Posted 5:05 pm Wednesday, October 17, 2007
KFC UPDATE: Elliott Next to Testify
(Editor's Note: Updates are being provided during the day from the trial of Romeo Pinkerton, charged in the 1983 murders of five people at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore. More recent updates will be posted at the bottom of this story throughout the day.)
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
NEW BOSTON – Jury members began hearing day three of testimony this morning in the Kentucky Fried Chicken murders of 1983.
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
NEW BOSTON – Jury members began hearing day three of testimony this morning in the Kentucky Fried Chicken murders of 1983.
Defense Attorney Jeff Haas began his cross examination of former Kilgore police detective Danny Pirtle about the crime scene in the capital murder trial of Romeo Pinkerton.
Pirtle testified Tuesday that he never saw a box or napkin that the state’s team, led by Texas Attorney General Prosecutor Lisa Tanner, contends holds key DNA evidence placing Pinkerton and his cousin Darnell Hartsfield at the crime scene.
Both men are charged with five counts of capital murder for the deaths of Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. Their bodies were found the next day. Each had been shot at least twice — “execution style.”
“You were at the scene and you took 10 rolls of film in that restaurant, and you didn’t see that box or that napkin?” Haas asked Pirtle.
No was the reply.
Pirtle said he has never seen the napkin, but has seen the box, but that was some period after the murders.
Pirtle said he collected the two caps, a note to one of the victims from a girlfriend, the cash register tapes and blood samples. But he never saw the box or the napkin.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 9:50 a.m. CDT:
Pirtle said he made about 50 evidence submissions to the DPS crime lab in regards to the case over the first five years. He testified there were too many agencies involved, and there was a complete communication breakdown between all of the agencies.
Haas asked Pirtle, “Did all these multi jurisdictions that were involved in the case cause problems?"
“Yes it did. Someone had to take control, so that is why I took it upon myself to do what I did,” he said.
And one thing he did was to create a separate evidence log and locker for the KFC case. Pirtle said the locker remained intact until he left the Kilgore Police Department in 1991.
Haas asked if he knew if the evidence was still in the locker.
“It has come to my attention that all of the evidence files and logs have been moved, and no one has been able to find it to my knowledge,” Pirtle said.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 10:10 a.m. CDT:
Tanner began her redirect of Pirtle, attempting to counteract his testimony concerning the box and napkin.
She showed Pirtle an evidence log book, but it was not the one holding the KFC evidence. Tanner then showed Pirtle what he described as a DPS evidence submission form listing several pieces of evidence, including the blood he collected at the restaurant. The form also had two pieces of paper with blood on them that Pirtle didn’t collect, but submitted for Texas Ranger Glenn Elliott.
Haas then asked if he collected his evidence before Elliott’s arrival. Pirtle said to his recollection he seized the evidence at 3 a.m. before he called Elliott at 8 a.m.
You never noticed any blood around the counter or the box? Haas asked.
“No, because if I would have noticed it, then I would have documented it,” Pirtle said.”
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 10:34 a.m. CDT:
Doug Collard, former Tyler Police Department crime scene unit captain, began testifying about how his unit was requested by Kilgore Police to assist on the KFC crime scene.
He described the scene outside the KFC of seeing one officer and a parking lot full of media.
Collard and his unit then cleared the parking lot and the building and sealed the area with crime scene tape.
He testified that the most important piece of evidence would have been fingerprints and blood was not important, because all they could do is blood type and the science of DNA was not known.
He described a scene in complete disarray.
“I saw fingerprint dust. I learned evidence had been removed from the scene, and there were so many footprints that we were either dealing with 15 suspects or everybody that came to the scene walked in the restaurant,” he said. “I almost cancelled us and turned around and walked away, but I went ahead and worked it,” he said.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 11:43 p.m. CDT:
After a 20-minute recess, Tanner began questioning Collard over a group of photos his unit took at the KFC crime scene Sept. 24, 1983.
Putting the enlarged photos on a easel, Tanner and Collard discussed the photos, including one of the front cash register area. The photo showed there had already been fingerprinting done on the area before his unit arrived on the scene.
Directly below the cash register, there was blood, and this was a photo that Collard took.
Tanner asked if there was something unusual about the blood, and Collard said it was more a smear, like something was moved over blood splatter. Collard testified he was asked to take the photo by the Kilgore assistant chief of police.
A DPS evidence submission form that Collard took to the Tyler lab contained a sample of blood taken from under the counter.
