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February 27, 2010 Posted by GorgeousBoys in Crime & Punishment, Murder Of Bryan Koics

ONE YEAR AGO: Brent Corrigan testifies in the Bryan Kocis Murder Trial (pics & videos):

Bryan Kocis, owner of Cobra Video for whom Brent Corrigan worked while underage, was found dead at his home Jan. 24, 2007. His throat had been slashed and he had been stabbed 28 times. The killers set his home on fire to hide the murder.Corrigan was one of several people to be questioned. His attorney, John Yates, said that Corrigan was part of the investigation and "fully" cooperating with authorities. Yates later said Corrigan had information about a man who met with Kocis that day, but they are looking for the services of a criminal lawyer before talking to police.Police then searched for a "person of interest" named in the investigation.On May 15, 2007; two Virginia Beach escorts and rival producers of gay pornography, Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes, were charged with Kocis' murder.The theory by investigators was that the two men murdered Kocis because they wanted to get Corrigan to work for them at their porn film company. However, police investigating the murder believe Corrigan didn't know these two men would actually go and kill Kocis to get him to work for their company. On Dec. 8, 2008, Kerekes pleaded guilty to the murder of Bryan Kocis and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole, avoiding a potential death sentence. Jury selection for Cuadra's trial began Feb. 17, 2009, and the trial began Feb. 24. On Feb. 27, 2009 Brent Corrigan testified for the prosecution. On March 12, 2009, Harlow Cuadra was found guilty and convicted of first degree murder in Kocis' death. On March 16, 2009, Cuadra was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. On April 7, 2009, Cuadra appealed his life sentence. CHECK OUT THE HARLOW CUADRA SEX VIDEOS HERE AND INTERVIEW BEHIND BARS

Some links from that day... Timesleader day 4 coverage Citizens Voice trial Update Gay Wired.com Jims Silence of the Chinchillas Rants and Views Harlow and Joe Trial Blog WNEP TV 16 below
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Tags: Brent Corrigan, Harlow Cuadra, murder, trial
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December 23, 2009 Posted by GorgeousBoys in Crime & Punishment

Mistrial Declared For Texas Man Accused Of Murdering Gay San Diego Man

A jury in San Diego deadlocked 8-4 on Tuesday in the murder trial of 62-year-old Gerald Metcalf, who’s accused of fatally stabbing a gay man at least 61 times after they met in a popular cruising area in 1971. Metcalf was arrested in 2008 at his home in Chandler, Texas, after a cold case unit linked him to 27-year-old Gerald Jackson’s murder using DNA evidence and fingerprints from the scene. A status conference in the case is now scheduled for Jan. 5. More information about this case is available in a Previous Article: Killer Faces Jury 38 Years After Murder Of Gay Man In San Diego
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Tags: courts, murder, police, san diego, trial
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November 22, 2009 Posted by GorgeousBoys in News And Scoops

