Many of our friends have asked us to keep them informed about the trial, so we have added this page for that purpose.
The first trial, for Broadnax (the alleged shooter), is currently scheduled to begin
on Monday August 10, 2009, at 9:00 A.M. It will be in the Frank Crowley Courts Building,
in Judge Snipes' courtroom on the 7th floor.
Here is a map:
Crowley Courts Building
We will keep this page updated as time permits.
We can only relate those things which go on in open court. We will be relating nothing here that the media could not relate also. However, don't be surprised if some of our personal opinions and comments show up here from time to time.
The latest updates will be at the top - scroll down for prior updates.
We arrived at the courthouse at about 10:00 and met with friends in the victim's waiting room. In addition to those friends and family members who had been with us through the whole trial, we were joined by one of the alternate jurors who had been released from service the following day (we met him and got to know him a little bit yesterday afternoon).
At about 11:10, we were informed by the waiting room attendant that the jury had reached a decision. We entered the courtroom at about 11:15.
The judge read the answers that came back from the jury:
The judge then informed Broadnax that he was sentenced to death.
Victim's impact statements, in which survivors are actually able to address the defendent, were given by Matt's mother, Mike's girlfriend (who knew Steve quite well), Jean, Debbie, and Matt's widow.
A comment made by Matt's mother while giving her statement indicated that Broadnax actually laughed at one point during her statement. Debbie also told us that he gave his smirky, arrogant smile at one point in her statement. And yet one of his defense attorneys told the media that Broadnax "had expressed remorse several times over the past year." Incredible, isn't it?
Jean stated, at the beginning of her statement, that she had nothing to say to Broadnax, but gave her statement for the benefit of friends and anybody in the court who may be interested.
Our thanks go out to the friends and family members who helped with food and in other ways through these two weeks. We also wish to thank the prosecutors for their diligence and hard work in seeking justice for Steve and Matt, and the 12 jurors and 2 alternates for their close attention and careful deliberation.
The juror who caused some concern for us, because of his apparent reservations about the death penalty, proved to be true to his word that he would follow the law. We thank and applaud him.
Both sides presented their closing arguments this morning.
The jury was sent out to deliberate sometime between 11:15 and 11:30.
At about 3:45 in the afternoon, we were informed that the jury had notified the judge that they would not finish with deliberations today. They would continue to deliberate until about 5:00 P.M., then go to their hotel rooms (they are being sequestered).
The defense put on a few more witnesses today:
After this, the prosecution began its "rebuttal."
At this point, both the defense and the prosecution rested.
Closing arguments will begin tomorrow morning.
This was the second day of listening to defense witnesses.
Here's what we got a dose of today:
*I'm not sure exactly what this is all about. I'm tempted to speculate, but I won't.
So while the prosecution focused on Broadnax being a future danger, the defense seems to be pulling at the heartstrings of the jury to convince them that Broadnax's life should be spared because he had such a rough childhood.
We started to hear a videotaped deposition from an evangelist in Texarkana, but recessed for the day when it was just getting started. We will be taking that up again tomorrow morning.
Today, the defense began calling its witnesses.
The following testified today:
Court recessed for the day before Broadnax's mother finished her testimony, so I guess we'll get to hear more of that tomorrow.
I'd like to write more about some really scarey stuff that we observed today (unrelated to Broadnax's family), but it will need to wait until after the trial is over.
This was the second day of the punishment phase.
The first order of business was to clear up an issue from yesterday. An investigator from the DA's office had taken some photographs and gathered some evidence during a "shakedown" of Broadnax's cell on June 19, 2009. The defense challenged this evidence because he said it violated Broadnax's 4th amendment rights, and because the search was initiated through the DA's office rather than the sheriff's office. The judge ruled in favor of the prosecution and allowed the testimony of the investigator to continue.
Before the investigator was called back to the stand, the LEAD investigator was called by the defense again and grilled by the defense attorney on WHO requested the shakedown, and WHY (I don't think the jury was present for this - I can't remember). It became more and more obvious that something must have been recovered in this search which was really damaging. Anyway, the lead investigator from the DA's office said that he requested the shakedown for both security and evidence-gathering information and, despite the really vehement objections of the defense attorney, Judge Snipes said that the associate investigator would still be allowed to testify and the evidence gathered would be admitted.
