Crime & Safety

PROSECUTION: Victim Was Friends With Alleged Killers

Paul "Pete" Cline knew the alleged killers were bleeding his bank account, but didn't turn them in because they were his friends, prosecution says.

An murdered Anza man knew his bank account was being bled, but didn't turn in his alleged killers because they were his friends, a prosecutor said today.

Blaine Hopp of the District Attorney's office made his closing argument for defendant Chris Darrel Duve, 31, to a jury at the in French Valley.

The victim, Paul "Pete" Cline, noticed somebody was taking money without permission from his bank account, Hopp told the jury. He went to the bank shortly before he was killed and closed his bank account. He also called the sheriff's department and reported the fraud, though he did not finger the people accused with his murder, Duve and Angela May Shaver, 48.

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Cline did not point his finger at them because Duve and Shaver were his friends, Hopp said.

"He could have saved his own life (by reporting his suspicions that Duve and Shaver were responsible), but he didn't," Hopp told the jury. "He thought these people were his friends."
Cline was found with the deputy's card in his pocket.

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The day after Cline died, Shaver and Duve was seen by a local at Cahuilla Casino spending money, Hopp said. "They were at Cahuilla Casino spending money, having a good old time," he said.

The defendants also moved into Cline's home after he was killed, Hopp said.

Duve's defense argued in previous hearings that he was an innocent bystander. The real killer was a man named , who was allegedly giving Shaver medical marijuana at the time.

Valdez stabbed Cline to death in front of Duve and Shaver, and then forced the other two to stab Cline's lifeless body to incriminate them, thus ensuring they won't talk, Stephen Sweigart, Duve's attorney, said.

He threatened to kill the two if they didn't stab Cline, Sweigart said.

Cline did not deny another man may have stricken the fatal stab wounds. "Nobody presented evidence Valdez… wasn't involved," he said.

All witnesses agree Duve stabbed Cline, and being threatened is no excuse to stab a man under the law, Hopp argued. "You kill him or you're next is not a defense for murder."

One stab would was inflicted after death, and defense argued that was the wound Duve inflicted. Hopp argued there was no way to know whether that was true.

"Dr. McCormick (a forensic witness who testified at a previous hearing) can't tell you which stab would comes from the defendant, he wasn't there," he said.


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