East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

BRYAN -- One day of witnesses completed the defense team's case for their client - accused kidnapper and murderer Darnell Hartsfield -- a suspect in the 1983 Kentucky Fried Chicken murders.

Tyler attorneys Don Killingsworth and Thad Davidson put on just one day of testimony after the state of Texas Attorney General prosecutor Lisa Tanner and Rusk County District Attorney Michael Jimerson produced more than 140 pieces of evidence and eight days of witnesses in the case spanning 25 years.

Hartsfield is on trial for the Sept. 23, 1983 abductions and slayings of David Maxwell, 20; Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. All but Landers worked at the restaurant. Landers was a friend of Maxwell and Johnson, and was visiting them as the Kilgore restaurant was closing for the night.

Hartsfield's cousin, Romeo Pinkerton, pleaded guilty last fall for his role in the murders and received five life sentences from State District Judge Clay Gossett.

Gossett is presiding over Hartsfield's trial in Bryan where it was moved due to publicity surrounding the case since 1983.

During Monday's court proceedings Killingsworth and Davidson verbally gave the jurors grand jury testimony of deceased Texas Ranger Stuart Dowell, which showed some discrepancies in where a box was allegedly found inside the restaurant by retired Texas Ranger Glenn Elliott.

Dowell said in his testimony in 2003 that the box was found in the building's office and Elliott testified it was found under the front counter.

Davidson and Killingsworth also showed a video shot by the private investigator and defense team consultant Vincent "Sonny" Monteagudo.

The video showed Davisdon's legal assistant Katie Baker painting a substance on several white boxes using a makeup brush.

The substance was later clarified as being Killingsworth's blood that was drawn from his arm by a phlebotomist and the defense team told jurors no one knew how the blood got on the box recovered from the scene so they were giving the jury alternate theories to think about.

Tanner quickly asked if Monteagudo or Baker were forensic scientists or blood splatter pattern experts and Monteagudo said no they were just conducting experiments.

Davidson called Kilgore resident Kilgore resident James Rowe who testified that he was on his way home from his in-laws' home when he noticed a Ford Econoline van take off from the rear of the KFC.

Rowe told Davidson and the jury the van pulled out in front of him and skidded to a stop.

"I knew something was going to happen so I took my foot of the accelerator and stopped all of the sudden and he stopped all of the sudden. My headlights came about a foot from hitting his door," he said.

Rowe said a white male with long black hair and a shaggy beard was driving the van and that they exchanged stares before the van left the area.

"We looked at each other right square in the face," he said as he marked where the van and his vehicle stopped.

Tanner went to work asking Rowe about his testimony compared to testimony he gave in front of a grand jury in 2003 and pointed out several points that did not match.

Tanner pointed out the time he left his in-law's home was different, where he was going was different and the fact that he said he was going to get his children a snack after they had just eaten cake and ice cream.

Davidson tried to erase the damage done by the prosecution's cross-examination by asking the man a series of short questions.

Are you sure you saw a white van at the KFC?

Yes.

Are you sure you saw a white man?

Yes.

Are you sure he had a beard?

Yes.

Killingsworth also called Irving Stone, former FBI agent and former chief of forensic physical evidence section of the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences, who

told jurors that he initially tested the fingernail found on Johnson's body and compared it to the fingernails of James Earl Mankins Jr., and believed it was Mankins' nail.

Tanner asked if DNA was conclusive and was not an opinion and if DNA proved the fingernail did not belong to Mankins would he accept the fact.

"Assuming it was done correctly and done on the right nail then yes ma'am," he said.

It was speculated by the attorney general's office in the 1990s that the fingernail had been switched when DNA cleared Mankins.

Tanner asked if the nail she showed him on a slide was the nail and he said he believed it was.

The state is scheduled to have a few rebuttal witnesses this morning and then closing arguments will be heard before a selection of charges are given to the jury to deliberate Hartsfield's guilt or innocence.