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Carr jury recesses for weekend [Wichita Massacre]
AP / The Topeka Capital-Journal ^ | 11/02/02 | The Associated Press

Posted on 11/02/2002 8:31:38 AM PST by KS Flyover

Carr jury recesses for weekend
Jurors to resume deliberations Monday in trial of brothers accused in killing rampage

WICHITA -- Behind the closed doors of a courtroom stacked with evidence, jurors deliberated all day Friday without reaching a verdict in the murder trial of two brothers accused of a nine-day crime rampage that left five people dead. Deliberations were to resume Monday. Jurors must decide on a combined total of 97 counts against Reginald Carr, 24, and Jonathan Carr, 22, that stem from a quadruple killing, a single homicide and a separate robbery.

By late afternoon, defense attorneys gathered in the judge's library to await the verdicts. They declined to comment on the case.

The trial of the Carr brothers has been carried live on Wichita television and radio stations since testimony began. The random killings of the five white victims by two black men has galvanized some white groups, but the case isn't being tried as a hate crime.

Kansas doesn't have a separate hate crime statute, and Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said Friday that the only provision for it in state law is an enhancement to sentences for other crimes.

"We have a capital litigation here -- there is no enhancement for capital litigation. It is not applicable," she said. "Why bring into issue something that is obvious?"

Foulston said every killing involves hate, but she doesn't believe the crimes were racially motivated, saying the victims could have been of any race.

"From outward manifestations it was greed related -- they were picking out people driving a nice car who lived in a nice part of town," Foulston said.

The windows of the courtroom have been papered over during the deliberations. Inside are racks of clothing stolen from the closets of the quadruple shooting victims after they were shot and their naked bodies left in a field.

Also available for jurors to inspect is the clothing the Carr brothers were allegedly wearing during the crimes, including the brothers' undershorts where investigators found the blood of a woman who was raped before she was killed.

Television sets, computers, barbecue tool sets, watches, clocks and other stolen items are piled in the middle of the courtroom. Spread on the tables are stacks of notebooks filled with photos and documents. A computer has been set up so jurors can review the computer presentations attorneys used during the trial.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for four counts of capital murder for the quadruple killings. The brothers also are charged with one count of first-degree murder for the shooting of another woman in a botched robbery attempt.

To find the brothers guilty of any count of capital murder, jurors also must find that the victim was raped and/or that the premeditated killing was done in connection with the killing of others. They can also find them guilty of a lesser offense, such as first-degree or second-degree murder.

A total of 97 witnesses testified, including five for Reginald Carr. The defense for Jonathan Carr didn't call any witnesses. More than 850 pieces of evidence have been admitted since trial began Sept. 9.

The most notorious of the crimes the brothers are charged with stem from the events of Dec. 14-15 2000, when five friends were abducted from a Wichita home, forced to engage in sexual acts and to withdraw money from ATMs before they all were shot. The two women were repeatedly raped. Aaron Sander, 29; Brad Heyka, 27; Jason Befort, 26; and Heather Muller, 25, died. Befort's girlfriend, then a 25-year-old teacher, survived and ran for a mile to find help.

The Carrs also are being tried in the Dec. 11, 2000, attempted robbery and shooting of Ann Walenta, 55, who later died, and a robbery four days earlier in which Andrew Schreiber was abducted and forced to withdraw cash from ATMs.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Kansas
KEYWORDS: carr; kansas; wichita; wichitamassacre
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/4426559.htm

Jurors in Carr trial take off for weekend

By Ron Sylvester - The Wichita Eagle - Sat, Nov. 02, 2002

The jurors deciding the future of Jonathan and Reginald Carr finished their first full day of deliberations Friday and will return Monday.

The panel of 12 seems to have quickly organized and taken control of the capital murder case. The jurors informed the court bailiff Friday of their working hours -- 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. -- each day.

The instructions, which took Judge Paul Clark 90 minutes to read, include 97 charges against the Dodge City brothers that the jury must consider. Jurors began deliberations at 3 p.m. Thursday.

With the case in the jury's hands, the attitude among the lawyers waiting for the verdict seemed more relaxed after the pressure of presenting and testing evidence in court for the past four weeks.

Nola Foulston granted interviews to local and national media outlets for the first time in weeks, after Clark ruled that the gag order imposed more than a year ago could be lifted with the jury in deliberations.

Foulston said she was glad the trial was televised live.

"I think it was good for the community to see the wheels of justice at work," she said.

Defense lawyers for both of the Carrs, however, said they would delay comment until the trial concludes.

Should the jury come back with guilty verdicts on four capital murder charges, the trial will enter a penalty phase.

