Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 8, 2006 1:16:22 GMT -5
2 1987 Bigby killings described for jury
2 days before Christmas 1987, James Eugene Bigby watched television while
his friend Mike Trekell cooked steaks. Trekell's 4-month-old son, Jayson,
was in another room of the northwest Arlington home.
Then Bigby pulled out a gun, walked over to his friend and shot him in the
forehead, according to a statement Bigby gave police. He would kill 3
other people by Christmas Eve.
"He never saw a gun. He didn't know I was going to shoot him," Bigby told
police, according to a statement read Wednesday by Fort Worth police
detective Curtis Brannon.
Brannon told a Tarrant County jury Wednesday that he helped Bigby craft
his statements after his arrest. The jury will decide whether Bigby should
die for the killings.
After detailing Mike Trekell's shooting, Bigby told Brannon that he walked
to a back room and suffocated Trekell's son with cellophane. He told
Brannon he placed the baby in the sink, "turned on the water and just left
it there."
Bigby told police, "I did it, and I don't know why I did it," Brannon
said. He described Bigby's demeanor during the confession as "cold."
Bigby is also accused of killing 2 other friends, Frank Johnson, 33, of
Arlington and Calvin Crane Jr., 38, of Fort Worth, shortly after killing
Trekell and Jayson.
Those cases have not gone to trial.
Bigby, now 51, was convicted of capital murder in 1991 for the deaths of
Trekell and Jayson.
The jury sentenced Bigby 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 paranoid schizophrenia was
a mitigating factor.
A new hearing in the punishment phase of the case began Tuesday in state
District Judge Elizabeth Berry's court.
Earlier Wednesday, former Fort Worth police hostage negotiator Larry
Ansley told the jury how he talked Bigby out of a low-budget motel room in
Fort Worth on Dec. 26, 1987.
Ansley's goal was to have a face-to-face conversation with Bigby, who was
hiding in a dark corner of the motel room.
Ansley said that when he arrived at the motel, he spent five minutes
talking to the room's front door before Bigby finally responded to him.
Ansley said a tactical officer squatted behind him and held onto his belt
in case Bigby fired a gun.
"If things would have gone bad, he was going to jerk me to the ground and
the tactical unit would take care of the situation from there," Ansley
said.
"He had one hand on the back of my belt and another on an Uzi machine
gun."
Ansley said Bigby eventually walked out of the room and was arrested
without incident.
(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
2 days before Christmas 1987, James Eugene Bigby watched television while
his friend Mike Trekell cooked steaks. Trekell's 4-month-old son, Jayson,
was in another room of the northwest Arlington home.
Then Bigby pulled out a gun, walked over to his friend and shot him in the
forehead, according to a statement Bigby gave police. He would kill 3
other people by Christmas Eve.
"He never saw a gun. He didn't know I was going to shoot him," Bigby told
police, according to a statement read Wednesday by Fort Worth police
detective Curtis Brannon.
Brannon told a Tarrant County jury Wednesday that he helped Bigby craft
his statements after his arrest. The jury will decide whether Bigby should
die for the killings.
After detailing Mike Trekell's shooting, Bigby told Brannon that he walked
to a back room and suffocated Trekell's son with cellophane. He told
Brannon he placed the baby in the sink, "turned on the water and just left
it there."
Bigby told police, "I did it, and I don't know why I did it," Brannon
said. He described Bigby's demeanor during the confession as "cold."
Bigby is also accused of killing 2 other friends, Frank Johnson, 33, of
Arlington and Calvin Crane Jr., 38, of Fort Worth, shortly after killing
Trekell and Jayson.
Those cases have not gone to trial.
Bigby, now 51, was convicted of capital murder in 1991 for the deaths of
Trekell and Jayson.
The jury sentenced Bigby 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 paranoid schizophrenia was
a mitigating factor.
A new hearing in the punishment phase of the case began Tuesday in state
District Judge Elizabeth Berry's court.
Earlier Wednesday, former Fort Worth police hostage negotiator Larry
Ansley told the jury how he talked Bigby out of a low-budget motel room in
Fort Worth on Dec. 26, 1987.
Ansley's goal was to have a face-to-face conversation with Bigby, who was
hiding in a dark corner of the motel room.
Ansley said that when he arrived at the motel, he spent five minutes
talking to the room's front door before Bigby finally responded to him.
Ansley said a tactical officer squatted behind him and held onto his belt
in case Bigby fired a gun.
"If things would have gone bad, he was going to jerk me to the ground and
the tactical unit would take care of the situation from there," Ansley
said.
"He had one hand on the back of my belt and another on an Uzi machine
gun."
Ansley said Bigby eventually walked out of the room and was arrested
without incident.
(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)