Jury: Stevenson guilty of murder
Mike Corn
August 16, 2009
Hays Daily News
http://www.hdnews.net/Story/murder081609
WaKEENEY — For two long, hard weeks, Jack Stevenson watched the trial of the man charged with killing his only brother.

He has always been convinced that nephew David A. Stevenson was responsible for the death of his brother, Walter A. Stevenson, 85.

On Friday, a six-man, six woman jury finally agreed with him, finding David A. Stevenson guilty in the March 13, 2008, death in western Gove County.

“We all feel justice has been done,” Jack Stevenson said shortly after the jury’s verdict was announced.

The Gove County jury, hearing the case in Trego County District Court, returned its verdict shortly after 3 p.m. Friday. It started at about 10 a.m., breaking for lunch and to see a video that had been introduced as evidence in the case.

As the verdict was read, silence filled the courtroom, until District Judge Ed Bouker asked if a verdict had been reached in the case. He then read the verdict, five law enforcement officers positioned around the courtroom to ensure that no one got out of line. No one did.

David Stevenson’s daughter and ex-wife, showed shock when the verdict was read, but said nothing. His daughter rushed out of the courtroom, followed by her mother.

As the jury was ushered out through the judge’s chambers, Stevenson sat at the table where he had been sitting for the past two weeks, palms down on the table and his head down. He never looked up until after Bouker asked deputies to escort him back to jail.

“Disappointed,” defense attorney Paul Oller said of the verdict.

And while Oller said he respects the jury’s decision, both he and his client disagree with it, and he will soon be preparing documents on behalf of his client.

“We expect an appeal out of it,” Oller said.

Sentencing in the case was not immediately scheduled, with Bouker saying that a hearing date would be set later.

Lead prosecutor Steven Karrer was visibly pleased, but limited most of his comments to expressing appreciation to law enforcement officers who worked on the case, as well as Trego County, which agreed to let the trial take place there.

“Justice was served,” he added, a theme familiar to the one expressed by Jack Stevenson.

“I believed it all along,” Jack Stevenson said of David Stevenson’s guilt.

Throughout the trial, family and friends were in attendance. At times, the courtroom was standing-room-only as witnesses testified.

As the verdict was read, nearly 35 people were in the courtroom. Friday morning, as attorneys prepared to make closing arguments in the case, more than 40 people were on hand.

Bouker read a set of 10 instructions to the jury prior to the closing argument.

Throughout his closing argument, which he split into two segments, Karrer told of the jury’s first responsibility.

“The first thing you’re going to have to do is decide if this was a homicide or if this was an accident,” he said.   “There’s no getting around it. If you decide it’s an accident, that’s it. You go home.”

But, then he went on to explain why it was not an accident, starting out with testimony that the grain truck was the immediate cause of death of Walter Stevenson had been in “excellent condition.”

With equipment like that, he said, “you end up with what David Stevenson told Elaine Wycoff. Things got ugly.

“And when things get ugly, you end up with that” a picture of Walter Stevenson lying on a cold, cement floor underneath the grain truck, flashing up on the screen in front of the jury.

Oller, however, sought to use a sequence of events to show that his client could not have killed his father.

Writing on an easel-supported pad, Oller went minute-by-minute of events that took place on March 13. He told of how David Stevenson’s whereabouts were confirmed by people either at the farm or in Scott City where he and his mother, Bonny, had gone for part of the day.

“Now, the state wants you to believe this was not an accident,” Oller said. “They want you to believe this was in fact a murder.”

Given the circumstances, Oller argued that the jury should have reasonable doubt as to his client’s guilt.

“We ask that you come back and find the state has not met its burden, and find David Stevenson not guilty.”

Karrer, however, pushed to show that David Stevenson not only killed his father, but did so in the first-degree, with premeditation.

“Did he get a chance to write David Stevenson down on a piece of paper?” Karrer said of Walter Stevenson identifying his killer. “No, he didn’t. I wish he could have.

“Now you have that chance. You’ve got to write that name down on a piece of paper. Let everyone know this wasn’t just some accident.”

Gove Co. murder trial goes to jury
Mike Corn
August 14, 2009
Hays Daily News
http://www.hdnews.net/Story/Trial081409
WaKEENEY — The first-degree murder case against David A. Stevenson was put in the hands of a six-man, six-woman jury this morning.

Two women on the 14-member panel who heard the case were identified as alternate jurors Thursday in Trego County District Court.

Closing arguments followed on the heels of District Judge Ed Bouker reading a series of jury instructions, assembled Thursday afternoon after both sides rested their cases.

As his final witness, defense attorney Paul Oller called a forensic pathologist to rebut the findings of District Coroner Lyle Noordhoek, who ruled the death of Walter A. Stevenson — the 85-year-old father of David Stevenson — was a homicide.

Dr. Thomas Young, who founded Heartland Forensic Pathology in Kansas City, Mo., said the manner of death was an accident.

He even went so far as to say it was “incomprehensible” to think one person could have carried out the death of Walter Stevenson and made it look like an accident.

Young was smooth and polished as he was being questioned by Oller, giving precise answers to the jury.

But when prosecutor Steven Karrer started questioning him, he fumbled when asked what position Walter Stevenson was in when the bed of the grain truck came down on him, nearly decapitating him.

