Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 3, 1993 TAG: 9309030140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
A Bedford County jury convicted her of the first-degree murder of Roy Thompson, deciding she was every bit the cold and calculating killer portrayed by the prosecution.
Jurors rejected Whitt's story that she accidentally assisted in Thompson's suicide the day he threw himself in front of a pickup truck she was driving on a country road.
Whitt, who spent much of the seventh day of her trial in Bedford County Circuit Court in tears, rose on unsteady feet as the jury filed back into the courtroom late Thursday afternoon.
As the verdict was read, Whitt collapsed backward into her chair, grasping the arms of attorneys who stood on each side of her as she fell. She then hung her head over the back of the chair and began to scream.
Her gasping screams continued, with family members seated behind her joining in, as the jury's recommended sentence of 40 years in prison was read.
As sheriff's deputies led her to jail, Whitt sobbed to her children, boyfriend and other supporters: "I love you all."
The prosecution had contended it was the love of Roy Thompson's money that led Whitt, 45, to steal him away from his wife, destroy his marriage, control his life and lure him into a deadly relationship.
"She planned and she schemed to kill this man for the insurance money," Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Updike told the jury in his closing argument.
"She put a price tag on this man's head and she ran him down pursuant to a plan."
Whitt, however, had testified Wednesday that Thompson's death was an accident.
She said he was depressed about financial problems in July 1991 as they drove home one day from the Goode Post Office on Virginia 670. Thompson stepped out of the pickup truck and walked a ways to calm himself down, Whitt told the jury.
The next thing she knew, Whitt said, he jumped in front of the pickup truck before she could stop. Thompson, 45, died of internal bleeding caused by the impact.
"I didn't kill him for money," Whitt testified. "I didn't kill him intentionally."
But Whitt had problems explaining why she replaced the name of Thompson's wife, Patsy, with her own as the beneficiary of his $100,000 accidental-death policy shortly before he was killed.
"Ten days later she runs over the man and kills him," Updike said. "Now ain't that a coincidence?"
Updike also hammered at the fact that just two days after the killing - "Roy hadn't even been buried yet" - Whitt had the titles of his truck and motorcycle switched to her name.
She also ordered a personalized license plate that read "For Sue," the prosecutor reminded the jury. "That's what Roy's death was all about - For Sue."
Updike attacked Whitt's credibility by alluding to her many inconsistent statements about Thompson's death. He also mentioned her numerous marriages and affairs with other men, including one marriage shortly after Thompson was killed and other relationships since.
"One thing here is indisputable," he said. "The death of Roy Thompson has not hampered her social life any."
Perhaps the most damaging testimony against Whitt came from her own mother.
Verna Horn said Whitt discussed planning Thompson's death to collect his insurance money nearly a year before it happened. "I'm a pro at this," Whitt said, according to her mother.
On the day of Thompson's death, Horn said, she got a telephone call from her daughter.
"I told you I was going to do it and it did it," Horn testified 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."
Defense attorneys Harry Garrett and Rodney Fitzpatrick tried to discredit Horn's testimony as coming from an unstable and bitter woman. They also said other prosecution witnesses had reason to lie.
"There are a lot of things in here that look bad," Garrett admitted to the jury. "But I respectfully submit to you there is a reasonable doubt."
Updike waited until the last chance to speak to the jury before presenting his most detailed argument of how Roy Thompson died.
Whitt may have been plotting all along to kill him, he told the jury, but she didn't see her opportunity until shortly before it happened.
Updike pointed to testimony that Thompson was having second thoughts about his relationship with Whitt.
"Roy had something to be depressed about: He was involved with her; his whole life was gone."
Updike speculated that after arguing with Whitt in the pickup truck, Thompson decided he'd had enough. He got out of the truck and began to walk away from her - maybe for good.
"Roy Thompson had said he had wanted to go back to Patsy, and on that particular day he had had enough of Nellie Sue Whitt, just like her parents had years ago," Updike said.
As Thompson walked away, Updike said, an angry Whitt gunned the truck's accelerator and sped toward him.
To support his argument, he cited medical testimony that Thompson's wrist was broken in a manner consistent with throwing his arm up in a defensive reflex as the truck bore down on him.
"Roy said, `My God, she's not going to stop,' " Updike told the jury. "And I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that was the last thought that Roy Thompson had."
by CNB