Direct examination of Sharon Rufo (part 1)

📄 Direct examination of Sharon Rufo (part 1) — Friday, December 6, 1996

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C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\DEC\6\DIRECT-EXAMINATION-OF-SHARON-R.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 27 of 57

◀ Deposition of Sharon Rufo (videotape) Sidebar: transcript designations ▶

Witness: Sharon Rufo
Examiner: Michael Brewer
Called by: Plaintiff • Date: Friday, December 6, 1996 • Utterances: 174

Dan Leonard conducts direct examination of Sharon Rufo, Ron Goldman's biological mother, covering her sporadic contact with Ron from 1990 to 1992. She describes writing letters, a lengthy phone call in 1992 during which Ron discussed being on the TV show 'Studs' and working as an EMT, and her ex-husband Steven Rufo's hostility that interfered with her contact with her children. The examination ends with her producing photographs of Ron that she keeps in her wallet.

# 1 Q:

And did he tell you what he was doing?

# 2 A:

He said that he was -- he would go there and he would dress -- help dress the -- the patients and bathe them, and take care of them, and feed them, and that's basically what he said his job was.

# 3 Q:

Okay.

And you wrote a letter approximately six weeks after Mother's Day of 1990?

# 4 A:

Yes.

# 5 Q:

Okay.

You don't -- did you -- you didn't keep a copy of the letter?

# 6 A:

No.

# 7 Q:

Okay.

# 8 A:

I sent pictures, though.

# 9 Q:

Excuse me?

# 10 A:

I sent pictures.

# 11 Q:

You sent photographs?

# 12 A:

Yes.

# 13 Q:

Of yourself?

# 14 A:

Yes.

# 15 Q:

Okay.

And what -- what did you say in the letter, do you recall? I mean obviously not every word, but as much as you recall.

# 16 A:

Just the fact that -- what was taking him so long in -- in responding. He was supposed to send me some pictures of his new hair cut.

# 17 Q:

Okay.

# 18 A:

And I hadn't heard from him so I wrote him a letter, and sent him pictures of myself, and he wanted pictures of my cat, so I sent him pictures.

# 19 Q:

As of two days after Mother's Day of 1990, what photographs, if any, did you have of Ronnie?

# 20 A:

I had every photograph that was -- that was sent to my mother. If there were any photographs, my mother sent them to me.

# 21 Q:

Well, let me put it to you this way: As of two days after Mother's Day --

# 22 A:

Um-hum.

# 23 Q:

-- Of 1990 --

# 24 A:

Yes.

# 25 Q:

Did you have any photographs of Ronnie in your residence?

# 26 A:

Yes.

# 27 Q:

Okay.

Did you have a lot of photographs of him?

# 28 A:

I had photographs -- yes.

# 29 Q:

Okay.

And -- well, what was the latest age, if you will, of the photograph? In other words, was he 14, 15, 16, 20, 25?

# 30 MR. BREWER:

Time period?

# 31 MR. LEONARD:

Yeah.

# 32 A:

In the mid 80's.

# 33 Q:

(BY MR. LEONARD) Okay.

Anything else you can recall about the content of the letter you sent?

# 34 A:

Not -- no, not really.

# 35 Q:

Okay.

Did you -- when was the next communication you had with Ron?

# 36 A:

I wrote another letter, and that was about a month after this -- after that other one.

# 37 Q:

Um-hum.

And during that one-month period from when you wrote the first letter until you wrote the second letter, you didn't hear back from Ronnie?

# 38 A:

No, I did not.

# 39 Q:

Okay.

Did you attempt to call him during that period?

# 40 A:

No.

# 41 Q:

Okay.

Tell me what -- what you recollect was in the second letter you sent to Ron?

# 42 A:

The second letter was a wedding announcement and a picture of my automobile.

# 43 Q:

Um-hum.

# 44 A:

And --

# 45 Q:

Is that the Monte Carlo?

# 46 A:

No. I had a Thunderbird.

# 47 Q:

Okay. Okay.

# 48 A:

And some pictures of the house.

# 49 (Inaudible.)

# 50 Q:

(BY MR. LEONARD) Excuse me?

# 51 A:

And some pictures of the house.

# 52 Q:

Okay.

So contained in the envelope with the letter were some photographs?

# 53 A:

Yes.

# 54 Q:

And how about the content of the letter, as much as you can recollect?

# 55 A:

I wanted to -- wanted to know why I still hadn't heard from him, and I was getting concerned, and told him that we tried calling, both my mother and myself, and the phone number was no longer in service.

