Friday, March 11, 2005

OWENSBORO Three more prosecution witnesses took the stand this morning in the capital murder trial of Lucas Goodrum, accused in the slaying of Western Kentucky University freshman Melissa Katie Autry.

At least part of that testimony differed from accounts given earlier by the prosecutions star witness Stephen Soules, 21, of Scottsville, who, a year ago, pleaded guilty to murdering Autry. Soules said the attack was started by Goodrum.

Ryan Payne, a designated driver for the Pi Kappa Alpha house, where Autry, Goodrum and Soules had been prior to Autrys attack, said that Soules did not flirt with or kiss Autry during the ride to her dorm as Soules testified to earlier.

Payne said that Soules asked Payne to let him off at Bemis-Lawrence Hall rather than Hugh Poland Hall, where Autry lived.

Allison Todd, then the night clerk at Hugh Poland, said she was working from 11 p.m. May 3, 2003, to 3:30 a.m. May 4. She said she saw Autry enter by herself and use the stairs, not the elevator as Soules testified.

Todd said she was joined by another clerk at 2 a.m. and she didnt see Soules or Goodrum enter the building.

Residents have to use keys to enter the building after hours and if a side door were to be propped open, it would set off an indicator.

Danica Jackson, Autrys roommate for six months, testified that Autry called her from the dorm room and said, Danica Im scared, someone just came into the room.

Jackson said she asked who it was and a male got on the phone.

He said, Im the boy who brought her home. She got sick in my truck and I just wanted to make sure she was OK.

Jackson said while she was talking on the phone she heard the door close again and heard another male voice.

I couldnt tell what he was saying to Katie but I heard her say Leave me alone, I just want to go to sleep. I was going to ask them some more questions but the phone was hung up on me, she said.

Jackson said she called another friend after the call to discuss the situation but she didnt get an answer. She went no further.

I thought she was just being drunk, Jackson said, referring to Autrys condition because she was heavily intoxicated when asked to leave the party.

Prosecutors will rest their case Monday against Goodrum, with jurors having heard testimony from Bowling Green Fire Department firefighters, Western Kentucky University employees, a doctor from The Medical Center and, today, three former Warren County Regional Jail inmates.

Terry Campbell, Micah West and Richard Mealer all inmates at the time Goodrum was in the Warren County Regional Jail have said Goodrum talked with each of them individually, at different times inside the jail, and detailed his involvement in the May 4, 2003, raping, beating, sodomizing and burning of 18-year-old Autry.

Autry died at a Nashville hospital three days after the attack in her Hugh Poland Hall dorm room. Goodrum is being tried on charges of first-degree sodomy and rape, or complicity to those crimes, as well as murder and arson.

On Wednesday and Thursday, jurors heard testimony from Soules,

Soules has repeatedly claimed Goodrum coerced him into his actions under the threat of injury to the Soules family. But Soules two-day testimony was riddled with holes, brought to light during cross-examination by David Broderick, Goodrums attorney, and testimony from other witnesses.

Soules claimed he called Goodrum the night of May 3 and invited him to come to Bowling Green so he could smoke some of Goodrums marijuana blunts he said he shared with several friends. But those friends Chris Bradshaw, Wesley Garmon, Theresa Mitchell and Sarah Carwell testified Thursday that they only drank alcohol that night.

Bradshaw also testified that he saw Goodrum in Scottsville on May 4 and the first thing Goodrum asked him was, Did you talk to Stephen?

Bradshaw told Goodrum he had not since earlier that morning, when he drove Soules to his grandmothers house in Scottsville.

According to Soules testimony, Goodrum waited for him near the home of Soules grandmother later that day and reiterated his earlier threat that family members would be injured if he did not keep quiet about the attack.

As Broderick questioned Soules, he continued to focus on inconsistencies in various statements on the witness stand and in police interviews.

If Goodrum used a condom, as Soules claimed, why did he make Soules have sex with Autry to cover him up, as Soules claimed, and why would he use instant hand sanitizer to cleanse the areas of penetration?