Outside the presence of the jury, Tanner questioned Collard if he had knowledge of Romeo Pinkerton and Darnell Hartsfield and if they were “running buddies.” He replied, “They were the first ones we went to every time,” he said in regards to burglaries and robberies in the 1970s and 80s.
Haas and David Griffith objected to Collard’s testimony which implied previous criminal history. Judge Clay Gossett said the only testimony that would be allowed would be if the two were seen together. The jury was summoned back to the court, where Collard testified he had knowledge of Pinkerton and Hartsfield being seen together. During grand jury testimony in 2004, Pinkerton testified he had not seen his cousin since graduating high school.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. CDT:
Griffith began cross-examining Collard about the scene. Collard testified he never received a list of who had been in the KFC restaurant.
“Marvin Avance, former Kilgore assistant police chief, began writing the list, but I never received it,” he said. Griffith asked if there was any way for Collard to know who had been in the restaurant since the abductions, and he said no.
Griffith asked Collard if he understood he was to collect all of the evidence. He testified yes, and that his unit was to take all of the evidence.
“As far as you knew, you and your team were the first ones to be collecting evidence, correct?"
“Yes that is correct.”
“You and your team did a thorough job of collecting evidence?”
“Yes we did.”
Collard said there was nothing keeping anyone from going into the restaurant.
“I saw napkins, but never saw one with blood on it. The only boxes were in the kitchen and outside, but no boxes were under the counter, and there were no boxes with blood on them,” Collard said.
He continued by testifying that under the cash register there were drinking cups and other items on the shelves.
During grand jury testimony, Collard told jurors that he didn’t take any samples from under the counter area because a stain did not have the coloration or consistency of blood.
“All I can testify to now is that something was there that I took photos of that had been smeared,” he said.
Collard testified that days later he noticed the entrance gate to the location on Walker King Road, where the bodies were found, had not been processed.
Collard said he went to the location on his own due to curiosity and not on a request from any agency. He said he lifted a fingerprint off of the gate, but due to the time that had expired, he believed the integrity of the gate had been lost.
Tanner, on the redirect, again pulled the photos that Collard took under the counter and asked if it could be blood. Collard said he didn’t know.
Griffith and Haas talked over the situation, and Griffith again questioned Collard on the substance under the counter and why he did not take a sample.
‘Let’s put it this way. Something turned me off of it and I wasn’t interested in it,” Collard said.
The court stands in recess for lunch.
The state called Star Powers Spagano after the recess outside the jury’s presence, because the defense wanted to hear her testimony before the jurors. Tanner questioned Ms. Spagano if she had gone to the KFC the night of Sept. 23, 1983. She testified she and her then boyfriend went inside to place an order at the front counter.
“We stood in line for a minute, but it wasn’t that crowded at the time,” she said.
When Tanner asked her how many times she had gone to the restaurant, Ms. Spagano replied, “It was our favorite restaurant at the time.”
She testified that she overheard Kim Miller (Mary Tyler’s daughter) in a phone conversation to someone she believed was Kim’s mother in relation to $2,000 in the store.
Ms. Spagano said there was a black man standing in line during the phone conversation and the man and another black man with him were still at the restaurant when she left.
Ms. Spagano said after hearing about the murders she contacted a family member who was a police officer. Approximately six days later, she met with Ranger Elliot who showed her mug shots. She picked out one of the men, who was identified as Darnell Hartsfield.
When questioned by Haas, Ms. Spagano couldn’t remember much about the details of the two black men.
“It’s been a long time ago,” she said.
The state then called Elliot to the stand, where he testified that law enforcement was trying to identify the last customers that evening.
Haas asked where the photos used in lineup were now.
Elliott responded, “I have no idea.”
Haas said under Supreme Court law, he believes there were three photographs that were copies of three black males with three regular photos of white males. Haas said he believed the differences could have an effect on Ms. Spagano’s picking him out of a lineup. Additionally, Haas made two oral motions to preclude Elliot ‘s testimony stating the person in the photo was Hartsfield.
“I don’t believe Ranger Elliott knew that was Darnell Hartsfield or Martin Luther King. I don’t believe Ranger Elliot has any personal knowledge to identify Hartsfield.”
Tanner said Elliott has a flyer in his possession with Hartsfield’s picture on it, and that proved Elliott had the personal knowledge.