# 56 Q:

Okay.

You testified earlier that you -- that you hadn't tried to call, at least that's what I understood, in the one-month period between the two letters.

Do you remember that testimony?

# 57 A:

I did, I called once and my mother called once.

# 58 Q:

And what was the result of your call?

# 59 A:

I testified that I got no -- no one answered when I called.

# 60 Q:

Okay.

# 61 MR. BREWER:

You're --

# 62 MR. LEONARD:

Right, no, I think I --

# 63 Q:

(BY MR. LEONARD) You wrote one letter six weeks after Mother's Day, then you wrote another letter about a month after that?

# 64 A:

Correct.

# 65 Q:

In between the two letters, did you make any attempt --

# 66 A:

No.

# 67 Q:

-- to call Ronnie?

# 68 A:

No.

# 69 Q:

Okay.

Do you know whether -- do you know if your mother did?

# 70 A:

Yes.

# 71 Q:

She did?

# 72 A:

Yes.

# 73 Q:

During that one-month period?

# 74 A:

Yes.

# 75 Q:

Did she tell you that she tried to call Ronnie?

# 76 A:

Yes.

# 77 Q:

And what did she tell you happened when she tried to call Ron?

# 78 A:

She said she got no answer and she also sent a letter, and we assumed since the letters were not coming back that he had received the letter.

# 79 (Excerpt ends.)

# 80 Q:

(BY MR. LEONARD) All right. Okay. Okay. Okay.

When was the next communication? I think you mentioned the fourth is -- are we on the fourth one?

# 81 A:

1992.

# 82 Q:

Okay.

So -- just so I got this right.

And when in 1992, approximately, was the communication?

# 83 A:

The end of '92.

# 84 Q:

In December?

# 85 A:

I believe it was -- I believe it was November.

# 86 Q:

Okay.

And describe that communication?

# 87 A:

He had called to say that he was -- (inaudible.)

# 88 MR. LEONARD:

Sure.

# 89 A:

When he called the house he got my ex.

# 90 MR. BREWER:

He wants to know the conversation you had with Ron, when you spoke with him.

# 91 Q:

(BY MR. LEONARD) Well, let's start over again.

Ron -- Ron called the house, right, you weren't there; is that correct?

# 92 A:

I was there.

# 93 Q:

Oh, you were there in 1992?

# 94 A:

Yes.

# 95 Q:

Okay.

You mentioned your ex-husband.

# 96 A:

Steven answered the phone, and did the same thing that he did the first time to Ron.

# 97 Q:

Okay.

# 98 A:

And --

# 99 Q:

Which --

# 100 A:

I got the phone call.

# 101 Q:

What you mean by that is he -- he said he was abusive to Ronnie?

# 102 A:

Yes.

# 103 Q:

And told Ronnie that he didn't what? That he didn't want --

# 104 A:

He didn't want him calling the house.

# 105 Q:

Did you overhear that?

# 106 A:

Yes.

# 107 Q:

Okay.

And tell me exactly what you heard Mr. Rufo say?

# 108 A:

He told him that he didn't feel that because --

# 109 Q:

Just when you say he, that's Mr. Rufo?

# 110 A:

Mr. Rufo.

# 111 Q:

Okay.

# 112 A:

He wanted no -- he told me that he did not want me to have any association with my children.

KEY QUOTE

# 113 Q:

I don't mean to be impolite, but my question was you overheard a portion -- you overheard Mr. Rufo on the phone, right?

# 114 A:

Right.

# 115 Q:

I just -- and you -- and you know that was with Ronnie -- Ronnie was -- you then picked up the phone afterwards, right?

# 116 A:

I didn't hear what he said at the time.

# 117 Q:

Okay.

That was my question.

# 118 A:

Okay. I came in on the tail end of it. I heard it was my son and I grabbed the phone from him so Ronnie wouldn't hang up.

KEY QUOTE

# 119 Q:

Okay.

Tell me what you heard at the tail end.

# 120 A:

That he didn't want him calling the house anymore.

# 121 Q:

Okay.

# 122 A:

That was all that I heard.

# 123 Q:

Where were you coming from?

# 124 A:

I was coming out of the wash room and he was in the kitchen.

# 125 Q:

And -- Mr. Rufo?

# 126 A:

Yes.

# 127 Q:

You picked up the phone?

# 128 A:

Yes.

# 129 Q:

And describe the conversation you had with Ronnie?

