Member Since: February 13, 2007 Last Signed In: September 27, 2007 Profile Views: 4650 Blog Views: 86110 Brothers' attorneys face contempt hearing Judge: Brothers deserves to die Jury recommends Brothers should receive the death penalty VERDICT IN DEATH PENALTY No Verdict This Week Jury begins deliberations in Brothers penalty phase Defense attorney finishes closing argument Defense continues closing argument Defense attorney begins his closing argument Prosecutor finishes closing argument February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 
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A jury decided Tuesday that Vincent Brothers should receive the death penalty for killing his three children, his wife and his mother in law.
The jury deliberated for 6 hours over three days. They deliberated for about 30 minutes this morning. The judge will have to confirm the sentence. Brothers was found guilty of the five murders on May 15. The judge will review the jury's recommendation on Sept. 27.
The jury reached a verdict this morning in the penalty phase of the Vincent Brothers' case.
The verdict will be announced at about 10 a.m. The jury deliberated for just a half an hour before the jurors announced they had reached a verdict. They have deliberated for about six hours. They started deliberating on Wednesday. The jurors decided Brothers was guilty of killing his wife, three children and mother-in-law on May 15.
The jurors will be dismissed early Thursday in the Vincent Brothers trial.
The court is dark Friday. Jurors will resume deliberation on Tuesday. They have been deliberating for about five hours over two days. Brothers has already been convicted of killing his wife, three children and mother-in-law. The jury will now have to decide if Brothers should live the rest of his life in prison or if he should be executed.
The jury has begun deliberating in the penalty phase of the Vincent Brothers trial.
The jury has already convicted Brothers of killing his wife, three children and his mother-in-law. The jury will now decide if Brothers should live or die.
“We would never be here in Nepoleonic France,” defense attorney Anthony Bryan said, digressing into a history lesson.
“There is always the hint from those that worship authority...and make it comfortable for folks like you in your situation...It’s a necessity argument. One of the greatest prime ministers of England was William Pitt,” He goes on to quote Pitt. “Necesity is the plea...it is the crea of slaves,” “No one here proposes freedom for Vincent Brothers,” “We’re asking you to allow him to spend the rest of his life in prison,” “And you have the record of a long life before you,” “At the very worst, you have found that there was a horrible weekend in his life of 41 years, if you have no lingering down, but all the rest of that 41 years was honorable discharges... excellent bachelor’s degree, credential, mater’s degree, this is not a wreckage of the past case. His years are in his favor.” “What else would you have him do?” “Did he go to the wrong college, should he have gone to the Airforce, should he have gotten a Ph.D.” “We know Joanie and her immediate family were religious, but so was Vincent’s,” Bryan said. “Brothers was reading scripture to some athletes, that he separated some athletes from a fight,” Bryan said. “Counsel suggests that was a different person, that is convenient. That is Vincent Brothers, the same person that is in this courtroom,” “It is not only, not to be scorned, it is to be praised,” Bryan said. Bryan apologizes if anything he said has aggrevated the jurors. “Do not hold it against Vincent Brothers,” “I want to remind you of one more thing you will see in the jury instructions,” Bryan said. “You can vote for life if you wish,” “There were some attempt to attack them, and belittle them,” Bryan said. “In the last analysis, you can vote for life just because you want to vote for life,” Bryan said. “We have a horrible crime and nothing I have said or done has been intended to minimize,” Bryan said. “It’s been the most community effecting event since I lived in Bakersfield,” Bryan said. “I don’t in any way minimize it,” “I think there is lingering doubt, as to whether they convicted the right person,” “All things considered, I ask you to vote for life in prison,”
Bryan said the laceration to Kern’s face was “superficial.”
“The prosecutor suggested incorrectly that you can solve the problems of the world,” Bryan said. “A civilized society, when a member or a group of members such as yourselves the jury have the opportunity to kill or not we generally like to think that we have rules and there are things that we will do and consider before we make such a momentous decision. That is what we are doing here. And everybody here agreed to listen...even though we all agreed we would never get to the penalty phase unless you agreed beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant killed his entire family...It’s horrible.” “I guess there must be a law against moving across country...I don’t know of anybody who has ever been sentenced...because they have moved from the east coast to the west coast which do create communications problems.” “There aren’t a lot of people who can produce the quantity and quality of friends from back east who were willing to come from back east,” Bryan said. “Relatives who are teachers and ministers, but because he didn’t, he was a teacher he taught during the school year and he taught many summer schools, but you are being to asked why he did not go back and forth all the time. Look at the volume of pictures seized from his apartment.” “You have heard from many hard working teachers who thought the world of Vincent,” “And you are supposed to ignore what they say. I don’t know how that works out with the timeline people presented,” “It isn’t a different human being that was Vincent Brothers,” Bryan said. “They described him exactly as the teachers described him,” “On their side, superficial facial lacerations,” Bryan said. “The entire presentation of the prosecutor was to try and create the burden of proof that does not exist. To make you think that you should start off with death in your mind and that I then have to move you somehow away from death and that is absolutely untrue. That is not my burden. There is no favorite. Death is not favorite. There is no assumption from death. I do not have to move you from death, hopefully, if you follow the law...It is your decision. It is sometimes subteranean me suggesting to you that you do not have to make this decision. And because this is sucha horrible decision and such a horrible sent of facts it is comfortable to accept a theory of law that allows that permits us to avoid making that decision, but that is where we are. There is no presumption of death that I somehow have to superhumanyly have to move you away from. It is up to you. You have gotten some kind of rules that the prosecution has read to you...These are fairly concise and the judge did read them to you.” “Let’s not forget the special arrangement he made in Marques’ school room,.. that is all stuff that can be considered mitigating.” “If we are going to do a weighing process from the penalty phase...nothing I have said should be interpretted as anyone not recognizing the horrific nature of this crime,” Bryan asked what the United States would be known for if archeologists studied us. “it isn’t art and it isn’t archetecture,” “We are what we are because of things we are doing right now,” Bryan said. “That is what is so strange about this place. That is why more people try to get in here than any other place that ever existed. They don’t go to listen to Bethoven, they come here because of our system of our, because of our system of freedom,”
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan begins his closing arguments.
“Naturally I disagree with the verdict you reach. My opinion doesn’t mean anything,” Bryan said. “There is anything thing that you can consider and that is lingering doubt,” Bryan said. Bryan reminds the jurors that they all said they could consider life in prison even if Brothers were convicted of the murders. Bryan, who is known for his loud arguments, is speaking so quietly that he can barely be heard. “I think one of the things that shows the extreme weakness of the prosecution’s penalty phase case is, I want you to look at the hospital records,” Bryan said. “See if there is anything there that resembles the description as described by Ms. Kern,” Bryan said. “We have another witness to that, Keith Powell,” Bryan said. “This is a department head at Cal State Bakersfield, he has no reason to lie.” “There was quite a bit of contact with Margaret,” Bryan said. “It is not uncommon in this society that the contact with a child is limited by the fact that the parents no longer get along.” “The prosecutor wants you to believe that the defendant should receive among other reasons, because of his contact with (Shann Kern),” Bryan shows an article The Californian wrote about Brothers because of his participation in the community. Bryan reminded the jurors that Brothers was an “outstanding” teacher and vice-principal. “One of the defendant’s abilities is his ability to get along with others,” Bryan said. “You do not complete high school and college and graduate school and a complete tour with the army and with the marines if you cannot get along well with others,” “If Mr. Calloway saw Mr. Brothers that weekend at the house is it at all possible to believe that he had done what she says he did,” Bryan said. “I know you’ve determined otherwise but I must argue lingering doubt, I think that is an enormous amount of doubt,” Bryan said. “You have three inherintly incredible...clay of the worst sort,” Bryan said. Bryan said that every time a bug was found, their ranges expanded. The prosecution bug expert said bugs she would expect to see were not there, Bryan said, if the trip west were made. “Dr. Kimsey said there should have been white butterflies, they weren’t there,” Bryan said. “Try driving across the west in the middle of the summer without getting those things on your car and in the air intake system.
“Why was Vincent Brothers able to give the same kind of attention to his own daughter Margaret...why did Mr. brothers attend his niece Tanya’s eighth grade graduation and not his own daughter’s,” Green said.
“It was that they only know Vincent Brothers in a professional capacity, none of them, not one of them knew him. This man did not have any friends...If the truth be told nobody knew him. The co-workers testimony mirrored that of the women he slept with...he really had no friends,” Green said this was the same as his childhood friends. “That he was studious, polite, shy, athletic, but not one of them had any contact with him in adulthood...they came here to stand up and testify from memory...the boy that these men described is not the same man you’ve seen and heard from in this courtroom the man who testified in this courtroom...They don’t want to believe he could have changed....but each and every one of you know better and you said so in your verdict.” “Would you expect them to believe that someone they know and liked 25 years ago would would do something like this?” Green told the jurors. “Who would believe that someone they know is capable of what happened in this face, capable of killing their entire family.” “They did not see him often and when they did there is no evidence their relationship is close,” Green said, speaking so quietly, her voice was at times inaudible from the audience. “Is any of that enough to cause you to return a verdict of life...does any of what they said mitigate waht he did. Does anything they said make you think Brothers deserves to spend the rest of his life eating, drinking, laughing,” “The boy who did that 30 years ago, that person does not exist any more, you know that,” Green said. “The man you see before you is the face of evil. There is no sugarcoating that. Is there anything about what the defendant’s 25 witnesses offered that cause you to say this is an extenuating circumstance that justifies voting for life,” “My answer is no, never,” Green said. “Vincent Brothers took an oath to tell the truth and he looked you in the eye and he lied” Green said. “He made up a story that he was in Columbus Ohio when he was in (California) killing his family.” “When Mr. Bryan argues lingering doubt, you remember that he lied,” Green said Brothers’ demeanor on the stand will erase any lingering doubt. Green shows the jurors the video of the crime scene the day the Harper family was found. The courtroom stood still as Green played the video that panned past the bodies and through the house. “When Mr. Bryan gets up here....In a loving home often pictures are displayed on the wall...when Mr. Bryan brings up all these pictures the defendant had just remember the photos he had were not out, were not displayed...They were in a bin on the floor in that apartment.” Green told the jurors that one juror said life in prison gives you time to take care of your soul. “I think while that may be true as to some people...it is not true of Vincent Brothers...your conscience is a part of your soul and you can’t take care of your sould if you don’t have a conscience. “When Vincent Brothers walked in that room with the intent of killing his entire family that is what he saw was three sleeping children,” Green displays once again the photo montage of the family. “In the space of an afternoon the lives of three children were brought to an end...the hopes and dreams of the people they would become were gone,” “If you don’t believes these crimes impacted the community...you need only look at that photo and the testimony of Vincent Brothers who said more than 2,000 people attended that memorial,” Green said. Bryan will ask you “to show Vincent brothers mercy and to allow him the rest of his life behind bars. I have heard it said that justice is getting what you deserve and mercy is getting what you don’t deserve. Vincent Brothers deserves as much mercy as he showed his victims and that is none,” Green said. “If not the death penalty for this case than which case, if not the death penalty for these victims, for which victims, if not the death penalty for Vincent Brothers,” “In the killing of these women and these children...I will not stand up here and talk about how many times they are shot because I know you know...Only the most soulless coward could commit crimes such as these. Are there any more innocent victims,” Green said that if they don’t vote for the death penalty they will be sending a message to the community that this is tollerated.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green told the jurors that the only appropriate punishment is death.
“There is only one question,” Green said. “What punishment does the defendant Vincent Brothers deserve?” “I’m quite sure that none of you imagined that none of you thought that you would be in this position making this extremely difficult decision,” Green said. “It is one of the most serious decisions you will ever make,” “Always remember and always be guided by the knowledge that you are here, you are in this position because of what he did on July 6, 2003,” “Remember you are here because of him because of what he did and because of choices he made,” “His choice to brutally murder five people,” “I do not have the burden of proof any longer,” Green said. “One aggravating circumstances is enough,” Green said. She said there are two aggravating factors. “The primary factor is factor A,” “The only appropriate sentence is a sentence of death,” They can consider all of the evidence from the guilt and the death penalty phase. “Now that you know how they were murdered, the planning that went into it, the calculated way the defendant killed a sleeping mother...the way the defendant shot a 4-year-old boy,” The crime is “so brutal, so immoral,” that Brothers deserves the death penalty on this alone, Green said. The jurors can consider the impact the deaths had on the Harper family and on the community. “It helps you to access the enormity of the offense,” Green said. Joanie was a good athlete, she was a loving mother, Green said. Green quotes Maya Angelou, “People will forget what you said...but they won’t forget how you made them feel.” “She was a strong woman in a day when being strong was not fashionable...she was a working mother in a day when maybe that was not fashionable,” Green said. Her faith in God translated to her children, Green said. “She tried at all times to better herself so she could better her family,” Green said. “She bettered herself by going from a one-bed room apartment to buying a house,” “She raised five wonderful children,” Green said. “When you deliberate and you consider the harm..please consider that ()the children) will never see their mother again, their sister again, and their niece and nephews again,” Green said the second factor the jurors should consider is the use of violence. She said this involves the incident with Shann Kern from 1988 when Brothers punched her in the face repeatedly. “You can only find this a factor in mitigation if you found that true beyond a reasonable doubt,” Green said. The crime would be corporal injury on a co-habitant or a battery. She remains the jurors that Keith Powell was remembering the incident from about 20 years ago and that it didn’t involve him. “I’m not suggesting that he is lying, I’m just suggesting that his memory isn’t very clear and is inaccurate,” Green said. His comment to Kern was “Why did you keep getting up, as if somehow it were her fault,” Green said. She told the jurors that Kern was two months pregnant at the time. Green said Brothers was not emotionally disturbed. Green said there is no evidence he was acting under the influence of another. Green said Brothers’ age is not a factor in mitigation because at the time he committed the crimes he was 41 years old. Green said defense attorneys typically argue this when their client is young to suggest he did not know any better. “He was 41, you have found he committed these crimes in a premeditated and deliberate way and he did know better,” Green said. “The only factor that any of the defense evidence falls under is K. That allows sympathy, pity for the defendant.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush has reviewed all of the jury instructions.
He will now instruct the jury on the law. The attorneys will begin closing arguments this afternoon.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush reviewed the jury instructions which will guide the jurors on the law.
The judge said he will not read special instructions from the defense regarding reasonable doubt because he thinks this is covered with other instructions. Bush said he will instruction the jurors that if they vote for the death penalty, Brothers will be executed.
The judge and attorneys are going through the evidence that will be admitted from the penalty phase of the trial.
The prosecution wants to allow in a medical record from Shann Kern’s trip to the hospital. Shann Kern is the mother of Brothers’ only living child. Kern testified during the penalty phase that Brothers punched her in the face several times while she was pregnant with their child. Kern said she was living with Brothers at the time. But Brothers’ roommate at the time said Kern was not living at the apartment. Kern wrote Brothers’ address down as her address in the medical records. The judge said this portion of the records will be admitted. But he said some of the record will be redacted. The judge and attorneys later reviewed the family photos Brothers had at his apartment and other family photos. The prosecutor agreed to allow a blown up article written about Brothers published in The Californian in 1996.
The defense said it is finished presenting witnesses. The prosecution said she is finished presenting witnesses as well. The judge said he must finish a few issues tomorrow morning and the jurors will return at 10:30 Wednesday for argument.
Defense Attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Brothers’ mother Margaret Brothers.
