McMillen Murder Case Update
Jim Morris
http://www.b-v-i.com/newslinks/
LOCAL NEWS (from the "Island Sun" newspaper on Tortola in the British
Virgin Islands in the Caribbean):
http://www.islandsun.com/2000-november/091100/local1-v4i29.html
McMillen Murder Trial Adjourned Again
The four men in jail here for the murder of American Lois Livingstone
McMillen almost a year ago, will have to wait another few months before
their fate is decided. They were again remanded in custody when their case
came up for hearing in the October assizes of the High Court last week.
The Americans, William Labrador, Alexander Benedetto, Michael Spicer and
Evan George, were committed to stand trial for the murder, which occurred
January 14th this year. The body of Ms. McMillen was found on the shores of
Drakes Highway in West End. The accused were arrested January 15th and have
been in custody, without bail, ever since.
Labrador is facing a charge of murder, while Benedetto, Spicer and George
are facing indictments for the murder, as well as for perverting the course
of justice and for being accessories after the fact. Mr. J.S. Archibald Q.C,
along with Messieurs Oscar Ramjeet and Ian Sandy are representing Spicer and
George, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Mr. St.
Clair Douglas are the Attorneys for Labrador and Mr Paul Dennis for
Benedetto. A preliminary inquiry, which lasted from 5th June to August 11th,
was characterized by delays. The prosecution was in each instance awaiting
forensic evidence from labs firstly in Barbados and then in Jamaica. These
tests have proved inconclusive and are now with a new lab in the United
Kingdom.
The evidence is now undergoing a Low Copy Number analysis, a type of DNA
testing which became available only in January of this year that can detect
DNA markers from samples smaller than a pin prick. The trial was scheduled
to begin November 1st, but Senior Crown Counsel Terrence Williams requested
an adjournment to await this forensic evidence, which is not expected to be
available for the next four to eight weeks. He said the adjournment was in
the interest of justice, as these results could be advantageous to either
side ö the defence or the prosecution. The three Defense Attorneys objected
to the application for adjournment before Justice Neville Smith, arguing
gross unfairness to the accused. They said by next March, their clients
would be in custody for over a year. "This application makes a farce of
justice (and) will prejudice the high quality of the justice system in this
jurisdiction" said Mr. Archibald Q.C. He said there was not "a jot, tittle
or iota of evidence" to support the indictment of his clients for murder.
Mr. Dennis referred to "the history of malaise" which characterized the
proceedings and said he has no confidence that an adjournment would put them
in a better position. He argued that there was no evidence in the
depositions against his client. "In these circumstances, it is made
elusively clear by the authorities that such an indictment is bad, not just
patently, but latently, and should be quashed."
Mr. Douglas was concerned that the new evidence would become available at
"the 11th hour" and he would not have sufficient time to prepare to properly
represent his client. He said his team was prepared for the November 1st
trial and it would be "manifestly unfair to the accused person" to adjourn
this matter. "We are fully aware of our duties regarding the furtherance of
justice" Mr. Williams stated, responding to charges that the Crown was going
on a "fishing expedition" for evidence. He said the Crown had gone to great
lengths and paid "premium prices" to secure the latest form of DNA evidence.
In the context of the BVI, the Senior Crown Counsel argued that it was not
unprecedented for a murder trial to take over a year to be completed. He
referred to three cases in the last year ö the Sherwin Fahie case took 1
year and 7 months, Lyn Weekesâ ö 1 year and 2 months and Francisco Sarante's
ö 1 year and 4 months. The jury was discharged Wednesday morning before
Justice Smith, who pointed out that he would ordinarily not have heard this
line of questioning, allowed the arguments. By around 1pm, he had heard all
the submissions and he then adjourned the sitting for the day. In making his
ruling Thursday morning, Justice Smith said the Court was not aware that an
adjournment of such a length would be requested. However, he said the
defence did not show him where the delay would adversely affect their
ability to defend their clients. He told the defendants that incarceration
is a usual misfortune for persons charged with the offence of murder. He
said they must be aware that justice may take longer in this instance, but
assured them that justice will eventually be dispensed.
"I am satisfied, on representation of Counsel for the Crown, that there will
be forensic evidence relevant to the trial of this case" Justice Smith
ruled. He therefore adjourned the matter to the next criminal assizes,
scheduled for March 2001, or such an earlier sitting as may be arranged.
