LAWRENCE CO.—Things are typical Lawrence County in the First Degree Murder trial of Tyler McQueen this morning in Lawrenceville, and it’s owing in large part to the police and what appears to be some holes in the state’s case.
And while it’s still early in the process, if things hold true to form in Lawrence, this might be the standard set for the case.
McQueen, 21, is the Wabash County man who’s been held in Lawrence since his arrest March 30, 2012 on the March 24, 2012 death of Bob Westall, 78, who was staying at his sister’s apartment on the grounds of the United Methodist Village in Lawrenceville when he was brutally murdered in his bed in the early morning hours of that date. Authorities have charged McQueen with three separate counts of First Degree Murder, alleging that he did it at the behest of Westall’s niece Helen Marie Westall, who stands charged with separate counts of Solicitation to Commit Murder for Hire.
Today (04.29.13), opening arguments were laid out, with Mike Vujovich doing the honors for the state, Fairfield attorney Matt Vaughn handling the defense. Marking Vaughn’s statement was that it was about seven minutes and asked merely that the jury keep an open mind and not view the trial as a “sporting event.” Marking Vujovich’s opening was that he was VERY careful about how he presented what McQueen said in a three-hour recorded interview with state police…which ostensibly we’re going to hear later in the course of testimony. And if we don’t hear it, we might have seen why as of this morning: that the state may not have as airtight of a case as they’re letting on that they do.
As if to underscore this was the befuddling testimony given this morning by the first police officer on the scene after the murder, Lawrenceville’s Jimmy Lyle.
Things seemed to be going pretty well for the state until Vujovich asked Lyle about “transporting United Methodist Village residents home from church as part of his duties as a police officer.”
Lyle looked confused.
Vuj asked him again.
Lyle said he was not transporting anyone, he was responding to a 911 call to UMV.
Unfortunately, Vujovich, reading from what appeared to be an Illinois State Police report, asked Lyle the question again, and then said “isn’t that what you said in an interview with the state police?” And Lyle, still looking puzzled, denied it.
That wasn’t the only faux pas.
Later in his testimony, Lyle described taking Lawrence County Coroner Shannon Steffey through the apartment to the crime scene, where Westall lay dead on a mattress half off the box springs.
Following this, during testimony given by paramedic Elise Nave of Lawrence County Ambulance Service, she advised that SHE had been tasked with taking Steffey through to the crime scene in the bedroom…and, under questioning by Vujovich, stated that she was alone when she had done so.
So maybe Steffey went to view the crime scene twice…but the questions surrounding it underscores a problem that Lawrence County has had for a number of years: Officers of the law have a tendency to “forget,” and most of the time outright lie, while on the stand. And unapologetically, too.
The saddest testimony so far has been elicited from Westall’s girlfriend of a number of years, Deb Barekman, who wept on the stand when seh described how she had entered the unlocked door at the back of the apartment, had walked through, and had encountered Westall “black and blue and covered in blood, with his throat slashed and his eyes open and rolled back in his head.”
Graphic photos of that nature were presented to witnesses and in turn, the jury, who viewed them silently and with stone faces.
Testimony resumes at 1:15; the trial is expected to take all week.