Vincent has two sisters and seven brothers. Vincent was the first one born in New York. She lived in Calverton or Bayton Hollow. Then they lived in Riverhead a couple years or more and then moved in Belport. Bryan showed Margaret Brothers a series of photos. She does not remember when she moved into the house in Belport. Donde is 40 and they moved to that house when he was a baby. Thearl was still there. At some point there were 10 children living in the house. It had 3 bedrooms. The family went to church, not as regular as they should have, Margaret Brothers said. She required the children to go to church at times. “I noted he loved school and he loved reading and things like that,” She would have Vincent help the other children with his homework. Brothers would babysit for his sister “and clean too.” “I didn’t like his cleaning,” “I told him go where he thinks would be best for him,” Margaret Brothers said. She knew of his sporting activities. She does not remember about his scholarships. He would return for holidays. She remembers when he went to California. He would stay in touch through the telephone and letters. “I’m a person, I believe in doing a lot of writing,” She met his first wife Angela. He was going to California and she took her home a couple of weeks before. She found out they were divorced. She knew of the marriage to Sharon. She knew that was over. She knew of her granddaughter Margaret who she talked to a few times on the phone. She would mostly talk to her mother, Shann Kern. She never met Joanie, but she spoke to her three or four times on the phone. They spoke a little before the murders. She talked with Vincent and her on the phone before and after Joanie had the baby when Joanie was still in the hospital with Marshall. Vincent told her about the birth of his two other babies, before and from the hospital. She spokes to Marques and Lyndsey on the phone, Lyndsey didn’t talk that good, but Marques would say a few words. Vincent would arrange those calls. “Sure I love my son, I love all my kids,” She did not really work while the children were in school. She bought their clothing at good will, but they did not know it. Vincent Brothers is wiping his eyes. She last saw her husband in July 1996. Vincent offered for her to fly out many times but she did not want to because she was afraid of flying. She did not even want to go on Amtrak. Vincent talked about bringing the family out around the Fourth of July of 2000 but she thought the baby was too young. Vincent Brothers helped support her. She bought a new car and she was out of disability for 18 or 19 months. Vincent paid the car off for her in 1989. She bought a new Nissan Sentra. “He would send me extra money,” “He would send me extra money every month,” “He would just send it.”
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Tanya Howard.
She is Brothers’ niece. Her mother is Thearl Bernard. She is 32. “At 10 years old she went to his college graduation,” “He would visit and give us money for good grades and teach us wrestling moves,” “He always and still encourages me to go to school and learn foreign languages and travel and do better...he encouraged me to go outside Belport and New York and see other places and further my education,” She is enrolled in college now. She lives in Atlanta Georgia. She is a tax accountant. “When I bought my house, my mother was busy a lot and he helped me get through the whole house buying process,” He was in California and she was in Atlanta. That was in 2003 and 2004. She had contact with Vincent while he was in California through e-mail, and telephone and they would send photos. He would never e-mail her, but he would call her. There is a photo of her with her cousin and her uncle Vincent. There is a picture of her eighth grade graduation and a cheerleading parade. There are inscriptions on the backs of the photos from Tanya to her uncle. These photos were taken out of a tub inside the defendant’s apartment. She was 12 when she went to Brothers’ college graduation. He was in marine corp uniform.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the stand Jennie Yvette Combs. She is Brothers’ sister. She is the third down. She is 48.
She was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The family moved to Long Island. She is an ordained minister and she is a teaching associate at a local school. Another teacher was also ordained as a minister. There is a photo of that. There is a photo of Combs with Vincent and her daughter. There are other family photos. She is three or four years older than Vincent. “I always looked at him as being a very bright, a very quiet child, he was always a little different because he always kept to himself, you could see that he was going to be someone important,” Combs said. “He was very involved with sports, he had quite a few good friends, I noticed that when he went to school he wore a shirt and a tie, he was a professional,” “Yes I use to call him poindexter,” “He use to wear these big glasses, he was very smart, very intelligent, so we use to call him Poindexter.” She is not sure of the school where he graduated from college. He visited the family including to her house in Mastic. “I know he had graduated from college and he decided to move to California,” Her daughter Tamika was born before Vincent moved to California. “When he called he would talk to the girls,” On one ocassions, “he spent money through the mail to make sure those girls had gotten those sneakers,” “He always when he came to visit he always encouraged the children to do positive things and to go to school,” After Vincent went to California, he could visit the family periodically and everyone would visit with him. She knew he had a daughter Margaret. She knew later he had Marques and Lyndsey. She never met their mothers. She talked to Shann Kern when she came for the funeral services. She saw Brothers at their fathers’ funeral 16 or 17 years ago. She met Sharon Barniard and Angela RIchardson. He brought Angie home on a visit from school. Sharon came out to visit the family once alone and once with him after he came to California. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green asks about the last time she saw Vincent Brothers. She does not remember the years of these visits. She and the family went to church together. There are a number of ministers in the family
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan called to the stand Thearl Barnard.
She is a second grade teachers. She has taught for 10 years. She teaches at Center Morchies School. She is Vincent’s oldest sister. “Vincent was born in New York,” she said. He may have been the first of the children to be born in New York. She was born in North Carolina and so were some of the other children. Vincent is No. 5. Yvette is younger than her. They first lived in Calverton and then in Baytown Hollow, then their parents purchased a home in Belport. They always lived in a house. She does not remember what her father was doing for a living. Her father eventually became a father and worked at a mental health institute. She was in eighth grade when the family moved to Belport. Bryan showed Bernard a photo of their high school. Another photo of Brothers with family. Another photo with family. She is eight or nine years older than Vincent. She helped her mother with the family. “From time to time I took on a paternal roll” “Vincent was a very studious brother, funny, energenic,...he was always very studious, helpful positive memories, those are my positive memories,” “Vincent was always very engaged in school, with sports, he had a positive relationship with his peers, with his teachers, he was very studious,” “He was always reading, he was interested in classical music,” “He was always involved with sports,” “Anything that was academically challenging or positive,” Thearl Bernard said. “In comparison, they had boy energy and some of my brothers were involved in sports, some weren’t as academic as Vincent, they were doing well in school, but they were not the A plus students,” “At one time he was the state championship,” “He was the brothers that I wouldn’t have to say go get your homework, let’s do it together,” Vincent Brothers was the only brother to complete college. Brothers was community minded. Brothers started working at age 14 with a community group. “His friends were academically engaged.. they were gentlemently young boys, they had directions and goals for themselves,” “Vincent was the brother that made good choices and decisions,” “He made choices and decisions based on what was right,” After Brothers went to college, at old Westbury, he was home frequently. When he went away to Norfolk, they went to the college twice. They maintained some letter writing and some phone calls. She was away at Pace University. Bryan shows her a photo of Brothers in the Marines. There is another picture of Vincent in his uniform. “I maintained contact with Vincent,” Vincent visited her, she had her own apartment and stayed there. “I did a lot of letter writing, I maintained phone contact,” Before and after he came to California. Bernard said Brothers moved to California within a year of graduating. She maintained contact through the telephone. She called him once when there was an earth quake. Brothers returned at times to visit them. She knew he had gotten married. His first wife’s name was Angie, whohe met at Norfolk State University. Vincent Brothers remaried. She knew he had a daughter named Margaret Kern, named after his mother. “There was always contact via phone or letter,” His mother sent some pictures. “I spoke with him two weeks prior” to the killings in June. Prior, they spoke to each other in May. He was born on the 31st. They always talked on birthdays. Toward the end of the school year, they spoke. Prior to that it was sporadic phone calls and prior to that they saw each other at their father’s funeral. She does not remember speaking with Joanie on the phone. He knew they were married. He spoke with the children on the phone from time to time. She thinks that happened four times over a couple of years. She spoke with Margaret when she was younger and gave her an e-mail address and sent her a letter to come out and spend some time in the summer. The last attempt she made, Margaret was 14. “It just never transpired,” “Vincent is a very sociable person, he’s very positive, he gets along well with people,” “He has always had a number of friends,” “He has had long term relationships and short term,”
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Rodney Cooke.
He lieves in Belport New York. He moved back from Virginia four months ago. He has lived in Belport all together for 34 years. He works maintenance and framing and anything he can find. He just moved back. He is 44 years old. “Vincent is a good friend of mine. I have known his since the third grade.” Their mothers “prayed plenty of nights with us.” “While we were doing some of the things we aught not have been doing, he wasn’t doing those things,” He wrestled with Vincent Brothers. After one wrestling tournament, Vincent was reading the Bible to the team. “It really drew a lot of people. A lot of people not just from out team, but to other teams were flocking to listen to what he had to say.” He broke up a fight between two wrestlers on the Belport team to break up the fight. “He was the type of person who would step in the middle of things,” “He was an all together stand up type of guy,” Cooke said. Cooke is married with two children. He went to college at Tulane and wound up back in Belport and for the last seven years he was in Virginia. He did not keep up with he. “We are and always will be good friends,” When Brothers was in North Carolina he tried to go see him, but just missed him, in the summer of 2003 when the case first started. “I believe in him and I know his character,” Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green questioned Cooke. “Well you don’t know his character do you...you haven’t seen the guy in 27 years,” “You have no idea who Vincent Brothers is do you?” “I do,” Cooke said. “I know Vincent Brothers, I know his family, I know his values,” Cooke said. Green asks if some of the brothers have been in jail. “People chance, to a degree,” Cooke said. He graduated in 1981. He did not maintain contact with Brothers since he graduated in 1980. “He didn’t drink,” “That’s the type of job that shows his character, not money, looking after people, children,” “The time that I spent with him...I would step up and give my life for him because of his character,” “You are here to talk about his character in high school regardless of the evidence presented here,” “From what I see, I don’t see any evidence...I don’t believe in all of my heart that he did these crimes,” Green said. “Have you read the police reports...have you sat in here one day and listened to the evidence,” Mr Bryan told the judge, “If we are going to retry this case, let’s go ahead and start right now.” The judge asked the jurors to step outside. The judge told Bryan that he does not want him to do speaking objections. The witnesses are opening the door to an assault and battery conviction in 1980 and another in 1982. Green said she has not challenged the witnesses, but she will when his “high school buddies” start talking about what a great guy she is. Green said Brothers is convicted of slaughtering his family. The defense objects to retrying the case by asking this witness what he knows of the case. The judge said he will allow a few questions along these lines. The jurors are asked back in. Cooke said he followed the case through the Internet. He has not followed the whole trial. “You would agreed that any person who would kill two women and three men is not a stand up kind of guy,” Green asked. “Yes, I don’t believe he is that person,” Cooke said.
Defense Attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Kevin Lee Bethia.
He lives in Dallas, Texas. He went to Belport High School and went to a college in upstate New York. He was comissioned as a second Lt. in the Army. He is still in the military for 21 years. He got back from reserve duty. He is a Lt. Colonel. He is an insurance manager. He graduated in 1981. He knew Vincent Brothers. They played sports together in Belport, a small town. They wrestled together. “Vincent had a big family like mine,” Bethia said. Their mothers were friends. The group they grew up with wanted to better themselves. “We had to create our own sense of existence and livlihood...we motivated each other to go to college...we instilled in each other that we can make it.” “Going to college was a way of getting out of town,” During the summers they would motivate each other, Bethia said. “Vincent was a well mannered guy who appeared to be just like the rest of us, that didn’t go overboard in trying to do anything that was wrong,” Coach Nil was their coach. “Vincent was one year ahead of me,” “He was one of the stars at Belport High School,” He had a unique wrestline style. “He took time to better himself,” “Vincent’s social life was just, I would say Vincent was more of a nerd than anything else,” “We wanted to ensure that we were trying to make our families proud,” THe crash Brothers was involved with involved his family including his grandparents. “I sprinted all the way down to the corner..I knew my mother had gone over to my grandmother’s house,” His mother was injured in the back seat. His grandmother was pinned in. “My grandmother ended up dying from that incident,” Vincent helped save his family. “He was able to at least comfort my family,” “It’s good to know that they were comforted,” It happened at an uncontrolled intersection. Brothers went to old Westbury on scholarships. He had a scholarship to Fredonia. At one point, he moved to California as an adult and reunited with Brothers. He was an assistant principal, he said. “You would not expect anything less,” “Teaching was one of those things that was a natural,” “We both had people in our family who had issues and it was us that did not want to head down that road,” he said. “It’s one thing about big families is that you ended up coming together,” “Vincent and myself and probably about 10 or 12 others wanted to do something for ourselves,” They all had summer jobs. They went to a center where they would play ping-pong and pool. They lost touch after a while, but continued to talk by telephone. He was in California for 15 years. He moved a lot. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green questioned Bethia. He lived in California in 1986 to 2003. He never saw Vincent Brothers in person. He first lived in Northridge. He did not have a vehicle at the time. “It sounds like you were more interested in striking up a friendship than he was,” Bethia said that was not true. He got Brothers’ number through a friend. They spoke two times while he lived in California. “What did he do that was wrong,” “Vincent didn’t do anything that was wrong in the things that I observed in the time I have known him,” He was in Northridge, Canoga Park in San Fernando Valley, Sylmar, Canoga Park and Simi Valley. He eventually bought a car. He never suggested getting together.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Donald Collier.
He lives in Elisabeth City, North Carolina. He was born there, but raised in Long Island New York. Bryan shows Collier a picture of Belport High School where he graduated. He and Cummings graduated together. He also knows Vincent Brothers “very well.” “I consider Vincent my brother, I know him very well.” “I knew VIncent before we became friends,” They were on the bus from football practice on freshman year,” Vincent came up to him on the bus and asked what would you do if I smacked you and he said I would smack you back and they laughed and became friends. “Vincent spent a lot of time with me, most Saturday nights he would spend the night at my house,” They ran track together. Vincent was on the wrestling team. “He was almost like the wrestling team,” “He was very temperate, mild-mannered, humble,” They kept in contact after high school. Brothers went to Westbury and he went to Albany. Brothers went to another school and they started to lose touch. “He was there the day my son was born,” Collier said. Vincent transferred to Norfolk State. In 1979, he and Vincent were walking down the street and at an intersection, they witnessed a car crash and Collier was in a cast. Vincent ran over to help. “I was reluctant at the time,” They could smell gas leaking and the other car was in flames 10 feet away. It was a friend of their’s family in the car. “Vincent didn’t hesistate, he was tearing doors off the car,” Other people hesitated to help because of the gas, but that did not stop Vincent, Collier said. “Vincent was courageous like that, he was not self centered,” A couple of months before that they had been in a crash and had ran away from the vehicle. He turned off the key and got his glasses and ran to the high school a mile away to get help. Collier’s sister’s loved Vincent. “His nieces and nephews were crazy about him...everybody I knew was crazy about Vincent especially kids,” “To say Vincent is this cold individual is unheard of,” Collier’s family wasn’t church goers, but he would go with “Aunt Margaret” and VIncent. “Vincent was always a God fearing individual,” “If we would have stayed we wouldn’t have amounted to much...we were going to get out, we were going to make something happen for ourselves,” “Our class was the first to send several black young men off to college with the hope that we were going to do something with our lives,” “He would do anything he could for someone that was ill...He was a giving individvual, he was a caring individual, he still is,” In their last year in school, his aunt was diagnosed with cancer. Vincent went with his family to North Carolina to spend time with his aunt. “He was the type of individual who could cheer anyone up and get a laugh out of them,”
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Anthony Cummings. He is an attorney from Long Island, New York.