Gay Spy Trial Rocks Germany

spy_gay_germanyA trial opened in Germany on Wednesday with all the elements of a 21st century spy thriller: the Balkan criminal underworld, leaking of state secrets and careless pillow-talk to a gay lover. Officially, the details are sketchy, but according to media reports, the tale began when former soldier Anton K, now 42, was posted to Kosovo in 2005, officially to work for the German foreign ministry. In reality, however, the real job of K, whose full name has not been released, was to set up a network of informants on behalf of the German secret service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), reports say. In doing so, he recruited a Macedonian man who said he grew up in Germany, Murat A, now 29, to be an interpreter and translator, an appointment approved by BND headquarters after background security checks. The working relationship continued for two years, and in 2007 K's job was extended for two years, but he failed to mention to his superiors the nature of their personal relationship: they had became lovers and had moved in together. The first that the BND heard of this was when K's wife, whom he had left behind in Germany with their children, revealed he had changed his life insurance policy, replacing her name with his interpreter's as the beneficiary. The BND then alerted prosecutors, and the two were arrested after being summoned back to Germany on false pretences in March 2008. K was handcuffed and bundled into an unmarked car by plain-clothes police at a suburban train station, while his alleged accomplice was arrested at his hotel. Both men were released the next day because of a lack of evidence to hold them for longer, press reports said. They then both spent 40 days in custody in March and April this year. The couple now live near Stuttgart. According to a statement from federal prosecutors in August, K divulged classified information to his interpreter. Spiegel magazine reported that this included information obtained by British agents, and that K revealed it "in the bedroom" or by allowing his lover access to his laptop computer. The latter "then intended to pass this information on either to people in the area of organised crime in Macedonia or to foreign intelligence agencies", federal prosecutors said. For the defence, however, the two men are victims of a homophobic witch-hunt within the BND, which has been deeply embarrassed by the affair, not least because it gave the interpreter clearance. It now claims that he has links to organised crime, and since the affair broke, the BND has reportedly been forced to sever contacts with at least 19 information sources in the Balkans. "There is no evidence to suggest that my client passed on information," the interpreter's lawyer Christian Stuenkel was quoted as saying in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily. In the end prosecutors may only be able to convict them on charges of fiddling their expenses to the tune of close to 15,000 euro ($24,000), reports said. Story From AFP
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Tags: gay spy, Germany, Outed, trial
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July 5, 2009 Posted by GorgeousBoys in Crime & Punishment

Gay Killer Released

seanmain kennedy2The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, condemned the early release of Stephen Andrew Moller, who was convicted in June of 2008 in the death of 20-year-old Sean Kennedy. Sean's mother, Elke Kennedy, was informed of the release by automated message Wednesday night. Witnesses testified at trial that Kennedy's attacker shouted anti-gay slurs while punching Kennedy outside a Greenville, SC bar in May of 2007.
[MEDIA not found]

"This adds insult to injury. To release a man just one-year after his sentencing in this heinous crime and to inform the victim's mother through an automated recording is despicable," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "Sean Kennedy was violently attacked for no other reason than his sexual orientation. This is a text book case of why we need to pass federal legislation that would bring stiffer penalties and provide local authorities with the full resources of the U.S. Justice Department to address vicious hate crimes."
"They say one thing and do something else," said Elke Kennedy, Sean's mother. "He should have served every single day of the already short sentence, instead he was released from prison one week early. Where is the justice?"
U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. highlighted Sean Kennedy's case last week while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of federal hate crimes legislation. Holder, the first time an Attorney General has testified in favor of this legislation, said Sean's death was an example of an "appalling crime" where "state prosecutions may not always fully vindicate Federal interests." Both Elke Kennedy and Joe Solmonese submitted written testimony at the hearing in support of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909). To read the testimony, visit www.HRCBackStory.org. The legislation, which was passed in the U.S. House by a vote of 249-175 in April, would provide local police and sheriff's departments with federal resources to combat hate violence. The legislation is currently awaiting a vote in the U.S. Senate.
"Sean is among many American's who are targeted just because of who they are. These crimes not only harm individuals, they terrorize entire communities," said Solmonese. "After more than a decade and nine successful votes in Congress, there is no good reason for any delay on bringing hate crimes legislation to the President's desk. We must finally pass this bill and start the important steps to erasing hate in our country."
U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), the Kennedy family's senator, recently wrote a shocking letter to local priests and pastors advocating against hate crime legislation. DeMint, who has regularly spoken out against the LGBT community, wrote the following in reference to hate crimes legislation: "Many pastors hesitate to explain that government policies have helped cause the decline of America's culture, morality and spirituality. … I am writing you today to remind you that religious principals and biblical teachings produced the values and polices that made America exceptional, prosperous, and good." The Matthew Shepard Act gives the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias motivated violence where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It provides the Justice Department with the ability to aid state and local jurisdictions either by lending assistance or, where local authorities are unwilling or unable, by taking the lead in investigations and prosecutions of violent crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury that were motivated by bias. It also makes grants available to state and local communities to combat violent crimes committed by juveniles, train law enforcement officers, or to assist in state and local investigations and prosecutions of bias motivated crimes. To learn more about Sean Kennedy's story and HRC's working coalition to pass hate crimes legislation, visit www.FightHateNow.org. The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
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Tags: hate, murder, prison, Sean Kennedy, South Carolina, trial
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June 2, 2009 Posted by Matthew Conaster in Crime & Punishment

