"Wichita Massacre" murder trial "Ping List"
Posted on 10/31/2002 7:32:48 AM PST by KS Flyover
Carrs' defense rests; jury deliberation near
After listening to agonizing details of five killings, repeated rapes and robberies, jurors in the capital murder case of Reginald and Jonathan Carr finally had something to smile about Wednesday.
They'll get the case today.
"We rest," said Mark Manna, one of Jonathan Carr's lawyers, after introducing his lone piece of evidence: an Amtrak train ticket from Newton to Cleveland, Ohio, for the morning of a quadruple homicide.
Manna's minute-long presentation brought smiles from jurors, who'd spent the day listening to a DNA expert testify for Reginald Carr. That witness did little to dispute the findings of the state's forensic analyst, and underwent a blistering cross-examination from prosecutor Kim Parker.
But the jury will have to sit a few more hours this morning, starting with what could be the most complex part of an already complicated case.
They'll receive a half-inch thick binder that includes 72 jury instructions, outlining the laws they must follow in reaching their verdicts. Many of those instructions have multiple parts. For example:
The jury can find either or both of the Dodge City brothers guilty of capital murder in the killing of three men and a woman on Dec. 15, 2000, at an east Wichita soccer complex.
It can consider four counts of first-degree premeditated murder.
It can consider four counts of second-degree murder.
Judge Paul Clark will give copies to each juror and read the instructions aloud.
Each side will get up to two hours for closing arguments, but lawyers for all sides have told Clark they don't expect to use all of their allotted time.
Such arguments can be persuasive and often do sway verdicts, but Clark will tell the jury that closings aren't evidence and shouldn't influence their decision.
Observers watching the live televised trial could find closing arguments one of the most interesting aspects of the trial. It's when lawyers try to make sense of the weeks of evidence and cross-examinations and show off their oratory skills.
Reginald Carr's defense, meanwhile, rested after three days of evidence, the main purpose of which was to highlight areas that could crop up on appeal, should the jury return a guilty verdict.
All murder convictions, but especially capital murder convictions, go through extensive review in higher courts. Most of Reginald Carr's defense seemed centered on trying to submit evidence that Clark wouldn't allow, raising legal issues that an appellate court may ultimately have to decide.
Some efforts sparked courtroom fireworks.
Lawyer Val Wachtel, for instance, wanted to try and defend Reginald Carr against charges of fatally shooting Ann Walenta by offering medical records to suggest that the Wichita Symphony cellist died as a result of medical malpractice. Clark repeatedly denied Wachtel's request, which can now be considered on appeal.
But the move spurred Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston to call the tactic "a sham" and produce medical records to show that hospital personnel treated Walenta appropriately.
Clark took Foulston's records and put them aside, with Wachtel's documents, for possible appeal. The jury won't see them.
The sole witness Wednesday was Jami Harman, a DNA expert with a private lab in the St. Louis area.
Harman pointed out that a Kansas Bureau of Investigation analyst had described one piece of evidence in a half-dozen ways.
Harman also criticized the way the KBI lab experts filled out portions of their paperwork and questioned the validity of trying to identify individuals in mixtures that include the DNA of several people.
Although the KBI presented some strong and damaging evidence during the trial, Harman spent most of her testimony explaining the weakest test.
A swab taken from the left thigh of a surviving woman, who'd lived through the soccer complex shooting and suffered several rapes, turned up spotty DNA results. Hers was present, of course. And so was a mixture that might be both Jonathan and Reginald Carr. But since they're brothers, and share much common DNA, the KBI could not match both brothers, but could not rule them out, either.
Neither could Harman.
"Based on the data, he could not be ruled out as a possible donor," she said of Reginald Carr.
Parker, the chief deputy district attorney, focused her cross-examination on the fact that Harman herself didn't do any DNA testing, just graded the reports submitted by the KBI's expert, Sindey Schueler.
Bringing out the state's strongest DNA evidence against Reginald Carr, Parker produced a pair of his red sweat shorts his girlfriend said he wore under his baggy jeans.
Parker pointed to spaces where stains were cut from the shorts and asked Harman:
"As far as you're concerned, Ms. Schueler was correct when she concluded that those stains were Heather Muller's blood?"
"Yes," Harman said. She did not dispute that Reginald Carr was wearing the blood of one of the homicide victims on his underwear.
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
"Wichita Massacre" murder trial "Ping List"
RIGHT! If these punks wouldn't have shot her several times in the FIRST place, she would have never been in the freaking hospital! Unbelievable!
Also, the two women out of the five were raped several times, indeed! Try at least 10+ times, and in more ways than one. This is a despicable crime, the worst that I can ever recall hearing about. May these two burn in hell.
In a nutshell that's a big part of what's wrong with our criminal legal system. If there are serious procedural errors that could have led to a different verdict appeal should be granted.
But in cases like this all it does it let criminal turds live another 10 years at taxpayer expense.
Incidentally, a Steve Campbell, writing for Albany (NY) Times Union, equated Rocker with Mike Tyson.
I have to forward this thread to co-workers as almost nobody has heard of this!!!
Eaker
They certainly did! The opinionated opinion writer in that newspaper seems to be ignorant of the facts of the VICIOUSNESS as to what these scumbags subjected these innocent young people to. In fact, this is being hushed up because the PERPS are black.
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.