THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060349
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 124 lines
With his mother sobbing in the seat behind him, SEAL trainee Billy Joe Brown on Wednesday was convicted of first-degree murder nearly 12 months after the slaying of Georgia pre-med student Jennifer L. Evans.
Prosecutors claim he and fellow SEAL trainee Dustin A. Turner killed Evans and dumped her body in a Newport News park June 19.
Brown, who turned 24 on Monday, also was convicted of abduction with intent to defile and attempted rape by a jury of nine men and three women that deliberated for about 12 hours over two days.
As family and friends of Evans sat quietly on the other side of the courtroom, Brown's mother, Patricia Creech of Morrow, Ohio, collapsed in tears in a front row seat.
``Billy isn't blameless,'' Creech said later. ``But he didn't kill her, he didn't rape her and he didn't abduct her. That's the way I feel, and that is the way I will always feel.''
Al Evans, father of the victim, said after the convictions that he would not be satisfied until Brown was sentenced to a life term in prison.
``I don't want this defendant ever on the street again,'' Evans said.
After delivering the verdicts, jurors spent less than two hours deliberating the sentence before returning to the courtroom with a request to retire for the night. Judge A. Bonwill Shockley ordered that the jury resume deliberations at 9 a.m. today.
Brown could receive up to life in prison for the convictions. The minimum sentence for the three charges is 42 years.
Brown, a member-in-training of Little Creek-based SEAL Team Four, seemed unaffected when the jury verdicts were read, and even smiled slightly to his attorney, Andrew Sacks, shortly after he was convicted.
Sacks said his client was in a state of disbelief over the verdicts.
``I think he is shocked, stunned and astonished,'' Sacks said in an interview after the verdict. ``How would you feel if you were convicted of a crime you didn't commit?''
Sacks said he would file for appeal this morning, claiming that the jury was influenced by media coverage of the murder case long before the trial began.
``There is no way you will convince me that this jury was not impacted by what they were exposed to,'' Sacks said. ``We were beaten before the opening bell.''
Turner, Brown's SEAL training buddy and co-defendant, is scheduled to be tried June 25 for murder and abduction. But his attorneys filed a motion for a delay Wednesday afternoon, claiming that media coverage of Brown's trial made a fair trial for Turner impossible.
Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys said he believed Turner's trial could be delayed until late summer or early fall. That might make choosing a jury for Turner in Virginia Beach possible, he said.
But Steve Mahan, one of Turner's attorneys, said he would rather go to trial earlier in the summer than later, and with a jury from some other part of the state.
``We would prefer not to wait that long,'' Mahan said. ``Besides, I don't think we will ultimately get a jury from Virginia Beach.''
Brown and Turner became friends after meeting and becoming swim buddies during SEAL underwater demolition training in California. They continued their friendship as they progressed through SEAL training and were transferred by the Navy to different Navy sites, including Puerto Rico and Virginia.
Prosecutors argued that their friendship, although steeled by a rugged commando work ethic, was not normal. It included, prosecutors claimed, a penchant for picking up women and engaging in group sex.
At least five witnesses, three of them other Virginia Beach-based SEALs, testified at Brown's trial that Turner and Brown frequently talked about and occasionally engaged in group sex.
When Turner and Brown tried to pick up Evans last June 19 at a Virginia Beach nightclub and involve her in one of their group-sex sessions, prosecutors said, the Emory University pre-med student resisted, and was killed.
The two men initially denied their involvement, then later confessed that they dumped Evans' body near a Newport News bike trail hours after they left with her from the parking of The Bayou, a Virginia Beach nightclub on 19th Street.
Both blamed the other for strangling Evans, but Brown told police on June 27 two versions of how Evans died, which became the centerpiece of his murder trial.
In the first version, he said Turner strangled Evans to quiet her as the two men undressed her in Turner's Chevrolet Geo on a residential street at the North End of Virginia Beach. Brown admitted holding her arms and legs and helping to dispose of the body.
In the second version, Brown claimed he came upon Turner and Evans as they sat necking in the parking lot of The Bayou in Turner's car. When Turner jumped out and told Brown to get in, Evans was already dead in the back seat.
It was this version that Brown built his defense around. He claimed that the first story was told to protect Turner by deflecting attention away from the SEAL training buddy, whom Brown said he loved like a brother.
Humphreys claimed the first story was consistent with the ``tag-team sex'' that was central to Turner's and Brown's lifestyle. The jury, he said, apparently believed him.
The key, Humphreys said, was ``the weighing of which statement did the facts and circumstances corroborate more. Obviously, the jury concluded it was the incriminating statement.''
Sacks said the first statement fit none of the facts of the case, including testimony that Turner wanted Evans to himself and tried to arrange for a ride home for Brown with one of Brown's ex-girlfriends.
Sacks received a sharp rebuke from Shockley Wednesday when he encouraged the jury to reconsider its verdict.
``There is a very, very, very haunting feeling in this courtroom as I stand here right now that we have made a mistake,'' Sacks said. ``The possibility of error has to be considered in setting this sentence.''
Sacks said he would begin his appeal of the verdict after the sentencing. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot
Delores Evans, mother of murder victim Jennifer L. Evans, hugs Mike
Carey, media relations officer for the Virginia Beach Police
Department, after the guilty verdict was announced Wednesday.
VICKI CRONIS photos/The Virginian-Pilot
After hearing the verdict, Andrew Sacks, above, Billy Joe Brown's
attorney, urged jurors to reconsider their decision. He was rebuked
by Judge A. Bonwill Shockley.
Al Evans, second from left, whose daughter Jennifer was murdered
last summer, thanks a supporter as he walks from the Virginia Beach
courtroom Wednesday after the guilty verdict. ``I don't want this
defendant ever on the street again,'' Evans said.
KEYWORDS: MURDER STRANGULATION KIDNAPPING
TRIAL VERDICT by CNB