X-PornStar Murder Trial Begins

marcusmain

The murder trial of Timothy Boham, a.k.a. "Marcus Allen" started today with jury selection in Denver.  Boham is accused of the 2006 killing of his former boss, Jon Kelso.  Denver Police at the time said Boham intended to rob Kelso, but ended up fatally shooting him. According to The Denver Post, Boham told his family that he killed Kelso because he believed that Kelso kept a lot of money in his household safe. Boham, who is straight but worked "gay for pay", was allegedly robbing Kelso for cash to support his pregnant girlfriend when he accidentally shot him. Boham said his plan to rob Kelso went awry when Kelso refused to open his safe, and there was a brief struggle during which he shot Kelso.  Boham apparently confessed the murder to both his sister and mother before attempting to flee to South America. Prior to leaving, he repeatedly returned to Kelso's home to clean it up, in hopes that his fingerprints and DNA wouldn't be discovered.
Boham fled for Mexico, but gave himself up to authorities at the border crossing in Arizona. In November 2002, Boham appeared on the cover of Freshmen magazine.  He was voted "Freshman of the Year" in 2003.   Between 2004-2005, Boham made a dozen movies as Marcus Allen  with Falcon Entertainment,  He was also in "Never Been Touched" by Chi Chi LaRue.   In 2006 Boham appeared on the cover of Playgirl Magazine's "campus hunks" issue, advertising himself as "John" of Denver. Ironically enough, an acquaintence of Boham's said he "hated gays and their lifestyle." Kelso, who was openly gay, was a philanthropist who gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities across the world. He co-owned a Denver debt recovery business called Professional Recovery Systems, where Boham briefly worked. Court documents claim that Boham had bipolar disorder and was prone to fits of rage.  He has pleaded insanity.
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Tags: Colorodo, Denver, gay, murder, porn star, robbery, trial
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April 23, 2009 Posted by Matthew Conaster in Crime & Punishment

