Bill Bickel’s Crimeweek

“I don’t know which way to go, so I’m holding a poll,” the British juror posted on her Facebook page, adding the details of the child abduction and sexual assault case she had been sworn in to help adjudicate. There was also the “do not discuss this case with anybody” rule she’d agreed to adhere to, of course…

She was dropped from the jury (the trial continued with 11 jurors) after the judge was informed of her Internet indiscretion. She was, remarkably enough, not cited for contempt of court.

O.J. Simpson’s attorneys for his upcoming trial armed robbery and kidnapping trial wanted to ask potential jurors whether they believe Simpson was guilty in the 1994 murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Nicole’s friend Ron Goldman. Judge Jackie Glass’s response this morning was, “No, we are not going there.”

I have to side with Simpson’s people here: The defense is always entitled, as much as possible, to unbiased jurors. “I think this man slashed two people to death and got away with it” is not a mindset that leads to impartiality.

Judge Glass did, however, instruct the jury pool that they were not to use this case “to punish Mr. Simpson for what happened in Los Angeles back in ‘95″ [either referring to the date of the trial, or misremembering the date of the murders]

Simpson is accused of leading an armed invasion into a Las Vegas hotel room, in an attempt to force two sports memorabilia dealers to turn over items he claimed belonged to him; the charges include kidnapping, and could carry a life sentence.

Also this morning, the paperback edition of If I Did It, Simpson’s memoir in which he describes how he would have killed Nicole and Ron if he had done it, hit the bookstores. The rights to the book have been transferred to the Goldman family who shrunk the word “If” and added the subtitle Confessions of the Killer. Oddly enough, as on the hardcover version, Simpson’s name is missing from the cover, so this appears to be (and is listed on sites such as Amazon.com as) “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, by the Goldman Family”.

In Oregon, the two sides had wanted to arrange, by today, a plea bargain under which Joel Courtney would plead guilty to the 2004 murder of 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger and lead investigators to her body, and in return would not be subject to the death penalty. No deal was made, and Courtney is still scheduled to stand trial on February 1, 2010.

Wilberger’s parents have said they would not oppose a plea bargain.

• Background and previous updates

A federal jury today took three hours to decide that Joseph Duncan should be put to death for abducting and sexually abusing Dylan and Shasta Groene, and murdering Dylan (background and complete timeline). The decision was binding on District Judge Edward Lodge, who immediately imposed the sentence.

Duncan, serving as his own attorney, had not offered any defense, and smiled when the verdict was announced.

Duncan had previously pleaded guilty, in an Idaho state court, to murdering the children’s mother and older brother, and their mother’s boyfriend. Sentencing was delayed pending the end of this federal trial, and Duncan faces a possible death sentence on those charges as well.

A California district attorney has already charged Duncan with the April, 1997 of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez, and he might be extradited to stand trial on those charges. He is also being investigated in the 1996 murders of two Seattle girls.

In a largely superfluous — but in a federal trial, legally necessary — vote, a jury decided today that Joseph Duncan is in fact eligible for the death penalty for the 2005 abduction of Dylan and Shasta Groene and for Dylan’s murder. Duncan had previously pleaded guilty to the crimes themselves.

The vote was unanimous.

Duncan, serving as his own attorney, probably didn’t help his own case by telling the jury, that they didn’t yet “have a clue” about the depth of his “heinousness” and that by showing them the evidence against him, the prosecution was “helping me to take away your heart and your innocence.”

The next phase of the hearing — the jury deciding whether to actually impose the death penalty — will begin Monday. The jury’s decision will be binding on U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge: If they vote unanimously for the death penalty, the judge must impose it (and of course, as in all capital trials, if they fail to vote for the death penalty, the judge can’t impose it).

• Timeline and previous updates

David Lee Onstott has been sentenced to life in prison.

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August 21, 2008: A Florida jury found David Lee Onstott guilty today of second degree murder for the 2005 death of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde. The prosecution had been seeking a first degree murder verdict (though not the death penalty, because of a lack of physical evidence; see earlier article below). Tomorrow, Onstott will be sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison, and could in fact receive the same life sentence that would have been mandatory with a first degree murder conviction.

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August 11, 2008: Jury selection began today for the trial of David Lee Onstott, for the 2005 abduction and murder of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde. Sarah was the third Tampa, Florida-area girl to be abducted and murdered over a 14-month period (Joseph P. Smith was convicted and sentenced to death for Carlie Brucia’s murder, and John Couey was convicted and sentenced to death for Jessica Lunsford’s murder).Prosecutors won’t be seeking the death penalty for Onstott, because they have no physical evidence directly linking him to the crime, and no confession. They had a confession, but it was excluded because police detectives continued to question Onstott after he’d requested an attorney (just as Couey’s confessions were thrown out because police detectives apparently never got the memo about the Miranda Warning and a suspect’s right to an attorney).

