Published: February 24, 2006 01:21 pm            

Ballers place Camm in gym

BOONVILLE — If there is strength in numbers, as David Camm’s defense team believes, the jury in his triple murder case won’t care that his 11 alibi witnesses can’t recall many details from the night his family was murdered.

What counts, lead defense attorney Katharine “Kitty” Liell insists, is that 11 people can place Camm in the Georgetown Community Church gym playing basketball when his wife and children were fatally shot at their home 5 1/2 years ago.

But with one witness after another saying they couldn’t be sure Camm didn’t leave the gym at some point — and giving varying answers about basic information like how many games were played, how long they lasted and how they kept score — prosecutors are confident they’ve proven that the former state trooper had the opportunity to commit the murders.

Kim, 36, and her children, Brad, 7, and Jill, 5, were shot to death as they arrived home after swim practice on the night of Sept. 28, 2000. Camm was convicted two years later, but the conviction was overturned in 2004, leading to the new trial.

The state alleges Camm planned the murders at the time of the weekly, pickup games in order to create an alibi. Sitting out one of the games while the others continued playing, Camm had the chance to make the 5-minute drive home, shoot Kim and the children, and return without being noticed, prosecutors believe.

The state’s theory is “preposterous,” alibi witness Eric Minzenberger said Thursday. Minzenberger was among the eight basketball players who have testified so far that they were at the gym with Camm. The others, along with a spectator, are expected to testify today.

Minzenberger, related to Camm by marriage, also told the jury that when he arrived at Camm’s house after learning of the murders, Camm was sobbing and pale.

Still, after Camm was charged in the murders, Minzenberger admitted he thought Camm may have been involved.

“I thought if the police arrested him, he had to be guilty,” said Minzenberger, who said his opinions caused arguments with his wife, Camm’s first cousin. “Then I sat and thought about

it, how he couldn’t have left the gym. I went to the library and checked out books about (high-velocity impact spatter). ... I wanted to know for myself. I didn’t want to go on what somebody else told me,” he said.

In the end, Minzenberger said, he was certain Camm hadn’t left the gym.

Mark Werncke, an acquaintance of Camm’s, agreed, saying that during the one game Camm sat

out, he saw him every few minutes.

“I’d see him every time we came down to the end of the court” during the full-court game, said Werncke, who also saw Camm talking to another man during that time. That man was Tom Jolly, an elder at the church. He will testify today.

When chief deputy prosecutor Steve Owen pushed Werncke for details about things like who played in each of the games, which game Camm sat out and who guarded Camm, he replied, “I

wasn’t watching Dave, I was playing basketball.”

Jeff Lockhart, Camm’s cousin, said in some arenas it may not be easy to keep track of other

players, but in a small gym with just a handful of people, it is.

“Could Dave Camm left that gym, be gone 15 to 20 minutes and you not notice?” Liell asked Lockhart. “No, he couldn’t have done it.”

Then Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson tried an experiment on Lockhart. He asked him, “Without looking at the jury, can you tell me how many men and how many women there

are?”

Lockhart couldn’t say.

“You can recall the specifics from 5 1/2 years ago, but you can’t remember this jury that you’ve been in the room with for eight hours?” Henderson asked.

Earlier in the day, the defense’s fourth blood stain pattern expert testified that the blood on Camm’s shirt got there when he brushed against a bloody surface. Stuart James, a private

consultant based in Florida, said the wet blood droplets on Jill’s hair would have left the 1 mm size dots of blood stains on the shirt.

The state’s experts have testified the eight tiny spots on Camm’s shirt is high-velocity impact spatter — a mist of blood that travels no more than 4 feet after impact. If true, it would mean Camm had to be near his family at the time of the shootings.

The jury asked several questions of James, including a number of detailed scientific questions. They also wanted to know the width of a human hair.

After hearing from the remaining alibi witnesses today, the defense plans to rest its case. Next week will bring rebuttal and closing arguments. The jury expects to get the case Tuesday.



Reporter’s Notebook:

Within minutes of Charles Boney’s sentencing in Floyd County Thursday, the outcome had spread 100 miles to the Warrick County courtroom where David Camm’s trial is being held.

Congratulations were offered to Keith Henderson and his crew, family members hugged and the media discussed the fact that Boney was not sentenced to life without the possibility of

parole.

Considering Boney was sentenced to 225 years in prison — of which he’d have to serve half before being paroled — does it really matter that he didn’t get life without parole?

“Yeah, it matters. But the judge didn’t have the balls to do it,” said one official source close to the case. “One of the jurors already said he wished he could have his vote back so he could give

(Boney) life without parole. But it’s too late for that.”



• Small towns are small towns no matter what part of Indiana you’re in.

Doing a little lunch-time shopping at Miller’s 5 & 10, the owner, Jim, and I, got to talking. Turns out his friend of more than 55 years retired from teaching high school in New Albany.

I told Jim I’d be happy to give a “shout-out” to his friend. He said he didn’t know what that meant, but he’d appreciate it if I could “tell Big Ed hey from Boonville.”

So, Ed Goerlitz, if you’re out there, here’s your shout-out.

        

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