Murder1 & Hate Crime

defendantA Colorado man who says he bludgeoned his date to death out of rage and shock after discovering she was biologically male was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder and a hate crime. Jurors deliberated about two hours before finding Allen Ray Andrade, 32, guilty of killing Angie Zapata, formerly known as Justin Zapata, 18, of Greeley last July after meeting up on a social networking website. District Judge Marcelo Kopcow swiftly sentenced him to life in prison without possibility of parole -- the state's mandatory sentence for first-degree murder. angieZapata, a transsexual, had dressed as female for much of her life, her family said. The case was among the first uses of a hate-crimes statute that protects transgendered people. The victim's mother, Maria Zapata, told the judge before sentencing: "It's been so hard, so hard for my family and myself. . . . I lost something, somebody so precious." But she said Andrade could never take away "the love and the memories my family and I have of my baby -- my beautiful, beautiful baby." Gay, lesbian and transsexual groups hailed the jury's decision.
"Today's verdict was about justice for Angie Zapata, although no verdict will ever be able to heal the tragic loss experienced by Angie's family," said Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "The past few months have offered Greeley residents, as well as people throughout Colorado and across the nation, an opportunity to better understand transgender lives and the horrifying reality of anti-transgender violence."
Activists noted that the conviction occurred in a conservative, largely rural county.
"Finally, a rural county sheriff and prosecutor step up to the plate," said Kate Bowman of the Gender Identity Center of Colorado. "That's got to make people think it's time to do something."
She is among those who advocate a federal hate-crimes statute. A bill introduced in Congress this year would give the federal government the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated crimes in which the victim was selected because of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. Colorado is one of 11 states with hate-crimes laws that protect transgendered people. In California, a similar high-profile case involved Gwen Araujo, 17, of Newark, who was beaten and strangled in 2002 after two men with whom she'd had sex learned she was biologically male. They were convicted of second-degree murder, but not of a hate crime. Zapata met Andrade, a convicted felon from Thornton, on a social-networking website in July, according to the arrest affidavit. On July 16, they went on a date, Andrade said, and Zapata performed oral sex on him but would not permit him to touch her. According to the affidavit, Andrade said he became suspicious about Zapata's gender, grabbed her crotch and learned the truth. In a rage, he said, he beat her to death with a fire extinguisher. Andrade's attorneys referred to Zapata by her given name, Justin, and contended that their client had reacted due to shock at her sexual deceit. But prosecutors, who referred to the deceased as "she" and "Angie," said the two had met via a website that catered to gay and transgendered people and that the couple had known each other for three days -- plenty of time for Andrade to understand Angie's biological gender. They noted that Andrade had accompanied her to traffic court, where clerks called her Justin. Prosecutors said Andrade was a homophobe who preyed on Zapata and pointed to recorded calls he made from jail in which he called the victim "it" and said: "Someone living like that needs to be held accountable." Defense attorney Annette Kundelius did not return a call for comment. During the trial, she told jurors that Andrade had been joking. "Was it in poor taste? Was it a smart thing to say?" Kundelius said. "No. But it doesn't mean he committed murder." Andrade did not testify. When the judge asked if he had anything to say before sentencing, he responded, "No."
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Tags: Angie Zapata, Colorado, court, Denver, homophobe, jail, jury, murder, prison, transgender, trial, violence
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April 3, 2009 Posted by Matthew Conaster in Crime & Punishment

Ex-Lover Says He is Innocent

charliedaviesA man accused of murdering his former lover by pouring gasoline over his head and then setting him on fire has told a jury he is innocent in a London, England court. Nadim Kurrimbukus, 25, and a second man, Yusuf Dulloo, 27, are charged with murdering Charlie Davies (pictured left). Davies, 23, suffered burns to 75 percent of his body and died in the hospital 12 days after the attack last June. The prosecution alleges that Kurrimbukus killed Davies in retaliation after Davies ended their relationship. At his trial, Kurrimbukus calmly denied the accusations. “You were there to commit a horrific act of violence against Charlie Davies. On that evening you had access to petrol, bottles and transport. You were a jealous man,” prosecutor Victor Temple said. In a clear, calm voice Kurrimbukus replied, “I had nothing to do with Charlie’s murder.” Temple also accused him of lying to investigators, lying to police about his whereabouts until confronted with phone evidence which placed him at the scene. Kurrimbukus attempted to refute evidence presented earlier in the trial by police that during questioning Dulloo said that Kurrimbukus had admitted the killing the following day. “In Islam you are not allowed to be gay. There’s such a thing as an honor killing. Dulloo’s lying as a punishment. He is trying to punish me after he found out about my sexuality,” Kurrimbukus told the court. Last week, the court was given evidence from a police interview with Dulloo in which he said that Kurrimbukus told him he had “lit the guy.” According to the police account of Dulloo’s questioning he said: “I’m listening to the radio and then I hear kind of like a scream… then he comes back and he is like as if he has been running. But I didn’t account that to anything to do with the screaming.” Earlier in the trial one of Davies’ neighbors described seeing him engulfed in a “big ball of fire.” The woman, whose name is being withheld for her own safety, told the murder trial this week that she was coming home and as she approached Davies’ home she heard screams and saw him stumbling down his driveway on fire. She also testified that she saw a man running down a nearby alley.
“He covered his face, first of all he had his hood up, he had sunglasses on and then he had something covering the from the tip of his nose across the face,” she told the court. She said she and other neighbors called for help but Davies had suffered massive burns.
The trial continues. story reprint: 365gay.com
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Tags: court, england, London, murder, trial, violence
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April 1, 2009 Posted by TheBoss in Crime & Punishment

