THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310486
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 125 lines
With his code of honor shattered and the rest of his life on the line, Billy Joe Brown testified Thursday that he was no longer willing to save his SEAL-trainee buddy by taking the fall for the murder of Georgia pre-med student Jennifer L. Evans.
During almost four hours of testimony in Circuit Court, Brown told a convoluted tale of how last June he constructed an elaborate web of lies, complete with a diagram of a make-believe murder scene, to protect fellow Navy SEAL trainee Dustin A. Turner.
Even after Turner broke down at FBI headquarters in Richmond on June 27 and told police where they could find Evans' body, Brown continued to lie to police about how Evans died, he testified Thursday.
``I figured I could take his head off the chopping block and put mine there instead,'' Brown told Judge A. Bonwill Shockley and the 14 jurors on Thursday. ``If I said that I was there and I saw what happened and that it was an accident, he wouldn't look like a cold-blooded killer.''
Brown said he also wanted to protect Turner because he believed - and still believes - his fellow commando-in-training had killed Evans accidentally.
``He told me he didn't do it on purpose and I don't believe that he did,'' Brown said.
But Brown said he was crushed when he learned that the man whom he was willing ``to take a bullet for'' had placed the blame for Evans' death on him. At that point, Brown said Thursday, Turner proved that he had lost his ``code of honor and code of truth.''
That's when Brown changed his story to police, claiming that Turner had killed Evans while the couple was having sex in Turner's car in the parking lot of The Bayou nightclub in Virginia Beach.
Brown testified on Thursday that a nervous Turner told him how Evans died while the two SEAL trainees drove around in Brown's car near Fort A.P. Hill, where the two were stationed last June to complete the last weeks of their SEAL training.
Brown said that Turner told him on June 20 that Evans initially was going along with Turner's sexual advances in the early morning of June 19. But suddenly, when Turner started getting rough as the couple necked in his Chevrolet Geo, Evans began resisting.
``He said he tore a button on her shorts and she got upset and tried to get up,'' Brown testified. ``He put a forearm on her throat and pushed her down.''
Evans, according to Turner, died almost instantly, with blood coming out of her nose and foam bubbling from her mouth, Brown testified.
Brown was just coming upon the car, and saw Turner's car door pop open and Turner jump out.
Turner, Brown said, told his friend to ``Hurry, dude, get in the car.''
Once inside, Brown testified, Turner said, ``I think I f------ killed her.''
Brown, who said he was extremely drunk after consuming about 50 glasses of alcohol during the day and night, said he saw that Evans was motionless in the back seat. Brown told his friend to ``just drive,'' he testified.
``It was absolutely, without a doubt, the most stupid thing I have done in my lifetime,'' Brown testified Thursday.
Brown said Turner wanted to ``take her to the ocean and rape her and then throw her body in the water so the police would think she drowned,'' Brown said.
Instead, Turner drove to a Newport News park, where the two SEAL trainees dumped Evans' body in a wooded gully.
It was during the week following the murder that Turner and Brown cooked up their first batch of lies about Evans' death, Brown said.
At first, Brown said, Turner persuaded him to tell police that the two men left The Bayou together.
``I lied because he asked me to,'' said Brown, who had been Turner's ``swim buddy'' in the toughest part of SEAL training at the Coronado, Calif., Navy base.
As police got closer to the truth, Turner began to crack, Brown said. During one visit that police made to Fort A.P. Hill, Turner came up to Brown in a nervous state.
``Turner got pretty freaked out,'' Brown said. ``He got pretty anxious and jittery and said, `Oh man, I'm going to jail.' I told him to calm down, calm down.''
Finally, when Virginia Beach police took the two men to Richmond for polygraph examinations, Turner broke down and told detectives where Evans' body was. When police notified Brown, they only showed him a map, without telling him what Turner had said about Evans' death.
One of the detectives admonished Brown, ``Come on man, don't let your buddy go down alone,'' Brown said.
Brown provided the detective with a story about how Turner and Brown took a ``passed-out'' Evans to a residential side street in Virginia Beach after the three had finished an evening of nightclubbing at The Bayou.
Brown drew a diagram showing how the two men undressed Evans in Turner's car and began to have sex with her.
Evans, Brown said, twice became conscious and tried to resist. But both times, Brown told police, Turner choked her and Brown held her legs down. When she remained unconscious, Brown said, the two men drove to Newport News and threw her body into the woods.
Ninety minutes later, Brown told Virginia Beach detectives that this story was a lie.
Prosecutors, however, believe that this is the way Evans died, and have provided four witnesses to testify that Brown and Turner often talked about and occasionally participated in group sex.
Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys said Thursday that Brown's final version did nothing but give him an alibi.
``Isn't it right to say you simply erased yourself out of the picture?'' Humphreys asked Brown.
``No,'' Brown said.
``But you're no longer willing to take a bullet for your swim buddy, is that about it?''
``No, I'm not,'' Brown said.
Andrew Sacks, Brown's attorney, said he will close his defense today. Closing arguments will be Monday, Sacks said.
One of the charges against Brown - sexual penetration with an animate object - has been dropped, Sacks said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
The Virginian-Pilot
Photos
THE BROWN TRIAL
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
Drawing
ALBA BRAGOLI
Billy Joe Brown, with his attorney, Andrew Sacks, demonstrates a
choke hold Thursday that he said he had seen co-defendant Dustin A.
Turner use once in a bar. Brown also told the court that he was no
longer willing to protect his friend.
KEYWORDS: MURDER KIDNAPPING STRANGULATION
TRIAL TESTIMONY by CNB