Not good enough...remember the fate of Wallace at the end of Braveheart? Something along those lines might be more appropriate...
Posted on 10/18/2002 7:07:22 AM PDT by KS Flyover
Survivor says she caught STD
By Roxana Hegeman - The Associated Press - 10/18/2002
WICHITA -- A woman who survived a rape and shooting surprised prosecutors Thursday by telling them she had contracted the same sexually transmitted disease a detective just testified one of the suspects had.
The woman alerted prosecutors after she watched live televised coverage of a police detective telling jurors that Reginald Carr had a sexually transmitted disease. The woman said that about two months after the attacks her doctor told her she had the same condition, District Attorney Nola Foulston said.
Outside the jury's presence, Foulston told District Judge Paul Clark the woman hadn't disclosed that information to prosecutors earlier -- and the victim didn't know one of the men arrested for the killings and rapes had the disease. Foulston said she informed defense attorneys of the surprise disclosure immediately after talking to the victim.
Reginald Carr and his brother Jonathan Carr face 113 charges, most of which stem from the events of Dec. 14 to 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 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 naked for a mile to find help.
The brothers 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.
The issue of the sexually transmitted disease first came up in court Thursday when defense attorney John Val Wachtel was cross-examining police detective James Hosty. Hosty was guarding Reginald Carr at the hospital where medical staff took samples of his blood and hair as evidence. Hosty said he observed the disease at that time.
Heather Hull, a nurse who collected evidence samples from both brothers, later testified she observed one of the brothers had a sexually transmitted disease. Under cross-examination, Hull acknowledged she couldn't recall which had the disease.
Prosecutors brought back to the stand the woman who survived the attack. She testified that months after the rapes, she developed symptoms of the disease.
With the jury gone to lunch, Val Wachtel told the judge he was surprised by the disclosure and should have objected to that testimony because the information hadn't been disclosed earlier. Val Wachtel moved for a mistrial.
Clark ruled that while the information should have been part of the evidence discovery process, its discovery now could be handled with jury instructions rather than a mistrial.
"I'll find there is no fault as the district attorney didn't know it, nobody in law enforcement knew it until cross examination of detective Hosty was done this morning (and) then the witness made known her medical condition," Clark said.
Reginald Carr wasn't in the courtroom Thursday morning, and his absence wasn't explained to jurors.
But during court proceedings without the jury present, Clark heard a report from a security officer that Reginald Carr had made threats to officers at the correctional center.
Security officers wanted the judge to allow them to bring Reginald Carr into the courtroom in shackles. Val Wachtel told the judge if his client appears in the courtroom in shackles it will give the jury the impression he is a dangerous person and influence their ability to presume him innocent.
Clark ruled Reginald Carr could be restrained during the court proceedings, but that he be brought in before the jury was seated and any restraints used not be visible to jurors. Reginald Carr returned to court in the afternoon, with his shackles discretely hidden.
A neighbor living in the triplex unit to the west of where the five friends were attacked also took the stand Thursday, telling jurors she was coming home around 11 p.m. in her new BMW when a car appeared to follow her home. Jean Beck testified she waited until the unfamiliar car passed before getting out of her car to get her mail and pull into her garage.
Her garage is immediately adjacent to the garage of the triplex unit where the attacks occurred.
Also testifying Thursday was Stephanie Donley, Reginald Carr's girlfriend, in whose apartment stolen property was found when Reginald Carr was arrested. Donley said he stayed with her whenever he was in town and she wasn't working nights.
Donley told jurors she lent Reginald Carr her car the night of the quadruple murders, and didn't see him again until he showed up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning with a lot of property. She had been waiting for him to come home all night.
"I was awake because I was pretty mad," Donley said.
Donley also identified in court the red shorts Reginald Carr was wearing under his jeans just before taking a shower in the apartment. Those are the shorts Foulston contended in her opening arguments were later found to contain traces of Heather Muller's blood.
Donley testified she had a sexual relationship with Reginald Carr, and although she was using birth control pills she asked him to wear condoms. She said he appeared to have a sexually transmitted disease.
OK, gotcha on it.
Let me guess - the accused are black and the victims were white??
I understand that. It just frustrates the h*ll out of me that they have to do that. And it frustrates the h*ll out of me that there would be a possibility of reversal just because of the circumstances. The poor woman didn't want to broadcast her condition to the world. Oh that there were more of us with her modesty. But when she realized, by accident, that it was relevant to the case - it becomes a tool for the defense. What crapola. (PS I'm not yelling at you, I'm yelling at our system of law that has been hijacked and convoluted by defense attorneys.) fsf
Not good enough...remember the fate of Wallace at the end of Braveheart? Something along those lines might be more appropriate...