He attended High School from 1976 through 1980. “Vincent is one of the guys I grew up with,” He was one of his 10 best friends. They went to each others houses and played sports together. “Vincent always stood out to me because we had a lot of similarities....same height, thin, they both wore classes,” They use to play soft ball and ride bicycles and as they went further along ins chool they all wanted to go to college. “Vincent was one of the better students,” “Vincent would dress very nice and the reason that we tried to distinguish outselves was for all the obvious reasons...we thought that if we presented outselves in a respectful way...it would be helpful for admissions,” “Vincent was very active in a lot of things in school,” “He participated in several sports, he earned varsity letters in two maybe three sports,” “I believe wrestling was the activity he excelled most in,” “I recall Vincent asking me, Do you think I should go to college,” Belport is a typical working-class, middle-class type of community, Cummings said. “It was out home, it was a great place for us,” Coach Nil was a coach at the high school. Coach Chavis was a coach on the track team, on which Cummings participated. He was in the same class as Vincent. “I would see Vincent from time to time in some of the advanced classes,” “In order to excell...you needed to know what was important and we all did, you need to work hard in class and you need to be respectful,” Vincent Brothers became an announcer at the football games. He heard Brothers got a scholarship, but he did not keep up with Brothers. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green questions Cummings. He said he has three children and has been married 18 years. He lost touch with Brothers at his graduation. They graduated in 1980. He was contacted in 2005 by investigators. He did not resume contact with Vincent Brothers. “You had no idea the person that he had become,” “I would assume he was the same man he was then,”
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan questions Victoria Ann Ellis. She was a kindergarten teacher at Fremont Elementary School.
Brothers was her Vice Principal. “With the little ones, they were always running up to him and he would have them laughing and squealing and he would play fake magic tricks on them and they would always come up and he would give them some attention,” “He associated with teachers very well.” She did not socialize with Brothers’ outside of school. Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Rose Williams-Browning. She is employed at Emerson. She has known Brothers since 1988 through school. She was an office assistant. “He seemed to love working with the students, playing basketball with them, he always encouraged them to try and make something out of themselves,” The children were 13 or 14 in 7th or 8th grade. She knew Joanie Harper when she was employed at Emerson Middle School. They were friends. “She was always hugging on me, she was always laughing and talking,” Williams-Browning said. Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Barbara Williams. She is retired from Bakersfield City School District as assistant superintendent of instruction. She has known Brothers for 12 to 15 years. “I had the honor of supervisit principals and vice principals and Vincent Brothers was one of them,” A new principal, Don Gil, relied heavily on Brothers’ expertise and skill in working with the students and parents. “He learned to speak Spanish on his own,” she said. Brothers was in the outter office speaking Spanish. “They were so appreciative...it made them feel very comfortable coming to school,” “Mr. Brothers believed students needed to be in school,” They had an in-school suspension program where class work continued to go on and they could focus. “For three years Fremont School had zero suspensions,” The parents were very appreciative that Mr. Brothers took the time to design this program. Brothers wanted her permission to go to McKinley to participate in his son Marques’ pre-K room. “He explained to me that Joanie his wife had always been the one to go and do the participation and he told me he wanted to share that responsibility and he wanted to spend more time with his son Marques and he needed a higher person to okay that,” He was given permission and volunteered on a regular basis. “Everytime I went to Fremont he was on the playground welcoming kids to school and parents and they would run up and hug him as if he were their father...he spent the time to show affections to them...to me he was an advocate to student,” Green said.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Junea Davis. She is a campus supervisor at Bakersfield City School District.
She went over to visit Joanie and Brothers after the baby was born, maybe a week prior to the Fourth of July weekend. She told Joanie that the youngest one looked like her. Joanie and Vincent appeared to be happy, Davis said. The prosecutor has no questions. Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Mae Frances Booker. She worked with him at Fremont for seven years. She was the cafeteria and playground supervisor. In one incident, there was a bad dust storm and all the kids went into the cafeteria. One boy popped a milk carton. The boy’s mother became mad. Brothers asked officers to check up on her at her house to make sure she was safe. “He played ball with them, he was professional when he had to be,” He told the students that if he lost a game with the students, he could kiss a pig and he did.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Cherry Jensen.
She is a teacher at Fremont Elementary. Brothers was her vice principal from 1996. “He loved the kids. The kids loved him...The students were constantly around him. THey loved him. They wanted to hug on him. They wanted to play with him,” “I had to train my first graders that when he comes in, you can’t jump up and go give him a hug, he wants to see you working,” “Any time he was on the playground they wanted to talk with him,” “He performed his duties well... He was always concerned about our safety,” “I became quite ill in 2001, I was extremely dizzy...He saw to it that Mrs. Bry drove me home and made sure my vehicle made it home,” She did not socialize with him after school hours. She knew Joanie from school and through church- their church were related. Vincent Brothers learned Spanish while he was there and could communicate with the students. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green questions the witness. She did not know that Marques was Brothers’ son.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand science teacher Amy Meadors.
She knew him from Fremont Elementary School. He was her supervisor. “He interacted a lot with the students more than any other supervisor who has been there since I have been there,” “Whenever the students would be at recess and Brothers would be at yard duty 10 or 15 kids would be tagging after him,” “If he didn’t have kids tagging after him he would be playing basketball with them on the basketball courts,” When students had discipline problems, “Mr. Brothers was always very supportive,” “He would keep them, he would not send them back to class...he would deal with parents on my behalf...he was always willing to help,” She knew Joanie Harper from working with her at Fremont. She did not socialize with either Harper or Brothers outside of school. During school assemblies, “when he entered the room the students immediately snapped to, they sat up straight and stopped talking...it was out of respect or fear of him not liking them,”
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Michael Roberson.
He worked at Bakersfield City School District. He retired at McKinley. He saw Brothers at functions through the school district. His oldest son was attending a pre-school at McKinley. Vincent Brothers asked him to mentor him to work on administrative skills and curriculum. He wanted one day to become principal. Vincent would come over on his lunch hour with Marques. He would spend a half hour with his son. “He really had a real knack in terms of interacting with students, they seemed to really enjoy him. He seemed to interact well with students and they seemed to gravitate towards him...He was always very professional, outgoing, jovial,” “On two different occassions he applied for principalship for summer school. I was fairly impressed by his professionalism and his ability,” Bryan shows Roberson a photo of Brothers playing basketball with some kids. Roberson said he does not know if this was during a game.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan called to the witness stand Donald Vereen.
He is a pastor at Bakersfield Lighthouse Christian Ministries. He knows Brothers as a vice principal. They had an after school program in the city and a lot of his students attended and Brothers would drop in. “He wanted to know what curiculum we were using and wanted to bring more curiculum in, he was interested in what his kids was doing,” Vereen said. “When he came it was like an interview, he wanted to know the house, what he could do to help,” He dropped in three or four times. They went to his school about twice. “We helped them do their homework...until about 6 o’clock,” “Whenevery they would come in, everybody would say Mr. Brothers, Mr. Porter, they were excited to see somebody with authority,” It ran from 1998 to 2003. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green has no questions.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan called to the witness stand Robert Richardson.
He is a counselor at Walter Stern Middle School. He has worked for 14 years with the Bakersfield City School District. He has known Brothers over 20 years. He was at Emerson with brothers from 1996 through 1999. Richardson was the school counselor and Brothers was the vice principal. Anthony Bryan shows a blown up version of an article that ran in The Bakersfield Californian of Brothers as a vice principal. Green said it is hearsay. Bryan said hearsay is admissible in mitigation. The jurors are excused. Bush said there is evidence in the article that has not yet been admitted. He said the article can’t come in now, but maybe after that information is corroborated by family members. Bryan said a young girl was shot at the school and there was a tree erected and there was a ceremony and Bryan has a photo of that. Bryan wants to ask the witness when the article was put together. The jurors are escorted back in.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Keith Powell.
He is the director of educational support services at CSUB. He knows Vincent Brothers. They are former roommates in late 1987 and 1988. He testified he lived in the same apartment with Brothers during the time Shann Kern said she was living at that apartment. He said Shann Kern never actually lived there. Shann came by the house to see if Vincent was there. Shann had gotten the door open to Vincent’s room and they argued. Vincent was trying to leave and Shann tried to keep him from leaving. “He was trying to get down the stairs,” Shann was trying to restrain him, she threw some things at her, he said a shoe hit her in the face, Powell said. He said Shann called the police. He said he is still friends with Vincent Brothers although they do not see each other on a regular basis. He said Brothers was never interested in guns. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green questions Keith Powell. He did not discuss this incident with investigators for 19 years. “I believe she had a small mouse or something up under her eye,” Powell said. “Did you see Vincent punching her repeatedly,” “No,” Powell said. Vincent was arrested, he said. He saw her again within days of the injuries. Powell did not think Brothers was in the house. “Vincent was grabbing her arms to stop her from hitting him and the shoe went back and hit him in the face,” Powell said. “Do you think this is funny or amusing in any way,” Green asked Powell. “No ma’am,” Powell said. He was not sure if she was bleeding. “Did you know that she was pregnant,” “No ma’am,” Powell said. Powell had a girlfriend on K Street and he would stay there once or twice a week.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan calls to the witness stand Charles Pilley.
Pilley brought in photos he found in the Mercedes he now owns, which Brothers use to own. He was a principal at a local school where Brothers was the vice principal. Bryan also showed Pilley a book. Pilley said it was a book called “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” which was among the things Brothers had. There are two photos of activities at school involving Vincent Brothers. He did not socialize with Brothers outside of school for the most part. He helped him landscape his house. Bryan shows Pilley an evaluation of Vincent Brothers. He evaludated Brothers while he was the principal and Vincent was the vice principal. He met goals. He was his principal for five years. “I did observe the students at Fremont,” “I observed positive interactions with the students and with Vincent...Vincent handled all the dicipline, did a very outstanding job in that area,” Pilley said. “He was familiar with the children, plus he was familiar with the parents,” “Vincent was learning Spanish, he did an outstanding job communicating with the parents in Spanish,” “He participated in things that were outside of the school duties,” Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green questions Pilley. A student at Emerson with a terminal disease would call Brothers and he and Pilley would go and visit her for 5 to 15 minutes.
She would always end her conversations by telling her children to stay faithful to the Lord.
Eddie Harper married and had a baby and lived with his mother briefly in Bakersfield at the T Street address. She kept him while he and his wife worked. “When he was a freshman in high school he wanted to come back and live with his grandmother here. We couldn’t allow that...He spent two summers with her in Bakersfield.” Was Earnestine Harper strict? “She was a very strict disciplinarian...if she said don’t leave the yard we didn’t leave the yard. A lot of it we didn’t understand then but I thank God for it now because it made a different in our lives.” “She had given me money my friend and I,” They went to a slide through downtown Bakersfield close to Sam Lynn Ballpark. They met up with some other young men. They were in sixth or seventh grade. During the time Martin Luther King was assassinated. “I don’t think I understood all of it then.” Two of the young men went across the street and accosted the child while wearing Eddie’s jacket. Police got word of it and picked him up. These men went into a store and stole some yoyos and they took him to the police station. “I wasn’t afraid of the police I was more afraid of Earnestine.” “I had retrieved my red jacket and that was all he remembered was the red jacket, when he pointed me out I started crying...I was fortunate his brother who was with them told the truth.” The young men confessed. He had one of the yoyos. “I didn’t get in trouble, but I remember by mother reprimanding me about being with these young men that would get me in trouble.” Robert is married with five children. He moved to Florida in January 1985. He would see his mom very often. They would meet in Houston or Oklahoma to celebrate holidays. They went to church functions, Crusade for Christ. He brought his family to Tusan and Earnestine and Joanie came and watched and they also came to see him speak in Vallejo. “She was very supportive,” They came to visit in the summer. That was the second time they saw Marques, the first time they saw Marques and Lyndsey. “That was the first time seeing both of the two children together,” Linda Piggee was most effected. “Linda and my mother Earnestine had the closest relationship, they probably talked two or three times a week every week.” “Just recently her husband had a very massive stroke and was literally on his death bed and at the hospital he was in they would let him waste away, but when Linda called my mother, my mother immediately went to Oklahoma city.” The hospital did not want to release her husband, but they did release at Earnestine’s urging and he was able to recover and walk. Linda was critical health wise and doctors did not know what was wrong. She had unbearable pain. “My mother told them to check for blood clots and had they not caught it in time she probably would not be here today.” “She was elated, if I can say probably as excited for us, it was like an extensions of her. She loved telling people about Christ and about the church so for us to do that as a professions, she was putting herself in us, that we would fulfill that dream,” “She would check to see if by bringing up certain scriptures if I knew what I was preaching was true...she always wanted to be sure that we were committed to this...she would always tell me too that if this is not what you want to do that you do not have to continue.” Earnestine Harper went to their sporting events. Robert and Eddie always played baseball, football, track. “She would never complain, you would never hear her say she was tired...when I would strike out, I don’t know if she knew how to play baseball, but she would tell me to look at the ball. She was always very instructive.” She would do volunteer work for a center. “She was in her heart a missionary. She adopted families in Africa where she traveled on two occasions.” “It didn’t matter who you were or what walk of life, she wanted to help you,” When was the last time he saw her, March 2003. Eddie Harper got choked up. She purchased a home for her grandson Eddie. He stayed there for two weeks, maybe more. “Her sitting, cooking for us, sitting on the bed, she was a great conversationalist and she enjoyed talked until 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning, never getting tired of talking. That was very special.” He made the eulogy at the funeral. “At first I thought it might be difficult, but I have always relied on God to give us strength in anything.” “The Lord gave us strength to get up and talk about them,” “Do you think of them often,” “Every day, every day,” “We miss them dearly. Their leaving us has left a whole inside of all of us.” “We miss her dearly. While that whole inside of us has been replaced with the love of God and his peace there is a scar that will never heal and every now and then the pain will come back but we thank God that we are able to overcome and we are able to go on.” “We realize that my mother left a legacy that she is living though us and that is able to go on.” Defense attorney Anthony Bryan questions Eddie Harper. Earnestine Harper visited in March 2003. She was there for two weeks or more. “I just remember one day asking who this was in my mother’s arms,” Eddie Harper said of Joanie’s homecoming at birth. He lived with Malcolm and Helen Booker and aunt Helen in Tulare. Earnestine Harper worked for the hospital in Porter ville. Was she what some would call an activist? No, Eddie Harper said. “Are you aware she put together a defense fund for someone who is accused of murder,?” “No,” “Are you aware she had a defense fund for Offord Rollins?” “No.” Bryan shows Eddie Harper a statement he gave in July 2006.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the witness stand Eddie L. Harper Sr., Earnestine Harper’s son.
