Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 6, 2006 18:18:13 GMT -5
Mom testifies in retrial
When Grace Keller opened the door to her northwest Arlington trailer home
nearly 20 years ago and found her fiance's body stretched across the
kitchen floor, she thought he was unconscious and needed help.
It wasn't until a 911 operator asked her whether anyone else was in the
home that she thought about her 4-month-old son.
"I ran to his room and didn't see him in his crib and thought he had been
kidnapped," Keller said Tuesday, sobbing as she sipped water on the
witness stand. "I turned around, and he was in the sink. He was face-down,
so I picked him up, laid him on the bed and told the operator that he was
dead."
Keller recounted for a Tarrant County jury the 1987 Christmas Eve she
found her infant son, Jayson Trekell, and her fiance, Mike Trekell, dead.
She would later learn that her son and fiance were the first 2 victims in
a killing spree committed by family friend James Eugene Bigby.
Bigby, now 51, was convicted of capital murder in 1991 for the 2 slayings.
The jury sentenced him to death, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned his sentence last year. It ruled that jurors were improperly
blocked from considering whether his mental illness was a mitigating
factor.
On Tuesday, testimony began in state District Judge Elizabeth Berry's
court in the sentencing retrial.
Jurors also heard that 20 years ago, Bigby thought that there was a
conspiracy to prevent him from collecting on a workers compensation claim
he filed while working at Frito-Lay in Fort Worth.
Bigby believed that in the late 1980s, the company had sent 32
investigators to follow him, was trying to kill him by piping green gasses
through air vents and had persuaded his friends to join the conspiracy,
according to court testimony.
The defense said Bigby's paranoia led to the 1-day killing spree that left
four people dead, including Jayson and Mike Trekell.
Bigby is also accused of killing two other friends, Frank C. Johnson, 33,
of Arlington and Calvin W. Crane Jr., 38, of Fort Worth shortly after the
Trekells' deaths. Those cases are pending.
Dressed in a navy suit and a red tie, Bigby looked more like a history
professor than a convicted murderer. He constantly tugged at his
salt-and-pepper beard and mustache during opening statements.
Crane's only son, Kevin, now 35, said Tuesday after the jury broke for the
day that Christmas Eve is the worst time to tell a 16-year-old that his
father has been killed.
"Dads are invincible," Kevin Crane said. "That ruined Christmas for some
years after that."
Crane, who said he was recently diagnosed with progressive pulmonary
hypertension, said the stress from his father's death caused the health
problem.
Even though the conviction is not at issue, the new jury heard and viewed
evidence from the original trial. Prosecutors are trying to show that
Bigby would be a threat to society if he is allowed to live.
Prosecutor Alan Levy said the slayings led to one of the largest manhunts
in recent Tarrant County history. Levy recalled that one of the 1st things
Bigby said when he was apprehended was, "You know I'm guilty, and I know
I'm guilty."
But Bigby's attorney said his client has a 15-year prison record of good
behavior.
"You'll hear minor incidents where he had a picture of Jesus Christ on the
wall and hung a curtain over the cell door but not one single act of
violence," defense attorney Wes Ball said during opening statements.
During the first trial in 1991, Bigby grabbed a loaded gun from behind
state District Judge Don Leonard's courtroom bench and barged into
Leonard's private chambers, telling him, "Let's go, judge." Bigby was
captured after the judge and a prosecutor wrestled him to the floor and
pulled the gun away.
Leonard continued presiding over the case, and jurors, who were told about
the attack, later rejected Bigby's insanity defense and sentenced him to
death.
Ball said Bigby's mental illness led to the killings.
"He had been admitted to a psychiatric treatment center 3 times before
this incident," Ball said.
(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
When Grace Keller opened the door to her northwest Arlington trailer home
nearly 20 years ago and found her fiance's body stretched across the
kitchen floor, she thought he was unconscious and needed help.
It wasn't until a 911 operator asked her whether anyone else was in the
home that she thought about her 4-month-old son.
"I ran to his room and didn't see him in his crib and thought he had been
kidnapped," Keller said Tuesday, sobbing as she sipped water on the
witness stand. "I turned around, and he was in the sink. He was face-down,
so I picked him up, laid him on the bed and told the operator that he was
dead."
Keller recounted for a Tarrant County jury the 1987 Christmas Eve she
found her infant son, Jayson Trekell, and her fiance, Mike Trekell, dead.
She would later learn that her son and fiance were the first 2 victims in
a killing spree committed by family friend James Eugene Bigby.
Bigby, now 51, was convicted of capital murder in 1991 for the 2 slayings.
The jury sentenced him to death, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned his sentence last year. It ruled that jurors were improperly
blocked from considering whether his mental illness was a mitigating
factor.
On Tuesday, testimony began in state District Judge Elizabeth Berry's
court in the sentencing retrial.
Jurors also heard that 20 years ago, Bigby thought that there was a
conspiracy to prevent him from collecting on a workers compensation claim
he filed while working at Frito-Lay in Fort Worth.
Bigby believed that in the late 1980s, the company had sent 32
investigators to follow him, was trying to kill him by piping green gasses
through air vents and had persuaded his friends to join the conspiracy,
according to court testimony.
The defense said Bigby's paranoia led to the 1-day killing spree that left
four people dead, including Jayson and Mike Trekell.
Bigby is also accused of killing two other friends, Frank C. Johnson, 33,
of Arlington and Calvin W. Crane Jr., 38, of Fort Worth shortly after the
Trekells' deaths. Those cases are pending.
Dressed in a navy suit and a red tie, Bigby looked more like a history
professor than a convicted murderer. He constantly tugged at his
salt-and-pepper beard and mustache during opening statements.
Crane's only son, Kevin, now 35, said Tuesday after the jury broke for the
day that Christmas Eve is the worst time to tell a 16-year-old that his
father has been killed.
"Dads are invincible," Kevin Crane said. "That ruined Christmas for some
years after that."
Crane, who said he was recently diagnosed with progressive pulmonary
hypertension, said the stress from his father's death caused the health
problem.
Even though the conviction is not at issue, the new jury heard and viewed
evidence from the original trial. Prosecutors are trying to show that
Bigby would be a threat to society if he is allowed to live.
Prosecutor Alan Levy said the slayings led to one of the largest manhunts
in recent Tarrant County history. Levy recalled that one of the 1st things
Bigby said when he was apprehended was, "You know I'm guilty, and I know
I'm guilty."
But Bigby's attorney said his client has a 15-year prison record of good
behavior.
"You'll hear minor incidents where he had a picture of Jesus Christ on the
wall and hung a curtain over the cell door but not one single act of
violence," defense attorney Wes Ball said during opening statements.
During the first trial in 1991, Bigby grabbed a loaded gun from behind
state District Judge Don Leonard's courtroom bench and barged into
Leonard's private chambers, telling him, "Let's go, judge." Bigby was
captured after the judge and a prosecutor wrestled him to the floor and
pulled the gun away.
Leonard continued presiding over the case, and jurors, who were told about
the attack, later rejected Bigby's insanity defense and sentenced him to
death.
Ball said Bigby's mental illness led to the killings.
"He had been admitted to a psychiatric treatment center 3 times before
this incident," Ball said.
(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)