Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993 TAG: 9309010107
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
Verna Horn said Whitt discussed planning Thompson's death nearly a year before he was killed in July 1991 when Whitt hit him with a pickup truck.
Whitt has said his death was an accident.
Horn said Whitt told her in August 1990 that she had a new boyfriend, Thompson, and that he was rich. Horn protested that Thompson was married and asked about his wife.
"I can take care of her . . . if necessary, if she gets in my way," Horn said Whitt replied.
"I'm a pro at this," Horn said her daughter told her.
Then Whitt flashed a "silly grin" - something she has done since she was old enough to know right from wrong, her mother said.
Horn said her daughter went on to say that if Thompson "should happen to have a tragic accident," then she could collect on his $100,000 accidental death insurance policy.
"I'm tired of being poor," Horn said her daughter told her.
Horn testified that Whitt next threatened her, telling her not to tell anyone about her plot "if you know what's good for you."
" `You better keep your damn mouth shut,' is what she said," Horn said.
Horn said she was scared of her daughter.
On the day of Thompson's death, Horn testified, she got a telephone call from Whitt from Bedford County Memorial Hospital, where Thompson was taken after he was hit by the truck.
"I told you I was going to do it and I did it," she said her daughter told her. "I murdered him. . . . I'm going to be rich."
Horn added that Whitt "sounded very excited, like a kid with a new toy."
Two days after Thompson was killed, Horn said she called the Bedford County Sheriff's Department concerned about the safety of Thompson's wife, Patsy.
She also called the following day to ask if Whitt had been arrested in connection with Thompson's death.
Horn said she made both calls anonymously. However, the calls were recorded, and she has identified her voice on the recordings.
During her mother's testimony, Whitt sobbed from her seat at the defense table, as she has done frequently throughout the trial. After the testimony, she had to be helped from the courtroom.
Horn did not get emotional as she testified against her daughter.
Under cross-examination from Whitt's defense attorney, Harry Garrett, Horn told about her stormy relationship with her daughter.
She said Whitt often made threats when she didn't get things she wanted. Horn said she and her husband moved from Richlands to Craig County trying to get away from Whitt, but Whitt followed them.
"We tried buying her off, but ran out of money," she said.
Horn said she even tried telling the rest of the family that Whitt wasn't her daughter, that she had been switched at birth. She hoped that would drive Whitt away. "I made that statement out of desperation," she testified.
Horn further testified that, during an argument with one of her sons, she said she hoped her daughter got the electric chair and that she would be happy to throw the switch.
"I said it, but I was very angry," she said.
Whitt, 45, is charged with first-degree murder. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Horn said there were times when she got along fine with her daughter. She admitted to helping her get a job at Friendship Manor. She said they even rode to work together for a time.
In unrelated court proceedings in Roanoke County earlier this year, Whitt said her stormy relationship with her mother dated to her childhood. Whitt claimed she was sexually abused by her father and that her mother was a "willing partner."
Those allegations were not addressed in court Tuesday.
However, her father, William M. Horn, a retired coal miner with black lung disease, did testify. He said that before Thompson's death, his daughter asked him about buying a portion of his land in Craig County.
He told her she couldn't afford it, but he said she told him she would be coming into $100,000. "She said, `I'll pay your price,' " William Horn said.
In other testimony, Barry Keesee, a special agent for the state police who specializes in homicide investigations, said Whitt told him things that didn't match other statements she or other witnesses made about Thompson's death.
When asked about her knowledge of any insurance policies on Thompson, Keesee said, she told him she didn't know of any. Previous testimony showed that she changed Thompson's accidental death policy to make herself the beneficiary.
Whitt also said she signed over ownership of Thompson's truck and motorcycle to herself on the day before he died, Keesee said. But she did not obtain a copy of the truck title until two days after Thompson's death.
Keesee asked Whitt if she had falsely back-dated the title on the truck. He said she looked down, turned pale, stuttered and replied no.
Prosecutor Jim Updike rested his case against Whitt on Tuesday afternoon.
Garrett began his defense of Whitt late in the day.
Whitt's younger sister, who lives in Maryland, was called as the first defense witness. She testified for about 15 minutes about the relationship between Whitt and their mother. She said the two had an on-again, off-again relationship.
Robert Gray, a lawyer in Appomattox, testified that Roy Thompson had hired him to begin divorce proceedings against Patsy Thompson. The Thompsons' marriage and divorce has been an issue in the trial.
Tommy Rowe, a friend of Roy Thompson and Whitt, testified that they had informally married themselves. Photographs taken after the ceremony were introduced as evidence.
Rowe said Thompson told him that his marriage to Patsy Thompson was over long before he became romantically involved with Whitt.
Thompson told him they had not slept together in four years and that he had been with approximately 30 women before Whitt, Rowe said.
Garrett is expected to wrap up his case today, with closing statements and jury deliberation scheduled for Thursday. The trial began a week ago.
by CNB