By David in TN
monday, april 24, 2023 at 8:43:00 p.m. edt
On monday, the defense put on its case. The defendant took the stand.
NSU/WEJB has said in the past that a standard defense since reconstruction for this type of crime is for the defendant to claim sex was “consensual” and part of a long-term relationship. That is what Coley McCraney’s testimony amounted to.
McCraney said he met JB in June of 1999 at the Wiregrass Commons Mall. He testified that he walked up to her and introduced himself, and they struck up a conversation.
McCraney kept calling JB “Jennifer.” The name on her birth certificate was “JB,” and she NEVER called herself or was called by anybody anything else but JB.
McCraney claimed she called him the day of the murder and said she would be in Ozark. McCraney said his truck conked out around 11:45 p.m. and he coasted into the Big Little store. By chance, JB and Tracie Hawlett just happened to show up there.
McCraney said he and “Jennifer” proceeded to have sex in his truck while Tracie waited patiently. He claimed to have shown them a shortcut back to Dothan. They dropped him off at his house and drove away.
The defense then called a man who delivered newspapers who claimed to have seen a “cop car” with the Mazda the victims were driving. He admitted to a head injury shortly before which had caused serious injury.
McCraney, in his police interview had denied knowing the girls.
Tomorrow will see closing arguments.
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12 comments:
Quick trial.By the way,I forget,was O.J. found guilty or not guilty in HIS criminal trial?There are no sure things with blacks on a jury.
--GRA
Someone who post regularly at the Websleuths Forum's thread on the case, and has been in the courtroom every day, made an interesting comment.
The two defense attorneys are supposedly pro-bono. Yet they have a "support staff" of four people. The poster remarked there are some "pockets" funding the defense.
YES. Quick trial. Normally the defense does not allow the defendant to take the stand.
https://www.rickeystokesnews.com//article.php/updated-at-1028-am-day-4-0907-am-monday-mccraney-trial--dale-county-197416
McCraney said he was married in 2001:
"A Married in 2001, Jeanette."
To a woman he met in 1998 and had been living with since 1998:
"A March 1998. She moved in with me June 1998."
So if you are on the jury you ought to notice the man is an unfaithful cad, and such people are also naturally deceitful.
"A Saturday, worked on land and worked all day, custody of son and he stayed with his mom. Had three children at the time. One was with a white woman dated for two years, then another one. Custody of Quiz in 1998 in Dale County."
Note "Had three children at the time." So McCraney, the future preacher, is saying he already had three illegitimate kids in 1999 (?), including a child with a white woman he "dated for two years" (should be easy enough to verify).
What will the jury think this says about his character?
He implies she told him her name was Jennifer, perhaps to suggest she didn't want to use her real name, which is understandable if you buy his story/the circumstances:
"Q Did anyone Call"
"A J B as I know her now."
[McCraney said he and “Jennifer” proceeded to have sex in his truck while Tracie waited patiently.]
Ridiculous of course, assuming JB used "Jennifer" because she didn't want to use her real name. But she had sex with him in a dirty pickup truck with her friend waiting outside (demurely looking away I guess).
Don't see how a juror can believe this story from someone with no sexual morality, which always involves deceit, no matter how credible he sounds.
Defense wants to preempt this and gets it out in the open:
"Q Cheating on girlfriend"
"A Yes"
So he's deceitful and dishonest in his intimate personal relationship, but you should believe this story he's telling.
Claims he didn't hear about the deaths until weeks later when his girlfriend told him:
"A A few weeks later girlfriend told me"
Not believable.
"Q Why didn’t you tell them you knew them"
Under the circumstances, it's perhaps understandable he wouldn't immediately admit to the relationship when he was arrested. On the other hand, it can be seen as part of the defense strategy he made up later, maybe with his lawyer, once the DNA evidence was known.
"Q Did you rape J B Beasley"
"A No"
"Q Did you murder JB Beasley or Tracie Hawlett"
"A No I didn’t."
https://www.rickeystokesnews.com//article.php/1200-pm-day-4-part-two-morning-mccradney-trial-197427
"Q Did Traci know you knew her. Traci sits in car, knowing late, while ya’lll in truck, did she ever knock on door"
"A No"
"Q How long in bed"
"A Like 10 minutes"
"Q So in 10 minutes ya’ll had sex"
"A Yes"
"Q How many times you and Traci been in same place"
Presumably Jennifer is meant here.
"A Once, Radio Shack"
"Q How many times did yall have a conversations after that"
"A Twice"
"Q Including the time on July 31"
He claims to have met "Jennifer" outside a Radio Shack a few weeks before, and only the 2nd time they saw each other they had sex in his truck. They had only talked on the phone before the 2nd meeting.