On the issue of quashing the murder charges against Spicer, Benedetto and
George, the judge, who was presiding over his last assizes before
retirement, said he found no good grounds to find the present indictment
patently or latently defective. He refused the motions to amend and said the
accused would still face charges of murder. Justice Smith, who just about
three months ago joined Justice Kenneth Benjamin as Resident Judge in the
BVI, said he was disappointed at the outcome of this trial. "I would have
liked to have gone out having tried a celebrated murder trial, having
started my judicial career with a murder case." He told the Court he began
his judicial career in 1962 when he sat in a Magistrate's Court in Barbados
and finally as a judge, where the first jury he sat with dealt with a murder
trial of three men who killed a man who had just filled out a prescription
for him. In April 2001, Justice Smith would have reached the oldest age that
a judge is allowed to preside (62, with latitude for a further three years)
and "I shall be put out to pasture", he declared. He told the jury that he
would remember them for being the last jury he sat with and also for the
seriousness with which they carried out their duties.
Jim Morris
http://courttv.com/onair/shows/criertoday/
http://www.nypost.com/news/2924.htm
http://www.b-v-i.com/newslinks/
http://oregonlive.com/boule/index.ssf?/columnists/boule/00/1121_boule.frame
A former Portland street kid keeps spirit in Tortola jail
Tuessday, November 21, 2000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Boulé Archive
Columnists
By Margie Boulé, Columnist, The Oregonian
The letters take a long time to reach my desk.
Evan George writes them in his cell in a Caribbean island prison with a
fancy name: Her Majesty's Prison at Balsam Ghut, on Tortola, British Virgin
Islands. When his defense attorney comes to discuss his case, Evan passes
along the letters he has written to me. His attorney mails them from Tortola
to a woman in Watertown, N.Y. She is the sister of one of Evan George's
three co-defendants. She mails the letters to The Oregonian.
It's not an efficient way to communicate with a reporter who's trying to
remind the world you've been charged with a murder you insist you did not
commit, denied bail and stuck in a prison for 10 months -- even though the
prosecution has not produced a motive, a single eye witness or even one
piece of physical evidence that connects you to the crime.
But it's a better way to communicate than the phone interviews we tried to
conduct last May. Back then guards listened in and cut off the calls if they
heard a negative word about the prison or the justice system in Tortola.
Evan George is just 23 years old; he spent several of those years living on
the street in Portland. Perhaps you saw him hanging around Outside-In, an
agency for homeless teens. Maybe you walked away from him when he asked for
a handout.
Evan had a drug problem then; he admits he left town to escape a warrant for
his arrest. He says he's learned painful lessons since then. He says he
wants to come home to Oregon, face the charge, pay the price and maybe somed
ay go on to college.
But first he'll have to prevail in a courtroom in Tortola under a justice
system that appears to be arbitrary and dangerous. Make no mistake: There
are places you can travel in the world where you have few rights and no
recourse. Tortola seems to be one of them.
Back in January an American woman was found dead on Tortola. Evan and three
friends of his, vacationing on the island, had dined with the woman a few
nights before. The coroner ruled she had drowned; the prosecutor disagreed.
Evan and his friends were jailed in connection with the death. The police
collected 85 pieces of physical evidence they claimed would tie the men to
the death. Since January the evidence has been sent to labs across the
Caribbean and at Scotland Yard in London. Every test has come back negative.
Even so, in August the men were charged with murder.
Their trial was to begin Nov. 1. "Today" was set to air a story. CBS' "48
Hours" was there. Court TV already had run several programs on the case.
On that rainy Wednesday, the island prosecutor admitted he had no evidence
to tie the Americans to the death. The judge seemed to agree with defense
attorneys who argued it was unfair for Evan and the others to be held for so
long with so little cause. But in the end he granted the prosecutor's
request for another delay, so a controversial new "low-copy DNA" test -- not
allowed in American courts -- can be done.
Chris Matthews is the sister of one of Evan's co-defendants. She was in the
courtroom that day. "The judge said that . . . on the island of Tortola, the
attorney general has the power to indict anyone at any time, without any
evidence." Chris saw several of the defendants wipe away tears, "which broke
my heart. I couldn't stop crying. It was such a shock."
