THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110284
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
A Circuit Court judge will decide on Wednesday whether to throw out a confession by one of two Navy SEALS accused of murdering a Georgia college student in Virginia Beach last June.
Judge Ann Bonwill Shockley heard arguments Friday during a daylong hearing that Billy Joe Brown, 23, should not have been questioned June 27 about how 21-year-old Jennifer L. Evans died.
Brown made the confession at FBI headquarters in Richmond, where he and the other SEAL, Dustin A. Turner, 20, had been taken to undergo a polygraph examination.
According to testimony on Friday, Brown willingly agreed to take the polygraph test. He also signed two forms that explained his rights.
But once the polygraph expert, Sandra K. Baum of the Virginia Beach Police Department, began focusing her questions on Evans and how she disappeared from a Virginia Beach nightclub on June 19, Brown changed his mind.
``He said he didn't like the questions and was feeling funny about taking the second (part) of the test,'' Baum said. ``Billy finally said he didn't want to answer any of my questions.''
Brown's attorney, Andrew M. Sacks, argued Friday that Brown's refusal to continue the questioning should have ended the entire polygraph interrogation. Instead, two other Virginia Beach detectives continued questioning Brown about Evans. This violated Brown's constitutional rights, Sacks said.
During the interrogation, Brown learned that Turner had already told police where they could find Evans' body. That's when Brown confessed.
Evans' decomposed body was found near a biking trail in a Newport News park on June 27. The medical examiner ruled that Evans, 21, died of ``undetermined criminal violence.''
Also on Wednesday, Shockley will decide whether to grant a request for a change of venue.
KEYWORDS: MURDER by CNB