering of friends after tribal law enforcement left.

Craig further told the court that Lloyd said he used the gun to kill someone, so he had to get rid of it.

Dewhurst testified Wednesday that she heard Lloyd talking to friends about how he had just “killed a kid” over a “heroin deal” that had gone wrong and that he “tossed the body up the road” and burned the car.

Calioscia’s mother’s car, which he was driving the night he disappeared, was found the next day on the reservation, destroyed by fire.

The women remembered Lloyd throwing the gun and a bag of bullets into the darkness at the party that night, into a nearby area of trees, dirt and grass.

Lloyd’s cousin Tommy Lachappa testified that he also was at the bonfire party last October and that he also recalls his cousin showing people a gun. He remembered Lloyd telling people that law enforcement couldn’t pin Christopher’s death on him “just because he was the last one to see him.” Lachappa, 16, was called by the prosecution as a “semi-reluctant witness.”

Morphine can be a metabolite of heroin, the autopsy noted.

In other testimony Thursday, a forensic firearms analyst discussed his investigation of a .357 Magnum involved in the case. Also, the judge allowed the mothers of the accused and the victim into the court to hear testimony by a forensic pathologist who did Calioscia’s autopsy.

During cross-examination, the defense attorney objected to what he called speculation by some of the witnesses. Judge John M. Thompson sustained some and overruled some of the objections. The defense also questioned Craig about her drinking on the night of the party and how that might have affected her recollections.

Craig said she drank very little because she didn't feel well. She agreed with the defense that Dewhurst was drunk to the point that “she couldn’t walk straight” by the time the party ended between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.

The defense also raised questions about how loud a .357 Magnum gunshot is and whether anyone on the reservation heard gunfire when witnesses say the gun was fired at the party — between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.

The judge is expected to rule Thursday whether or not the case will go to trial. If Lloyd is convicted, he faces 50 years to life in prison.