Friday night, ABC Television’s 20/20 will feature a segment called “Vanished: Coeds,” focusing on Maura Murray (missing since February, 2004) and Brooke Wilberger (missing since May of 2004).

According to promotional material, on-air reporter Elizabeth Vargas will examining why police responded quickly in the Wilberger case and not in the Murray case.

If this is an accurate description of the segment, I can save everybody a lot of time: Though in hindsight both women’s stories likely ended in tragedy, Maura Murray drove her car (for reasons still unknown) from her University of Massachusetts campus to New Hampshire, where it was eventually found. Brooke Wilberger, who did not have a car at her disposal, was clearly abducted from the grounds of an apartment building where her sister worked; one of her shoes was left behind, and witnesses believe they heard her scream. The reason that the police treated the cases differently at first is both obvious and correct.

Neither body has been found. While the Murray case remains open, convicted sex offender Joel Courtney will be standing trial for Brooke Wilberger’s murder (background and updates).

Opening statements were presented this morning in the penalty phase of Joseph Duncan’s federal trial for kidnapping and sexually abusing 9-year-old Dylan Groene and 8-year-old Shasta Groene in 2005, and murdering Dylan. Duncan has already pleaded guilty to the crimes themselves, and could face the death penalty.

He also pleaded guilty, in an Idaho court, to murdering the children’s mother and older brother, and their mother’s boyfriend. The penalty phase on those charges — he could face the death penalty here as well — has been delayed pending resolution of the federal case.

Duncan is defending himself, though he has a court-appointed attorney at his side if he desires assistance.

Both sides have agreed that Shasta will not have to appear: Her testimony will consist of videotaped statements she made after Duncan’s arrest.

• Complete background, earlier updates, and timeline

Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday morning in the murder trial of David Lee Onstott, a one-time boyfriend of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde’s mother. Onstott is accused of chocking the girl to death after trying to sexually assault her, then throwing her body into a fish pond.

Although Onstott’s confession was excluded (because it was made after he’d repeatedly asked for – and was refused – an attorney) and there is no physical evidence directly linking him to the crime, indications are that the defense will claim Onstott was drunk when he attacked Sarah.

Jury selection was completed Tuesday, with the empaneling of nine women and three men.

• Previous update

Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the trial of David Lee Onstott, for the 2005 abduction and murder of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde. Sarah was the third Tampa, Florida-area girl to be abducted and murdered over a 14-month period (Joseph P. Smith was convicted and sentenced to death for Carlie Brucia’s murder, and John Couey was convicted and sentenced to death for Jessica Lunsford’s murder).

Prosecutors won’t be seeking the death penalty for Onstott, because they have no physical evidence directly linking him to the crime, and no confession. They had a confession, but it was excluded because police detectives continued to question Onstott after he’d requested an attorney (just as Couey’s confessions were thrown out because police detectives apparently never got the memo about the Miranda Warning and a suspect’s right to an attorney).

Judge Lodge ruled today that Joseph Duncan can defend himself in the death penalty phase of his trial. Jury selection is scheduled to resume August 6.

• Background and earlier updates

A woman who used to work for record producer Phil Spector has forward to say that in 1996, after he propositioned her and she turned him down, he showed her his holstered gun and said “You know I could kill you right now.”

Her testimony might not help the prosecution in Spector’s upcoming re-trial for the 2003 murder of Lana Clarkson, since five women who told the jury similar stories during the first trial wasn’t enough for a unanimous vote to convict (Spector claims that Clarkson shot herself, either accidentally or on purpose).

The fact that she continued to work for Spector for another four years probably won’t help her testimony either.

Brooke Wilberger’s parents have issued a statement saying they would not oppose a plea bargain sparing Joel Courtney the possibility of being put to death for the May, 2004 abduction and murder of their daughter, if as part of the deal he leads police to Brooke’s body.

I’ve said in the past that the greatest justification for the death penalty is as a bargaining chip. (more…)

If you’re mentally competent to stand trial, are you necessarily mentally competent to act as your own attorney?

In 1999, Ahmed Edwards fired several shots while attempting to evade capture after stealing shoes from an Indianapolis department store. Though possibly schizophrenic – various psychiatrists disagreed on his diagnosis – he was brought to trial on charges including battery with a deadly weapon and attempted murder. He represented himself and was convicted of criminal recklessness and theft, but the jury was deadlocked on the more serious charges.

In a second trial, the judge ruled that Edwards was not competent to defend himself and attorneys were assigned. Edwards was convicted of the battery and attempted murder charges.

