Courier

George Pigman

A journal kept nearly four years ago by former PCC student George Pigman while he was incarcerated at Twin Towers Correctional Facility was revealed in the second day of his trial in Pasadena on Thursday. Pigman is charged with murdering his girlfriend Eimi Yamada in May 2005.

"I tried to choke her. She was yelling and kicking and not dying… I had to kill her. I looked around for a knife or something. I picked up a pair of semi-sharp salad tongs. I chased her into the bathroom. I started stabbing," Pigman wrote in the journal.

The journal was discovered in Pigman's single-man cell by then custody deputy Abi Ben-Sahile during a routine cell search. Ben-Sahile told Deputy District Attorney Teresa Sullivan that his training as a custody deputy taught him to examine paperwork found inside inmates cells, for escape plans, and for plans to commit violence.

"The words 'semi-sharp salad tongs' and 'stabbing' caught my attention," Ben-Sahile said. "I collected the pad and everything else off the table."

Defense attorney Darby Williams asked Ben-Sahile why Pigman had been housed in a single-man cell, hinting that perhaps it was due to his mental state.

"There are some inmates on that floor for mental health, but nothing acute," Ben Sahile said.

Other witnesses testified, including Yamada's downstairs neighbor, Yi-Ming Chu, who told the jury she had heard noises the night of the murder.

"I heard someone running back and forth in her apartment," Chu said. "Then I heard a girl screaming. I heard a male voice shouting."

"Did you hear anything else?" Sullivan asked.

"I heard a girl say 'Help'," Chu responded.

The prosecution also called Lt. Gregory Hinkle, who was the Temple City Patrol Sergeant at the time and who had discovered Pigman a couple blocks away from Yamada's apartment, naked on the roof of a house.

"I saw a young naked man on the roof," he said. "He was playing with his penis."

Asked whether the man, who was later identified as Pigman had said anything, Hinkle told the jury that Pigman had not said any words, but instead was making groaning sounds.

"It's funny, the only way I could describe it is, it reminded me of the old original Frankenstein movie, where Frankenstein is making his noises," Hinkle said.

Pigman sat silent and unresponsive throughout the day, but waved to his family after the court recessed.

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