Jenna Bordelon
PASADENA -- Holding a wad of tissues to his eyes, accused killer
Stephen Kopy Jr. cried as a police officer played the tape of his
muttered confession for a stunned Pasadena Superior Court jury.
As the tape -- obtained by Burbank police Officer Dennis Offerman
moments after the 64-year-old Kopy, of North Hills, allegedly traveled to
Burbank and killed 63-year-old Andrew Camarata of La Crescenta --
unspooled Thursday, Kopy could be heard crying softly. He then burst into
a litany of curses for Camarata.
"I ain't the best [expletive] husband, man, probably close to the
worst, but if you heard what's on those [expletive] tapes, man, you'd go
crazy too," Kopy said, referring to alleged phone tapes he had recorded
that he believed proved the infidelity of his 61-year-old wife, Martha,
with Camarata.
"Anybody would have killed the [expletive]."
"It's an admission. It's a confession," Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeffrey C.
Jonas said. "It's not what is said, but over these Freudian slips."
Defense attorney Vincent Oliver said the tape proved manslaughter, not
murder.
"All kinds of things point to innocence," he said. "This is almost a
biblical story."
When police officers asked Kopy if the blood on his clothes was his
own, Kopy said on the tape that it had to be Camarata's.
"That son-of-a-[expletive], all he had to do was stay there," Kopy
moaned. "Then he [expletive] said: 'You and I are alike!' I've never
[expletive] someone else's wife."
Kopy, who is being held without bail, has been charged with
first-degree murder in connection with Camarata's slaying June 12 at
Aramark Uniform Services, 115 N. 1st St.
He also is charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon for
allegedly pointing a gun at his wife and another employee, Aramark
designer Marco Garcia. Prosecutors have added a special allegation to the
felony charge because Kopy used a handgun while allegedly committing the
killing.
Tension in Judge Teri Schwartz's courtroom increased Friday when
Martha Kopy took the stand.
The couple, married 39 years, barely looked at each other, although at
one point, when his wife began to cry, Kopy stared at her for what seemed
to be the first time and smiled.
Mrs. Kopy testified that she had begun divorce proceedings a few
months before Camarata's death. She testified that she discovered her
husband had withdrawn $42,000 from a joint credit union account on May
30. In a steady voice, she told Jonas that when Kopy pressed a tape
recorder to her ear in the third-floor lobby of Aramark shortly before he
allegedly shot Camarata twice, she heard whirring and believed the
recorder was empty.
She flatly denied she and Camarata were having an affair.
Camarata's killing was the only one in Burbank in 2000. Trial
proceedings will continue Monday.
