Post by Anja Nieser on Oct 1, 2006 6:03:08 GMT -5
Kennis to face court-martial in 1985 slayings
The Army plans to court-martial retired Master Sgt. Timothy B. Hennis for
the triple homicide he was found not guilty of in state court in 1989,
said a person with knowledge of the military investigation.
Col. Billy Buckner, a Fort Bragg spokesman, confirmed the Army's
investigation Wednesday afternoon but said Hennis is not charged with any
crime. He said Hennis, who retired in July 2004, is being recalled to
active duty because of the investigation. Hennis has been ordered to
report to Fort Bragg no later than Oct. 30.
The recall notice was hand-delivered to Hennis at his home Tuesday,
Buckner said. Hennis was not arrested.
"There is no statute of limitations on murder, and because the murders
occurred while he was on active duty, the military has jurisdiction over
the offenses," Buckner said.
Federal law allows military retirees to be reactivated for prosecution of
crimes committed while they were on active duty, said Mark Waple, a
Fayetteville lawyer who specializes in military law. A 1987 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling allows the military to prosecute for crimes committed against
civilians off military property, he said.
Hennis, who lives in Lakewood, Wash., outside Fort Lewis, was acquitted in
1989 in North Carolina Superior Court of the stabbing deaths of
32-year-old Kathryn Eastburn and two of her children, Kara Sue, 5, and
Erin Nicole, 3.
In May 1985, Hennis was a sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg. He had adopted
the Eastburns' dog a few days before they were killed.
Several days later, someone went into their home on Summer Hill Road near
Fort Bragg, raped Kathryn Eastburn, and stabbed her and the children to
death. A third child, 22-month-old Jana Eastburn, was not harmed.
The bodies were discovered on Mother's Day after neighbors heard Jana
crying and called authorities.
Hennis was arrested a short time later, convicted in 1986 and sent to
death row for the murders. In 1988, he was granted a second trial when the
state Supreme Court ruled that the first trial was run unfairly and the
evidence against him was weak. He was freed with his acquittal in April
1989.
Hennis' story - that of a wrongly convicted man going free after getting a
death sentence - was told extensively in the news media, in a popular book
and in a television miniseries. There's a trivia quiz on the Internet
about the case.
The Hennis case also was cited in 2003 in the mission statement of the
N.C. Actual Innocence Commission as an example of a wrongful conviction.
The group successfully lobbied the legislature this year to create the
nation's 1st agency to review the cases of prisoners with credible claims
of innocence.
Double jeopardy
Cumberland County District Attorney Ed Grannis said Sgt. Larry Trotter, a
homicide detective at the Sheriff's Office, revived the Eastburn murder
investigation last year after hearing a presentation about it.
Trotter had DNA samples from the crime scene tested by the State Bureau of
Investigation - DNA testing was unavailable in the 1980s, Grannis said -
and gave the results to the District Attorney's Office in June.
"He approaches our office. We realize we have a double jeopardy issue
which cannot be avoided. And so I contacted our friends at Fort Bragg and
asked them if they would assign people to look into this matter, which
they did," Grannis said.
"Double jeopardy" is a legal concept set out in the U.S. Constitution. It
says that if a person is found not guilty of a crime, he can't be
prosecuted again for it.
Because of double jeopardy, North Carolina couldn't pursue Hennis.
But Hennis can be prosecuted by the federal government - in this case, the
military - said Buckner, the Fort Bragg spokesman. Under the rules of
double jeopardy, the state and federal governments are considered to be
separate, sovereign governments. No matter what happens to someone in
state court, the federal government can prosecute that person for the same
acts, and vice versa.
Grannis said he wasn't surprised that the DNA points to Hennis.
"We have said from day one that we had one suspect, which was a tough
thing to say at times," Grannis said. "It wasn't Ed's position. It was the
law enforcement position in this case."
Gary Eastburn, Kathryn's husband, could not be reached Wednesday
afternoon. He lives about 15 miles from Hennis, in Puyallup, Wash. In
1985, when he was an Air Force captain, he was chief of air traffic
control operations at Pope Air Force Base. He was attending a military
school in Alabama when his wife and children were killed.
Hennis could not be reached Wednesday afternoon. Gerald Beaver, one of his
lawyers from his first 2 trials, had no comment.