He appealed on the grounds that the trial judge had violated his right to represent himself. The Indiana Supreme Court agreed, and overturned the convictions.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Indiana court’s ruling, ruling 7-2 that the state had a right to require a higher level of competency for a defendant who wants to defend himself.

And there’s a common sense aspect to this as well: If a defendant were convicted after being represented by an attorney with an apparent mental illness, wouldn’t he have a valid case for appealing that conviction on the grounds of inadequate counsel?

In Sydney, Australia today, a drug conspiracy trial (which had been going on for 66 days at a cost of about one million Australian dollars, or US$950,000) was terminated after the judge was informed that four of the jurors had been doing Sudoku puzzles during testimony (they were caught because they seemed to be taking notes vertically as well as horizontally).

The four jurors, including the foreman, insisted that doing the puzzles actually helped them focus on the details of the trial.

I consulted some experts on the topic, three teenagers to whom multi-tasking is a way of life: Two said that doing the puzzles might not distract them as much as the judge thought, but certainly wouldn’t help. The third said that whether it helped or hurt, it gave the illusion that they weren’t paying attention, and was inappropriate behavior.

A new trial will probably begin within a few weeks.

New York mob boss Vincent (”Vinny Gorgeous”) Basciano, accused of plotting to kill a prosecutor, has asked an appeals court to recuse Judge Nicholas Garaufis from his trial. His argument: Judge Garaufis might not be impartial, because of the existence of a hit list — allegedly written by Basciano — which includes as targets another prosecutor, two informants, and Judge Garaufis.

Garaufis has turned down a defense motion to recuse himself, saying he believed Basciano had written the hit list for the sole purpose of removing him from the case (a belief that the prosecution shares).

Basciano, for his part, denies having written the list at all, so all parties are agreed that no actual plot to kill the judge existed.

All this is somewhat moot anyway, since Basciano is alreday serving a life sentence for murder, attempted murder, and racketeering.

At a hearing today, one day short of the fourth anniversary of Brooke Wilberger’s disappearance, Judge Locke A. Williams set a trial date for the man accused of abducting and murdering her: February 1, 2010.

Brooke Wilberger, a nineteen-year-old Brigham Young University student home for the summer, was last seen May 24, 2004 at about 10am, on the grounds of a Corvallis, Oregon apartment complex her sister managed. She is presumed dead, and Joel Courtney faces 19 charges including kidnapping, rape and murder.

The prosecution will ask for the death penalty.

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April 18, 2008: The initial report of the evidence against Joel Courtney for the murder of Brooke Wilberger (see below) was unpersuasive at best — but yesterday, Benton County (Oregon) District Attorney John Haroldson revealed what will probably be the centerpiece of his case: blonde hairs, a rope tied into a noose, floor mats covered with blood, and unspecified traces of Wilberger’s DNA, all found in Courtney’s van.Haroldson still, of course, could have a difficult time proving murder in the absence of a body.

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April 17, 2008: Newly-unsealed court documents reveal the evidence against Joel Courtney, arraigned this week for the 2004 murder of 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger:

• Courtney’s whereabouts are unknown between May 24, 2004 — the day Wilberger disappeared, and also the day Courtney was supposed to appear in court on DUI charges — and May 26, when he showed up at a hospital emergency room complaining of chest pain and high blood pressure, symptoms investigators say is “consistent with someone laboring under a high level of anxiety commonly produced after a major criminal event.” An affidavit filed by a Corvallis, Oregon police detective said that Courtney offered two conflicting explanations of where he’d been: “The first being that he had been the recent victim of a kidnapping and the second being simply that he had to get out of Oregon because the ‘cops were after him’.”
• Courtney’s van, which was clean on the 24th, was muddy on the 26th.
• Three witnesses have identified Courtney’s van as having been, on the 24th, near the housing complex where Wilberger was last seen.
• Two female Oregon State University identified Courtney as the person who tried to lure them into his van the day Wilberger disappeared.
• Courtney was considered a likely suspect based on his nine previous arrests — on charges including sexual assault — and his family’s statements that he’d attempted to sexually assault female family members when he was a child.
• The University of New Mexico student he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping “has the physical features similar to Brooke Wilberger.”
• Although Wilberger’s body has not been found, she left behind a broken shoe (one of a pair of flip-flop thongs she’d been wearing), and witnesses heard a scream that likely came from the area where she’d been working, indicating that she’d been abducted by force.

Now… As damning as all this is, and I’m sure none of us can look at it and not be certain that Joel Courtney abducted and killed Brooke Wilberger… If this is all the prosecution has, then there doesn’t seem to be any actual evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, by which a responsible jury can find Courtney guilty of murder and sentence him to death.

