Smoke'em!
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
"Wichita Massacre" murder trial "Ping List".Please let me know if you want on (or off) this list.
I realize he is the judge and must remain neutral, but this woman is no WITNESS she is a f*ing VICTIM. We finally have a true victim in this country just chock full o' victims, and she is referred to as a witness. Up is down and down is up. fsf
Smoke'em!
The degradation of the American *justice* system, courtesy of scumbag lawyers like Val Wachtel.
it will give the jury the impression he is a dangerous person
Words fail me, and I'm angry.
Let me guess - the accused are black and the victims were white??
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."
Day 9 Photos
Stephanie Donley talks about her life with Reginald Carr during his murder trial in District Court. Carr was arrested in her apartment.
Reginald Carr was back in the courtroom in the afternoon after being absent Thursday morning in his murder trial in District Court. He talks to his attorney Val Wachtel near the end of the afternoon session.
This jewlery store video shows Jason Befort with his sister Kim Voss buying the engagement ring that was later found in the coat pocket of Jonathan Carr.Photos by Dave Williams/The Wichita Eagle
