Trial update May 15 2008

Desmond Rogers was the first witness called to the stand Thursday, the second day of testimony in Pitts’ murder trial. Pitts stands accused of killing 14-year-old Brinker in September 2007 and faces 45 to 65 years if convicted.

Published May 15, 2008 08:56 pm - ANDERSON — On the night before her death, Amanda Brinker planned a morning meeting with Jesse Lee Pitts at Edgewater Park, according to a mutual friend.
8:54 p.m.: Witness: Brinker, Pitts planned to meet

ANDERSON — On the night before her death, Amanda Brinker planned a morning meeting with Jesse Lee Pitts at Edgewater Park, according to a mutual friend.

Rogers attended Anderson High School with Brinker, and the two were neighbors. He came to know Pitts as an employee at the nearby Speedway gas station and introduced the two.

“He called Amanda about meeting in the park the next morning,” Rogers said. “She called me about 6:30 (a.m.).”

Rogers didn’t answer; he went to school instead. Two hours later, around 8:30 a.m., Amanda was found dead in Edgewater Park.

Anderson police Officer Randy Doss also testified Thursday. Using a large map provided by the prosecution, Doss recounted the events leading to the discovery of Brinker’s body. He said the body was not visible from the paved asphalt path running through the park, a fact that drew the suspicion of police toward Pitts, who made the initial 911 call.

“I had to walk out entirely to the edge of the river, and it was approximately a 2- or 2 1/2-foot dropoff to where you could see it,” Doss said. “I looked out, and I could see the body of the victim. She was lying face down in pretty shallow water, probably six to eight inches deep.”

Defense attorney Jason Childers made multiple references Thursday to a bicycle found in the park, but not included in the crime scene. When Madison County Chief Deputy Coroner Marian Dunnichay took the stand, she called the crime scene “appropriate.”

As part of the coroner’s office investigation, Dunnichay had the right to alter the crime scene as designated with yellow tape, but agreed with the scene established by the Anderson Police Department. In approximately 16 years with the coroner’s office, Dunnichay said, she has worked “hundreds” of crime scenes, and in her opinion, Brinker’s body had clearly been moved before police arrived.

“The body was moved; I can’t say if it was (dragged),” she said, noting that Brinker’s belt had been loosened on the back side between belt loops. “There was a crime scene where there was blood spatter and the body was moved to another area.”

Childers also questioned Dunnichay as to the possibility of someone crossing police lines and entering the crime scene, to which she responded that officers were posted at two entrances to the park to prevent unauthorized access. APD officer Doss previously testified that he kept a log of everyone who entered the crime scene during his shift.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Paul F. Mellen tied injuries that led to Amanda Brinker’s death to what police believe is the murder weapon. Mellen displayed photographs from the autopsy of Brinker that drew gasps and sobs from members of the audience and caused some to leave the courtroom. A close-up photograph of Brinker’s face revealed an injury to the left side, while photographs taken of the shaved back of her head revealed multiple lacerations.

Mellen said the injuries were consistent with a “relatively straight, heavy object like a rod,” such as the jack handle police believe to be the murder weapon. He said Brinker sustained a skull fracture to the back of her head, bleeding of the brain and swelling of the brain.

Childers asked whether such injuries were deadly in the absence of water, as Brinker’s body was found face down in the White River.

“I’m not sure that these injuries alone, had she not been in the water, would have been sufficient to kill her,” he said. “The brain swells over time. There may have been reversible treatment. Nothing here struck me as an injury that was unsurvivable.”