When the associate investigator finally took the stand, the jury saw photos of stuff in Broadnax's cell. Among the stuff was a razor blade (which he had removed from one of those disposable razors), a note to or from somebody describing what type of "bitch" they wanted, some porno photos stuck inside a Bible, and a bunch of drawings which would be described by the next witness.
The next witness was an expert witness from the Dallas Police Department's Gang Unit. With this witness, it became obvious why the defense so vehemently objected to the admission of evidence from the June 19, 2009 shakedown. The drawings had all sorts of signs and symbols on them connected with a gang called the "Ganster Disciples - Folk Nation." In a taped phone conversation, Broadnax admitted that he was a member of that gang, and in one of the videotaped interviews he said that he was a "folk," while making a gang sign with his hand (the sign of the Gangster Disciples is a pitchfork). I think this was in the interview with channel 4's Shaun Rabb.
The final witness for the day was an assitant warden with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. She explained to the jury what prison life was like, especially the different populations (5 different "General Poplulations," Administrative Segregation and Death Row).
She explained that members of certain active, violent "prison gangs" are automatically put into Administrative Segregation (i.e., put in a cell by themselves and given limited liberties and access to other prisoners). The defense asked if Gangster Disciples was one of those gangs, and she said "No, they are just a little click." They are actually based in Chicago, not real big down here according to the Gang Unit detective, so this didn't surprise me (although I wonder what Broadnax thought about having his gang described as "just a little click"). But what this DOES mean is that Broadnax would be put into the general population if given life without parole. This means he would have plenty of opportunity to injure or kill guards or other inmates. So the defense's question backfired on him somewhat.
It was apparent from the day's testimony that the prosecution is building the argument that Broadnax, if just given life, would pose a future danger.
The court has recessed for the weekend.
It was a busy day. I will give only a brief summary for now - I may fill in more details latter.
Today begins the penalty phase. There are only two penalties available since Broadnax has been convicted of capital murder: Death, or life without parole.
In order to give the death penalty, the State must demonstrate that (1) Broadnax presents a future danger and (2) there are no "mitigating circumstances" which would call for the state to show mercy to Broadnax.
The State gave its opening arguments. The defense reserved its opening arguments until the time that they begin calling witnesses.
After the opening, Matt's mother gave a victim impact statement. She was followed by the medical examiner, who gave the results of Matt's autopsy. Then Jean gave a victim impact statement.
Various witnesses for the prosecution took the stand in an effort to demonstrate that Broadnax, if allowed to live, will be a future danger to prison staff and other inmates. The defense is doing its best to discredit one particular witness, a small white male who had been incarcerated in the same area as Broadnax and who had been assaulted by him. The defense attorney kept questioning this witness, time and time again, about whether he had called several of the other inmates on the floor "monkeys" or "niggers." I gather that Broadnax was feeding this bull to the defense attorney, and the defense was trying to use this to imply that this little guy DESERVED to be assaulted. The lead prosecutor presented a letter that he had received from three of these inmates. They stated in the letter that they were not willing to lie for Broadnax (apparently about this little white guy calling them "monkeys" and/or "niggers"). The judge expressed concern that the letter may give the jury the false impression that the defense attorneys were asking these three inmates to lie, so he ruled that it would not be shown or read to the jury (although is WAS admitted for the record).
The day started with the defense presenting its case.
After introducing Broadnax's medical records (which we didn't see), they called their first witness - a psychological councelor who interviews inmates as they are processed. Referring to a form he filled out when interviewing Broadnax on July 23, 2008, we saw that Broadnax claimed to be hearing voices. However, they weren't telling him to do anything. In a section labelled "reliability," the councelor had circled "poor," indicating that he didn't think Broadnax was giving very reliable responses or information.
After that, they called a psychiatrist who works at the jail. She had noted on HER form that Broadnax claimed to hear voices ALL THE TIME (but again, they are just talking - they don't tell him to do anything). But she also noted on the form that there was no evidence of "internal stimulus" (or something like that). There was no evidence, as she spoke with him, that he was being distracted by these voices. She also noted that people who REALLY hear voices usually don't hear them ALL THE TIME.
Next they called the Public Information Officer who works at the jail. She is one of apparently many cogs in the mechanism for media people to get interviews with prisoners. For some reason or another, the defense seemed to think that bullying this lady would somehow convince that jury that Broadnax was coerced into giving the interviews to the press.