He lives in Winterhaven Florida. He is married. He has been married for 31 years. He has two children, 29 and 26. He has been a minister for 32 years. He is a minister at the South View Church of Christ. Linda Piggee is the oldest, Robert Harper, him, Elain Byrd and then Joanie Harper. He was born in Dallas Texas. His older siblings were also born in Texas. Robert is 52, Linda is 54, he is 50 and Elain is 48. He lived in Dallas for a year or two before moving to Oklahoma City. They lived there for three years with her mothers’ parents, his grandparents. They had a close relationship. Her mother was responsible for them. Their father did not raise them. Their sister Elain was born in Oklahoma City. Earnestine became ill. Elain went to live with her aunt Helen in California and she raised Elain. He was 4, 5, and 6 in Oklahoma City. He moved to Tulare, California. “She wanted to do better...a lot of it had to do with living closer to Helen where Elain was,” “Do you have fond memories of your mother” “She was very special, I don’t recall having a babysitter watching us, she was very contientious about out upbringing,” We lived with her sister Helen. “It made it very safe for her to work,” They moved in with aunt Helen and while their mother was working, Helen took care of them. Earnestine worked in domestic work, taking care of homes and children and got a job in Kern Medical as a lab tech. They moved from Tulare to Bakersfield. They moved on Third street at a one-bedroom apartment down from 901 address. “We knew from my mother her attitude that we wouldn’t be there very long and we weren’t,” “She was concerned not just that we had enough but that we would have advantages that other children would have...cub scouts.” “Sports was very important to her because she looked to that as an avenue of keeping us out of trouble.” Earnestine and Linda slept together on the sofa bed and the boys slept in the back bedroom. They were living there when Joanie was born. They did not have a lot of extras. “You would probably say we were poor...I remember being on welfare, I remember going with my mother to get food, the comodity food, that was somewhat of an activity for us...but no we did not have very much.” “My mother was a very special, whatever she did she was going to put 100 percent into it and she was going to be the best she could be. She was probably the best lab tech.” “When there were patients that were difficult... they would always call ‘Stein” “Patients who would have their blood drawn would request her because it would be painless.” She retired on disability when he was a freshman or sophmore. “At one point we all did (take care of Joanie)” While Joanie was in kindergarten or first grade he would get Joanie dressed and braid her hair and he would have to come home and make sure she got home safely. “We had a very special relationship.” “She believed in the Lord, that was her, that was her life, Christ was her all, there were times when she would pray for hours on hours and I would wonder what could she be prayer for and she would tell us that I am praying for you all I am praying for my children that you would grow up healthy...but that most of all we would be as faithful to the lord as she was...I don’t know if she knew then that both of her sons, we would become ministers.” His brothers Robert is a minister and Linda lives in Oklahoma. “She took us to church, she would never send us, she was always concerned about us, not just out upbringing in the church but wanting us to continue once we had graduated from high school...My mother believed that whatever happened if you just believe and trust in the Lord everything will work out fine.” They moved to 527 T Street to a house. She purchased that house for $19,000. “That was a long time ago. That was special. The gentleman who sold her the house was not supposed to sell her the house and as a result he was fired.” Green said it was a primarily white neighborhood. This realtor eventually went to Los Angeles and became a multi-millionaire. On one side was a Japanese couple, she was extremely nice, she would at time bake cookies. A tree fell on their home and the man next door helped to get the tree off the house. They took as many palmegranites from the couple next door. Another couple let the children come and play with their dog. A Mexican-American family came in. When he was preaching in Oildale. “I have very good memories of living at that residence.” Eddie Harper said he was in Elementary School, at McKinley and Emerson then Bakersfield High School. Linda went away to Southwestern Christian College in Texas. Robert and he and Joanie went there as well. Earnestine Harper had her high school diploma. “She wanted us to have that Christian foundation and from the earliest of age she would take us to that school and tell us that was where we were going.” “We were happy about it, we couldn’t wait to get there.” How was Joanie Harper able to go. She had a scholarship and a grant. “She was an outstanding Basketball player.” His first job was in Lafayette Louisiana.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan asked Kern if Brothers was angry with her for cheating on him. She denies this.
Bryan asked if Kern knew who the father of her child was. She said she always knew it was Brothers. Kern said she cannot count how many times she has seen Brothers. Kern said she went to a home for battered women, a home for unwed mothers and then with a friend just after the beating. They had an on-again, off- again relationship from 1988 to 1993. In 1993 she moved out of town. From 1993 to 2003, Vincent saw Margaret three or four times a year in Bakersfield. Vincent came to Ontario to visit. There is a letter from her daughter not in her writing from 1996. Kern said she and Vincent Brothers got into an altercation and she was arrested. “I am very sorry for saying I hate you, can I please come to see you. I love you a lot, Margaret, Bye,” Shann Kern read from the letter her daughter sent to Vincent Brothers.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the witness stand Shann Kern, the mother of Brothers only living child.
She testified twice in the guilt phase of the case. They lived together in an apartment on Bernard Street. Brothers was living there and she moved in in January 1988. She was attending CSUB. Brothers had no other roommates. She knows a man by the name of Keith Powell. He moved in with Brothers as a roommate. She said on May 29, 1988, she was taken to Kern Medical Center. Vincent Brothers hadn’t come home for a couple of days. She had not talked to Brothers for three days. She was pregnant and Vincent Brothers knew she was pregnant. She was two or three months pregnant. Margaret was born Dec. 23, 1988. He returned home at 10:30 a.m. or 11 a.m. she said. He went straight upstairs without saying anything to her. She followed him upstairs. “I simply asked him if he could take me to Lancaster,” Kern said. He refused. She did not have a car and he did. Some family members were reuniting in Lancaster on that date. “I took the house slipper off and I threw it at him...it hit him on his shoulder.” “He came across the other side of the floor and commenced to just beat me in my face.” “How did he beat you?” “His fist.” “How many times?” “Six or seven times.” Every time I would get up he would hit me again in my face. “It seemed like it would last forever.” “It lasted seconds minutes, but it seemed at that time that it wouldn’t stop.” “My right eye was busted open, not deep enough for stitches...my eyes were swollen shut I could barely see out of them, my face was swollen, I had a busted lip,” Brothers left. She got up off the floor and looked at herself in the mirror. “I was in total disbelief.” The police showed up. She gave a statement to the officer. She went to Kern Medical Center. The officer called her best friend and she took her. She went back to the apartment only long enough for her to get her things and get out of there. She continued to allow Brothers to be a part of her life. She went to visit him at the jail house so he could see her face. “I just had a need for him to see my face,” Kern said. “He asked me why did I keep trying to get up,” Kern said. Kern said she fell to the ground and tried to get up more than once. “Why did you try and maintain some type of relationship?” “I was pregnant with his child, his daughter...out differences had nothing to do with Vincent being her father,” Kern said.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green said she received a report of qualifications from an expert on prison life. She said she would object to such evidence.
Defense attorney Anthony Bryan said a couple of people who would speak on Brothers’ behalf may not be available, and he wants to videotape their testimony including a childhood friend who is now in the military reserves and a former coach and teacher. Green said she is not waiving her cross examination of any witnesses. She said the defense has 30 witnesses. Green said she intends to call three witnesses, Shann Kern to talk about an act of domestic violence in 1988. The second is Michelle Baptiste, the victim impact witness and a 2-minute video and thirdly Eddie Harper to talk about his mother and her contributions to his mother. “My case should take approximately an hour,” Green said. “It’s photographs of the victims in life, that’s all it is,” Green said. She said she has not made a decision as to scene photos. If she did introduce scene photos, she would do so through Sgt. Watts. His misdemeanor conviction for spousal abuse on Shann Kern was expunged. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green played for the court a photo montage of the family. Bryan said funeral pictures should not be shown. He said some of the photos are of non-family members. Green said some such videos are longer and set to music and show funeral procession. “Now it is time for this jury to see what this community has lost in the deaths of these children,” Green said. “I think I have used extreme restraint,” Green said. “I think they are appropriate and definitely within what the cases talk about for victim impact.” “What they’ve seen are the victims in death and now it is time for them to see the victims in life,” Green said. Bush said he will allow the DVD to be put into evidence. As to Shann Kern’s testimony, the defense argued it should not be allowed because it was expunged from his record. Bryan said it is a “common offense.” Green said, “I hope we never reach that day where we have the perception of domestic violence as a common offense.” She said the penal code allows for acts of violence to be allowed. “The defense will try to paint Mr. Brothers as though he has no criminal record and that simply is not true,” Green said. Green said another witness has declined to testify about another instance of violence. Bryan reminds the jury that the misdemeanor case is almost 20 years old. Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush said this will be allowed. “None of my witnesses are going to get up there and say they think he should get life,” Green said. She does not think the defendants family and other witnesses will keep their feelings about this decision to themselves. Bryan said he does not think he will have 30 witnesses. Green said his age is an aggravating factor because he should have known better. Regarding lack of remorse. Green said she is not going to argue lack of remorse unless he testified that he is remorseful.
The next phase of the trial is whether Vincent Brothers should spend the rest of his life in prison or suffer the death penalty.
As a court reporter for 30+ years, I've heard defense attorneys argue that the death penalty is for "the worst of the worst." Killing five people, including three small children, at close range and then stabbing a woman after she was dead ranks very close to the worst of the worst. But Vincent Brothers also devoted a lot of time and energy to education and leading children. He was his mother's shining star until this tragedy. We will hear the good and the bad about Vincent Brothers as the penalty phase of the trial begins. It's probably premature before hearing all that to ask what penalty you believe Brothers should receive, but we're asking anyway. Is the death penalty for him better than spending all the days of his life confined in a prison as a banishment from society. Posted by Steve E. Swenson
Vincent Brothers was found guilty today of killing his wife, three children and mother-in-law in July 2003.
Brothers wept quietly as the verdict was read. The jury took four days to find Brothers guilty of killing his wife, Joanie Harper; their three children, Marques, Lyndsey and Marshall; and Joanie Harper’s mother, Earnestine. Brothers was also found guilty of the special circumstance of committing multiple murders. Vincent Brothers’ mother, Margaret Brothers, said outside the court after the verdict, “I only have to say that he’s not guilty and it’s not fair. All the evidence thought that he’s not there, that he’s in Columbus, Ohio, I knew he was there. That’s all I have to say.” When reporters asked of the whereabouts of her son, Troy, she replied: “I don’t know. Get out of my face.” Outside the courtroom, Michelle Baptiste, Joanie Harper’s best friend, talked about the verdict. “No matter what verdict came back today, we won’t get them back,” Baptiste said. “They’re gone, but they’re still in our memories and in our hearts.” Baptiste is grateful to the people who investigated the case. “Thank you for all your hard work and time,” she said. Avis Henderson, friend of Joanie Harper, comforted another friend of Joanie, Michelle Baptiste, in the court lobby after the verdict. When asked about their reaction by the crush of reporters surrounding them, Henderson said: “It’s mixed, it’s mixed. It’s kind of hard, because, you know, we’ve known Vincent along with Joanie for all of these years. So it’s kind of mixed right now. So we’re a little nervous about what we’ve heard. So that’s pretty much where we’re at right now.” When asked about Vincent Brothers’ reaction as the verdict was read, Henderson said: “Well, it’s kind of hard to tell. He was very just solemn. And then towards the end, after the last children were read, it looks like it just kinda got to him.” As to whether she felt justice was served, she added: “Well, at this time, the jury reached the verdict, so justice has been served.” Henderson said she has no idea if Brothers’ appeal would be successful. She said she hasn’t been in contact with the Harper family, “just in between when we’ve been here in court.” What’s next Brothers is now eligible for the death penalty. The prosecution and defense will present evidence during the second phase of the trial, known as the penalty phase. The prosecution will argue that Brothers deserves to die and the defense that he should live. The jurors will again deliberate and make a decision. Unlike the guilt phase of the trial, the attorneys can present evidence about the kind of person the former vice principal is. The prosecution will likely argue that the heinous nature of the crimes means Brothers deserves to die. The defense will likely argue that Brothers was a productive member of society, is well educated and is a good person. The prosecutor’s case Brothers’ family was found dead on July 8, 2003. Detectives investigated the case for many months and arrested Brothers in April 2004, and he was charged with the murders. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green believes Brothers flew to Ohio to see the brother he has rarely seen or spoken to in the last decade on July 2, 2003, as a cover for the murders. The prosecutor believes Brothers rented a car in Ohio and drove that car back to Bakersfield and killed his family on Sunday, July 6, 2003 in their home at Third and P streets. Each of the family members was shot to death and Joanie Harper was stabbed seven times. An FBI agent testified that only someone close to the family would have committed the murders because no one else would have motive to kill a baby who could not be a witness. The prosecutor believes Brothers ambushed the family while most of them were napping after church and lunch, sneaking into the house through the garage. Green argued Brothers killed his family to relieve himself of the financial burden of caring for them. The prosecutor presented evidence that Brothers cheated on his wife and was a cold and unloving husband and father. Many women testified that they had a sexual relationship with Brothers while he was married. Family testimony Family friends testified that Brothers did not attend the birth of two of his children and was not involved in their lives until the months before their deaths. Some of Earnestine Harper’s children who live out of town traveled to Bakersfield to watch part of the testimony. Joanie Harper’s friend Michelle Baptiste watched much of the trial after she testified. Brothers testified in his own defense during the trial. He said he was traveling around the Midwest when his family was killed. He said he loved his wife and children and had no reason to kill them. His family testified that he was devastated when he learned his family died, vomiting, crying and almost collapsing. Defense arguments Brothers’ attorney Michael Gardina has argued that the police never investigated any other suspects and focused on Brothers even when evidence showed he wasn’t in California at the time of the killings. The defense has argued that no trace or DNA evidence linked Brothers to the crime. The gun that killed the family was never found. Gardina has also argued that the house was in a bad neighborhood and has said other witnesses saw suspicious people around the Harper house around the time of the killings. But Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush ruled the defense did not have enough evidence to present this theory to the jury. The defense also argued that Brothers did not have the time to drive across country and kill his family. Brothers’ background Brothers was a vice principal at Fremont School and his wife worked security at another school. He came from a poor family, but rose to become a respected member of the community and a role model for the students at his school. His mother attended the trial after she finished testifying, and two of his sisters also watched parts of the trial. Brothers has one living child, Margaret Marie Kern-Brothers. She also sat in the audience for some of the testimony.
Of first degree murder of Earnestine Harper
A verdict has been reached in the murder trial of Vincent Brothers, who is accused of killing five members of his family in 2003, according to a court balliff.
The verdict is scheduled to be announced at 11:45 a.m. Vincent Brothers is charged with five counts of murder for the death of his wife, Joanie Harper; their three children, Marques, Lyndsey and Marshall; and Joanie Harper’s mother, Earnestine. His family was found dead on July 8, 2003, and he was arrested in April 2004 on suspicion of committing the murders. He has pleaded not guilty. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green prosecuted the case against Brothers. Green believes Brothers flew to Ohio to see the brother he has rarely seen or spoken to in the last decade on July 2, 2003, as a cover for the murders. The prosecutor believes Brothers rented a car while in Ohio and drove that car back to Bakersfield and killed his family on Sunday, July 6, 2003. Experts have testified that each of the family members was shot to death and Joanie Harper was stabbed to death. Green believes Brothers wanted to relieve himself of the financial burden of his growing family. The prosecutor presented evidence that Brothers cheated on his wife and was a cold and unloving husband and father. Brothers is being defended by attorneys Michael Gardina and Anthony Bryan. Gardina has argued that the police never investigated any other suspects and focused on Brothers even when evidence showed he was out of the state at the time of the killings. The defense has argued that no physical evidence, such as trace or DNA evidence, has linked Brothers to the crime. The gun that killed the family was never found. Gardina has also argued that the house was in a bad neighborhood and has said other witnesses saw suspicious people around the Harper house around the time of the killings. But Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush ruled the defense did not have enough evidence to present this theory in court. If he is convicted of all five counts of murder plus the special circumstance of committing multiple murders, he will face the death penalty Brothers is a former vice principal at Fremont School and his wife worked security at another school. He came from a poor family, but he rose to become a respected member of the community and a role model for the students at his school.
Jurors in the Vincent Brothers' murder trial continued to deliberate Monday morning.
As of 10 a.m. Monday, jurors had been deliberating for about 8 hours over the last three days. Jurors heard more than two months of testimony.
A juror in the Vincent Brothers case made a timeline at home regarding the case.
Jurors are admonished not to work on deliberating except when they are with the other jurors in the jury deliberation room. Kern County Superior Judge Michael Bush told the bailiff to tell the juror that she could use this graphic, but to remind them that they are not supposed to work on the case after hours. The jurors have been deliberating all day today and an hour Thursday.
Jurors began deliberating this morning at about 9 a.m.
They decided Thursday to deliberate during the normal schedule: 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. They deliberated one hour Thursday.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green started to give her rebuttal case to the jurors. She said she will be done in 25 minutes.