Sure.
https://www.rickeystokesnews.com//article.php/mccraney-trial-day-four-update-part-three-426-pm-197442
His defense emphasizes no direct evidence other than DNA linking him to the killings. Meaning it all hinges on whether the jury buys his consensual sex story.
"Q Out of all the witnesses you’ve heard in this courtroom, has anyone gotten on this stand to see if there is firsthand evidence you are guilty of murder or rape?"
"A No"
...
"Q Just a lot of assumptions?"
"A Yes"
Some other testimony about the general circumstances that seems not all that relevant when compared to the big, basic question of whether the jury will believe the consensual sex story.
Short video showing the defendant here:
https://www.wtvy.com/video/2023/04/25/jury-begin-mccraney-deliberations-tomorrow/
He claims he did not know "Jennifer" was dead until recently (24 years later, if you believe that) because she was named as JB in media reports, and he knew her as "Jennifer". Did he hear of her friend Tracie Hawlett also being dead? Did he know her by her name Tracie Hawlett? Clearly he saw her at the store. If he heard about "JB" being one of the victims he must have heard the name Tracie Hawlett too, at least in connection with JB and the murders.
Did he ever wonder why "Jennifer", whom he claimed *called him* (more than once), never called him again after they had sex? I mean if you believe his story, she was so hot for him that she had sex with him in his dirty truck on the occasion of only their second meeting (while her friend Tracie waited nearby). And then she just disappeared? Did he wonder why? Did the prosecution ask him about that?
"Jennifer" was a very pretty girl. Did he now want to have sex with her again?
Surely no jury will buy his story.
But you never know. You never know where and how a jury will find reasonable doubt.
Does he have a criminal record otherwise? In the short video he looks fairly respectable and mild-mannered. But then the murders happened almost 25 years ago.
Yes, the prosecution did ask him about that:
https://www.wtvy.com/2023/04/24/mccraney-claims-he-had-sex-with-murder-victim-before-murders/
[“One thing led to another and we ended up having sex,” he testified.
McCraney, when Marshall questioned him, said he learned of the murders about three weeks later when he spoke to his wife on the phone while on-the-road with his truck, but did not know their names until 20 years later.
“You never thought it was strange that this girl you had sex with in your truck never called you again,” Marshall asked.
He said no and admitted that he bounced from woman to woman, before he became a pastor.]
https://www.wtvy.com/2023/04/24/mccraney-claims-he-had-sex-with-murder-victim-before-murders/
This seems to be his version of events:
"Jennifer" called him and they agreed to meet at the store.
[McCraney said he and JB agreed to meet at the Ozark convenience store where the girls were last seen a few hours before the murders.]
He went there but she did not show up, so he left.
[He said after she didn’t show up, he left but returned later, where he encountered the teens, got into the car with them, and led them to where he had parked his truck and trailer in rural Dale County.]
Why did he go back to the store later? Where he claims there was a chance meeting with "Jennifer" and Tracie. At the place they had agreed to meet at an earlier time, but long after the agreed time of the meeting - ?
I read before that the truck he drove to the store broke down.
So he gets in the car with the girls, and they drive to where he parked his semi truck. Why go to the semi truck? Why would the girls, who wanted to go to a party, but got lost, and now presumably wanted to go home, go to a semi truck?
Then he said he gave "Jennifer" a tour of his truck, and they climbed into the sleeping compartment in the back of the cab and had sex while Tracie waited in the car.
Then they drove him back toward his house and dropped him off nearby.
[Afterward, he testified that they drove back into town and dropped him off a distance from his home because he did not want his girlfriend—now his wife―to know he had been out with the girls.]
Here is the story, with some unanswered questions:
[McCraney said he went to the store after Beasley failed to show up for their date and he saw two girls at the payphone but did not immediately realize one of them was Beasley, who had stood him up about an hour earlier.
Once they got to a truck stop where he had parked his truck about midnight, McCraney testified that she and Beasley got out of the car while Hawlett remained in the car.
He told jurors that he and Beasley then climbed into his truck, and they soon had sex in the sleeper berth.
At the conclusion, McCraney said Beasley and Hawlett took him back to Ozark at about 12:30 which is about the time investigators say the girls died.
Their car was found along Herring Avenue, about a half mile from McCraney’s home.
“In a period of 45 minutes you get into a car with a girl you had met once, had sex, and returned. Happened pretty fast didn’t it,” Marshall asked.]