Evan sat down and wrote to me that day. "This is very disappointing," he
wrote. "I really was hoping to spend Thanksgiving with my friends. Here they
don't even celebrate Thanksgiving." By the time their case goes to trial,
the men will have spent at least a year in prison. "All for taking a
vacation to a place with no due process and limited rights for the accused.
We still do not even know much of what they are accusing us of."
Evan has used his time well, according to Chris Matthews. He jogs 40 minutes
a day, he's learning Spanish from his cellmate, and the boy who dropped out
of high school to hit the streets in Portland is now a voracious reader who
is always hungry for more books. He's read Shakespeare and Kafka. He's
reading the Bible. Every letter he writes has better grammar and spelling.
But he's lonely. He has not heard from his parents. His co-defendants are
from wealthy families in the East; they often receive gifts and letters of
support. He's grateful his story is being kept alive in Oregon; he's afraid
the homeless Oregon kid with the drug arrest might become a scapegoat if
authorities in Tortola thinks the world isn't watching.
Despite Evan's long stay in the prison he calls "this hellacious place," his
spirit is strong, Chris Matthews says. "He continues to be the one who keeps
the other guys smiling, and he's appreciative and thankful. I can see Evan's
influence on the others. He has a quality of saying thank you and meaning
it."
Still, there's not much for Evan George to be grateful for these days. The
trial judge is retiring and another may not be named for months. A March
trial date may be postponed yet again. "I guess I will have to wait for
justice," Evan wrote me Nov. 1. "But I wish justice would happen faster."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Reach Margie Boulé at 503-221-8450, 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201,
or marb...@aol.com.
Jim Morris
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/336/metro/Murder_mystery_in_island_paradis
e+.shtml
Murder mystery in island paradise
By Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff, 12/1/2000
IDDLEBURY, Conn. - It could be a script for a made-for-television movie: A
flamboyant blond artist from a wealthy Connecticut family is murdered in the
British Virgin Islands. In a case still shrouded in mystery, the expensively
clothed but badly bruised body of 34-year-old Lois Livingston McMillen
washed up on the ocean's edge and was spotted by a passerby walking along
the shore one morning last January.
But in this real-life saga, the men charged with her killing are the most
unusual suspects - four clean-cut, all-American men who came to the island
of Tortola to surf and bask in the Caribbean sun. For nearly a year, the
suspects - a New York public relations consultant, a trust fund heir, a book
publisher, and a construction worker - have been held without bail in Her
Majesty's Royal Prison.
The victim's parents, Russell and Josephine McMillen, say authorities have
the right men and they're hoping the truth about their daughter's death will
finally come to light. They hoped that would happen in early November, when
they returned to the island for the murder trial. But the trial was delayed
so prosecutors could have DNA evidence analyzed.
Family members of the ''Four Americans'' - as the suspects are known on
Tortola - contend the men are being held without cause. They argue they are
being used to cover up a dark secret: that the island paradise, whose murder
rate is still low but has climbed sharply, is not as safe as tourists
believe it to be. If authorities can pin the murder on Americans rather than
islanders, family members say, they can preserve the idyllic image of this
island of 14,000.
To support that notion, they point to all that is missing from the
prosecution's case against the men. There is no clear sense of motive. The
prosecutor had to admit in court that there was no conclusive physical or
forensic evidence connecting the men to the murder. There were no
eyewitnesses and no signs of rape or robbery.
But the victim's parents say the lack of evidence has more to do with the
judicial system than the merits of the case, and that there's plenty to
convince them that the four men were responsible for the murder, including a
reported jailhouse confession by one of the suspects.
The case has shed light on a judicial system that differs significantly from
its American counterpart, even though they both are the offspring of British
common law.
The system steers clear of pretrial publicity and rarely reveals evidence to
the public. Consequently, although the suspects - Michael Spicer, 36, of
Virginia; Alexander Benedetto, 34, of New York; Evan George, 23, of
Washington, D.C.; and William Labrador, 37, of New York City, have been in
prison for nearly a year, it is not clear what authorities believe happened.
The McMillens will return to the island when the trial of Labrador, the
prime suspect, begins, which could be as early as January.
All that is known, said Barbara Labrador, whose son stands accused, is that
most of the evidence is based on a prison informant she derides as
''seedy,'' and one of the suspect's shirts that prosecutors say is stained
with blood but the suspect says is barbecue sauce.
