Evil Eyes (40 page)
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photographs that we’ve been able to compile, not only is he, is it common for him to wear facial hair, in fact, I would suggest to you, it’s characteristic.”
Pendergast went on to discount Kaplovitz’s claim that Watts had no facial hair six weeks before the murder of Helen Dutcher.
The female assistant attorney general then talked about how Joseph Foy identified a car that closely resembled Watts’s 1978 Pontiac Grand Prix.
Pendergast then came to the modus operandi of Coral Eugene Watts. “It’s always the same thing. Lone female targeted, because she was there, if you recall Jim Ladd’s testimony. Defendant positions himself for easy access to his victim. Defendant exits his vehicle, approaches his victim on foot. The defendant, without warning or provo-cation, attacks viciously in a variety of methods depend-ing on what was convenient at the moment. The crimes are all similar.
“Let’s just talk about a couple of other things that are distinctive about the defendant. What else is distinctive about the Helen Dutcher murder scene? Helen’s purse is missing. Now, sure, that could be construed as a robbery, if you didn’t have all the other factors.
“But what do we know about Coral Eugene Watts? One thing we know is that he likes to take personal items from his victims, and in several other cases he specifically took a purse. The case of Margaret Fossi, the woman who was stuffed into the trunk of the vehicle. The case of Alice Martell, and more than likely Michelle Maday. Instead, the defendant seemed to have some sort of bizarre fascination with purses, because you know that he also rifled through the contents of Suzanne Searles’s purse, as well as Linda Tilley’s purse.
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Helen Dutcher’s purse missing is indicative of Coral Eugene Watts.”
Pendergast continued with well-maintained composure. The gallery sat in complete silence and hung on her every word. “What else seems indicative of the trademark of Coral Eugene Watts? Well, think about his demeanor and attitude as he strolled toward Mr. Foy. I mean, think about this,” she said exasperatedly. “You’ve got a body laying about two or three feet away,” she said in a considerably louder voice. “If this was a robbery gone bad to the point of murder, common sense tells you that somebody’s gonna be trying to get out of there fast. Common sense tells you that it’s not gonna be a slow, nonchalant stroll back to the vehicle. Common sense tells you you’re gonna be hightail-ing it out of there.”
The attorney turned to look at the defendant. “But not Coral Eugene Watts. He strolls deliberately and casually, as if he just dropped off his laundry.”
The prosecutor was on a roll. “What else matches the pattern of Coral Eugene Watts at the Helen Dutcher scene? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, might I suggest to you that the number of stab wounds itself is excessive for a robbery gone bad, not to mention the force with which they were inflicted. Twelve stab wounds severe enough to break ribs. This isn’t a robbery gone bad. This is rage. This is deep-seated hatred”—she drew out each syllable—“this is Coral Eugene Watts.”
Pendergast grabbed the projection clicker and turned toward the large screen next to Watts. “So how does the Helen Dutcher crime compare to the rest of them? All of the victims, female. That goes without saying. All relatively youthful. All under forty, besides Jeanne Clyne. Helen Dutcher, thirty-six. All short to average height. Slim to average build, everyone except for Phyllis [Ellen]
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Tamm, who was a little bit stockier than the other ones. All alone when attacked. All occurred between dusk and dawn. Just like Helen Dutcher. Random victims.” She returned her attention to the jurors. “Just like Helen Dutcher. From what we know of where she was last seen and where she ended up.
“He acted alone. In Helen Dutcher’s case, we know from Joseph Foy, there was one attacker. He used a Grand Prix. The assailant was a stranger to the victim. It was a stranger. We also know he stalked or followed the victim. It would appear from circumstances of the Helen Dutcher case that something like that was going on.”
Pendergast continued on the patterns and practices of murder for Coral Watts. “Mechanism of injury and death. Every one of the women, at some point, he had his hands around their neck, even if manual strangula-tion wasn’t actually the mode of death. Ten women stabbed. All of them stabbed repeatedly, except Elizabeth Montgomery, who, I might remind you, had two dogs that she was walking. Two large dogs, which may be the reason she only got hit once. Unfortunately, for Elizabeth Montgomery, once was enough.