Green said the jurors should look at the circumstances as a whole to see if they meet the circumstantial evidence burden rather than looking at the bug evidence and the mileage evidence and other evidence individually. “You have to be able to see the forest for the trees in a case like this,” Green said. Green said Dollinger did not “miss” the rigor mortis noted in the families. Green said Dollinger rejected that opinion. Green said not word about the clothes the family was wearing, which she believes proves time of death. “Mistakes in reports suggest the expert has been lax in their review of the material presented to them,” Green said. “When someone like Brent Turvey gets up on the stand and said that Marques Harper goes up and about because there was a jacket and the jacket turns out to be a bath robe,” Green said. “His opinions are worth jack,” Green said. “They should expect to be cross examined. They should expect to face serious questions,” Green said. Green said Brothers’ mother does not recognize his voice because she asked him on a call who he was after he said hello. Green said Melvin Brothers at first said Vincent Brothers gave him the card on Monday, then on two subsequent interviews said it was Sunday. He testified that he gave him the card on Friday. “What it is about is persistent police work,” Green said.
Gardina said the detectives also coerced Brothers’ niece Tiana. She said she saw Brothers more that weekend than her sister and parents.
Gardina reviews Tiana’s testimony in detail. At first she says Brothers was there Friday evening, but was gone on Saturday. She also said she saw him on Monday morning. “If you maintain an untruthful story you could be in big trouble,” the investigator told Tiana. “They’re threatening this little girl, she’s 14 years old...why are you doing this to a 14-year-old,” Gardina said. They told her she was lying because they say her sister said something different, Gardina said. “What do you want me to say, he wasn’t here on Friday,” Gardina quoted Tiana as saying. “That’s exactly what they wanted her to say and she was picking up on that.”
“We know they missed evidence,” Gardina said. “Two of the shell casings were found by a cleaning crew.”
There were four shots to Joanie and one to each child and seven shell casings, Gardina said. “Being caught that they were short a shell casing,” Gardina said they had to get creative. Green said one of the shell casings may have been found several rooms away in the living room at the other end of the house to account for the fifth shoot that the prosecution believes Green received. “It was somewhat of an unsavory neighborhood,” Gardina said. “My Brothers had casual sex,” Gardina said. “We heard about the fact that his other marriages ended because of casual consensual sex.” “None of these women were pursued by Mr. Brothers after his family died,” Gardina said. “There were not so much as a cup of coffee between some of these people,” Gardina said. “That does not create a motive for Mr. Brothers to kill his family,” Gardina said. “The events in this case had nothing to do with one encounter with Carla Tafoya in May,” Gardina said. “There was no emotional ties and there was no motive,” Gardina said. “Mr. Brothers made his choices. They worked for him,” Gardina said. “This was no motive.” “Mr. Brothers’ mo when the marriage didn’t work out, he filed for divorce,” Gardina said. “There is nothing to indicate he would change that pattern in any way. He certainly would not harm his children.” INSECTS “The insects are absolutely unreliable,” Gardina said. Gardina said the prosecutor’s expert was relying on ancient data from 50 years ago. “We have 50 year old data here,” Gardina said. “These bugs were only found in a certain local because nobody is looking for them,” Gardina said. The red legged grass hopper is from coast to coast, Gardina said. The doctor said the distribution patterns are really not known, Gardina said.
Gardina said he found it strange that the prosecution tried to characterize Brothers’ service in the military as something bad, that marines are trained to kill. Gardina told the jury that Brothers was a clerk and scored low on his required gun training.
A defense expert said there was a lack of investigation into the case and we cannot get into the person’s mind. He said the scientific investigation was flawed. Gardina argued that Joanie Harper was only shot four times, rather than five, because that was a re-entry wound. He also argued that Joanie was not killed in the position she was found because the trajectory of the bullet would have had to come up through the bed and there was no evidence that occurred. “It’s physically impossible for Joanie to have been in that position to receive those sounds,” Gardina said. “They’re trying to pull the wool over your eyes to help the prosecution and their theory,” Gardina said. “Her legs are hanging off the bed,” Gardina said. “There is a remote control between her legs. People don’t sleep with their legs off the bed and a remote control between their legs.” Gardina said those wounds were defensive. The FBI agent relied on the prosecution’s criminalist who said Joanie was killed where she lay. “One thing he sidestepped was that Earnestine Harper was a civil right’s activist,” Gardina said. The agent did not know anything about the abrasions on Marques neck that could indicate he was dragged from one room to another, Gardina said. “He just made up evidence is what he did,” Gardina said. “He was just making stuff up as he went.” The agent said the killer got in through the garage, but there was no evidence of that. A defense expert criticized the investigation because trajectory analysis of wounds was not done, Gardina said. “They came up with a theory that was not investigated...not sound medically,” Gardina said.
“The prosecution’s only argument is that everybody lied,” Gardina said.
“Jasper gets a sweetheart deal where he gets 8 months and he is out,” Gardina said. “This is the kind of guy who knows he is going to get in trouble again.” He said the sun sets at 6:30 p.m. because he said he saw Brothers at dusk. Gardina said this change of timing was Robinson’s payback to the DA. Gardina said Audrey Wandick can also not be believed because Brothers would not exchange his rental car with his truck that Wandick saw him in because the truck would be too recognizable. Wandick said the truck was a Datsun. It was really a Chevrolet S10, Gardina said. Gardina said these eye witnesses are all suspect. “A glance, a glance and four seconds, all under very strange circumstances,” Gardina said. He said there were a lot of red herrings. “The prosecution is trying to dirty-up the defendant,” Gardina said. “What they are looking for in this case is allegations of domestic violence and there are none,” Gardina said of the prosecution. A medical assistant said Brothers told her first that he sprained his wrist in bicycle crash but later said it was a domestic dispute. Gardina said this story is not believable because the initial officer would have reported it if the medical assistant had told him as she testified. Gardina said the prosecutor is trying to take advantage of a typographical error on the marriage license of his second marriage with Joanie Harper that he had only been married once before. Gardina said there is ample proof that Brothers told Joanie Harper of his two previous marriages because it caused the end of their first marriage. Gardina showed an apartment rental application that said Brothers was planning on moving his family into the larger apartment in late June 2003.
Calvin Calloway said he talked to defendant outside of the Harper house on July 4, 2003.
“He had three 40-ounce malts,” Gardina said. Gardina said Calloway said he only saw Vincent Brothers for 4 seconds. Vincent Brothers said he chased Calloway out of the alley behind the Harper house in the week before he went to Ohio, Gardina reminds the jury. “Jasper Robinson is kind of unique,” Gardina said. He saw Brothers for less than a second at dusk, Gardina said. Gardina said Robinson comes forward with this story several months after the killings even though he spoke with several officers just after he saw the bodies. Robinson also has a reputation for not telling the truth, Gardina reminds the jurors.
The jurors walk in.
Defense attorney Michael Gardina continues his closing argument. Gardina said there is an absence of evidence linking Brothers to the crime scene. Gardina believes there was female DNA found at the scene and a woman could have stabbed Joanie because the stab wounds were so superficial. Gardina said the DNA found on a gum wrapper in the back yard was new and did not belong to Vincent Brothers. Gardina said many samples of DNA at the house could not be linked to the family or Vincent Brothers. Gardina said the glove tip with Brothers’ DNA could have been old. Nobody knows who else’s DNA was on the glove tip, when it was worn or other crucial details, Gardina said. Gardina said the blond hairs found in the bed where four members of the family were killed. The contributor of these hairs were never identified. Brothers’ clothes were scrutinized for clothes and nothing was found. “The prosecution want to attack Vincent Brothers because they have no evidence they killed this family,” Gardina said. Gardina said the rental car records are untrustworthy. The company kept no effort to keep accurate records, Gardina said. “They have ignored the science, they have ignored the engineering,” Gardina said of the prosecution. “And they want to rely on inaccurate records.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush started court a half hour early to discuss the plans leading up to the verdict. The jury is not present.
The judge said he will allow the jurors to pick their schedule. The bailiff convenes them and gives them their breaks. Defense attorney Michael Gardina agreed. Bush wants everyone to convene in the evenings to deal with notes or verdicts because that is when they typically come. Bush said he will assume the jury will deliberate next week, but Gardina is gone Monday through Wednesday. He said he will be available by phone. Vincent Brothers’ waives the presence of his attorney. Defense Attorney Bryan said he will be present. Bush said he will review the evidence one more time before sending the evidence in with the jurors. They will need a DVD player and a cassette player. Green said a member of her team will teach one of the jurors how to operate the television with DVD player. Bush said the jurors may also want a calculator to check mileage. Bush said he will schedule the motions for the death penalty, should the need arise, will be handled on May 17 and May 18. If the death penalty phase is needed it will begin May 21. A juror needs May 16 off, Wednesday. They will not deliberate on May 18 because one of the jurors need it off. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green needs to leave by 3 p.m. on one day. John Pilios, the news director at channel 17, said there will be a 7 second delay for a live video feed of the verdict to ensure a juror will not accidentally be broadcast. The judge said he will allow it, but if the jury is polled, the voices of the jurors cannot be broadcast. Bush said depening on when he gets the note as to how much notice will be given. “It will be read the day we receive it,” Bush said. He said there will be a 30 minute delay unless it comes in really late. The alternates will be told that they can return for the verdict. But they cannot interact with the jurors. Bush said he will make the jury room available for media interviews.
Both of Brothers’ nieces said they heard Brothers come in that evening on Sunday.
Gardina said the 14-year-old niece was being questioned by three detectives. Tiana sees Brothers there between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Monday morning. At 10:05 on July 7, 2003, Margaret Brothers called Vincent Brothers on Melvin Brothers’ house phone, Gardina said. On Monday morning, Vincent Brothers had a water fight with his brothers’ family. If he just made that trip how could he because he would be so tired. “Here is a guy who has spent his entire career teaching children playing with children and then accuse him of his horrendous act,” Gardina said. “Look at the conduct, he is playing with the kids and having a water fight,” Gardina said. Brothers is again seen at the BOP gas station on Tuesday morning while on the way to North Carolina. “Where is the film from the prosecution to show that Brothers was Bakersfield?” Gardina said, reminding the jurors the prosecution has the burden of proof. Where is the proof of the Ohio to California drive? Gardina asked. “It’s their job to produce that stuff and they couldn’t produce it after four years because it doesn’t exist,” Gardina said. Gardina calls the alleged car exchange at the Airport Bus “bizarre.” Gardina said the prosecution had to invent this to fit the eye witnesses. “How bizarre is that,” Gardina said. “Nobody is going to do that...You’re going to stay in a car nobody knows.” Vincent Brothers does not act funny on the trip to North Carolina, Melvin Brothers’ said. “Vincent’s reaction to the news of the death of his family was absolutely appropriate, absolutely normal, he was devastated,” Gardina said. “Everything this guy did would indicate he had nothing to do with it,” Gardina said. “Vincent Brothers has what we call an alibi,” Gardina said. Gardina called a neuropsychologist who said Brothers has a hard time navigating.
The prosecutor attacked some of his witnesses, but Gardina said that had nothing to do with the basis of their opinions. He calls this “a diversion tactic.”
Gardina said there was a huge seen marker in this case. Gardina said Black Angus cups were out on the table, meaning the kids were eating again after they got back from lunch at the Black Angus. The prosecution said the last meal they ate was breakfast. Cell Phone Calls All the calls were to and from the phone when it was in Ohio, Green said. Gardina reminds the jurors that each element of circumstantial evidence must itself be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. If there is another reasonable explanation the jury must adopt the reasoning that points to Brothers’ innocence. There is not one fact that was established that proves Brothers opened the garage door because nobody saw him do it, Gardina said. Gardina said Brothers would have gotten a ticket if he speeded at this time. If he would have driven at the speed limit he could not have made the trip in the prosecution’s timeline. Gardina said there is evidence Brothers was in Ohio when his family was killed.
Defense attorney Michael Gardina continues his closing argument.
Gardina said getting a key to go through the laundry room is pure speculation. He said there is no evidence of that. Gardina said it was not Earnestine Harper's habit to put the chair under the front door. Gardina said the time of death is also under question. The prosecution pathologist said rigor mortis, or stiffening of the body disappears in 24 to 36 hours. The defense pathologist also said rigor mortis lasts 24 to 36 hours. These experts said heat speeds this process. The family was killed in July. Gardina reminds the jurors that his pathologist frequently works for prosecutors around the country. The defense pathologist relied on several first responders who noted some of the bodies had rigor mortis. Gardina said that puts the time of death at the earliest at 7 p.m. on July 6, 2003, but was more likely closer to 7 a.m. July 7, 2003. Gardina said three experts put the time of death in the same range. Gardina assumes that Brothers was in Ohio at 11 p.m. July 7, 2003. Gardina said this would mean Brothers would have had to make the drive in 22 hours. Gardina said Brothers would have had to drive at speeds that the Neon can't go to make this trip. Gardina said the Neon becomes unsafe driving at 80 miles an hour. Gardina enumerates many different possibilities for timing. "The trip is physically impossible," Gardina said.
“He’s a sociopath who has gone through his life lying and manipulating people,” Green said. “Vincent Brothers lives in a world without truth and he thinks a world without consequences.”
“Joanie was different because she loved him, blindly at first maybe...despite his faults his many faults...she loved him she went back to him,” Green said. “He is a master manipulater he has manipulated people all his life and now he is trying to manipulate you,” Green said to the jurors. Those lies are proof of his guilt, Green said. “Why did he lie, why did he lie, because as its core you have to know that innocent people do not lie,” Green said. Green showed a picture of Brothers with his shirt of and he has a tattoo that “Only God Can Judge Me.” Green asks the jury to find Brothers guilty.
“In order to believe him, all these other people have to be lying,” Green said.
“Where is one piece of evidence that corroborates Vincent Brothers’ testimony,” Green said. Where are the receipts for food and gas? Where are the bank records for cancelled checks to Joanie? “The answer is they don’t exist, it’s all a lie,” Green said. Brothers kept the cast for his arm, but not any receipts or brouchures to a housing development he said he visited in Dayton or the colleges he said he went to or the cap he said he bought for his son? “There is nothing to support what he was saying, not one piece of evidence,” Green said. Where is the fraternity brother he said he bumped into around the time his family was killed, Green asked. “There was no trip to Bloomington...because the Bakersfield was in Bakersfield on July 5, 2003,” Green said. “Why didn’t they call Troy Brothers,” Green said. “He was here, he was in the hallway. If he said he was with him on the trip why wouldn’t he call him?” “IF you were on trial and you were accused of killing your entire family wouldn’t you put every piece of evidence and every witness before the jury,” Green said. Green said Lie #41 is that Brothers was not in a crash with a boy on a bicycle in Ohio. “Here’s the gamble, he cambled on the fact that we had been too stupid to track down records from Columbus Police Department,” Green said. He took the stand and on that day Vincent Brothers would have been right we were too stupid, we did not know, Green said. Wayne Wallace a defense investigator found the records in May 2006. On May 23, 2003, he interviewed Brian Adkins. In Nov. 2005, Madira Dowell was tracked down, the other witness of the crash. “The defendant had access to those records that showed there had been this accident,” Green said. “He knew all about that accident because he had all this information available to him.” The prosecution team had not found these records when Brothers took the stand. Every witness was untape-recorded. “He makes the accident his own,” Green said. Brothers listened to the eye witnesses to the crash. “He heard he listened he got up there he raised his right hand and he swore to tell the truth he looked you int he eye and he told the biggest lie of all,” Green said. “To illustrate the manipulator Vincent Brothers is,” Green shows the jury a quote. “And I saw a little girl that looked like my daughter Margaret and so when I drove by, I waved hi to her and she waved hi to me,” Green quoted Brothers as saying on a poster board. “He wasn’t generous with his time, he wasn’t generous with his money,” Green recounting Shann Kern’s testimony. “The kind of stuff that I believe is only on made for tv movies happened,” Green said. Brothers finished testifying on April 24, Green said. Green asked for certified copy that no ambulance was dispatched. The detective searched again for the records on April 25, 2003. The detective found a report of a crash at Hague and Steele. Detectives flew back to Ohio, interviewed Tamba Lebbie who denied the crash. Eventually Lebbie said he was the driver. “Tamba Lebbie was a nice man, believable,” Green said. He was wrong about the time, Green said, but he was not wrong about the driver. She said Lebbie had no motivation to lie. “It somewhat reafirms my faith in the system that the truth came out,” Green said. “That is how the defendant tried to subvert the system in the most vile deplorable way,” Green said. “Why would he lie,” Green said. “He lied because he killed his family and he is guilty of these horrible crimes.”