Reasonably coherent version of day 4 and McCraney's testimony here:
https://www.wtvy.com/2023/04/24/follow-day-4-mccraney-trial-here/
He did not return to the store per se, but had gone somewhere else after having been "stood up", and on his way home he just happened to be driving by the store when his truck broke down, so he stopped in the parking lot where he saw the two girls by the pay phone.
And they just happened to drive by where his semi truck was parked because that was on the way to some shortcut he wanted to show them. So they stopped to see his semi truck, where he and "Jennifer" got in while Tracie waited in the car. Even though both girls were in a hurry because they had to get home to avoid violating their curfew.
[11:11 a.m. The defendant stated that he began having car trouble on his way home and “coasted” into the Big Little parking lot. Marshall presented an overhead view of the Big Little parking lot and asked where his car stopped. He said he was all the way off to the side of the store. McCraney claimed he saw the girls near the phone as he pulled in. “It’s a remarkable coincidence,” Marshall said about McCraney’s car breaking down near the Big Little. “I guess so,” McCraney said.]
[11:23 a.m. He said that the girls were going to drive the shortcut with McCraney and then drive him back to his house before driving back on the shortcut to Dothan. McCraney said the girls did not know that his truck was there. He also said that he was not aware that the girls were trying to make curfew. He said that it was his idea to stop at the truck stop where he and JB got out of the car so McCraney could show her his truck. He stated that Tracie stayed in the car. They got in the truck around midnight, the front seat to begin with, according to McCraney. Marshall asked how the conversation changed when JB sat on the bed that was in the truck. McCraney said he got in the bed with her and continued “small talk” before they “touched each other.” McCraney said that while they were talking when JB moved to the bed. Marshall asked if these events happened fast and McCraney said that they did. Marshall asked if they were in the bed about 12:05 a.m. and McCraney agreed. McCraney claimed that Tracie was still in the Mazda 929.]
Apparently having decided not to challenge the DNA evidence, and instead go with a story of consensual sex, he must have worked with his lawyers to come up with a story to explain events, including encountering the girls at the same store he left earlier when "Jennifer" failed to show up for their agreed meeting. And this is the best they could come up with?
Sounds like the mlk life story-but instead of mahtin,the "m" stands for mcraney!Maybe mlk LIVED and became "mcraney luther king" and is now on trial for rape and murder--this is HISTORY,ladies and gentlemen.
Would a 2023 jury convict mlk of these crimes?The public has given mlk a pass on his personal life until now--which include probable crimes--will this jury continue overlooking these "flaws" as well?
Let's hope not.
--GRA
ASSOCIATED PRESS BESTOWES SAINTHOOD ON HARRY BELAFONTE;HE'S DEAD AT 96
Harry Belafonte, groundbreaking entertainer and activist, dies at 96
by: The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has died. He was 96.
(GRA:"Conscience of the world?"That's a laughable over-embellishment by itself.)
Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife, Pamela, by his side, said Ken Sunshine, of public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.
With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” and its call of “Day-O! Daaaaay-O.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”
(GRA:WHOSE truth,is the question)
He stands as the model and the epitome of the celebrity activist. Few kept up with Belafonte’s time and commitment and none his stature as a meeting point among Hollywood, Washington and the civil rights movement.
Belafonte not only participated in protest marches and benefit concerts, but helped organize and raise support for them. He worked closely with his friend and generational peer the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., often intervening on his behalf with both politicians and fellow entertainers and helping him financially. He risked his life and livelihood and set high standards for younger black celebrities, scolding Jay Z and Beyonce for failing to meet their “social responsibilities,” and mentoring Usher, Common, Danny Glover and many others. In Spike Lee’s 2018 film “BlacKkKlansman,” he was fittingly cast as an elder statesman schooling young activists about the country’s past.
Belafonte’s friend, civil rights leader Andrew Young, would note that Belafonte was the rare person to grow more radical with age. He was ever engaged and unyielding, willing to take on Southern segregationists, Northern liberals, the billionaire Koch brothers and the country’s first black president, Barack Obama, whom Belafonte would remember asking to cut him “some slack.”
Belafonte responded, “What makes you think that’s not what I’ve been doing?”
GRA:Amusing line from a nig radical.We need White leaders to put the same energy that negroes like Belafonte used to exert--and do it for White people.
--GRA
jerry pdx
In a culture conditioned by "To Kill a Mockingbird" and a barrage of modern movies and TV shows that mythically portray black men of always being falsely accused of rape I wonder not just about blacks on the jury (who will believe every defense argument, no matter how flimsy) but how many woke Whites there are who want to virtue signal to the world by finding the "falsely accused black man" innocent.
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