|
|
|
Defense lawyer again calls for mistrial in triple murder case (These two articles are reprinted from the 1997 September 14th issue of the Indianapolis Star and the September 18 issue of the Marion, Ind. Chronicle Tribune. Congratulations to SCAFO member Diane Donnelly on the case and thanks to Janet Lawson for the two articles.) The death--penalty trial of Walter Dye was briefly interrupted Saturday when a defense lawyer objected to the testimony of an expert witness. Defense attorney Jack Crawford asked for a mistrial after Diane Donnelly, a forensic scientist for the Marion County crime lab, gave her opinion about some of Dye's fingerprints, which had been lifted from a wooden table at the crime scene. Crawford also charged that the prosecution violated a trial rule by failing to disclose Donnelly's opinion. Evidence in a criminal case is supposed to be shared by prosecutors and defense attorneys before trials begin. “They knew about it and never told us about it,” Crawford said. Before the trial, Donnelly told Crawford that she couldn't be certain how many times Dye placed his palm on the table, which was located near the body of victim Hannah Clay, 14. But after examining the evidence at a later date, Donnelly concluded that Dye had made at least two palm prints on the table. Crawford said he wanted to give the defense's expert fingerprint analyst a chance to examine the evidence again, but Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman said the defense team had had ample opportunity to do that. Marion Superior Court Judge Patricia Gifford agreed that the prosecution should have informed the defense, but she decided to move forward with the trial. Jurors were escorted from the courtroom for about 10 minutes while both sides debated the issue. When the jurors returned, Donnelly continued explaining slides of fingerprints taken from the crime scene. Saturday was not the first time Crawford has asked for a mistrial. Last week, he contended that a fingerprint report “gutted” his team's defense. The defense has implied that Theresa Jones, mother of one of three slain children, might have been involved in the crime in some way. Dye, 32, faces three counts of murder and a possible death sentence if convicted of the slayings of Hannah Clay, 14, Celeste Jones , 7, and Lawrence Cowherd III, 2. The children were killed on July 22, 1996, in a Near Eastside apartment where Dye's wife, Myrna, had lived less than one week. The trial is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Monday in Marion Superior Court. Man convicted of killing three children
Jurors deliberated for less than four hours before returning their guilty verdicts Wednesday night against Walter L. Dye, 32, who was subdued as the verdicts were read. Marion Superior Court Judge Patricia Gifford ordered the jury to return Thursday morning to begin hearing testimony in the penalty phase of the trial, which began Sept. 2. Dye was charged in the July 1996 slayings of Hannah Clay, 14; Celeste Jones, 7; and Lawrence Cowherd III, 2. Dye's stepdaughter, Clay, was found dead in her apartment where she had been beaten, strangled and stabbed. The other children's bodies were later found stuffed in trash bags in a nearby alley. They also had been beaten and strangled, police said. Clay was the daughter of Myrna Dye, the suspect's estranged wife. Jones and Cowherd were Myrna Dye's grandchildren. Police contended that Walter Dye brutally assaulted the children in revenge against his wife, who had left him. Dye allegedly had a history of violence against his wife and had threatened Clay, court records show.
This article was reprinted in “THE PRINT” |