Gay Man Murdered Parents

000370806A Texas man has been convicted of the murder of his parents in a trial where prosecutors used a homophobic “gay is murder” strategy to ostensibly influence the jury, his lawyer has said. Brandon Dale Woodruff has been convicted of the double homicide of Dennis and Norma Woodruff this past Friday, March 26. The couple was shot and stabbed in the neck inside their mobile home outside Royse City, Texas on October 16, 2005. A family friend found their bodies two days later. Police say there were no visible signs of a forced entry. After shooting and stabbing his parents to death on the evening of Oct. 16, 2005, Brandon Dale Woodruff traveled with friends to Station 4 in Dallas and partied until 2 a.m., according to evidence presented during Woodruff’s capital murder trial. It was a minor detail prosecutors sought to emphasize — the fact that Woodruff went to a gay nightclub — as part of their broader strategy to highlight his sexual orientation, according to Katherine Ferguson , one of Woodruff’s defense attorneys. Ferguson said she was successful in keeping some gay-related material out of Woodruff’s trial, including reports that he’d danced at male strip clubs and starred in hard-core gay pornography under an assumed name. But other details, such as claims that Woodruff was preparing to come out to his parents at the time of the murders, couldn’t be avoided. And during her closing arguments, Ferguson said she told the jury that prosecutors had tried to “equate ‘gay’ with ‘murderer.’”
“They certainly wanted to ram that point down the jury’s throat every moment they could,” Ferguson told Rockwall County Hearld this week. “They were hoping that this would be a small-town East Texas jury, and they would be so blinded by that issue that they would not sit back and examine the facts of the case. My whole attitude was, I didn’t really care who he slept with. My concern was, did he murder his parents? And could the state prove it beyond a reasonable doubt? And I don’t feel the state did, but obviously the jury disagreed.”
Following a three-week trial, Woodruff, now 22, was convicted of capital murder on Friday, March 20 and sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors had waived the death penalty in the case. Woodruff reportedly maintains his innocence, and Ferguson said she’s already filed a notice of appeal. Special prosecutors Adrienne McFarland and Ralph Guerrero, from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, didn’t return a phone call seeking comment this week. The AG’s office had been assigned to the case after the Hunt County District Attorney’s Office was recused after violating Woodruff’s rights by taping his jailhouse phone calls. Woodruff, then a 19-year-old freshman at Abilene Christian University, was arrested eight days after his parents, Dennis and Norma, were murdered inside their home near Royse City. Prosecutors allege that Woodruff, who’d maxed out his credit cards and was struggling in school, killed his parents to gain an insurance settlement. Woodruff was a former FFA president who’d been voted as having the most school spirit during his senior year of high school. But acquaintances told authorities he also had a darker side, killing animals that were in his care and physically abusing his sister. Woodruff reportedly was facing a last chance with his parents to improve his grades or return home from Abilene Christian and attend community college. Authorities said he secretly despised his parents and never wanted to live in the Royse City home, where they were in the process of moving from Heath. As the prosecution was not seeking the death penalty, Woodruff received an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. NOTE: DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT VIDEOS HE WORKED IN ? credit: Rockwall County Hearld Banner
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Tags: college, Family, murder, prison, Texas, trial
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March 28, 2009 Posted by KameronScott in Crime & Punishment

