THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606010212
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 63 lines
The defense rested its case Friday in the murder trial of Navy SEAL trainee Billy Joe Brown after entering into evidence a videotaped statement that Brown made to Virginia Beach Police after his arrest last June.
The videotape shows Brown repeating his final version of how Jennifer L. Evans died. It also includes his explanation of why and how he lied to protect fellow SEAL trainee Dustin A. Turner.
The tape showed the 23-year-old Brown wiping away tears on the shirt sleeves of his white T-shirt as he told Detective Al Byrum that he lied to protect Turner because ``I loved him like a brother . . . I'm sorry that I lied several times to police, I only wanted to help him.''
Brown told Byrum that he found Turner and Evans in Turner's Chevrolet Geo in the parking lot of The Bayou nightclub in Virginia Beach in the early morning of June 19. Turner jumped out of the car as Brown approached and yelled at his friend to ``get in the car.''
Once inside the vehicle, Brown saw that Evans was motionless in the back seat of the car, with blood on her nose and foam on her mouth. Brown told his SEAL Team friend to ``just drive,'' he said in his statement.
The men took Evans to a park in Newport News where they tossed Evans' body into woods near a biking trail.
After Brown read his statement, the tape shows Byrum asking Brown: ``Are you telling me you weren't there when the girl died?''
``Yes, that's what I am telling you,'' Brown answers.
That contradicted Brown's earlier statement. In that version, the SEAL Team Four member said Turner and he drove Evans - unconscious but still alive - to the North End of Virginia Beach, where they parked on a residential street and attempted to undress the 21-year-old Emory University pre-med student. When she awakened and began screaming, Turner choked her and Brown grabbed her arms and legs until she quieted. After this happened a second time, Evans remained unconscious.
Prosecutors are pursuing the earlier statement given by Brown, which implicates both men in Evans' death. At least five witnesses, including one Friday, have testified that Turner and Brown liked to have three-way sexual encounters with the same woman. Turner goes on trial June 25.
Answering questions from Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys, Byrum also testified that Brown told him he fondled Evans' semi-naked corpse as Turner drove through the streets of Virginia Beach following the murder.
Byrum said that after Brown told him this, he added, ``I realize that this is a pretty sick thing to do.''
Yet moments later, Brown was lighthearted and hungry, asking for food and drink, Byrum said.
``I just couldn't believe his attitude,'' Byrum testified Friday.
Meanwhile, introduction of the tape allowed prosecutors to introduce evidence that Brown, hours after admitting his role in Evans' disappearance and death, casually asked Virginia Beach Police for ``a beer and a babe.''
Initially, Judge A. Bonwill Shockley refused to allow the statement in as evidence.
Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for Monday. ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC
The Virginian-Pilot
THE BROWN TRIAL
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KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL TESTIMONY by CNB