Green said Brothers lied to meet the evidence.
Lie #13 Brothers said he lost his phone on the way back to California on the bus in April 2003. He said that because his telephone was not with him when he was making the ATM purchase. Lie #14 Brothers testified that Joanie Harper did not leave the house after she had the baby, but Green said only the baby would stay at home for 40 days after birth. Lie #15 Brothers said he called his daughter for her 8th grade graduation looking for direction to the school. But Brothers did not call to explain why he missed the graduation. “Why wouldn’t you call your 14 year old daughter after you missed her graduation,” Green said. “What kind of parent would do that?” Green said. Lie #16 Brothers said he wanted to move into a two-bedroom apartment to accommodate Marshall, but Green said only 4 people are allowed in that apartment. Lie #17 Brothers said he never denied his children, but two women said he did deny he had children. Lie #18 Green asked Brothers how many affairs he had. Brothers said he did not recall any. Lie #19 Brothers said he told his wife about his two previous marriage. Joanie Harper’s diary said otherwise. Brothers said he was driving while Joanie Harper filled out the marriage document in Las Vegas. He didn’t indicate the number of marriages he had. Two other people testified Brothers was with Joanie when the documents were filled out, but Brothers said he was int he car and Joanie was filling them out. Lie #20 Brothers lied about going to his apartment to have sex with a woman. Lie #21 Brothers’ second wife said Brothers denied his marriage and Brothers denied this on the stand. Lie #23 Brothers lied about an affair. Lie #24 Brothers lied about another affair, which a woman testified about. Lie #25 Brothers told Lupe Hernandez he was not married, she testified. He denied this in her testimony. Lie #26 Same about children Lie #28 Brothers took a trip in Spet. 23 to Columbus. Melvin Brothers testimony was that Brothers showed up unannounced. “He had to show up because he had to make a point,” Green said. Watts said Melvin was freightened by Vincent. Brothers testified that he took the Greyhound bus, but said he did not remember which city he took the bus from. The evidence will show he did not take the bus at all, Green said. Brothers’ friend rented a car on Sept. 22 and Brothers’ name was on it. Brothers said he let Troy take the car on “business.” Green said this is not true because of the wire calls where Brothers is asking another brother where Troy Brothers was. “The defendant took the rental car,” Green said. “He does not want anyone to know that he is capable of driving the car from Bakersfield to Columbus by himself because that is what happened.” The car was rented on Sept. 22. He lies to Gary Ray. Vincent Brothers told Gary Ray he turned the car back in even though a dinking can be heard in the background of the tape. Brothers said the mileage on the records 6,408 miles. It was turned in on Sept. 29. “How many times did he say that he couldn’t read directions to fit with (a doctor’s) testimony,” Green said. Even the defendant said he left on Wednesday and it took three days to get to Columbus, Green said. Brothers could not arrive by Friday, Green said. Brothers said three days is Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. He made a call from Bakersfield on Wednesday night, Green said. Lie #29 Green said Brothers testified that he did not retrieve his wife’s keys when she was taken away in an ambulance. Green said that is not true. Lie #30 Brothers said Joanie made travel arrangements for him. Kelsey Spann said he made his own. Lie #33 Brothers told Kelsey Spann he was going back in July 2003 to collect money from his brothers. He testified otherwise, Green said. Lie #34 Brothers said he saw Raquel in April 2003, but she said she did not see him. Lie #35 Brothers said he told Melvin Brothers not to talk to police once or twice. He said he only said that once or twice. Brothers said he turned over his check book to his brother-in-law Will Colmbs. Brothers called his Will Jennings. Colmbs said Brothers had a checkbook. Lie #38 A hairdresser said Brothers told her he was a single postal inspector from Long Beach.
Lie #11
Brothers said he cheated out of “ignorance on my part.” Brothers said it was a mistake and he is sorry for it. “That wasn’t a mistake,” Green said. “We all make mistakes...but what Vincent Brothers engaged in was a pattern and that is a whole lot different than a mistake,” Green said. Brothers cheated on another woman he was married to. Brothers cheated with several women during his last marriage to Joanie Harper, Green said. Brothers said he cheated twice during this marriage. Green explains that one of the women visited Brothers 77 times in jail and she lied on the witness stand about not sleeping with Brothers during his last marriage because she was trying to cover for him. Green said this woman told a detective that she did have sex with Brothers on June 29, 2003. Lie #12 The Kansas City baseball game that Brothers said he went to see in April 2003. Brothers said that while he was there he heard his wife was sick and took a bus to Bakersfield. Green said that Brothers’ defense team “got smart” and found out there the Kansas City Royals were not playing in Kansas City and Brothers changed his story that he was going to see them in Chicago. They were on the road, Green said. Green has a schedule for the Kansas City Royals. “Somehow he found out,” Green said. “What matters is he is manipulating this evidence to manipulate you.”
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green resumes her closing argument.
Green explains that malice aforethought is an intent to kill. Green said there is no question that the killer intended to kill the family. Green showed the jurors the verdict form. The jurors must find if Brothers is guilty or not guilty for the death of each victim. The jurors must also decide if Brothers discharged a firearm in the killing. As to Joanie Harper, the jurors are also asked if a weapon was used in the killing because she was also stabbed. After deciding each of these, the jurors must also decide if Brothers is guilty of the special circumstance of multiple murders. Green said theft if not a motive because nothing of value was taken from the scene except Joanie Harper’s cellular telephone. Green said sexual assault is also eliminated. “They did not have enemies, they were church going women and they were well liked,” Green said. “Who had the motive to kill the children?” Green said. “Ask youself that over and over again, the answer is Vincent Brothers he is the only one who had the motive to kill a 4-year-old, a 2-year-old and a 6-week-old baby.” “You could speculate that Marques and Lyndsey were killed by a stranger because they were potential witnesses,” Green said. But she said a stranger would not stage the crime scene because they do not think there is anything to link them to the scene. “Who would turn a gun on a 6-week old infant,” “Who would hold that gun 6 inches away from the back of a sleeping child,” Green said. “How does a stranger stand to benefit from the killing of the child? The answer is there is no benefit,” Green said. Green said divorce was not an option because he would pay a lot of money. If Brothers had court ordered child support of $500 for his oldest child, he would have paid a lot more for the rest, Green said. “If VB really loved his family, if it was true that he was going to move into that Barnes Street house...how could he have possibly ever moved into that house in December?” Green said. “He would not have wanted to live there because his grief would have been so overwhelming...every room would have reminded him of his family,” Green said. He could have gotten out of buying the house, Green said. “He had dollar signs in his eyes,” Green said. “He made $100,000 on that house in four months,” Green said. “It’s all about money, money was important to him,” Green said. Vincent Brothers did not contribute any money or pay back any money for the money the Harper family paid for the funeral, Green said. “Why was he willing to pay $2,500 for an attorney for Melvin Brothers and not once cent to pay back Joanie’s family for the burial of his family,” Green said. “I will never be able to make you understand how a father can kill his children, I will never have that answer for you,” Green said. “We must accept that certain things happen that are beyond our understanding,” Green said. “I do not have to prove to you how things like this happened, I only have to prove that they happened and that he did it,” Green said. “I would hope that any doubts you might have had were wiped away when Vincent Brothers took the witness stand,” Green said. “A presumption of innocents does not mean that the defendant is presumed to tell the truth,” “On direct examination he was quiet he was tearful...we never saw that man on cross examination...we saw the manipulator...we saw the person who thinks he’s smarter than anybody else and he certainly thinks he’s smarter than me,” Green said. “I’m not sure that he did not sound believable,” Green said. “What we saw was him staging, stanging on the stand, trying to separate himself from the evidence in the case that so binds him to this crime,” Green said. “I could upwards of 40 lies in his testimony,” Green said. Green said Brothers lied about what he did on the Thursday before the killings. The girls went to a fireworks show, but he did not mention that. Brothers later said he fell asleep that evening to explain why he did not know they were going to the fireworks show. Brothers said he talked with his nieces when they got back from the parade Friday night. They said he was not there at this time. Green said Brothers said Melvin took the credit card. But she believes this was not true. Lie #5 Green said the rental car company called him, but she believes he called them because the rental car was not due until the day after the call. Lie #6, Green said. Brothers said Joanie Harper left him because a minister told her to, but she wrote in a diary she left him because he did not tell her about a previous marriages. “This is Joanie Harper reaching out of the grave to call Vincent Brothers a liar,” Green said.
“Some of you know more about the event than others,” Bush said. He said something happened yesterday.
Bush told the jurors than they may feel a loss because they have been together for so long, but they have to put that behind them. A new juror was selected. She is female and lives in Ridgecrest. Her father is a retired chief of police of California City, and her husband is sergeant at California City. Her son is also a Kern County Deputy. She appears conflicted about her views on the death penalty. This leaves four alternate jurors remaining.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush opens up the courtroom to the public. There has been a motion to excuse juror #10. The court has granted that motion.
Bush said he closed to court “in order to provide the jurors a forum in which they can speak openly and freely without concerns about the public or the media being present.” Bush said that jurors at times are reluctant to speak about another juror in open court. “I believe there would be prejudice.” Bush said he told the jurors that the transcript would be sealed but he may revisit the issue after the trial.
After spending Tuesday in closed-door meetings, Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush had another closed-door meeting with one juror.
Bush has barred the public from these hearings.
All of the jurors were taken in individually.
All the jurors were then ushered back into the courtroom, but the court was still closed to the public.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush relayed a message through his bailiff that open court session will not resume today. He said he will not address the media until tomorrow.
12 jurors have been called in to talk to the judge so far. There are 17 jurors total including five alternates. It appears as though the judge is calling the jurors in one-by-one.
As many as five jurors were taken into a closed hearing this morning.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush closed a hearing to the public this morning because he said "something has come to his attention." Only the attorneys and Vincent Brothers were allowed to remain. The judge has not said what this hearing is about or why he closed it to the public.
A court representative said the trial may not resume for about an hour.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush closed the courtroom to the public this morning because "something has come to his attention."
Bush did not explain further what he was discussing with the defense attorneys, the prosecution and Vincent Brothers himself. One of the jurors entered the courtroom with a bailiff while the attorneys were talking with the judge. This morning the prosecution is expected to continue making closing arguments.
Green said the crime scene proves Brothers is the killer. Green said the house in one of the most visible in the area and had the most security.
“We know she had a gun available to her,” Green said of Earnestine. Green said the killer had to have had a key. He would have had access to the garage door opener because he was the one who replaced the garage door opener. There was only one garage door opener found. Green said that on June 13, 2003, Brothers brought a Jeep to have it smogged. “At least one one ocassions. the defendant did have access to Joanie Harper’s keys,” Green said. “He did have the opportunity to have a key made to that house.” “No one knew Earnestine Harper had a gun, but she did,” Green said. If Brothers did not want to chance waking the family with the garage door, he could have come in earlier and removed the dowell for the sliding glass door and returned later. Audrey Wandick knew Brothers for many years through her son who went to Fremont. Green said Wandick recognized Brothers on Sunday in the afternoon. “She knew differently,” Green said. “She had seen him.” “Do you think it is a coincidence that she saw him between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.” ”That’s when he went in the house at 4:05 p.m.” Green said when the phone went off the hook. Green said Wandick would have no reason to lie. Mark Safarik said Joanie was the primary target of the attack. “She is shot first and she is stabbed later on,” Green said. “She is the person Vincent Brothers blames for putting him in this situation,” Green said. “In his mind she has left him no other option than killing her, the three kids and Earnestine.” Green said he gets the knife from the Cutco block. Green said the knife and the gun are never found. She is shot once in the neck, twice int he had, twice in the arm. Laskowski said the lack of blood spatter suggested she was shot where she lay. Green said Dr. Dollinger thought one of the five entry wounds, may have been a re-entry wound. But the count of the shell casings suggest she was shot five times, Green said. Green said a shell casing found by the door could have been caught in the boot of one of the responders to the crime scene. Dr. Hanks said she could not say if Joanie was shot four or five times. Green believes Brothers shot Joanie first, then Lyndsey and Earnestine would have been alerted by the shots. Earnestine was confronted in the hallway with the killer. “She came to the defense of the people that she loved,” Green said. “You’ve seen that house...you saw the model does not do justice to how confusing the floorplan of that house was,” Green said. “At some point Marques was sitting up in bed with his dead sister his dead mother we cannot understand how scared that little boy was....we can’t imagine the kind of fear that would cause him to bite into his hand,” Green said. “To bite down on it to where you are biting through your skin is incredibly painful.” “Ask youself...why didn’t he get up...why didn’t he run.” “Why didn’t he go fromt he position he was in to his mom and say mommy wake up,?” “The evidence tells us he was an obedient child,” “When his father Vincent Brothers was in that room his father said don’t move, stay put,” Green said. “He put that gun up to the right temple of that boy and he shot him,” Green said. “And then he either shot the 6-week-old in the back.” “There’s another reason we know this happened,” Green said. She said it was Jasper Robinson. People like Jasper Robinson don’t like being in the public eye, Green said.
Green said the trip would be over 4,000 miles from Bakersfield and back. The car has 5,200 with all the trips she believes he made. That leaves 200 miles for driving around.
Green said Brothers trips around the Midwest only add up to 2,600 miles, about half the mileage he accumulated on the Dodge Neon. Green said the trip from Ohio to Bakersfield in 27.5 hours. “For $50,000 we got answers like, ‘It was the next best thing.’” with the expert who analyzed the trip across country. “To people like them, the truth is just an inconvenience,” Green said. She asked him many questions he was not prepared to answer. “If you are going to do that you are not going to buy snacks along the way,” Green said. “The answer is ‘no.’” Green said 30 hours to make the trip is logical and reasonable. “When someone is being paid $50,000...do you think answers like ‘it’s the next best thing’ is good enough, because I don’t,” Green said.
Green accused Vincent Brothers of trying to create an alibi for himself by giving his credit card to his brother.
Green proposes Brothers left at 3 p.m. July 3, 2003, after leaving the China Buffet in Columbus and arrived at midnight July 4 giving him 30 hours to make the trip. Audrey Wandick testified she saw Vincent Brothers driving his truck in Bakersfield on Sunday July 6, 2003. “What better way not to draw attention to yourself,” Green said of driving his own car. Calvin Calloway testified he saw Vincent Brothers at midnight on July 4, 2003. Green said Calloway is credible because he said Brothers had a cast on his arm. Brothers said he shooed Calloway away from the alley behind his house. “If you are going to kill your family, isn’t the night of the fourth of july the perfect time to do that,” Green said. “It’s a lot better than a Sunday afternoon.” Green said Brothers realized someone saw him and decided against killing his family, then returned to his apartment at Real Road. Brothers’ neighbor said he heard someone upstairs at his apartment, but he denied it at the trial. The officers found the sliding glass door open. “The evidence strongly suggests he stayed in his apartment until he could formulate a new plan,” Green said. “There wasn’t going to be a chance for a third trip back east,” Green said. He was familiar with their Sunday routine. Green said there is a second possibility. There is a phone call to Brothers’ cell phone. “It’s clear the phone remained in Columbus, Ohio,” Green said. “Somebody talked to his mother, either it was Melvin, it was Troy.” “It was clear the phone was there,” Green said. “If you think Calvin Calloway was wrong or mistaken...then the evidence also shows that the defendant’s where abouts unaccounted for from 9 p.m. Friday to midnight Tuesday July 8, 2003.” Green said there is the possibility that Brothers left from 8 p.m. on Friday. Tammy and Shemitha testified to this. Green said Tiana Brothers was not badgered, that she was lying. Melvin Brothers told a lot of stories, Green said.