After a series of exchanges between Karrer and Young, the pathologist said he put Walter Stevenson in the center of the truck. Earlier testimony regarding statements from David Stevenson put him on the outside of the truck frame.

Young, however, said Walter Stevenson was on the inside, and when the bed came down he was struck by a “strut,” something that never was identified, and his head was pushed back onto the frame of the truck.

Along the way, Young used a series of grisly photographs to demonstrate how he came at that conclusion.

Karrer also pointed out that David Stevenson, who found his father under the truck, told investigators his father was being held up under the truck when his neck was caught between the truck frame and the bed.

And when Karrer pushed the issue of possible injuries caused by the truck’s power take-off shaft, Young said he wasn’t familiar with that part of the truck.

“I don’t know much about the PTO, frankly,” he said.

He also said he couldn’t recall ever seeing injuries caused by a PTO shaft.

Oller rested his case after Young testified, and after consulting with Stevenson.

All the while Young was on the witness stand, forensic pathologist Erik Mitchell, Topeka, was in the audience.

Mitchell, as it turned out, had been asked to review Noordhoek’s findings from his autopsy of Walter Stevenson, and had traveled to Gove to review the 1953 grain truck that was the immediate cause of death of the Gove County farmer.

“It doesn’t make sense being on the inside,” Mitchell said of Young’s theory that the elder Stevenson was inside the frame of the truck. “You have a working truck. You have no reason to be under there working on anything.”

Mitchell, in fact, said he agreed with Noordhoek’s findings and said there was evidence of high-impact blows to the back of Walter Stevenson’s head that ultimately would have led to his death.

Wife of victim won’t testify at trial
Mike Corn
August 13, 2009
Hays Daily News
http://www.hdnews.net/Story/trial081309
WaKEENEY — The first-degree murder trial of David A. Stevenson started late this morning after briefly going behind closed doors to determine if his mother is capable of testifying on her son’s behalf.

After meeting for about 10 minutes in chambers, court personnel returned to the courtroom. That’s when District Judge Ed Bouker announced he would be closing the hearing to the public.

Assistant Attorney General Steven Karrer, the lead prosecutor, and defense attorney Paul Oller quickly agreed and said Bouker was justified in closing the hearing.

The Hays Daily News protested the closure. Bouker said he would close the hearing because it dealt with the privacy of an individual — in this case Bonny Stevenson, who suffers from Alzheimer’s and now is living in a nursing home.

The closed hearing lasted for about 30 minutes, with no announcement of what had taken place. Bonny Stevenson, however, remained in the judge’s chambers.

As the trial was expected to resume, Bouker called in the jury and announced that court would be starting late this morning, as they were waiting for an expert witness who likely wouldn’t show up until about 11 a.m.

He also said there was another lay witness yet to testify, but that person would be on the stand for only five to 10 minutes.

Even though Bonny Stevenson did not testify, she remained in chambers as Bouker announced the delay.

After the jury left, she was brought into the main courtroom to meet several family members and friends who have been attending throughout the course of the trial.

Her son, David A. Stevenson, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the March 13, 2008, death of his father, Walter A. Stevenson.

The 85-year-old Stevenson died after he became wedged beneath the bed of a grain truck in a shop on his western Gove County farm. While the truck was the immediate cause of death, he also had been struck several times in the back of the head, injuries District Coroner Lyle Noordhoek said would have been fatal.

That’s why Noordhoek ruled the death a homicide rather than a farm accident, as defense attorney Paul Oller has been steadfastly arguing before a 14-person jury for the last eight days.

On Wednesday, prosecutors rested their case shortly after noon, with the defense calling a series of character witnesses during the afternoon.

The state’s last witness, however, provided perhaps the most damaging testimony in the case, testimony that came after Oller raised his first objection in the case.

Prosecutor Steven Karrer wanted to ask KBI agent Corey Latham if the death appeared to be an accident or homicide based on blood patterns found in several locations in the 100-by-50-foot outbuilding.

Oller objected to the idea that Latham might suggest the incident was a homicide.

Bouker ushered the jury out of the room so he and the attorneys could discuss the question.

“If he wants to state an opinion as to whether this was an accident, I have no objection,” Oller said after discussing the issue with Bouker and Karrer outside the presence of the jury.

Bouker in fact suggested Karrer simply ask if the scene was consistent or inconsistent with an accident.

Once the jury returned to the courtroom, that’s exactly what Karrer asked.

“Was the scene consistent or inconsistent with an accident?”

“Not consistent,” Latham answered.

The KBI agent made the observation after testifying for nearly an hour about a series of blood stains in the Stevenson shop.

Those stains, in addition to the massive amounts of blood found under the grain truck where Stevenson died, were scattered throughout the building.

Blood stains were located about 22 feet away from the truck, a spot where oil had been spilled. Leaning against a pickup truck was a broom, he testified, that had been used in an attempt to sweep up the blood.

Blood under the oil was consistent with Walter Stevenson’s DNA.

“What that tells me is that some point after he was injured, Walter was down on the ground,” Latham said.

Another set of blood stains had been found near the main door, stains that had been covered by dirt — dirt that had been scuffed up, he said.

Latham also told of blood on a walk-in door, including some that had been oversprayed with paint.

Although Latham told of the distance of blood stains from Walter Stevenson’s body, Oller wanted to know if there had been any blood between the areas.

“Anything consistent with a body being dragged?” Oller asked.

“No, there wasn’t,” the KBI agent said.