Killer Text Message

charliedavisA gay London, England  man accused of killing his ex-boyfriend by setting him on fire texted his friend: “I have to do it tonight,” the morning before the attack, a London court has heard this past week. Nadim Kurrimbukus, 25, also known as Adam, is said to have callously torched 23-year-old Charlie Davies (pictured to the left) outside his home in Templedene Avenue, Staines, England, on June 14 last year. Charlie Davies, 23, had been doused with kerosene and set on fire. He died 12 days later in the hospital. Police experts found the message to pal Yusuf Dulloo, 27, when they later analysed his phone, Kingston Crown Court heard today. They also discovered Kurrimbukus left messages on Mr Davies’ mobile after the 11.20pm attack, including one voicemail 18 minutes later saying:
“Hey, where the hell are you? Give me a call. Hope, you’re well. Bye,” and a text reading: “What you up to naughty boy? Why are you not answering my calls?”.
Kurrimbukus, of Heath Road, Hounslow, and Dulloo, of Ashton Gardens, Hounslow, are on trial at Kingston Crown Court where they deny murder and arson. Paul Britton, a former boyfriend of Kurrimbukus, told the jury the defendant vandalised his car in an act of revenge in March 2005 following a bitter break-up. The court heard Kurrimbukus drove for around 40 minutes to a Buckinghamshire village to carry out the attack in the early hours of the morning. Mr Britton said: “I was woken by the security light. I left my bed and opened the curtain. It was early hours of the morning, unsociable hours. “I saw Adam Kurrimbukus hurling a brick at my vehicle, at the front windscreen. “It was for long enough to recognise him and then see him move away from the car. It was as clear as day.” His Vauxhall was left with a smashed window and lights, and scratches along the body work, the jury heard. Mr Britton said Kurrimbukus phoned him in April last year to talk about his break-up with Mr Davies. He said: “I think he said Charlie owed him money or had done him out of money. He said he wanted to get his own back on Charlie. It was in an aggressive way. “I reminded him of the things he did to me and that things like that always come to grief and you should let it go. “He said he was going to get his own back on Charlie and he had a plan.”
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Tags: boyfriend, court, fire, killer, London, murder, trial
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February 25, 2009 Posted by Matthew Conaster in Crime & Punishment

Twist In Murder Trial (Video)

ryanskipper1In Bartow, Florida, the prosecution in the trial of a man accused of killing Ryan Skipper in 2007 says it has found new evidence that could be linked to the slaying. Joseph Bearden, a known methamphetamine addict, is accused of robbing, killing Skipper, and dumping his body. He has pleaded not guilty. Bearden’s co-defendant, William Brown Jr., will be tried separately. With the jury out of the room, the prosecution handed Judge Michael Hunter a note saying police had just received a tip from Brown’s uncle, Jeff Mann. According to the note, read into the record by Judge Hunter, Mann was watching the trial on cable television when he suddenly remembered that about 18 months earlier he came home and found Brown’s father, W. D. Brown, climbing down from a tree in the Mann’s yard. In the note, Mann was quoted as saying he asked the elder Brown what he was doing in the tree and was told he was putting a knife “he called it a ’sticker’” in the tree. Mann said he did not know for certain if a knife was there and at the time discounted it. The note went on to say that on Tuesday after seeing the broadcast of the trial he decided to check the tree and discovered a knife. Mann described the knife as having a wide blade and a blunt end and said he did not remove it from the tree.
  brownleftbeardenrightThe note said that Sheriff’s deputies recovered the rusty knife hidden by Spanish moss. The knife is undergoing forensics testing but it is unknown if any evidence has been degraded beyond use or if the knife is in any way connected to Skipper’s murder. An autopsy has found that Skipper’s throat had been slashed and he had been stabbed as many as 20-times. Bearden’s lawyer maintains his client was not involved in the murder but that he did help clean up the car after the killing. Bearden maintains Brown killed the then 25-year-old. On Tuesday, Brown pled the fifth, declining to testify. FOR UP TO THE MINUTE BLOG COVERAGE OF THIS TRIAL VISIT  JURORTHIRTEEN.COM
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Tags: crime, Joseph Bearden, Ryan Skipper, trial
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February 17, 2009 Posted by Matthew Conaster in Crime & Punishment

