Court TV Covers Murder Trial of Poet/Artist Murdered in Paradise...
Jim Morris
follow-up segment today about the trial...
http://courttv.com/trials/tortola/040301_ctv.html
http://www.msnbc.com/local/wvit/618983.asp?cp1=1
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20010402/wl/mcmillen010402_1.html
http://www.courttv.com/trials/tortola/
http://www.b-v-i.com/newslinks/
http://www.crimenews2000.com/cgi-bin/wwwthread/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=crimet
rials&Number=755&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&part=all&vc=1
Chief inspector provides little ammo for prosecution
By John Springer
Court TV
TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands - Two friends and two acquaintances of Lois
McMillen were arrested for suspicion of murder because of a cut on the
bridge of one man's nose, a shirt stained with what appeared to be blood and
three pairs of wet and sandy sneakers, a police witness testified Tuesday.
During the second day of its case, the prosecution called Chief Inspector
Jacob George to the stand, but the detective in charge of the case provided
much ammunition to bolster the defendants' claim that police rushed to
judgment about their involvement in McMillen's January 2000 beating and
drowning death here.
During more than three hours of intensive cross-examination by two defense
attorneys, George admitted that wet, sandy sneakers that police believe link
defendant Michael Spicer to the crime scene were initially not sent to a lab
and could not be accounted for completely during the 14 months the four men
have been held without bail.
George, who held a red leather-bound Bible while reciting an oath to tell
the truth from memory, stood the entire time he testified before a
nine-member jury in Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. He began shifting
restlessly in the witness box as the lawyer for defendant William Labrador,
Richard Hector, asked him to point out the blood stain he said he saw on
Spicer's light-blue Banana Republic shirt the morning McMillen's battered
body was found on the shore of Sir Francis Drake Channel.
"Where exactly on this shirt was the stain?" Hector asked.
George pointed above the left pocket of the shirt, but no stain was evident
to either the witness, the lawyers or members of the jury, who took copious
notes on white legal pads.
"It wasn't a large stain. About an inch, it was quite obvious," George
testified. "The stain I saw was right above the pocket."
Hector's questions came more rapidly after that.
"Did anyone wash the shirt?" the defense lawyer asked, bringing laughter
from the jury and gallery.
"My Lord, I did see a stain," George insisted.
Michael Griffith, a New York lawyer assisting Labrador's defense team,
turned around in the courtroom and adapted a line made famous in O.J.
Simpson's murder trial.
"If there is no stain, innocence you must maintain," Griffith quipped.
Indeed, supporters of Labrador, Spicer and the two other defendants,
Alexander Benedetto and Evan George, were happy with the cross-examination
of Jacob George, no relation to the defendant.
"There was a rush to judgment, but I was also astonished that the chief
investigator in charge of the investigation was unaware of so many things,
like the whereabouts of Michael Spicer's shoes for 10 months," said Barbara
Labrador, William Labrador's mother.
Later prosecution witnesses are expected to testify that Spicer's sneaker,
which bore signs of much use, were eventually sent to England for tests in
October. A small amount of sand taken from the sneakers bears similarities
to the soil on the beach where McMillen's body was found by a passerby on
Jan. 15, 2000.
For the first time since the trial began Monday, the defense raised the
subject of a former boyfriend of McMillen's who was questioned by police
four days after the killing. The man, a 36-year-old Italian house painter,
admitted to police that he had been violent with McMillen in the past but
denied being on the island the day she was killed, the defense claims.
The New York Post this week quoted unnamed sources close to the case and a
longtime friend as saying that McMillen was engaged to the man, Luigi
Lungarini, and that she became pregnant and had an abortion.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense are expected to call Lungarini to
the stand. The prosecution has nothing to gain by introducing another
possible suspect to the jury and the defense will be able to question police
officers about their investigation of him without having Lungarini testify
about an alibi or lack of involvement in the killing.
In the afternoon, George was grilled for another two hours by each defense
lawyer about the evidence he had - or didn't have - when he ordered the
arrest of the men on suspicion of murder.
George insisted the cut on Labrador's nose, the wet and sandy sneakers and
the suspected blood stain on Spicer's shirt were sufficient cause to hold
the men. Later, he also offered that stained tissues and fingernail
clippings found in waste bins throughout the house, called Zebra House,
where the defendants stayed, amounted to reasonable suspicion that the men
were somehow involved in McMillen's death.
The rules of evidence here are similar to those in the U.S., but much more
lax. Prosecutors Theodore Guerra and Terrence Williams raised only few
objections throughout the day and essentially permitted defense lawyers to
testify over and over again that police had no motives, confessions or
physical evidence when they first detained and later charged all four
defendants.
Benedetto's defense lawyer, Paul Dennis, suggested through questions that
sounded more like statements that George only applied for arrest warrants
when he learned that the four had hired lawyers who were preparing writs of
habeas corpus - affidavits claiming they were being unlawfully detained
without being charged. Typically suspects cannot be held for more than 48
hours without formal charges being filed, George said, offering no
explanation as to why he waited a full four days before seeking arrest
warrants.
Another interesting aspect of justice in this territory is that jurors can
ask questions at the conclusion of a witness's testimony. The jury in the
McMillen case asked about 30 questions of George, including whether police
fully investigated Lungarini, McMillen's former boyfriend, and whether he
was considered a suspect. George said Lungarini was not on the island at the
time but did not elaborate.
Directing questions to George through the female foreperson, jurors also
wanted to know why George did not accept Labrador's explanation that the cut
on his nose was caused while hiking. The cut appeared fresh, George
answered.
The foreperson laughed as she asked George, who supervised the
investigation, whether he thought he should have a better grasp on what
became of prosecution evidence after it was sent out to laboratories. George
mumbled that the department has a forensics officer. Crime scene department
Sgt. Julian Harley is expected to testify later this week.
George said outside the courthouse that he was prohibited from discussing
his testimony. The prosecution has said it will not answer any questions
from the media until the trial concludes. The defense is under no such
self-imposed restriction and so far has been more than willing to discuss
what the lawyers perceive as a weak case against Labrador, Spicer, Benedetto
and Evan George.
"This case would not make it into a traffic court in the U.S.," said
Griffith, of Labrador's defense team.