Michelle Baptiste and Kelsey Spann testified that Earnestine Harper was very security conscious.
“She was careful, she was security conscious, call it paranoid if you like, she was careful,” Green said. “Would Earnestine Harper have allowed anyone in that house,” Green asked. “Anyone knew she wouldn’t have.” “The killer had to be aware of the Harper family’s routine,” Green said. “Why is this individual being targeted for this crime,” “The answer is that Vincent Brothers was running out of time,” Green recalls the April trip. “The timing of the April trip to Columbus was no coincidence,” Green said. Brothers started looking for an apartment of his own on March 22. Around that same time Brothers nixed the mother-in-law suit in the house he was building. Brothers said he got into an argument with a gang member. Kelsey Spann said Brothers was angry at Earnestine with her in his personal business. “He said nothing about this contrived made up story,” “If you take a few minutes and you think about the defendant’s story, you realize the sheer absurdity of it that he is scared for his safety but he is leaving his family behind,” Green said. “He is so worried about his safety that he leaves his pregnant wife and his 4-year-old and his 2-year-old on P Street,” “I want to say, ‘Are you kidding me?’” “That is a lie,” Green said of Brothers story that Joanie Harper was on bed rest. She was transported to the hospital on January 31. “He didn’t give a damn,” Green said of Brothers reaction to his wife’s transportation by ambulance. “She didn’t move, he didn’t ask her to move because he didn’t want her there,” “The plan was in place the plan was happening,” “He testified confidently that it was March 28 and that was just a lie,” of the date Joanie Harper was transported by ambulance from school. “Vincent Brothers’ willingness to lie because the ends justify the means,” Joanie Harper’s own physician said she was “doing well” in May before she gave birth. Vincent Brothers realized the marriage was a huge mistake. “Who is in his life again around this time, Carla Tafoya, that is not a coincidence,” Green said. Nadia Knight saw Brothers and Tafoya in Santa Monica in 20003. “The only women the evidence showed Brothers loved was Carla Tafoya,” He found a card from Carla Tafoya. “Men don’t do that, men don’t keep birthday cards from old lovers unless it means something to them,” “If he divorces Joanie he is stuck with the responsibility of child support,” “If he kills Joanie Harper he is not just stuck with the financial responsibility of raising three children, but he is also stuck with the emotional responsibility,” “This man his entire life has lived in such a way that it was always about him,” His marriages were rocky. “His relationship with his children Marques and Lyndsey was basically non existent, he was not a loving father, he was not a loving husband,” Green said. “We never knew how the defendant got to Bakersfield,” Green believes the trip in April was either a dry-run or that he intended to kill his family and he was unable. “What I now believe based ont he eviodence was the defendant stole a clicker, he had it with him in April when he came back and he was going to gain entrance through the garage...what he did not know was that Joanie Harper changed the locks.” “There was nothing to suggest in April 2003 that Joanie Harper was having any problems,” “He came home because he was going to kill his family,” “That lie was created to meet the evidence...he is the once person who sat in this trial and listened to every witness who went before him.” “There is no medical evidence that Joanie went into April,” “Does anyone think that is true? He may have taken that but, I don’t know, but he did not take that bus because his wife was in labor...That was a story created to meet the evidence.” “There is no way that he wouldn’t have called during the 40 hours,” Green said of the bus trip. “Why if you are telling the truth do you need to re-read your testimony,” Green said. “Why?” Brothers booked the tickets on March 31, 13 days before the trip in April. “The timing of that fits into him moving out and downsizing the Barnes Street address,” Kelsey Spann said he seems to be engaging the childrne. “If you were intent on killing your children...how are you going to act...are you going to act overly disinterested overly mean to the children?” Green said. “He engaged to some extent with the children,” “But make no mistake, you think I have not talked He got Marques date of birth wrong, “The evidence is Brothers was an abscent father in the beginning years of their lives,” Green said. He did not go to the doctor’s apointment after hearing the baby may have birth defects. He did not go to lamaz classes. “He offered no examples, not one piece of information to show one level of involvement with Marques or Lyndsey before the Fall of 2002,” Green said that is the timeframe when Joanie Harper became pregnant with Marques. “That is the time Carla Tafoya told him it was over,” Green said. “He’s trapped in this marriage, he has two kids, he has one on the way, he has to come up with a new plan,” Green said. Green said Brothers did not take Marques or Lyndsey with Columbus Ohio. “Why wouldn’t you go to Belport New York to see your brothers and sisters or to North Carolina to visit his mother?” Green said because it was further east. Green said Watts and Krueger did not check the odometer on the Neon because they did not suspect Brothers drove to kill his family.
Green addresses the medical aspect of the time of death.
Green said the opinion of the examiner and the defense pathologist are not reliable. Only Dr. Dollinger, who died before he could testify, was reliable. Green said coroner’s investigator Ken Noack made 10 mistakes in his work at the house. “It goes to show his lack of expertise,” Green said. “It was very deficient in terms of the investigation he made at the scene,” Green said. Dollinger said the family was killed no later than the early evening or afternoon of July 6, 2003, based on stomache contents, which were eaten one to two hours before death. Green said pathologist Ophoven was biased because she was paid and routinely testies for the defense. Green slammed Ophoven because she said there was no vitrious fluid taken when there really was. “Her demeanor on the stand was less than professional,” Green said she is confused by these experts who do not come in prepared to be cross examined. “It was almost as if I should not be questioning her,” Green said. Green criticizes Ophoven for not relying on the clothes they were wearing or the evidence of the breakfast. “She was not careful, she was not careful on the vitrious fluid, she was not careful about the blood on the bottom of Lyndsey’s foot, she was not careful,” Green said. “Her statement was, ‘I looked at as much of it as I could,’” Green said. What does that mean, Green said. Did she run out of time? Green asked. Green also slams another defense witness for “going to the next best thing.” “Does that sound like compatant professional opinions, opinions you want to rely on,” Green asks. “No.” “Dr. Ophoven was unprepared, she did not have all of her material with her, and she did a very cursory review of the case,” Green said. Green slammed Ophoven for not reviewing the stomach contents. “Dr. Ophoven’s testimony is not one that you should rely on for time of death,” Green said. “I think that is what cross examination if for, to show the bias of a witess.” “Dr. Ophoven he first of many defense witnesses who prove the old addage, you get what you pay for,” Green said. Prosecution pathologist Debra Hanks said she was killed 3-6 hours after eating based on the remained or stomach contents. “That is consistent to the meal at Black Angus,” Green said. That puts the time of death from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Green said they did not eat that meal on Monday because Kelsey called the Harper house all day Monday and got no answer. “The fact that there were no outgoing phone calls,” Green said, proves the family had died before Monday.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green begins opening arguments.
“In terms of the law of homicide, it is fairly straight forward,” Green said. “I was to apologize if ...I ofended you in the manner with which I questioned the witness,” Green said. “I certainly did not mean to offend any of you and if I did, I apologize,” “We know that the last person to talk to or see any members of the Harper family was Kelsey Spann,” Green said. Spann expected them to attend 6 p.m. services on Sunday but they did not show up. Spann went to the house on Monday evening. She went to 24 Hour Fitness at 9 p.m. worked out and called the Harper landline. The next morning “Kelsey Spann got up, said her prayers,” and called Vincent Brothers. Brothers did not answer the call. He did not return that phone call on Tuesday July 8, 2003. Kelsey tried the P Street door. “She saw the VCR or the cable box hanging off the side of the TV...and she knew that something was wrong,” Green said. “She went around to the Third Street door,” “She went around to the sliding glass door and it opened and then she knew for sure that something was wrong because that door should have been closed,” Kelsey Spann called 911. Jasper Robinson went into the house. “That is a sight that haunts him to this very day,” Officer Scott Miller saw the bodies of the children. Miller came upon Earnestine Harper’s body. “I can only wonder about the investigation,” “What if everyone had told the truth from the start,” “What if Melvin Brothers had told the truth from the start,” “How much quicker how much simpler would this investigation have been,” “The investigation took a while to get underway,” “I believe beyond any reasonable doubt...that Vincent Brothers is the killer of his family,” “What I don’t know is what the 17 of you are thinking,” Green said. “The timing of the homicides revolves around Joanie Harper and Earnestine Harper’s activities of that day,” Green said. This was the first time Joanie Harper was taking the baby to church.
The judge explains the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence. Both are equally weighted. Each fact must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. If there are two interpretations which are reasonable, the jurors must accept the interpretation that points to innocence.
If the defendant fabricated evidence, that could be proof of consciousness of guilt, the judge told the jurors. “Innocent recollection is not uncommon,” the judge in A witness who is willfully dishonest to one material point is to be distructed in others and the jurors can reject the entirety of the witness’s testimony. Motive need not be shown, the judge said. Presence of motive may tend to show the defendant is guilty, the absence of motive may tend to show the defendant is not guilty. Expert witnesses have testified. The jurors should consider the qualifications and the materials on which the person based the opinion. Brothers is accused of murder with malice aforethought, or intentional killing of a human being. The killings must be willful, deliberate and premeditated to be first degree murder. Special circumstances of multiple murder must also be decided. The jurors must also decide if Brothers is guilty of personal use of a deadly or dangerous weapon.
The prosecution and defense in the Vincent Brothers' trial have presented all of the testimony.
The judge still needs to sort through some exhibits. After a break, the judge will read directions about the law to the jury and the prosecutor will begin her closing arguments.
The defense has asked for a mistrial because police records were admitted as an exhibit that a crash happened in Columbus Ohio between a man driving a car and a boy on a bicycle.
The defense believes this record is unreliable and Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green agrees that according to the case law the record should not have been completely allowed. She said that parts of the record can be allowed, but not the description of the driver. But Green does not believe there should be a mistrial. She thinks the document should be redacted. Vincent Brothers said he was in a crash in Ohio on the same day the prosecution believes his family was killed in Bakersfield. Green found a document from the Columbus Police Department’s record that a person with a different license plate was in a crash at the same place and time with the same circumstances. A man testified last week that he got into a crash at that place with those circumstances, but he did not have a precise time and date of the crash. Defense attorney Anthony Bryan said he believes the entire document is unreliable. Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush said the prosecution was the victim of a discovery violation because the defense did not give this document. Had the prosecution had more time with this document, investigators could have researched this further. The man whose name is on the document as the reporting caller said he was not the caller, thus he cannot authenticate it, Bryan said. But another witness said this man made the caller, the judge reminded Bryan. Citing the discovery violation and the testimony of the other witness, the judge ruled the document would be redacted, not thrown out.
Defense attorney Michael Gardina questions Tamba Lebbie.
Gardina put up a photo of Vincent Brothers in a t-shirt. He wears a suit and tie during trial. Lebbie said he was going west. He said this was a very populated area. “You are very dark skinned,” Gardina said. He said Lebbie’s hair is short. “It didn’t look like a new car did it,” Gardina asked. No, Lebbie said. Lebbie said he never spoke with the people in the crash, never gave them his information. He said he returned to the seen about an hour later. He never talked to an ambulance driver. Lebbie said he is 5 feet 10 inches tall. Lebbie said he never called the police to report the accident. Lebbie said he was stopped with the boy for 30 to 60 seconds. Lebbie said he saw no scratches on his car. Lebbie said no one said anything about a lawsuit. Lebbie said the boy was not hurt. Lebbie said the investigators who spoke to him last week were courteous to him. The investigator who initially called him was also courteous. “They told you a man was on trial, didn’t they,” “That’s right,” “They asked him if you knew a Madira Dowell,” He denies knowing Dowell or anyone else in the crash. He denies knowing Wayne Wallace and Martin Yantz, defense investigators. The same for Stan Mosley, another investigator. Lebbie said he would not need directions driving in this area. Lebbie said he initially denied the crash to the investigators last week. Lebbie said he knew somebody’s life was at stake. “The reason why, I didn’t want to answer until I knew who I was talking to,” Lebbie said. “Once I saw their badges, I said okay, now I know who I am talking to.” He said he saw no badges or guns. He told the detectives he had a Mexican mechanic by the name of Jorge who drove the car. He said he sold the car to a man from Africa and he may have been driving the car at the time. He did not know how to get in contact with the mechanic, he told detectives. He said Jorge lived in the area of Hague and Steele and he may have been in the accident but he was not in the accident, he now admits he told detectives last week. He said he does not remember the license plate number. Green throws a paper. Lebbie said he sold the car to a customer in 2003 and this customer would drive it on occasion. Lebbie said “I sure did,” had a mechanic named Jorge in the year he got in the crash. Lebbie said he said Jorge was the driver of the car to investigators. Last week he told the investigators there were multiple drivers of the car. “How many times do you think you denied driving that car on Hague and Steele,” vague He said he only denied driving the car to the first investigators once. He never provided the address to anyone. Lebbie said he could never find Jorge’s address. Lebbie said he never called back the detectives that he was the driver of the car because he never met them personally. “You made a conscious decision to lie,” “You might call it a lie...I have no reason to provide any information to that person, that is my stand,” Lebbie said. Lebbie said the first visit form the Bakersfield police sergeants, he did not see badges. Lebbie said he does not have the address of the man he sold the car. He said it was not asked for. “Did you ever tell them that you were at Hague at school at any time?” “Something that specific did not come up,” Lebbie said. “One, I was not sure of what accident... three I didn’t know who I was talking to,” Lebbie said. “There could possibly have been many other accidents there,” Lebbie said. “When the date the car and the description fell into place, that is when I knew it was the accident,” Lebbie said. “They told you there was an accident involving your car and the little boy,” Gardina said. Lebbie said it still hadn’t fallen into place. Lebbie was shown the photograph of Brothers that Gardina put on the screen. The officers showed him. They gave him the license number of the Sable, Gardina said. Lebbie said he does not remember this. After they told him the license, the date, the make and model, Lebbie said it was Jorge, Gardina said. “It just sends my brain spinning in all directions,” Lebbie said of Gardina’s question. How many times did he say it was Jorge the Hispanic mechanic? Lebbie said he does not know. Lebbie said he has been awake for seven days straight. Lebbie said he remembers the detectives telling him that some one was on trial. Did he tell Watts he was afraid of being sued? He said that was one reason, but the main reason was that he did not know who he was talking to. Lebbie said he was showed ID in the second meeting. The first meeting was brief, Lebbie said. Lebbie was born in 1947. He is 59 years old. He said he seldom wears a hat.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the stand Tamba Lebbie. He lives in Columbus Ohio.