Judge Gossett instructed the state to talk with Elliott and inform him to be careful with his testimony in saying that the three black men depicted in the mug shots he showed Ms. Spagano were wanted in connection with the KFC case.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 5:02 p.m.:
Proceedings have adjourned for the day after the jury was brought back into the courtroom and listened to testimony from Mrs. Spagano. Elliott is expected to take the stand when the trial resumes Thursday morning.
Pirtle testified Tuesday that he never saw a box or napkin that the state’s team, led by Texas Attorney General Prosecutor Lisa Tanner, contends holds key DNA evidence placing Pinkerton and his cousin Darnell Hartsfield at the crime scene.
Both men are charged with five counts of capital murder for the deaths of Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. Their bodies were found the next day. Each had been shot at least twice — “execution style.”
“You were at the scene and you took 10 rolls of film in that restaurant, and you didn’t see that box or that napkin?” Haas asked Pirtle.
No was the reply.
Pirtle said he has never seen the napkin, but has seen the box, but that was some period after the murders.
Pirtle said he collected the two caps, a note to one of the victims from a girlfriend, the cash register tapes and blood samples. But he never saw the box or the napkin.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 9:50 a.m. CDT:
Pirtle said he made about 50 evidence submissions to the DPS crime lab in regards to the case over the first five years. He testified there were too many agencies involved, and there was a complete communication breakdown between all of the agencies.
Haas asked Pirtle, “Did all these multi jurisdictions that were involved in the case cause problems?"
“Yes it did. Someone had to take control, so that is why I took it upon myself to do what I did,” he said.
And one thing he did was to create a separate evidence log and locker for the KFC case. Pirtle said the locker remained intact until he left the Kilgore Police Department in 1991.
Haas asked if he knew if the evidence was still in the locker.
“It has come to my attention that all of the evidence files and logs have been moved, and no one has been able to find it to my knowledge,” Pirtle said.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 10:10 a.m. CDT:
Tanner began her redirect of Pirtle, attempting to counteract his testimony concerning the box and napkin.
She showed Pirtle an evidence log book, but it was not the one holding the KFC evidence. Tanner then showed Pirtle what he described as a DPS evidence submission form listing several pieces of evidence, including the blood he collected at the restaurant. The form also had two pieces of paper with blood on them that Pirtle didn’t collect, but submitted for Texas Ranger Glenn Elliott.
Haas then asked if he collected his evidence before Elliott’s arrival. Pirtle said to his recollection he seized the evidence at 3 a.m. before he called Elliott at 8 a.m.
You never noticed any blood around the counter or the box? Haas asked.
“No, because if I would have noticed it, then I would have documented it,” Pirtle said.”
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 10:34 a.m. CDT:
Doug Collard, former Tyler Police Department crime scene unit captain, began testifying about how his unit was requested by Kilgore Police to assist on the KFC crime scene.
He described the scene outside the KFC of seeing one officer and a parking lot full of media.
Collard and his unit then cleared the parking lot and the building and sealed the area with crime scene tape.
He testified that the most important piece of evidence would have been fingerprints and blood was not important, because all they could do is blood type and the science of DNA was not known.
He described a scene in complete disarray.
“I saw fingerprint dust. I learned evidence had been removed from the scene, and there were so many footprints that we were either dealing with 15 suspects or everybody that came to the scene walked in the restaurant,” he said. “I almost cancelled us and turned around and walked away, but I went ahead and worked it,” he said.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 11:43 p.m. CDT:
After a 20-minute recess, Tanner began questioning Collard over a group of photos his unit took at the KFC crime scene Sept. 24, 1983.
Putting the enlarged photos on a easel, Tanner and Collard discussed the photos, including one of the front cash register area. The photo showed there had already been fingerprinting done on the area before his unit arrived on the scene.
Directly below the cash register, there was blood, and this was a photo that Collard took.
Tanner asked if there was something unusual about the blood, and Collard said it was more a smear, like something was moved over blood splatter. Collard testified he was asked to take the photo by the Kilgore assistant chief of police.
A DPS evidence submission form that Collard took to the Tyler lab contained a sample of blood taken from under the counter.
Outside the presence of the jury, Tanner questioned Collard if he had knowledge of Romeo Pinkerton and Darnell Hartsfield and if they were “running buddies.” He replied, “They were the first ones we went to every time,” he said in regards to burglaries and robberies in the 1970s and 80s.
