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Assistant Attorney General Michael Atterberry was first up, speaking
on behalf of the prosecution. In a period of slightly less than 2½
hours, he delivered a synopsis of what occurred in the home of Rick
and Ruth Gee in Beason on Sept. 21, 2009. Harris is accused of the
beating deaths of Rick and Ruth Gee and their children Justina
Constant, Dillen Constant and Austin Gee. A fourth child, Tabitha,
was severely injured in the beatings but survived.
When the prosecution finished, Dan Fultz, defense attorney for
Harris, took the floor and refuted everything that Atterberry
claimed against his client. Fultz told the jury the prosecution was
working with a case based on the testimony of a liar, Jason Harris,
and a convicted child killer, Ty Cline.
Fultz then delivered his version of what happened on the night of
the murders, pointing fingers directly at 14-year-old Dillen
Constant and claiming that while Harris made mistakes in the days
that followed the incident, he was still innocent of killing
everyone but Dillen.
When Fultz was finished with his closing statements, the jury was
allowed a 30-minute break. They then returned to the courtroom to
hear the prosecution's rebuttal.
Attorneys for both sides had originally been instructed by Judge
Scott Drazewski that each side would have three hours to state their
case. For the prosecution, this meant three hours for the initial
close and the rebuttal. With Atterberry taking nearly 2½
hours, Wright was going to be left with only 30 minutes. However,
when court resumed, Wright was told that he could have a full hour
to present the state's position.
During his presentation, Wright took up the full space of the
room, walking about, at times pointing fingers at Chris Harris and
raising his voice as he emphasized his message.
He opened by taking a jab at defense attorney Fultz, telling the
jury he was not going to come at them with Johnny Cash songs. He
said the trial was about Rick Gee, Ruth Gee, Justina, Dillen, Austin
and Tabitha.
He drove home the prosecution's position, saying that Christopher
Harris' own actions in the hours and days after the murders were the
state's best evidence of what had happened. He told the jury Harris
made no mistakes; he made decisions, well-thought-out decisions to
deceive investigators. He lied again and again, and even lied to the
person who knew him best, Nicole Gee, his ex-wife and daughter of
Rick Gee.
Wright pointed out that in his own testimony Harris provided a
timeline of arriving in Beason that didn't add up, and that was just
the first gap in the story.
Wright questioned how it could be that Harris was backed into the
master bathroom by an aggressive Dillen, yet managed to grab a tire
iron lying beside Rick Gee, several feet in the other direction. He
wondered what made Chris Harris believe Rick Gee was asleep on the
floor in the hallway.
Wright also reminded the jury that Dillen was the alleged
aggressor, yet evidence shows he was backing away from Harris. He
wondered how the aggressor could be an aggressor in retreat.
He reminded the jury that once Dillen was outside the house,
Harris backed him against a gate while continuing to beat him in the
head. Wright asked the jury: "What about that is self-defense?"
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Wright took a line from Fultz, saying the "bodies were crying out
from the grave." Wright said indeed they were, and Dillen Constant
was crying, "I was hit 52 times."
He said Harris himself even attested to this, saying he continued
to hit Constant because he didn't want him to get up. Wright told
the jury that in itself constituted intent to kill. Harris intended
to kill Dillen Constant.
Wright also repeated that Harris returned to the home after
exiting with Constant, not to check on the family as he claimed, but
to "finish them off."
He said Harris knew that if the laptop was recording, it would
incriminate him. So he had to get rid of it. Wright said Harris did
what any guilty person would do.
Again, the prosecution refuted the statements about Dillen
Constant's violent behavior. Wright said the expert witness called
by the defense saw only the reports he was given. He didn't meet or
know Constant personally. Wright also said that the statistics
regarding gaming and violence, the risk factors identified by the
expert, were population-based numbers and very low percentages.
In addition, Wright told the jury that the prosecution had
refuted the expert testimony with real people who knew Dillen and
saw him on a regular basis.
In the battle that supposedly occurred between Constant and
Harris, Constant was the aggressor, according to Harris. Yet Harris
left the scene of the crime with no serious injuries, and Constant
was brutally beaten. Again, Wright mentioned 52 blows to the youth.
Wright pounced on the defense's claim that there was no motive
for Harris murdering the family. He said there was a motive; it was
the same motive that had driven Chris Harris' actions throughout
much of the evening and even the morning after. He wanted a woman.
Wright also told the jurors that Ty Cline was not moved as a
reward for his testimony. He said that Cline offered his story
months before the move came about.
When Wright finished his arguments, the jurors were given
instructions from Drazewski and began their deliberations.
Shortly afterward, they sent a message to the judge that they did
not have the exhibits that they needed in order to deliberate.
That situation was corrected and the jury remained behind closed
doors until 5 p.m.
At 5 p.m. they were brought back into the courtroom and reminded
not to talk about the case or read or listen to media accounts. They
are to resume their deliberations Friday morning at 8:30.
[LDN]
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