He is a used car dealer. He has done that for 6 years. He works seven days a week. His business is in Columbus Ohio. He lived in California 10 years ago. He worked in the department of agriculture in pest prevention. He worked in El Centro. He lived in Sierra Leon. He has lived her 30 years. He was in a crash in 2003. He was living in Columbus at that time. He had several cars available to him. He had one vehicle in his name as his personal vehicle and others at the dealership. He drove a 1993 Mercury Sable, he said. Green said it was a 1994. She shows him a document recording this. The car was a 4-door. License EL94NN. He said it sounds familiar, but he is not quite sure. He sold that car to a friend. He said he sold it in 1993. He recalls the car being green and the color changed to a light green. “I would call it fading green.” He is familiar with the streets. He got into a crash at the intersection of Steele and Hauge Avenue. “I came to the intersection when the light was red...As soon as I started moving this little boy came and hit me on my side of the car...I had no major damage on the car, but I did see his front wheel was damaged a little bit.” He saw an adult take the bicycle and the boy home by the time he got to the side of the road. He had never seen this little boy before. He believes the boy was between 6 and 10 years. The boy was Caucasian. He never found out his name. “When he hit my car he and the bicycle fell,” He said. “He got up quickly,” Lebbie said. A Caucasian man took the little boy by the hand and took him home. What time? “I think it was a holiday weekend because of the festivities around town,” Lebbie said. “It could have been Labor Day.” “I saw a lot of barbecue going on a lot of drinking,” Lebbie said. “I planned to go look at some cars,” Lebbie said. Lebbie believes it was a weekend. “I know it was a holiday, I don’t remember,” Lebbie said. Lebbie said he has only ever been in one car crash with a boy on a bicycle. He said it was summer time. “I went away and then I came back to make sure the little boy was okay...but when I went back there was nobody there. The street was clear and calm...There was no ambulance,” Lebbie said. There was no damage to his car. Years later someone called him about the crash. He does not remember the man’s name. “They called me on the phone about four times,” Lebbie said. “The person talked to me four times when he was presumably in Columbus,” Lebbie said. The person asked about the accident. “They asked me if I was involved in an accident and I said no I’m not sure because I was not sure...The first thing is the place where the accident place was very populated,” He said he wanted to make sure it was the right crash. Law enforcement first contacted him last weekend. He sold the Mercury Sable to a man whose name he does not remember. Abdul Monsure, is the man Green said he sold the car to.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green called to the witness stand Elizabeth Marquez.
She had sex with Vincent Brothers. She would not describe their relationship as dating, it was “just sexual.” Marquez said she had sex with Brothers in 2003 in March or April. Defense attorney Michael Gardina questions Marquez.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the witness stand Pastor Jack Stewart. He is a ministor for the East Bakersfield Church of Christ.
Earnestine Harper was a member of the congregation from 1995 to her death along with Joanie Harper. They were very faithful in attending services. Joanie Harper asked him to come to her house to discuss her marriage along with Earnestine Harper in April or May of 2000. Joanie Harper told him she left Vincent Brothers because he had not informed her of a previous marriage and there was also infidelity. Defense attorney Michael Gardina questioned Stewart. Stewart said he did not counsel Joanie Harper that her marriage with Vincent Harper was invalid, rather he told her she would be able to divorce.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green called to the witness stand Eddie Harper. He is the brother of Joanie Harper and the son of Earnestine Harper.
He is 50. He lives in Winter Haven Florida where he has lived for 21 years. He flew to Bakersfield after his family was killed. He was involved with planning the funeral. Harper said Brothers did not pay any money for the funerals. Harper said he called Kelsey Spann to get in touch with Brothers. Harper said Brothers agreed to release the bodies of his three children and his wife. But Brothers did not give him a telephone number to get in contact with him. Harper is a minister. Brothers never gave money to Harper for the funeral and burial expenses. Brothers said a friend named Will Jennings handled those issues for him. Defense attorney Michael Gardina questioned Eddie Harper. Gardina said Brothers arranged for the funeral services through a mortuary. Harper said that is not true. Gardina shows documents to Harper. Harper said $10,000 was removed from Joanie Harper’s bank account, but that money was not used for funeral expenses. Harper denies that the funeral arrangements were handled by Brothers’ then-attorney Curtis Floyd. Green questions Harper. The funeral and burial arrangements paid from $40,000 to $50,000. His family paid $7,000 to $10,000. A victim's assistance fund helped pay for the rest.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green said she waved to her witness and she believed one of the jurors thought she was waving at him. Green said she explained to the juror that she was not waving at him.
The juror was brought in and he said he would not hold the interaction against either side. The defense asked for a mistrial as a result of the interaction, but the judge denied it.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush said he denied a motion from the defense. He did not further discuss what this motion was. The judge spoke with Vincent Brothers and his attorneys for about an hour.
The trial resumed.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush said he will allow the prosecution to present a pathologist report from a deceased pathologist who supports her theory on the time the Harper family was killed.
Pathologist Armand Dollinger wrote a report before he died putting the time of death of the Harper family from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday July 6, 2003. The prosecution and defense pathologists both testified that the family showed signs of stiffening when they were found at 7 a.m. on Tuesday July 8, 2003, and that stiffening wears off from 24 to 36 hours after death. This process is hastened by the heat, they said. The time of death is crucial to the case because the prosecution believes Vincent Brothers drove from Ohio to Bakersfield to kill his family and drove back to Ohio afterward. The defense objected to Dollinger's report being admitted because the defense could not question him about his qualifications.
For the second time this week, Vincent Brothers' attorneys have asked for and won a closed-door meeting with Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush.
Bush closed the courtroom to the prosecution and the audience Friday morning. The judge asked Michael Gardina what he wanted. He gave a short answer, but it was imperceptible from the audience in court. Gardina previously asked for a closed-door session earlier this week because he said he had a conflict of interest and could not continue with the case after the prosecution accused both of Brothers' attorneys of wrong-doing.
Green would like to call Eddie Harper and Pastor Jack Stuart to the stand even though they were both in the audience. Witnesses were excluded from viewing the trial.
Green will also call Sgt. Watts and Elizabeth Marques. Marques will testify she had sex with Brothers in 2003. Green said she may call a couple of other witnesses. Bush said Harper and Stuart can testify even though they were in the audience at times. Green would like to move into evidence the pages of the diary. She wants the judge to say why parts are blacked out. The judge said he will write on it “redacted by court order.”
Bush said he researched the law concerning annulments. The defense said it would have been impossible for Brothers to cheat on his wife during their first marriage because it was annulled.
The prosecution believed the annulment did not matter. Bush explains there are two types of annulments. Incestuous marriages can be made as though they never existed. A second variety of annulment can be the result of one party committing fraud, as it is in this case. That just means that the people are made single again. Bush said that means the law view the marriage did exist. They were annulled Aug. 1, 2001. They were married January 2000. Bush said he will only tell the jury that this variety of annulment make the people involved single.
Gardina wants special instructions concerning a receipt of a meal Brothers said he ate in Ohio three days before the prosecution believes his family was killed in Bakersfield. Gardina said the signature on the receipt was destroyed by an FBI employee. Green said she is not attacking this evidence.
Green said a special instruction should not be read because it was not destroyed in “bad faith.” Gardina said it is at issue because the prosecution believes that Brothers’ brother signed a credit card receipt at another time that weekend. Green said she will argue in closing arguments that Brothers was in Ohio eating this meal. Bush said he will not read these instructions if Green said she will argue he was in Ohio during this meal. “There is no evidence to suggest it was an intentional mistake,” Bush said.
Bush said that whoever did this crime committed a first degree murder. Gardina said he thinks the second degree murder charge should be an option. Green said she found a case that supports giving only a first degree murder option.
Gardina said that if Earnestine Harper has a weapon it could be a second degree murder. Bush said there is no evidence this crime was anything other than first degree murder. He ruled only first degree murder instructions will be read to the jury, not second degree murder.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush said he will go through the jury instructions individually.
The jury is not present. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green said she wants a special instruction about how the jury should handle a defendant if they find he testified falsely. Green believes Brothers lied about being in a crash in Columbus on the day the prosecution believes he killed his family in Bakersfield. The defense does not want this instruction because it does not believe he lied. The prosecutor also wants an instruction about investigators handling of a witness. Green said that the man who was actually in the crash said he was harassed by defense investigators who said he may face civil consequences if he owned the car. “There was only one phone call,” defense attorney Michael Gardina said. “Nobody threatened this guy.” The judge tells Gardina he must turn over any impeachment material to Green because of past transgressions of the defense in not turning over discovery.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the witness stand Jeffery Orton. He has testified previously.
Green asked him to calculate a route from COlumbus to Bloomington Ind. to Missouti at COlumbia and to St. Lois and to Columbus, how long would that be? Orton said it would be 1,093 miles. Columbus to Dayton and back? 78 miles each way a total 156 Columbus to Chicago and back? 351 each way for 702 miles. Columbus to Elizabeth City is 648. How many total? 2,599 miles. Orton said he used the most direct routes. He said that was direct driving. He did not calculate any side trips or trips for gas.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the stand Raquel Hughes. She will not be video taped. She is 21. She lived with her mother Kelsey Spann in 2003. She went with Joanie Harper and Vincent Brothers when they got married in Las Vegas.
Hughes said she stayed outside with her mother and the children when Joanie and Vincent went inside to sign the paperwork. During Spring Break 2003, she was living with her mother. She does not remember talking with Vincent Brothers during this time. Brothers said he went to her house and spoke with her to look for a missing garage door opener. Defense attorney Michael Gardina questions Hughes. She said she could not see who was filling out what forms in Las Vegas. She does not remember which week was Spring Break in 2003.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the witness stand Joanie Harper’s friend Kelsey Spann.
Spann said she saw Joanie Harper write in a journal. She is familiar with Joanie’s handwriting. Kelsey Spann was there when Vincent and Joanie were married in 2003. They went to the courthouse to get married. Spann parked in the wrong spot and Vincent parked opposite and Joanie and Vincent both went into the courthouse together. Spann had testified that Joanie Harper put her on her bank account in May. They had a conversation in April 2003. Joanie Harper called her to pick her up and show her the house she was building. Joanie Harper picked Kelsey Spann up. They were in the Jeep. “She started telling me that she needed to put me on her bank account...she was saying that she wanted me to also be on there because she already had her mother “Harper” on there.” “She just said well I want to know if I tell you this will you keep this to yourself and she said because I don’t want anybody else to know...and she said that Vincent is crazy and that um it is possible that he could kill me and I started crying and I didn’t understand...she was consoling me saying it was okay.” Spann said Joanie Harper never brought it up again. “I asked her why do you feel that way and she said he is capable and crazy,” Spann said.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the witness stand Joanie Harper’s friend from the school where she worked Joann Woodall.
She said that after Joanie Harper was taken away in an ambulance, Brothers came back to get her keys and cellular telephone from her friend. Woodall said Joanie Harper stopped working in the middle of May 2003. Brothers said Joanie Harper was told to stay in bed about in April 2003. Woodall said she had yard duty with Joanie Harper when they had a conversation. “We were talking about life insurance,” “She said that if something happened to her she knew they better be looking at Vincent,” Woodall said. Woodall said she was not joking. Gardina asks when they took place. Woodall said at the end of March the first of April.
Deputy Districct Attorney Lisa Green calls to the witness stand Shann Kern, the mother of Brothers’ only living child.
She said she was living with Brothers in an apartment in 1988. She became aware that Brothers was married to a woman named Angela Richardson. Brothers still was living with Kern at the time before their child was born. Kern said she had sex with Brothers while he was married to Richardson, but she did not know they were married at the time. Richardson told Kern of the marriage, not Brothers, Kern said. Kern said the last time she has sex with Brothers was when Angela moved out of Bakersfield. That includes 1990 through 1993. She moved in 1993. She said that was the end of their sexual relationship. She became aware that he married Sharon Berniard through her friend. After he married married their sexual relations dwindled to once a month.
Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green calls to the witness stand Columbus Police Detective Wayne Buck.
On July 12, 2003, he visited Melvin Brothers’ house. He helped talk with his wife Tammy Brothers on the front porch of the residence. Tammy Brothers initially denied going to Wal-Mart until she was confronted with video of her in Wal-Mart. Melvin Brothers used Vincent Brothers’ credit card on this date, the same day the prosecution believes Vincent Brothers was in California killing his family. He ran a query in November with the Columbus Police computers for any crashes for July 6, 2003, at the place where Vincent Brothers said he got into a crash in Ohio. This is also the date when the prosecution believes Brothers was in California killing his family. He initially used the word accident in the query. He said there were not “accidents” at that site. He went with detectives to interview Madira Dowell and Brien Adkins, two people who say they saw the crash. He also looked for ambulance records. He could find none. Buck was asked last week to bring a certified copy of records that no ambulance records were dispatched. Buck did further queries of the computers to find a crash where Brothers said he got into a crash. He said this was a “much broader” search.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush closed the courtroom in the Vincent Brothers murder trial so that he could speak with the defense attorneys after they said they have a conflict of interest.
The prosecution accused the defense of withholding evidence about a critical piece of Vincent Brothers' alibi. Brothers said he got into a crash with a little boy on a bicycle in Columbus on the same day the prosecution believes he was in Bakersfield killing his family. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green said a defense investigator had a police generated document giving some details about this case but the attorneys never gave it to her. She only found the document when a Columbus Police detective ran a new query last week on their computers. Green said this document the detective found records information from a 911 call that gave the driver's license number of the man who Green believes was really in the crash in Columbus. Gardina admitted that he had possession of this 911 record, but insisted that the driver told investigators that he was not the person in the crash. Green admitted that the man initially denied being in the crash for fear of a lawsuit, but later admitted it. Green said defense investigators intimidated this man. The judge said he considers this very serious and he will reserve any action he may need to take until the end of the trial. The judge said something similar about reserving action in the last week when the defense asked questions of a witness the judge said he should not ask. After Green lobbed allegations of wrongdoing at the defense, the defense attorneys said they had a conflict of interest and the judge closed the hearing.
Green withdraws her offer to make a stipulation about Stan Mosley’s testimony. Green gives Gardina evidence from the Columbus Police Department about a computer generated report about a 911 call with regards to a crash with a little boy. No police report was generated. It reveals the name of the child in the crash. Green has proof that defense investigator Wayne Wallace had a copy of that. He filled out a form to get a copy and he picked up the records.
Gardina said a police report is not admissible because it is a police record. Gardina admits he had the record and did not give it to Green because he did not rely on it. “They called the defendant to the stand knowing he is not the driver of the car,” Green said. “Bullsh, excuse me,” Gardina said. The judge said this is very serious. Green said it is “sheer dumb luck” that she found the report. The investigators querried the computer for such a crash and found nothing. Columbus Det. Buck was scheduled to come out two days ago. There were no records of a dispatched ambulance. Charlie Brown asked for certified copies of the ambulance dispatch. Buck brough in the querry and asked them to run a different word than accident and instead asked for any records around the address, Green said. Buck said he found the document and Sgts. flew out Thursday night. “It was just dumb luck,” Green said. Wallace also asked for the 911 call, but those were destroyed, 2003. Wallace got the reports in May 2006. In 2003, a police report was not prepared but a patrolman was dispatched to the scene. Gardina said he interviewed a Tamba Ledbie and he denied being in the accident. He initially lied about it to Watts and Krueger, but he confessed he was the driver because he was afraid he would be sued, Green said. This man was harassed, Green said. “What members of the defense team have done to surpress this information,” Green said. The record lists the license plate number and the description of the car, Green said. “This is information that can assist the jury in making that determination,” the judge said. The judge said he is going to reserve any action until the end of trial. Green said she she does not know where defense investigator Stan Mosley is. Gardina said the man does not fit the description and Green laughs out loud. “What I’ve seen go on here is so outrageous I can’t even desccribe it, it seems as though everybody here except your honor has forgotten that five people are dead,” Green said. Gardina said he had no obligation to turn this over. Gardina said he wants a hearing in front of an independent magistrate regarding these accusations. |