East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

The blood-splattered box, a bloody napkin, the news that one victim was sexually assaulted and testimony from law enforcement, forensic scientists and convicted felons have been the focus of the state's capital murder case against Romeo Pinkerton.

Pinkerton and his cousin, Darnell Hartsfield, are charged with the abductions and slayings of Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. The victims had all been abducted from the KFC restaurant in Kilgore on Sept. 23, 1983. Their bodies were found the next day. Each had been shot at least twice - "execution-style."

For the past two weeks, the state, led by Texas Attorney General Prosecutor Lisa Tanner, has attempted to clear up a chain of custody issue revolving around two key pieces of evidence and told jurors that Hughes was not found lying away from the other four victims because she tried to run away, but because she was sexually assaulted.

Tanner and her team, including Assistant Attorney General Prosecutor Laura Popps and Rusk County District Attorney Michael Jimerson, have called numerous witnesses, including criminals, forensic scientists and those who were at the original crime scene in 1983.

Pinkerton's defense team, including lead attorney on the case Jeff Haas and second chair David Griffith, have tore at the state's case by grilling witnesses and poking holes in the state's claim that their defendant was even at the scene.

The state contends a box and napkin with blood on them place both Pinkerton and his cousin at the scene and that Pinkerton has talked to former cellmates indicating he was part of the crime.

One former cellmate said when he asked Pinkerton if he was involved in the KFC murders, the reply was a hand gesture of a finger pulling a trigger.

Haas and Griffith have attacked the state's most damning evidence against their client - the bloody napkin with DNA matching Pinkerton.

The two attorneys have argued that out of all the police to walk into the KFC restaurant, only retired Texas Ranger Glenn Elliott has testified he saw the box in the restaurant. No other law enforcement has placed the box inside; including detectives first on the scene or technicians with the Tyler Police Department who were called to process the crime scene.

Tanner and her team countered the claims by producing evidence showing that the box and the napkin were in possession of the Texas Department of Public Safety's Forensic Lab in Garland in Oct 1983.

However, no one has been able to state how the two items escaped detection at the restaurant or who submitted them to DPS as evidence.

Tanner has admitted there are problems with the chain of evidence, but pointed out that DNA on two items in custody in 1983, matched two cousins who were suspects on the original list.

Prosecutors have also made clear that when the items were tested in 2001 for DNA, which was not available in 1983, the matches were not found after they put in the two cousins' names, but came from a national data base that holds the DNA makeup of certain people, including convicted felonies. The prosecution contends they had no idea who the DNA would match.

"If you go all the way back to the first week when police developed suspects, there were Hartsfield and Pinkerton, the two cousins from Tyler," Tanner said. "You can imagine the head slaps that must've taken place when people realized these were suspects from the beginning."

Tanner added there was a flyer circulated by Texas Rangers looking for Pinkerton, Hartsfield and another man named Elton Winston for questioning in the KFC case days after the murders.

The prosecution has also had experts testify that former suspect James Earl Mankins Jr. could not be tied to either crime scene.

The 15 jurors (eight women and seven men) have listened intently to the testimony with their eyes following the exchange of conversation between the attorneys and the witnesses.

During opening statements, Haas and Griffith told the jury they wanted them to look at the evidence and the lack of evidence.

"What I am asking the jury to do is follow the evidence. This case is not only built on the evidence you hear, but also on the evidence you don't hear," Griffith said.

State District Judge Clay Gossett recessed the jury until Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. in the Bowie County Courthouse where the trial is being held. The trial was moved on a change of venue to New Boston, which is about 120 miles northeast of Tyler.

After waiting for justice for 24 years, the victims' families have made their way into the courtroom each day and braved what testimony they might hear, but as one said, "We deserve to know after all of this time."

THE JUDGE: State District Judge J. Clay Gossett sits in the Bowie County Courthouse in New Boston during the first day of of the trial of Romeo Pinkerton on Aug. 6.
((Staff File Photo By Tom Turner))