Death Penalty Trial Starts

duoIn Polk County, Florida, jurors began hearing testimony Monday in the trial of Joseph Eli Bearden, 23 years old. Bearden (photo left) is accused in the slaying of Ryan Skipper, 25 years old of Winter Haven, Skipper was gay. The case has drawn national attention. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Bearden, one of two defendants charged with the 2007 murder and robbery. A woman going to the store about 1 a.m. on March 14, 2007, discovered Ryan Skipper's body lying on Morgan Road in Wahneta, south of Winter Haven. He had been stabbed to death. Prosecutors say Bearden and William David Brown Jr., 22 years old (photo right) killed Skipper and stole his 2007 Chevrolet Aveo.

joesphbeardencourtInvestigators have said Bearden made derogatory remarks to others about Skipper's being gay. But in opening statements, prosecutors focused on the robbery of Skipper as the motive for the killing. Wearing a black suit, Bearden conferred quietly with his two lawyers. During opening statements, defense lawyers hinted Bearden would take the witness stand. Since his arrest, Bearden has gotten numerous tattoos. A teardrop appeared to drip from his right eye. Large markings decorate the areas above and below his left eye. Others peeked out from the collar and cuffs of his gray dress shirt.

Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo told jurors Skipper was killed on a dark, secluded stretch of rural roadway. The prosecutor noted some of Skipper's blood was left behind inside his car. But the largest amount was on the roadway, showing the most severe injuries were inflicted outside the vehicle, Castillo said. Skipper's wounds included deep cuts to both sides of his neck, and multiple stab wounds to his shoulder and back, he said. After the killing, Bearden and Brown drove away in Skipper's vehicle, Castillo said. He said fingerprints found on the car included Skipper's, Bearden's and Brown's. The car was abandoned at a boat ramp on Lake Pansy. Papers were ignited in the car, but the fire burned out with minimal damage.

ryanskipperAn anonymous tip led detectives to a Haines City home where attempts to clean the car were made. Residents at the home refused to talk at first, but detectives noticed a key piece of evidence inside some trash, Castillo said. Skipper was studying computers at Traviss Career Center and detectives found his parking placard inside the garbage. The residents then spoke about how Bearden and Brown were cleaning the car and wanted to sell it for $1,800, Castillo said.

Bearden's lawyer, Byron Hileman, told jurors there is "considerable doubt" about whether Bearden was involved in the murder. "There is not much doubt that he was involved after the fact in helping Bill Brown clean out and try to get rid of the vehicle," Hileman said.

According to a transcript of Bearden's statement to detectives, Bearden denied participating in the killing. Bearden told detectives he was walking when Skipper drove by and offered to give him a ride. Bearden said Skipper drove him to Skipper's home so they could smoke marijuana. Bearden told investigators he was planning to use "dope," but he botched the injection and wanted to get more drugs. He said Skipper gave him a damaged laptop to sell, and they drove to a Wahneta home to get more drugs.

Bearden told detectives that Brown and Brown's cousin were present at the Wahneta home and decided to rob Skipper. They went off with Skipper and came back with bloody hands, Bearden said, according to a transcript. However, investigators concluded Brown's cousin was not involved and he is not charged in the killing.

[MEDIA not found]

Photos From The Ledger.com newspaper, Lakeland, Florida

logo_insession_122607The Trial is Underway and is Being Televised:
Joseph Bearden's trial started on February 11th with jury selection.  Opening statements are expected on Monday, February 16.  The trial will be carried live on Tru TV (formerly Court TV, now owned by CNN) and is being streamed online during the day at http://www.cnn.com/CRIME/

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Tags: florida, murder, Rayn Skipper, trial
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