“All the victims, primarily left side of the chest. Another characteristic of right-handed Coral Watts. The only exception to that rule, Carrie Jefferson, who, if you’ll recall, after she was taken out to White Oak Bayou, was stabbed in each side of her neck.
“Other indications that Helen’s murder could, in fact, be Coral Eugene Watts, took a personal item when he had time. We know Helen’s purse is missing. No evidence of sexual assault, and an attack within a previous or subsequent month. In Helen Dutcher’s case, we know that Jeanne Clyne was murdered just thirty-one days before. “We know all of these things because he admitted to
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them. But don’t forget, he admitted to them under a very controlled situation,” Pendergast expertly skirted around the plea bargain, while indirectly alluding to it, “with his attorneys present and with the agreement that he would only talk about cases in Houston, Galveston, Austin, and Grosse Pointe. As you heard in this case, Ferndale made a considered decision not to go forward because of what was going on in Texas. They were not part of this agreement and the authorities in Texas had no reason or information or a reason to question Mr. Watts about the Ferndale case.
“Every piece of evidence in this case is consistent with Mr. Foy’s identification of Coral Watts as the murderer of Helen Dutcher. And don’t forget, it’s a very important point, that when Mr. Foy made his identification, he had no information that Coral Eugene Watts would later confess to the Grosse Pointe murder. He had no information that Coral Eugene Watts was even from Michigan nor had lived in Michigan at the relevant time frame. Mr. Foy saw him on the TV, said, ‘That’s the guy who killed the girl across the alley!’ not knowing that he was from Michigan, that he had been in Michigan all of this time, and certainly not knowing that he would later confess to the identical crime of Jeanne Clyne,” she stated, and pointed toward the jury for emphasis.
“In terms of, in terms of Helen Dutcher matching a pattern that he exhibited with the rest of these women, always the same thing. Each and every one of them, alone, stalked, targeted, approached, murdered.” Pendergast used her clicker again to show the faces of the women Coral Eugene Watts confessed to killing. All twelve faces of the beautiful women were displayed on the screen with a blue background.
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“Jeanne Clynne, October 1, 1979. Thirty-one days before Helen Dutcher.
“Linda Tilley, September 5, 1981.
“Elizabeth Montgomery, September 12, 1981. “Hours later, Suzi Wolf, September 13, 1981. “Phyllis Tamm, January 5, 1982.
“Margaret Fossi, January 17, 1982.
“Elena Semander, February 7, 1982.
“Anna Ledet. Edith Ledet, also known as Anna, March 27, 1982.
“Carrie Jefferson, April 15, 16, I’m sorry, 1982.
“Yolanda Gracia, April 15, 1982.
“Suzanne Searles, April 25, 1982.
“Michelle Maday, unfortunately, just hours before the incident that the defendant would be apprehended on May 23, 1982.
“You know, the defense in this case has utilized a very smart strategy. But recognize it for what it is, strategy. ‘You know, you’re gonna hate this guy,’ never mind the pattern of blood-soaked patterns of death and destruction he knew you would hear about in this courtroom. The judge has cautioned you and will caution you again . . . that you cannot use the evidence of these attacks to determine that the defendant is a bad person or that he is likely to commit a crime.
“But you cannot minimize”—she strongly emphasized each syllable of each word—“the importance of these other attacks in terms of determining whether or not the murder of Helen Dutcher was part of a plan or scheme that the defendant characteristically used. And when you look at all the different factors in this case, there can be no question.” Pendergast then laid down the clicker and walked right up to the jury box.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there is an old
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saying that ‘dead men tell no tales.’ But in this courtroom, a dead woman has spoken to you through the evidence. “What happened to Helen Dutcher on December 1, 1979, was horrific, barbaric, savage, and even those words don’t do this crime justice. And, you know what?
Even you, the jury, will never be able to do justice in this matter.