Not good enough...remember the fate of Wallace at the end of Braveheart? Something along those lines might be more appropriate...Not a bad idea, but cut their heads off last.
The Washington Times has been convering this, with stories on at least 10/11, 10/12 and 10/17.
Go to their web site and type "Kansas" in the search block.
Surprise testimony stuns court
The survivor of a multiple homicide reveals that after the attacks, she was found to have the same venereal disease as Reginald Carr, the man accused of assaulting her.
BY RON SYLVESTER - The Wichita EagleThe day Reginald Carr decided not to attend his capital murder trial, surprise evidence may have more solidly connected him to a home invasion that led to the killing of four people.
Both prosecutors and defense lawyers were surprised Thursday to learn that the lone survivor of the quadruple homicide, who had also been raped, was later diagnosed with the same type of sexually-transmitted disease that police, a nurse and his former girlfriend say Reginald Carr also had.
That revelation marked the strangest day in court so far in the capital murder trial of brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr.
Reginald Carr's lawyer, Jay Greeno, was questioning a detective and a nurse about the presence of a venereal disease on his client when they took blood, hair and saliva samples the evening following the quadruple homicide.
During a break, District Attorney Nola Foulston learned that the
surviving witness had been treated months later for the same condition. When Foulston presented the evidence, outside the view of television cameras broadcasting the trial, Greeno was so surprised he didn't object.
The survivor had not been able to identify Reginald Carr during a preliminary hearing before pointing to him at trial, leaving a small hole that the defense could possibly call into question. Lawyers said in opening remarks that DNA evidence at the home where five people were abducted and assaulted would be stronger against Jonathan Carr than against Reginald Carr.
But the new information appears to provide a stronger link to Reginald Carr and the likelihood of his presence in a triplex at 12727 E. Birchwood Drive, where the woman and her friends were attacked before being shot.
Later, Greeno argued that the state's surprise was unfair and asked for a mistrial. But Judge Paul Clark overruled the objection, made outside the jury's presence.
"The District Attorney didn't know it, nobody in law enforcement knew it, until... this morning," Clark ruled.
Stephanie Donley, who testified Thursday, said she met "Reggie" Carr at a nightclub in Dodge City in October 2000. She said she recognized the presence of the STD when they began seeing each other several weeks later.
Carr would stay at her apartment at 5400 E. 21st St. when she wasn't working the night shift as a nurse at a Wichita hospital. She said neither he nor his younger brother, Jonathan, had jobs.
But in early December, Donley noticed Reginald Carr carrying wads of more than $800 in cash. He said he won it fighting his pit bull.
Then Reginald Carr and his brother borrowed her Toyota Camry about 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 14. He didn't come back for 12 hours, and Donley said she was angry.
When they returned, Reginald Carr began moving in lots of stuff: shirts, electronics and a big-screen television. Donley said he told her it all belonged to him, that he had been keeping it at his sister's house on North Poplar Avenue and she had ordered him to move.
Afterwards, Reginald Carr took a shower. Moments later, the police were knocking on the door. It turned out that the property he moved into Donley's apartment came from the Birchwood triplex.
The jury remained oblivious to the reason for Reginald Carr's absence during the morning session of the trial that could bring him the death penalty.
Greeno told the judge that jail guards had gone to Carr's cell Thursday morning and found him still in bed with the sheets pulled over his head, saying he did not want to go to court. Carr had recently been on suicide watch, said Sedgwick County sheriff's Sgt. Cliff Miller.
Miller told the judge Thursday that Carr this week had threatened deputies transporting him from his cell to the courtroom.
Foulston, meanwhile, said Carr had been getting a little too close, making "knee-to-knee contact" with her under the courtroom table while lawyer Val Wachtel cross-examined witnesses. Wachtel, Greeno's co-counsel, usually sits between his client and the prosecution.
Miller's request for further restraints on Reginald Carr brought objections from both defense tables.
"I don't want anyone to get hurt, but I want my client to get a fair trial," Greeno told Clark. Greeno added that putting Reginald Carr in shackles before the jury would prejudice them.
Ron Evans, Jonathan Carr's lawyer, continued to ask the judge to give the brothers separate trials.
"Reginald Carr continues to affect our right to a fair trial," Evans said.
Clark ruled that officers would restrain Reginald Carr's legs and hands under the table in a way unnoticeable to the jury. As Carr listened to Donley, visibly irked at times, he sat with his hands shackled to his waist and in leg irons. Evidence blocked views under the table and guards wrapped the chains in duct tape to keep them from jangling.
"The paramount thing is to provide a fair trial," Clark said.
Of Reginald Carr, the judge added: "If he comes to court, he is going to act like a gentleman."
You have been added.
BINGO BUMP!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.