In Texas today, Tracy Denise Roberson was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

She wasn’t the one who killed Devin LaSalle — it was her husband Darrell Roberson who fired four shots into LaSalle’s truck, killing him — but the shooting occurred after Darrell came home to find LaSalle and a near-naked Tracy in LaSalle’s truck in their driveway. Tracy said that LaSalle was trying to rape her, and Robert shot at him as he was trying to drive off.

Robert was originally charged with murder, but those charges were dropped — and manslaughter charges filed against Tracy — once evidence of the affair (including a text message in which Tracy invited LaSalle to come over that evening) came to light.

At trial, Tracy claimed that Robert killed LaSalle in a jealous rage.

Sentencing is scheduled for Monday. She faces anywhere from two to twenty years.

Yesterday (April 9), Joel Courtney was arraigned for the 2004 murder of Brooke Wilberger. Since her body hasn’t been found, and no specific cause of death can be determined, Courtney was arraigned on 14 separate aggravated murder counts, each related to a different theory of the murder (as well as single counts of first-degree rape, sodomy and sexual abuse and two counts of kidnapping).

He’s also been charged with attempting to rape and murder two female Oregon State University students on May 24, 2004, the same day Wilberger disappeared.

Courtney wasn’t present for the arraignment, “participating” via closed-circuit television from his cell at the Benton County Jail. He didn’t respond to the charges, and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

John Haroldson, the Benton County (Oregon) District Attorney, has said it could be a year to a year and a half before Courtney stands trial. (more…)

From today’s Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guardian, referring to today’s court appearance by Joel Courtney, accused of abducting and murdering 22-year-old Brooke Wilberger in 2004:

Citing respect for the Wilberger family, [the prosecutor] did not say whether they planned to attend Courtney’s arraignment or trial. Calls to the family were not returned Tuesday night.

Anybody fail to see a problem here?

“In light of recent media reports, I am no longer hopeful that I can provide a trial perceived to be fair for both the state and the accused.”Judge Fuller refers, of course, to his comment in this week’s New Yorker about defendant Brian Nichols, ”Everyone in the world knows he did it” (see yesterday’s news item).

The trial, for four murders committed during Nichols’s escape from Atlanta’s Fulton County Courthouse in March of 2005, has been on hold since October because the state has been unable to supply the funding the defense claims it needs.

The prosecution is seeking the death penalty.

Judge Hilton Fuller’s comment about Brian Nichols might not have been the wisest thing he ever said, even though Judge Fuller claims the reporter interviewing him promised not to use any direct quotes.

Judge Fuller is scheduled to preside over Nichols’s upcoming trial. In 2005, Nichols, in custody at Atlanta’s Fulton County Courthouse awaiting a rape trial, stole a guard’s gun and escaped, killing four people including a judge. Everyone in the world knows he did it, of course, but still…

New Yorker magazine’s excellent article about the case, in which Judge Fuller was quoted, hit the newsstands this morning and appears online here. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution article about the fallout from Judge Fuller’s comment is here.

In the absence of any new information on the Stacy Peterson disappearance, the media is interviewing attorneys and prosecutors who assure us that Drew Peterson can be successfully prosecuted for Stacy’s murder without either her body or any clear evidence that she’s dead — and in fact we only have to go back as far as Scott Peterson, who probably would have stood trial for his wife Laci’s murder even if her body hadn’t been found (and in fact was arrested hours before her body was identified).

We can also look ahead to Joel Courtney’s upcoming trial for the murder of Brooke Wilberger, who disappeared in 2004 and whose body hasn’t been found.

In Drew Peterson’s case, though, reasonable doubt makes a guilty verdict unlikely:

Either Stacy ran off with another man, as Drew claims, or Drew killed her, as her family claims and the prosecution will argue.

Drew claims she was having an affair, which supports her running off — but that affair could just as easily have been his motive for killing her. And Stacy’s family claims he was an abusive husband and finally killed her — but the abuse could just as easily have been her reason for running off.

So what you have, in the absence of any physical evidence, is confusion; which of course works for the defense and against the prosecution.

Only four states — Idaho, Kansas, Montana and Utah — prohibit the jury from considering a defendant’s insanity or mental defect as a mitigating circumstance.

In their third day of deliberations, the jury found Stephen Grant guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his wife Tara. Grant wasn’t denying he’d killed her — just after the jury was seated and just before opening statements began, he pleaded guilty to dismembering her body — but rather the trial would decide the degree of his guilt: The prosecution wanted a verdict of first-degree murder, for which the jury would have had to believe the killing was premeditated, and which would have sent Grant to prison for life. The defense wanted a verdict of manslaughter, meaning Grant didn’t necessarily intend to kill her at all, and which carries a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Second-degree murder carries a potential sentence of pretty much anywhere in between. Sentencing is scheduled for February 21. (more…)