Foulston said the state may not have much more to present should a second stage be necessary, because of a strong case that she said points to the Carrs as the perpetrators of hours of sexual assaults and a robbery that led to a quadruple homicide Dec 15, 2000.

Kansas law allows the state to seek the death penalty in murder cases involving sexual assaults or the killings of more than one person at a time.

The defense can call witnesses to provide background on the defendants, their mental state, and reasons for a sentence of less than death.

If convicted and not sentenced to death, Clark could run the sentences consecutively, making the brothers ineligible for parole for 250 years.


1 posted on 11/02/2002 8:31:38 AM PST by KS Flyover
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To: KS Flyover
For detais about the murders see: The Wichita Massacre

Wichita Massacre Trial Threads:
Wichita to revisit brutal slayings as testimony begins - 10/07/2002
Deputy recalls moment of discovering bodies [Wichita Murders] Day 1 - 10/07/2002
WICHITA MASSACRE TRIAL UNDERWAY Day 1 - 10/08/2002
Legal wrangling opens Carr trial [Wichita Murders] Day 1 - 10/08/2002
Carr trial: Survivor describes sexual attacks by armed intruders [Wichita Massacre] Day 2 - 10/09/2002
Witchita Case of Black Racist Crime Survivor's testimony horrifies courtroom Day 2 - 10/10/2002
Woman testifies that Carrs killed her friends in a soccer field [Wichita Massacre Day 3] - 10/10/2002
Prosecutors Downplay Racial Element in Kansas Murder Trial - 10/11/2002
Reginald Carr had $996, victims' credit card, watch [Wichita Massacre Day 4] - 10/11/2002
Wichita Massacre Audio of 911 Call by Female Survivor with Court Room Video Footage From Day 1- 10/11/2002
Victims' belongings linked to defendant [Wichita Massacre Day 5] - 10/12/2002
Trial opens window into night of fear - 10/13/2002
Media Ignore Kansas Interracial Mass Murder - 10/14/2002
AP Finally Reports Wichita Trial... But Mentions "White Supremacist" Support - 10/14/2002
Nosey mom tips off cops (Wichita Massacre) Day 6 - 10/15/2002
'I was afraid,' witness says [Wichita Massacre Day 6] - 10/15/2002
ATM photos shown in Carr trial [Wichita Massacre Day 7] - 10/16/2002
Testimony on cellist slaying fills Carr trial [Wichita Massacre Day 8] - 10/17/2002
Survivor says she caught STD [Wichita Massacre Day 9] - 10/18/2002
Carr trial to focus on guns and DNA [Wichita Massacre Day 10] - 10/19/2002
Luck, vivid memories helped cops [Wichita Massacre] - 10/20/2002
Wichita Massacre -- The Latest in the Black Racist Hate Crime Trial - Carrs linked to crime scene - Day 11 - 10/22/2002
Hate crime reversed - By Armstrong Williams - 10/23/2002
Evidence in Carr trial gruesome, unavoidable [Wichita Massacre Day 12] - 10/23/2002
Jurors view Wichita crime scenes / DNA ties Carrs to victims [Wichita Massacre day 13] - 10/24/2002
State to rest case against the Carrs [Wichita Massacre Day 14] - 10/25/2002
State rests; Carrs begin their side [Wichita Massacre Day 15] - 10/26/2002
DNA lets the dead speak in Carr trial [Wichita Massacre] - 10/27/2002
Carr jurors get break as deliberation rules ironed out [Wichita Massacre] - 10/28/2002
Multiple-killings suspect unlikely to testify [Wichita Massacre] - 10/29/2002
Survivor's police interview rattles Carr trial jurors [Wichita Massacre Day 16] - 10/30/2002
Carrs' defense rests; jury deliberation near [Wichita Massacre Day 17] - 10/31/2002
Deliberations begin in Carr trial - Closing arguments move juror to tears [Wichita Massacre Day 18] - 11/01/2002


2 posted on 11/02/2002 8:32:52 AM PST by KS Flyover
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To: TroutStalker; alfa6; mjaneangels@aolcom; carlo3b; dennisw; Judith Anne; AK2KX; sheik yerbouty; ...
"Wichita Massacre" murder trial "Ping List"
Please let me know if you want on (or off) this list.


3 posted on 11/02/2002 8:34:01 AM PST by KS Flyover
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To: KS Flyover
It is a strange thing when the Left can blame talk radio for the OKC tragedy, but no one not even the Right can even speculate that the hyperbolic rhetoric of the "Civil Rights" (ie; Black Naitonalists) would have anything to do with these interracial atrocities.
4 posted on 11/02/2002 8:42:19 AM PST by junta
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To: All
"Foulston said every killing involves hate, but she doesn't believe the crimes were racially motivated, saying the victims could have been of any race."

