Murder defendant's attorney accuses state of withholding evidence
BLOUNTVILLE — Two more recorded interviews discovered amid Leslie Ware Jr.’s double-murder trial in a Sullivan County court have prompted his appointed counsel to accuse the state of “intentionally withholding” evidence and trying to “goad” them into seeking a mistrial. The state has filed a response denying these claims.
Attorney Steve Finney filed a written motion Tuesday seeking dismissal of Ware’s charges with prejudice, citing the mid-trial discovery of three recorded interviews.
The discovery of the first recording last week prompted the state to end its bid for the death penalty for Ware on Friday. In the motion, Finney states Sullivan County District Attorney Barry Staubus apprised him of Kingsport Police Department Capt. Jason Bellamy’s latest findings on Monday.
If the trial proceeds, Finney is asking the court to prohibit the testimony of the three individuals featured in the recordings.
The first recording, which Bellamy found last Thursday, was described as a five-hour-long recording of co-defendant Clyde Green’s Dec. 1, 2005, interview at the Johnson City Police Department.
Finney states that during the interview Green is told the reading of his Miranda rights is “just a formality” and “not a problem” until he signs the waiver. Bellamy reportedly tells Green he “doesn’t know” if he will be charged, but there is “potential,” depending on his statements. KPD Detective Cpl. Chris Tincher is also present and refers to Green as “witness or defendant,” Finney notes.
According to Finney, the two additional recordings contain a Nov. 21, 2005, interview of co-defendant Thelma Gardner and an interview of a man identified as Charles Pleasants, aka “Pretty.” The date of Pleasants’ interview is not specified. Both of these interviews were also conducted at the JCPD, which routinely records investigative interviews.
During an approximately 2½-hour interview, Finney states Gardner is “repeatedly threatened with loss of custody of her 1-year-old child,” told that she is “lying to the police,” and informed that “accessory after the fact is just as serious as murder.”
Finney also contends that investigators “supplied facts of this case” to Gardner during her interview. He states there were “no less than five” KPD investigators involved in the interview.
Finney states he learned from Gardner’s interview that her father also gave a statement to police, which they have not been provided. He notes that another co-defendant, Rita Massey, was at the JCPD on Nov. 21, 2005, and he has not been provided a recording of her interview.
Finney provides few details about Pleasants’ interview other than to say there were two KPD investigators present for it.
Pleasants is reportedly now deceased.
Staubus filed a response Wednesday denying Finney’s claims. He denies that anyone with the KPD or his office “intentionally withheld” the videotaped interviews. He denies trying to “goad” the defense into seeking a mistrial. He denies that the state failed to provide the defense with a written statement by Gardner’s father.
Staubus said the state “believes” Pleasants is dead and also that he “had no knowledge” of events relating to the deaths of the victims, Jeffrin Nolan and Terrance Alexander, so their failure to disclose that interview “could not” cause any prejudice to Ware.
Staubus also contends that Ware has not “suffered any prejudice” as a result of the “late disclosure” of the recordings because the defense had written statements summarizing those interviews and because the trial has been continued until transcripts of the interviews can be obtained and the defense has had time to review them.
Staubus’ filing concluded with a request for a hearing for Sullivan County Circuit Judge Jerry Beck to determine whether there was an “intentional failure to disclose” the recordings, whether “any prejudice resulted” from the delayed disclosure, and what “remedies” are necessary to “rectify any actual prejudice” to Ware.
Last week, Bellamy’s discovery of Green’s recorded interview prompted Staubus to set aside the state’s request for the death penalty and life without parole during a Jan. 20 hearing, due to what he termed the “heightened scrutiny a death penalty case receives.”
During that hearing, Beck described Staubus’ decision as an “admirable thing to do” under the circumstances.
“Not to do somebody a favor, but in the interests of justice, that’s occurred,” said Beck.
Finney had argued then that the belated discovery had “prejudiced” Ware to such an extent that he should be “entitled to a mistrial” and “dismissal of the charges in this case, or at least, a new jury.”
Beck acknowledged an error had occurred but declined to grant a mistrial or dismissal of Ware’s charges at that time. He said he found no evidence of “willful wrongdoing” by the prosecution or the KPD and opined that the “delayed disclosure” of the recordings did not constitute a “complete failure” to provide discovery. To further alleviate any prejudice the error may have caused Ware, Beck ordered an expedited transcript of Green’s interview and declared the trial in recess until Jan. 30.
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