The fourth witness was actually a TRANSCRIPT of testimony given during pre-trial hearings. It was from the officer who actually went and got Broadnax out of his cell and took him to the interview area. I think the purpose of this testimony was to show that Broadnax was taken from a closed observation cell, NOT a suicide-prevention cell (although he WAS placed into a suicide prevention cell sometime after the interviews). I think this witness may actually have been a prosecution witness...or maybe it was a defense witness whose testimony just backfired on them.
It appears to me that the major tactic of the defense was to try to get the videotaped interviews discredited, by showing that Broadnax was still under the influence of marajuana, PCP and formaldahyde at the time of the interviews, was mentally unstable, and was coerced into giving the interviews to newspaper reporters.
In closing arguments, the defense also pointed out that none of Broadnax's DNA was on the murder weapon.
Nevertheless, the jury found him guilty.
Deliberations were short - the jury went out for deliberations at 1:18, and at 2:05 we were called to come back to the courtroom for the reading of the verdict.
Now comes the hard part - the penalty phase starts tomorrow.
From Channel 11:
*Broadnax could be tried later for murdering Matthew. We share the Butler's belief that justice for Matt and Steve demands the death penalty. Perhaps if the jury in this case doesn't sentence this creep to death, the next jury will.
At the very opening of the day, the lead prosecutor warned us that the first two witnesses would be presenting some graphic photos. For various reasons, we chose to stay in the courtroom anyway (this was also the case with the crime scene photos presented by the fireman yesterday, but there would be many more photos today).
The following witnesses were called by the prosecution today:
In summary, ballistics tests demonstrated that the weapon, which Damarius Cummings lead Garland Police to, was the weapon that fired the bullet recovered from muscle tissue in Steve's back, and a bullet fragment (specifically a jacket) recovered at the crime scene. All six shell casings found at the scene were fired in that gun. DNA analysis revealed that a drop of blood swabbed from the left side of the handgun was Steve's and that blood found on a shoe found in the trunk of Steve's car was Matt's blood. DNA swabbed from the right grip of the pistol is likely that of Damarius Cummings.
The State rested its case. The defense will begin calling its witnesses tomorrow morning.
Many friends showed up today to support us, but the courtroom was not as crowded as we feared it might be. To the best of our knowledge, everybody had a seat.
The "guilt or innocense" phase of the trial began today. The indictment was read and the defense entered a plea of "not guilty."
Both the State and the defense made their opening statements.
The first witnesses called were the man who discovered the bodies while riding his bicycle home from work, and a Garland fireman who arrived at the scene after being notified by the bicycle rider. Crime scene photos were presented during their testimony.
I (Craig) was called to the witness stand at this point, by the prosecution, for the purpose of "introducing" Steve to the jury. I answered some simple questions about his place of birth, upbringing, schooling, his relationship with Matthew Butler, how many siblings he had, etc. I also identified photos of his car, and photos of some of the items found in his car. I also had to view an autopsy photo and state that it was Steve.
The next witness called was Steve Pickett of Channel 11 news. He introduced his video, and then the court viewed it. Mr. Pickett's interview was the first one in which Broadnax admitted to the crime - at the beginning of the interview he denied any involvment, but eventually admitted it and described what happenned.
We next heard from:
The final witness of the day was Ellen Goldberg of Channel 5 news. She introduced her video and the court viewed it. In this video, Broadnax came right out and stated that he would kill again - if given a life sentence he would kill people in the pennitentiary.
Judge Snipes ruled that the four TV interviews will be admitted as evidence.
He also ruled that the jury composition will remain as he determined on July 30.
The trial is still scheduled to begin on August 10, 2009.
An appelate court ruled in favor of the prosecution concerning the TV interviews with Broadnax. Four journalists were using some new "journalism protection act" to withhold them from the court. There is a hearing scheduled for August 4 to determine if they will be admitted as evidence.
Judge Snipes ordered that a black gentleman, who had previously been struck from the jury panel by the prosecution, must be put on the jury. Several media outlets have tried to make this out to be a racial issue, implying that the prosecution is attempting to keep blacks off the jury. However, the reason why the prosecution struck this candidate from the jury panel in the first place was due to concerns about his willingness to impose the death penalty.
The defense introduced another expert witness.
This day was for pre-trial hearings concerning witnesses. The defense introduced two expert witnesses, and the prosecution introduced one.