Oh, really? We're talking about the haves and have-nots here, aren't we? That, "you owe me and I'm taking it" mentality.

Foulston also stated that she was glad that this trial was publically televised. Where? Only in Witchita? Like I stated on a prior thread, if it weren't for FR, I would have NEVER known about this hideous crime.

5 posted on 11/02/2002 8:59:21 AM PST by IamHD
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To: IamHD
Personally, I don't believe in hate-crime bills, because you can't make a dead person any more dead than they are. Also, it seems that hate-crimes pertain to all except white heterosexual people.
6 posted on 11/02/2002 9:16:14 AM PST by IamHD
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To: IamHD
Foulston said every killing involves hate, but she doesn't believe the crimes were racially motivated, saying the victims could have been of any race.

"From outward manifestations it was greed related -- they were picking out people driving a nice car who lived in a nice part of town," Foulston said.

Hey Nola Foulston, what about the rapes, beatings and sexual humiliation of these victims before they were shot? You cannot possibly believe that the Carr's would have done this to other blacks. I sure don't.

What Ms. Foulston doesn't seem to comprehend, or want to, is that the main reason for the complaints about this not being declared a hate crime, is to point out what an absolute "politically correct" farce hate crime laws are, and, that they should be wiped from the books, because, as Nola says, "every killing involves hate".

7 posted on 11/02/2002 9:54:27 AM PST by KS Flyover
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To: KS Flyover
Hey Nola Foulston, what about the rapes, beatings and sexual humiliation of these victims before they were shot? You cannot possibly believe that the Carr's would have done this to other blacks. I sure don't.

I couldn't agree with you more! Which side of the table is she on, anyway?

No one person, as far as I'm concerned, is any more important than another. I'm surprised that the defense didn't bring up the Carr's "horrible upbringing" and their inability to "come up" in the world, because of their race. No, it wasn't their fault, they were deprived. They make me physically ill. Ugh!

8 posted on 11/02/2002 10:07:21 AM PST by IamHD
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To: IamHD
if it weren't for FR, I would have NEVER known about this hideous crime.

Oh come on. This has been covered on Fox News and Court TV. You just would never figure out the race of the perps and the victims. It is amazing to watch these news readers step around the topic of race when they do report on this case. Greta Van Cistern interviewed the prostituter to other night and it was amazing to watch them dance around without ever hearing the music. If the Carr brothers were Muslim, we would be attacking the victims for allowing themselvs to acquire wealth and sticking their heads in front of the gun. PC is going to destroy this country.

Muslims, especially Black Muslims, are the spotted owls of the 21st century.

9 posted on 11/02/2002 10:51:06 AM PST by Blue Screen of Death
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To: KS Flyover
---as Nola says, "every killing involves hate"----

This is a direct contradiction of what her party, the democratic party, says on the subject. If she is a sincere advocate for this point of view then she should work within the party to persuade them they are wrong.

But of course she won't, will she.

Anymore than the dems used this case as a call for "the needs for" hate crime laws in KS like they did in Texas and Wyoming.

This case proves it beyond any doubt. To be a democrat is to be BY DEFINITION a hypocritical racist.
10 posted on 11/02/2002 10:52:58 AM PST by republicman
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To: KS Flyover
Kansas doesn't have a separate hate crime statute, and Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said Friday that the only provision for it in state law is an enhancement to sentences for other crimes.

"We have a capital litigation here -- there is no

enhancement for capital litigation

Just like in Texas in the Byrd killing? Just like in Wyoming when Shepard was killed? Oh yeah HCL's were SOOOO important for those CAPITAL CASES, but this one? Oh no, that would have been unnecessary.

And of course all those 97 counts were needed. But JUST ONE more enhancement would have been too much. Right!

Democrats are by definition RACIST HYPOCRITES

11 posted on 11/02/2002 10:59:25 AM PST by republicman
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To: Blue Screen of Death
"Oh come on. This has been covered on Fox News and Court TV."

Umm, sorry, but only recently and only bits and pieces. This should have been national coverage, just like the Byrd killing, which was like the energizer bunny. It kept going and going and going, meant to incite the black race, which was jumped on by the Dems during the election.

12 posted on 11/02/2002 10:59:53 AM PST by IamHD
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To: Blue Screen of Death
---If the Carr brothers were Muslim...---

They probably will be after a few years in prison.
13 posted on 11/02/2002 1:13:53 PM PST by republicman
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