Photos courtesy Benjamin Brayfield/The World
Witness testimony for the defense took only a couple of days but counselors Robert and Shaun McCrea did not most of their battling on behalf of Nicholas McGuffin during the cross examination of prosecution witnesses. They tirelessly picked away at any inconsistency in statements given back in 2000 versus grand jury testimony last year and now at the trial. It was reasonable strategy although their own witnesses had the suffered the same conditions with long lapses in time. Occasionally, the team of McCrea and McCrea were so determined to drill home a point about Nick’s Mustang or a witness waiting to coming forward for several years that it almost came across as insulting to the jury, as if team McCrea didn’t think them bright enough to have gotten the point. Nevertheless, if standing trial for a murder, you would be hard pressed to obtain better counsel.
After mentioning yesterday that McGuffin had lost his easy manner I witnessed him smiling again this morning although it didn’t last long. As DA Paul Frasier described what the prosecution believes is a likely scenario of the events of June 28, 2000, McGuffin’s demeanor, breathing and posture markedly changed as he began to tremble slightly and was forced to wipe his eyes and nose repeatedly.
Frasier read aloud journal entries and letters written by Leah Freeman about her relationship with McGuffin and described a relationship in trouble. “I love him but not enough to put up with how he treats me” says one entry. “You depress me” says another.
He reasoned that a rift began between the couple when McGuffin dropped her off at her friend Cheri Mitchell’s house. A witness claims to have seen the couple in front of Mitchell’s house shortly after she and her friend parted ways and Frasier surmises that Leah, already upset after arguing with Mitchell, described her argument with Mitchell in detail and then rebuffed her boyfriend and he let her out at McKay’s market where she began her walk down Central Avenue toward home.
Many witnesses saw her along the way and one very young witness thought she saw Leah at about 9:30 PM being forcibly pulled into a dark car with a dim headlight near Elm Street across from the high school and the prosecution asserts Freeman lost a shoe in the process. Frasier does not believe that McGuffin planned to kill Freeman but thinks McGuffin proceeded up Elm Street toward the Haga house where his friend Brent Bartley was barbecuing.
An argument ensued that resulted in Leah’s death. McGuffin panicked, according to Frasier, and so began a night of pretending to look for Leah while actually disposing of her body.
The defense painted McGuffin as devoted to Leah and that he saw himself as her guardian. Shaun McCrea argued that prosecution witnesses were simply not reliable and that defense testimony provided a timeline whereby McGuffin simply could not have been involved in Leah’s death. They also worked to cast suspicion on witnesses Austin Fisher and Raymond Lewis as well as focusing on the lack of physical evidence linking McGuffin to the murder.
On final redirect Frasier disputed many of the inferences and speculations offered by McCrea reminding the panel that the jury instructions expressly forbid speculating.
All in all, both sides are relying on circumstantial evidence to make their case, the defense just as much as the prosecution. As I have said before, I would not want to be a juror in this trial.