(source: The Fayetteville Observer)
The Army plans to court-martial retired Master Sgt. Timothy B. Hennis for
the triple homicide he was found not guilty of in state court in 1989,
said a person with knowledge of the military investigation.
Col. Billy Buckner, a Fort Bragg spokesman, confirmed the Army's
investigation Wednesday afternoon but said Hennis is not charged with any
crime. He said Hennis, who retired in July 2004, is being recalled to
active duty because of the investigation. Hennis has been ordered to
report to Fort Bragg no later than Oct. 30.
The recall notice was hand-delivered to Hennis at his home Tuesday,
Buckner said. Hennis was not arrested.
"There is no statute of limitations on murder, and because the murders
occurred while he was on active duty, the military has jurisdiction over
the offenses," Buckner said.
Federal law allows military retirees to be reactivated for prosecution of
crimes committed while they were on active duty, said Mark Waple, a
Fayetteville lawyer who specializes in military law. A 1987 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling allows the military to prosecute for crimes committed against
civilians off military property, he said.
Hennis, who lives in Lakewood, Wash., outside Fort Lewis, was acquitted in
1989 in North Carolina Superior Court of the stabbing deaths of
32-year-old Kathryn Eastburn and two of her children, Kara Sue, 5, and
Erin Nicole, 3.
In May 1985, Hennis was a sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg. He had adopted
the Eastburns' dog a few days before they were killed.
Several days later, someone went into their home on Summer Hill Road near
Fort Bragg, raped Kathryn Eastburn, and stabbed her and the children to
death. A third child, 22-month-old Jana Eastburn, was not harmed.
The bodies were discovered on Mother's Day after neighbors heard Jana
crying and called authorities.
Hennis was arrested a short time later, convicted in 1986 and sent to
death row for the murders. In 1988, he was granted a second trial when the
state Supreme Court ruled that the first trial was run unfairly and the
evidence against him was weak. He was freed with his acquittal in April
1989.
Hennis' story - that of a wrongly convicted man going free after getting a
death sentence - was told extensively in the news media, in a popular book
and in a television miniseries. There's a trivia quiz on the Internet
about the case.
The Hennis case also was cited in 2003 in the mission statement of the
N.C. Actual Innocence Commission as an example of a wrongful conviction.
The group successfully lobbied the legislature this year to create the
nation's 1st agency to review the cases of prisoners with credible claims
of innocence.
Double jeopardy
Cumberland County District Attorney Ed Grannis said Sgt. Larry Trotter, a
homicide detective at the Sheriff's Office, revived the Eastburn murder
investigation last year after hearing a presentation about it.
Trotter had DNA samples from the crime scene tested by the State Bureau of
Investigation - DNA testing was unavailable in the 1980s, Grannis said -
and gave the results to the District Attorney's Office in June.
"He approaches our office. We realize we have a double jeopardy issue
which cannot be avoided. And so I contacted our friends at Fort Bragg and
asked them if they would assign people to look into this matter, which
they did," Grannis said.
"Double jeopardy" is a legal concept set out in the U.S. Constitution. It
says that if a person is found not guilty of a crime, he can't be
prosecuted again for it.
Because of double jeopardy, North Carolina couldn't pursue Hennis.
But Hennis can be prosecuted by the federal government - in this case, the
military - said Buckner, the Fort Bragg spokesman. Under the rules of
double jeopardy, the state and federal governments are considered to be
separate, sovereign governments. No matter what happens to someone in
state court, the federal government can prosecute that person for the same
acts, and vice versa.
Grannis said he wasn't surprised that the DNA points to Hennis.
"We have said from day one that we had one suspect, which was a tough
thing to say at times," Grannis said. "It wasn't Ed's position. It was the
law enforcement position in this case."
Gary Eastburn, Kathryn's husband, could not be reached Wednesday
afternoon. He lives about 15 miles from Hennis, in Puyallup, Wash. In
1985, when he was an Air Force captain, he was chief of air traffic
control operations at Pope Air Force Base. He was attending a military
school in Alabama when his wife and children were killed.
Hennis could not be reached Wednesday afternoon. Gerald Beaver, one of his
lawyers from his first 2 trials, had no comment.
(source: The Fayetteville Observer)