''They don't have a bill of rights, no right to a speedy trial or right of
disclosure,'' said Barbara Labrador. ''You sit in prison totally at the
mercy of the prosecutor.''
The prosecutors tested the ''blood-stained'' shirt three times and found
nothing, said Christine Matthews, the sister of Michael Spicer. Now, she
said, evidence is being sent to England to be tested again.
''Nobody really knows what these gumshoe detectives have,'' said Sean
Murphy, a legal consultant to Labrador.''This certainly isn't New York
Homicide.''
The defense contends the tiny police force in Tortola was not prepared to
deal with a sensational murder case, but the McMillens stress that the
prosecution has strong evidence that will come out at trial.
Drinking coffee in their elegant sitting room in their Middlebury house,
Russell McMillen, a retired executive, and his wife explain that their
daughter returned home two years ago after pursuing an acting career in
California. She turned her passions to art and to the cause of ending
violence toward women. Although Russell McMillen says his daughter, who had
dreams of becoming a Hollywood star, was naturally shy, she was known to
dress flamboyantly. Last New Year's, the family went out together in
Tortola. Lois wore a tiny tiara and a long flowing pale gray gown, with
shiny wings made of feather.
She was buried in that outfit, said Josephine McMillen, a direct descendant
of Robert Livingston, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The walls of their stately Colonial home are lined with a mix of Lois'
avant-garde artwork alongside prim Victorian paintings.
''We feel we are living with her spirit,'' said Josephine McMillen.
Last January, the family traveled to their villa in Tortola as they have
done for 20 years. On Jan. 14, the mother and daughter took a ferry to St.
John's island. They had a lunch of salad and bread, Josephine McMillen
recalled. Lois bought a $300 Versace blouse and a pair of white capri pants.
They returned on the 5:15 p.m. ferry ride back to the villa where the family
ate dinner together. Lois told her parents she was headed to the Jolly
Ranger Inn to listen to jazz, but would return within an hour or so.
''That is the last time we saw her,'' Josephine McMillen said. The McMillens
waited for their daughter throughout the night and decided to call the
police by the next morning.
''We were still thinking the worst. We figured she was in an accident and in
a ditch somewhere,'' said Russell McMillen.
That morning, the badly beaten body, clad in the Versace blouse, was found
on an small inlet along the beach. Police believed the body had been dragged
over bushes and into the water. Her shoes and a gold necklace were thrown on
the other side of the road. Police said the cause of death was surely
drowning, but they also believe she was murdered.
It was Josephine McMillen who told police to check with the four men staying
at the Zebra House, the home owned by Spicer's family. Two days before her
death, Lois McMillen hung out with the four defendants at a local bar called
Bomba's Shack. They ate wings and had a few drinks, according to a statement
by Labrador.
The next day, she met up with everyone except Labrador at a local restaurant
and eventually drove them back to Zebra House without getting out of the
car, according to affidavits posted on the Hartford Courant's Web site. All
four of the men deny seeing her on the night of her death. An eyewitness,
however, told police they saw her walking along the beach in the early hours
of the morning. Trailing behind her were three men. Police believe she was
killed around midnight.
The men all liked Lois, said Spicer's sister. Lois and Spicer had been
friends for a long time because both of their families owned homes on the
island. Labrador met her briefly in 1997. Benedetto said he dated her for
three months in that same year, according to affidavits. They visited each
other in Connecticut and New York, but the relationship never took off and
ended amicably. George, who has been described as Spicer's partner, met her
for the first time in January.
On the day Lois's body was found, according to the McMillens, police
believed the four men were acting nervously when they visited the Zebra
House. But Barbara Labrador tells a very different story.
''They were floored. They were sitting there fat, dumb, and happy. They sat
there stunned, then a half-hour later the police invited them to help with
the investigation and that is the last time they saw the light of day,'' she
said.
Police collected fingernails, three pairs of wet shoes, and Spicer's stained
shirt. The McMillens say evidence will show the men were not the perfect,
hard-working men they are portrayed to be. Josephine McMillen said one of
the men told authorities they were drinking heavily and using drugs on the
night of the murder. However, McMillen said tests show her daughter had no
alcohol in her system that night. They said Spicer, the law graduate, lived
off a trust fund and didn't work. And Labrador's business failed a while
ago. The big New York publishing company that Benedetto works for is owned
by his father. Matthews said it's true that her brother, Michael Spicer,
doesn't work, but that's because he took care of their ailing mother.
