Testimony underway in preliminary hearing for Sonoma burglary suspects

<p>A San Mateo police officer testified Thursday he was outside a 7-Eleven when a young woman pulled up in a car with no front license plate, talking on a cell phone.</p><p>Officer Jason Reed said he ran the rear plate of the Mercury Milan and discovered the car was registered to a woman with a suspended license.</p><p>So Reed waited while the woman, Amber Marie True, 29, went into the store and detained her for questioning when she came out.</p><p>During a search of her pockets and car, he found a credit card bearing the name Susan Maloney. A boxed DVD player contained a receipt with the name of John Maloney. Within minutes, he testified, he discovered the items belonged to the family of four killed three days earlier in a car crash.</p><p>True was arrested.</p><p>“I had the car towed,” Reed said.</p><p>The testimony came in a preliminary hearing for True and her boyfriend, Michael Gutierrez, 26, who are accused in the burglary of the home of the Maloneys, who were killed along with their children Aiden, 8, and Grace, 5, in a Lakeville Highway crash Nov. 28.</p><p>Prosecutors said True and Gutierrez, an ex-convict with a criminal record, targeted the house because they knew it was unoccupied. They have charged the pair with burglary, auto theft and other counts that could put each of them in prison for years if convicted.</p><p>Lawyers for True and Gutierrez said the pair did not know the family had been killed. Both attorneys have suggested a third person, possibly with access to real estate multiple-listing information, may have tipped True and Gutierrez to the unoccupied house.</p><p>Earlier this week, they asked Judge Arthur Wick if he would agree to reduced sentences in exchange for their pleas but he declined.</p><p>Prosecutor Mike Li said it is not relevant under the law whether the two knew the house was vacant.</p><p>In setting up his case, Li said he would call 11 witnesses in a preliminary hearing that was expected to last up to six hours. It was continued to March 25 after a single day of testimony.</p><p>His witnesses include police officers from San Mateo and Sonoma counties. On Thursday he called Press Democrat reporter Mary Callahan, who wrote a Dec. 4 story based on a jailhouse interview with Gutierrez. Gutierrez admitted to the burglary in the newspaper story but claimed he did not know of the family's tragedy.</p><p>Callahan testified the statements in the story were accurate statements from Gutierrez.</p><p>Officer Reed took the stand next, describing the discovery of the credit card and the DVD player, apparently taken from the Maloney home. It was recently purchased by John Maloney.</p><p>He said True had a pearl necklace, gold jewelry, silverware and other items belonging to the Maloneys in the car.</p><p>True's attorney, Steve Weiss, asked to have some statements stricken because True hadn't been properly advised of her rights. Wick agreed.</p><p>Also testifying Thursday were Phil Mosier of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department and Deputy Rocky Steffens of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.</p>