# 130 A:

I took the phone into the bedroom and talked to Ronnie about the fact that -- he was calling to let me know that he was going to be on this program, "Studs," and wanted to make sure that we had it in our area.

# 131 Q:

Okay.

# 132 A:

He was telling me about him being an EMT.

# 133 Q:

Okay.

# 134 A:

Went to school for that. We talked about Ronnie --

# 135 Q:

Okay.

I'm sorry, how long did the telephone conversation last?

# 136 A:

Little over an hour.

# 137 Q:

Okay.

So you -- he told you about the -- did he say he was going to be on or the possibility that he was going to be?

# 138 A:

No, he was -- he was on.

# 139 Q:

Okay.

# 140 A:

It was a matter of what time.

# 141 Q:

Okay.

Could it have been taped?

# 142 A:

Right.

# 143 Q:

And he said that he was going -- that he was an EMT or was going to school?

# 144 A:

Right.

# 145 Q:

Okay.

What else did you discuss?

# 146 A:

He said that he was -- he was doing some construction work on a ranch, he said he was -- had no money. That's all he talked about, was the fact that he had no money.

# 147 Q:

Did he ask you for money?

# 148 A:

No.

# 149 (Excerpt ends.)

# 150 (Excerpt begins.)

# 151 Q:

(BY MR. LEONARD) And you don't recall bringing a photograph of Ronnie?

# 152 A:

I always have those with me.

KEY QUOTE

# 153 Q:

Oh, okay.

# 154 A:

They're in my -- they're in my wallet.

# 155 Q:

Okay.

Do you have them with you?

# 156 A:

Um-hum.

# 157 Q:

May I see them?

# 158 A:

Sure.

# 159 (Excerpt ends.)

# 160 (Excerpt begins.)

# 161 Q:

(BY MR. LEONARD) That's a photograph of Ronnie?

# 162 A:

Right.

# 163 Q:

And approximately how old was he at the time?

# 164 A:

Ronnie was about 6 months old, 6 to 9 months old.

# 165 Q:

Okay.

And this is a photograph -- what we've identified as 2 appears to be a Polaroid type photograph?

# 166 A:

Right.

# 167 Q:

How old was Ronnie there?

# 168 A:

This was taken I believe at -- I don't know if it was a house gathering, a friend's house or something, but it was '90 -- '92, maybe.

# 169 (Excerpt ends.)

# 170 (Excerpt begins.)

# 171 Q:

(BY MR. LEONARD) The two photographs that you took out of your wallet, you carry those with you all the time?

# 172 A:

Yes.

# 173 (Excerpt ends.)

# 174 (Video tape concludes playing.)

Temperature

emotional

Key Quotes (4)

Sharon Rufo

I always have those with me. They're in my wallet.

Sharon reveals she carries Ron's photographs with her at all times, underscoring her emotional connection to her son despite years of estrangement.

Sharon Rufo

He told me that he did not want me to have any association with my children.

Establishes that her ex-husband Steven Rufo actively blocked her relationship with Ron, contextualizing the estrangement as externally imposed rather than voluntary.

Sharon Rufo

he had no money. That's all he talked about, was the fact that he had no money.

Provides a picture of Ron Goldman's circumstances in 1992 — doing construction work on a ranch, financially struggling — through his mother's recollection of their last real conversation.

Sharon Rufo

I came in on the tail end of it. I heard it was my son and I grabbed the phone from him so Ronnie wouldn't hang up.

Vivid moment showing Sharon's urgency to maintain contact with Ron against her husband's interference.

Evidence (2)

Informal

Photograph of Ron Goldman as an infant, approximately 6-9 months old, carried in Sharon Rufo's wallet

produced and shown to examiner

Polaroid-type photograph of Ron Goldman, believed to be from approximately 1992

identified and discussed

Notable Exchanges (2)

Dan Leonard•Sharon Rufo

Leonard attempts to pin down whether Sharon made any phone calls between her two letters in 1990. Sharon's account shifts slightly — she initially says she did not call, then says she called once and her mother called once, before ultimately clarifying she made no calls between the letters but her mother did.

clarifying, mild confusion

Sharon Rufo•Steven Rufo (described)

Sharon recounts how her then-husband Steven answered Ron's 1992 call and told him not to call the house anymore, then she grabbed the phone and spoke with Ron for over an hour.

revealing, tense backstory

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 8524 • 174 utterances • Plaintiff witness

Civil Trial

Department 103