If Goodrum touched the hairspray can that was used to spray Autrys body, as Soules claimed, why didnt Goodrums fingerprints appear on the can?

When Soules explained that Goodrum must have wiped off the can, Broderick asked why Soules fingerprints still remained on the can.

Broderick produced a two-page, handwritten note, taken from Soules cell with a search warrant, containing a detailed account of the activities leading up to Autrys death.

Soules note stated many things contrary to what he told Kentucky State Police in interviews on May 10 and 12, 2003. The note stated he and Autry had consensual sex before Goodrum entered the room and also that Goodrum forced Soules to steal Autrys jewelry, something he told KSP he did of his own accord.

On the witness stand, Soules said those statements and many other details in the July 30, 2003, note were intentionally inaccurate.

With Soules case receiving so much media attention, he claimed numerous inmates tried to rifle through his personal belongings for new information pertaining to the case, hoping to help prosecutors in exchange for a reduced sentence. He said he hoped to make such snitches look foolish by writing an inaccurate account of the evenings events.

I was like, Well, you know, Ill teach them a lesson, Soules testified. Thats just to keep people from looking through my stuff.

But Soules later referred to the note in a different light, saying the glaring inconsistencies between that version of the story and the version told to state police were not lies.

I just didnt remember every little detail about what happened. At the time, I was under a lot of stress, he said, referring to the police interviews, which jurors viewed videotaped recordings of Wednesday and Thursday.

You lay (in jail) with nothing to do and you think about it. You are going to remember stuff you didnt before, he said.

After Soules, jurors heard emotional testimony from Dr. Lee Carter, an emergency room doctor at The Medical Center who described Autrys condition during the approximate two hours she spent in his care on May 4, 2003, before she was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Centers Burn Unit in Nashville, where she later died.

Her skin was hard as wood when you would tap on it, he said, indicating severe burns.

Jurors also viewed pictures of Autrys burned body Thursday and heard testimony from Sgt. David McCarthy, the BGFD firefighter who photographed the body, and Capt. Bob Sanborn, one of the firefighters who carried her from the dorm.

Bob Austin, a Western fire safety officer, testified that the fire alarm, about 90 decibels loud, sounded at 4:08 a.m.

In a videotape of Soules final interview with KSP, viewed on Thursday, he said he did see Goodrum light Autrys body and he heard an alarm go off as he ran away from the dorm. Soules said he wasnt sure if it was a fire or door alarm, but Austin testified that Hugh Poland Hall had no door alarms at that time.

Soules took the witness stand again at the end of Thursdays court proceedings, when Broderick again argued for the evidentiary use of Soules original rap CD, created in 2002 with his brother and a friend.

Special Judge Thomas Castlen had previously denied the use of the CD, citing irrelevancy, and stuck to that ruling Thursday.

The song included coarse, profanity-laden references to various types of sex with women and also contained the lyrics, beat her down beat her into the ground, and referred to not giving a damn.

Broderick was allowed to play one track from the rap CD, for the purposes of getting the lyrics on the court record and getting Soules to acknowledge that his was one of the voices on the recording. But the lyrics are not to be heard or read by jurors, Castlen said.

It has to do with Mr. Soules state of mind prior to these acts, Broderick argued in vain. These CDs would indicate that he is aggressive toward women and even that he has disregard for women. It also has to do with who was the leader in this.

But the CD was just us being stupid, according to Soules, who denied that the lyrics had any relevancy to his character.

In the videotaped interview with KSP, Soules was made to look at a picture of a healthy, vibrant Autry and state what he would say to her if given the chance.

Katie, Im sorry for what was done to you and Im sorry for what I was made to do, he said. But youre in a better place now and Im going to bring your killer to justice.

The defense will begin its presentation Tuesday. That is expected to last one week, with testimony from Soules longtime friend Damian Secrest who also testified Thursday for prosecutors and Heather Dillard, Goodrums ex-girlfriend.

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