Published: February 25, 2006 02:12 pm      

Judge dismisses Camm juror

BOONVILLE — A juror in the David Camm murder trial — described by one source as a “cancer on the jury” — was dismissed for what Judge Robert Aylsworth would only say was “personal reasons.”

The dismissal is not expected to delay the trial, scheduled to go to the jury for consideration on Tuesday. The dismissed juror, Robert Lesh, a 30ish hobby shop owner who studied chemistry in college, will be replaced by one of three alternate jurors.

Phone calls to Lesh’s home and business in Evansville were not returned by press time.

Also Friday, a last-ditch effort by the defense to get details about Charles Boney’s reported foot fetish before the jury failed. It was a blow to the defense, which hoped it would eventually be able to present evidence of the fetish that Aylsworth previously ruled was inadmissible.

“Now that we have evidence from Dr. (George) Nichols (formerly chief medical examiner in Kentucky) that Kim Camm had stomping injuries (on top of her feet), and we know her shoes were off at the scene. We think that establishes a link between Boney and Kim Camm that this jury has a right to hear. ... That foot fetish is relevant to the determination of the jury,” said defense attorney Katharine “Kitty” Liell.

Boney was sentenced this week to 225 years in prison for the murders of Camm’s wife, Kim, 36, and children, Brad, 7, and Jill, 5. He was convicted of conspiring with Camm to commit the murders, but says he only sold Camm the gun and wasn’t aware of a murder plot. Boney told police he was outside the family’s garage when the former Indiana State Police trooper committed the murders.

The defense team theorizes Boney — who Camm says he never met — first noticed Kim Camm at a grocery store near his house, became obsessed with her due to his violent foot fetish and murdered her and the children. Because Boney is planning to appeal his conviction, the court cannot make him testify in Camm’s case.

Two weeks ago, Aylsworth issued a ruling that, in effect, drops the conspiracy charge against Camm due to lack of evidence linking the pair.

As for the dismissed juror, the attorneys were barred from commenting, but a source close to the case said most of the jurors were happy the man had been dismissed.

“He wasn’t winning any personality contests,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Another source, though, said both attorneys were upset the juror had been removed. A gag order in the case limits what the attorneys can say to the media about the case and the jury.

“It’s upsetting anytime you have a shake up in the jury room,” said Katharine “Kitty” Liell.

Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson, though, said he wasn’t concerned about the dismissal so late in the case.

“When we choose a jury, we look at the alternates as hard as we do the other jurors,” Henderson said, adding the dismissal shouldn’t impact the trial’s schedule.

“I don’t think it will cause us to skip a beat.”

It did, however, cause a nearly two-hour delay Friday.

First to testify Friday was Tom Jolly, a key alibi witness. Jolly said he arrived at the Georgetown Community Church gym about 8:15 on the night of the murders. He said when Camm sat out one of the pickup basketball games the group was playing, the pair talked on the sidelines for 10 to 15 minutes.

Under cross examination, Jolly said he didn’t know where Camm had been before 8:15. The state believes Camm sneaked out of the gym, drove 5 minutes home, killed his family and returned to the gym without being noticed.

The 10 basketball players from that night, including Sam Lockhart, all testified that Camm was at the gym from 7 to 9 p.m. They can’t, however, account for all of Camm’s movements at the gym.

Lockhart, whose sister Sue is Camm’s mother, has become a controversial figure in the case in the 5 1/2 years since the murders.

Lockhart has been an outspoken critic of the investigation that led to his nephew’s arrest three days after the murders.

“I took issue with it because I was with him when they were killed. I knew he didn’t kill them and somebody else must have,” he said.

As Henderson pointed out in court, Lockhart has spent a significant amount of money and time for Camm’s defense, and possibly had his business reputation and family name damaged.

Camm and several of his 11 alibi witnesses worked together at Lockhart’s company, United Dynamics.

Through questioning of witnesses, the state has insinuated the Camm-Lockhart family, led by Sam Lockhart, attempted to have alibi witnesses change their testimony to better reflect the defense’s timeline.

“I have never talked to anyone about their testimony or changing it,” Lockhart said. He later added, “If I thought Dave Camm was guilty, I wouldn’t have spent one penny, one minute, one second to defend him.”

The trial resumes at 10 a.m. Monday, with the defense calling its final witnesses, followed by the start of closing arguments.