“How could there be enough justice for the ruthless obliteration of a human life? How could there be enough justice for the act of savagery we now know took place? How could there ever be enough justice for the terror, panic, and pain suffered by Helen Dutcher in the last moments of her life?” she asked with her arms crossed below her chest. “And the unfortunate truth, there never could be. There never could be enough justice for the ruthless and vicious obliteration of a human life cut short by senseless violence. As jurors you are the finders of facts, the determiners of truth, and, in an effort, to somehow kind of do justice, as best we can do it, under this horrific set of circumstances.
“But might I remind you that several facts remain in-escapable. The facts, and all the other facts in this case, corroborate Joseph Foy’s ID. The fact that the defendant committed an identical crime, thirty-one days before. The fact that every piece of evidence points in one direction and one direction only,” Pendergast stated as she pointed at Coral Watts.
“And the unfortunate truth? The unfortunate truth is that a human life has been taken, ruthlessly eliminated. And there will never be enough justice for that.” Pendergast paused for five seconds.
“Never,” she concluded in a whisper.
“Mr. Kaplovitz,” Judge Kuhn called out to the defense attorney.
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Defense attorney Ron Kaplovitz calmly and confidently strode toward the jurors. He pulled the lectern back in front of the jury box. He grabbed a tiny Dixie cup of water and placed it on the lectern. “First, I’d like to thank the prosecutors in this case, Ms. Pendergast, Mr. Cameron, for their cooperation and for their integrity. Many things happen in a case before the case begins that you don’t know about, discovery, sharing of evidence, pretrial motions, pretrial hearings. They handled themselves with the utmost respect and professionalism here. Their integrity is beyond reproach and I appreciate that. Doesn’t always happen in a criminal case, but it happened in this case, and it’s a pleasure.
“I also want to thank you for your patience. You’ve been here for about five or six days of actual trial, not that long of a jury trial as compared to some that we have heard of on TV, and some that I have been involved with, but you listened attentively, you kept your minds open, and I want to thank you in advance for that.
“Also, my sympathy to the victims in this case: Ms. Dutcher, the victims in Texas, the ladies who came into court today, excuse me, yesterday, who testified about what happened to them. They’re brave, courageous. The act of Ms. Aguilar is beyond belief, actually.
“In my opening statement, I promised you an experience, an interesting experience, and I have little doubt that we did not let you down in that regard. Prosecutor talks about, ‘This isn’t a show, this isn’t a game,’ she’s right. This is real life, this really all happened and you’re getting to experience firsthand, yourselves,” he declared as he pointed at the jury with both hands, “what everybody else here is watching. Some on TV, some in person here. You are getting to experience it for real. You’re part
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of this drama now. I hate to call it a drama because it involves a death of an innocent young lady.
“I told you you’d probably hate my client. I think that I’ve probably established that fact, or the prosecution has established that fact. It’s not my job to make you hate my client. It’s the prosecution’s job. I suspect she’s done a pretty good job at that and you—hate—my—client. So I, certainly we, kept our word about that. And in the end I said to you, I’m gonna ask you to return a not guilty verdict. I told you that’s what I was gonna be asking you for, and in the end of this case, that is exactly what I’m gonna be asking you for. When I’m done speaking to you today, you’re gonna have to make up, ultimately, your mind about that.”
Kaplovitz also told the jury that the key issue in the trial was what occurred on December 1, 1979. He called it the “keep your eye on the ball.”
“That’s the key issue here in this case. What happened on December 1, 1979?”
Kaplovitz also talked about the possibility of a not guilty verdict, before talking about the evidence. He talked about having to make a hard decision. “You are not gonna want to do it.” He flatly stated to the jury, “You are not gonna wanna come to that conclusion. But when you view your ultimate responsibility in this case, and you view the evidence that has really been presented to you, you’re gonna have to come to that legal conclusion because it’s what’s required under the law, and even though you’re gonna hate it, it’s gonna be the right thing to do.” Kaplovitz flipped over a sheet of paper on his legal pad. “I’m gonna talk briefly now about the evidence in this case.” Kaplovitz first returned to the idea that Helen Dutcher was a prostitute. Plenty of eyes rolled in the
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courtroom when the defense attorney stated that he did “not mean to besmirch her character.”
Kaplovitz also did not mean to besmirch Joseph Foy’s character, but he did everything to chip away at Foy’s credibility.