Haas and David Griffith objected to Collard’s testimony which implied previous criminal history. Judge Clay Gossett said the only testimony that would be allowed would be if the two were seen together. The jury was summoned back to the court, where Collard testified he had knowledge of Pinkerton and Hartsfield being seen together. During grand jury testimony in 2004, Pinkerton testified he had not seen his cousin since graduating high school.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. CDT:
Griffith began cross-examining Collard about the scene. Collard testified he never received a list of who had been in the KFC restaurant.
“Marvin Avance, former Kilgore assistant police chief, began writing the list, but I never received it,” he said. Griffith asked if there was any way for Collard to know who had been in the restaurant since the abductions, and he said no.
Griffith asked Collard if he understood he was to collect all of the evidence. He testified yes, and that his unit was to take all of the evidence.
“As far as you knew, you and your team were the first ones to be collecting evidence, correct?"
“Yes that is correct.”
“You and your team did a thorough job of collecting evidence?”
“Yes we did.”
Collard said there was nothing keeping anyone from going into the restaurant.
“I saw napkins, but never saw one with blood on it. The only boxes were in the kitchen and outside, but no boxes were under the counter, and there were no boxes with blood on them,” Collard said.
He continued by testifying that under the cash register there were drinking cups and other items on the shelves.
During grand jury testimony, Collard told jurors that he didn’t take any samples from under the counter area because a stain did not have the coloration or consistency of blood.
“All I can testify to now is that something was there that I took photos of that had been smeared,” he said.
Collard testified that days later he noticed the entrance gate to the location on Walker King Road, where the bodies were found, had not been processed.
Collard said he went to the location on his own due to curiosity and not on a request from any agency. He said he lifted a fingerprint off of the gate, but due to the time that had expired, he believed the integrity of the gate had been lost.
Tanner, on the redirect, again pulled the photos that Collard took under the counter and asked if it could be blood. Collard said he didn’t know.
Griffith and Haas talked over the situation, and Griffith again questioned Collard on the substance under the counter and why he did not take a sample.
‘Let’s put it this way. Something turned me off of it and I wasn’t interested in it,” Collard said.
The court stands in recess for lunch.
The state called Star Powers Spagano after the recess outside the jury’s presence, because the defense wanted to hear her testimony before the jurors. Tanner questioned Ms. Spagano if she had gone to the KFC the night of Sept. 23, 1983. She testified she and her then boyfriend went inside to place an order at the front counter.
“We stood in line for a minute, but it wasn’t that crowded at the time,” she said.
When Tanner asked her how many times she had gone to the restaurant, Ms. Spagano replied, “It was our favorite restaurant at the time.”
She testified that she overheard Kim Miller (Mary Tyler’s daughter) in a phone conversation to someone she believed was Kim’s mother in relation to $2,000 in the store.
Ms. Spagano said there was a black man standing in line during the phone conversation and the man and another black man with him were still at the restaurant when she left.
Ms. Spagano said after hearing about the murders she contacted a family member who was a police officer. Approximately six days later, she met with Ranger Elliot who showed her mug shots. She picked out one of the men, who was identified as Darnell Hartsfield.
When questioned by Haas, Ms. Spagano couldn’t remember much about the details of the two black men.
“It’s been a long time ago,” she said.
The state then called Elliot to the stand, where he testified that law enforcement was trying to identify the last customers that evening.
Haas asked where the photos used in lineup were now.
Elliott responded, “I have no idea.”
Haas said under Supreme Court law, he believes there were three photographs that were copies of three black males with three regular photos of white males. Haas said he believed the differences could have an effect on Ms. Spagano’s picking him out of a lineup. Additionally, Haas made two oral motions to preclude Elliot ‘s testimony stating the person in the photo was Hartsfield.
“I don’t believe Ranger Elliott knew that was Darnell Hartsfield or Martin Luther King. I don’t believe Ranger Elliot has any personal knowledge to identify Hartsfield.”
Tanner said Elliott has a flyer in his possession with Hartsfield’s picture on it, and that proved Elliott had the personal knowledge.
Judge Gossett instructed the state to talk with Elliott and inform him to be careful with his testimony in saying that the three black men depicted in the mug shots he showed Ms. Spagano were wanted in connection with the KFC case.
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at 5:02 p.m.:
Proceedings have adjourned for the day after the jury was brought back into the courtroom and listened to testimony from Mrs. Spagano. Elliott is expected to take the stand when the trial resumes Thursday morning.