Barbara Labrador says it would be hard for her son to run his business while
in prison.
The ''four Americans'' began to look even more suspicious when Jeff Plante
came into the picture. A Texas man with a lengthy police record, Plante
claimed his cellmate, Labrador, confessed to killing McMillen. According to
Barbara Labrador, Plante, 58, told police that her son told him he had
pressed his foot on McMillen's throat that night. She also said Plante told
police he killed her over money.
But Murphy and Barbara Labrador described Plante as a two-bit con man who
couldn't be trusted. The McMillens, however, say he is a businessman who got
tangled up with a savings and loan scam.
The family members of the defendants are beginnning to look at other
scenarios. They believe she could have been attacked by a local and that the
police department pressed to solve the murder of a young, rich, American
tourist too fast and pinned the wrong people.
''Why would they kill her?'' said Murphy. ''It certainly makes no sense that
William or any of the Americans killed her.''
Benedetto told police in an affidavit that Lois complained that the locals
in Tortola were becoming aggressive against her, something the McMillens
deny. And, there have been a rash of five murders in the past year or so,
according to Todd Merriman, reporter with the Beacon in Tortola. Sergeant
Patrick Harewood of the Tortola Police Department acknowledged that the
number is unusually high for the island, which hosts about 300,000 visitors
annually, but said all the homicides were unrelated. Except for one year in
the early 1990s when the island saw three murders, there hadn't been a year
when there were more than three homicides until recently.
But, he stressed, ''The only murder case involving a tourist was the
McMillen case, so tourists shouldn't be fearful.''
Jim Morris
http://www.b-v-i.com/newslinks/
Republican-American Newspaper:
Endowment helps honor the life of murdered Middlebury woman
By Maryanne Moon Boyen
© 2000 Republican-American
WATERBURY - Strangers know Lois Livingston McMillen as the pretty woman
murdered in January on the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.
She was found on a beach 11 minutes from the family villa, a victim of
violence in paradise. She was more than that. And Josephine and Russell
McMillen of Middlebury, her parents, want to focus on their 34-year-old
daughter's life, not her death. To honor her as a daughter, artist and
concerned citizen, they have given $522,000 to the Waterbury Foundation for
grants and scholarships that reflect Lois McMillen's ideals. The Lois
Livingston McMillen Memorial Fund will support causes that were close to
Lois McMillen's heart - fine arts and feminism. "We chose the Waterbury
Foundation because it's local and it's an area that needs attention," said
Josephine McMillen. One third of the income from the fund will provide
scholarships to women who are actively pursuing, or want to pursue, an
artistic career. The other two-thirds of the income from the fund will
provide assistance to agencies who serve women and children who are victims
of physical, emotional or psychological abuse, sexual assault or domestic
violence. The McMillens said the fund will help address immediate crises.
But they said it will also provide the framework of support and guidance to
promote self-confidence, pride, dignity and personal advancement for women
who have suffered from destructive behavior. "It's amazing that her parents
are taking such a positive approach, that they want to memorialize her that
way," said Nancy Cote Sullivan, director of communications for the Waterbury
Foundation. As parents of a murder victim, the McMillens still have much to
bear. They have yet to go through the murder trial that has been put off
until March; four suspects have been charged. Still, they have chosen to
celebrate their daughter's life. They talk about her. They hang her oil
paintings on the living room walls. They work on scrapbooks. "These are
positive things we are focusing on," said Josephine McMillen. Although shy
in manner, Lois was flamboyant in dress. She attended Parson's School of
Design in New York. "She felt that through clothes you could express
yourself," said her mother. Great friends, mother and daughter spent their
last day together shopping for clothes. The donation is one of the larger
donations the Waterbury Foundation has ever received, said Lynn M.
Franklin-Henry, its president. The foundation provides grants to nonprofit
organizations and scholarships to students in the Central Naugatuck Valley
and the Litchfield Hills, serving 21 towns. "We are honored to memorialize
this creative artist and keep her ideals alive through this perpetual gift
to women in need of assistance in our community," Franklin-Henry said. Lois
Livingston McMillen loved angels. This year, her mother has chosen a holiday
card that has a golden angel on the front. "I picked a Christmas card that
has a little whimsy to it. Lois would like that," she said.