McMillen murder
trial winds down
The lawyers representing the four American
men accused of murdering 34 year old Connecticut artist Lois
McMillen entered a no-case submission beginning Monday, as the
case continued here before presiding Judge Justice Kenneth Benjamin.
The high profile murder case got underway in earnest on April
2nd,
one year and three months after the deceased’s body was
found along Drake’s Highway in West End, Tortola.
The men, 35 year old Alexander Benedetto, who works for a book publisher in New York; 37 year old William Labrador, a financial advisor from Southampton; 23 year old Evan George, an unemployed construction worker from Washington D.C and 37 year old law student Michael Spicer of Virginia, were arrested and charged with murder hours later and have been remanded in custody since. At the time of the incident, they were vacationing at Spicer’s home in Belmont.
The four admitted to socializing with
her a few days before she died, but they denied seeing her on
the night she died.
Since our last report, the witnesses called have included environmental
geologist Kenneth Pye of Britain and Acting Chief Inspector Anderson
Blackman and Chief Inspector Michael Wickerson of the Royal Virgin
Islands Police Force.
Last week in particular, the third week since the trial began, the prosecution called its star witness 59 year old Jeffrey Plante, an American. Plante, whose credibility is being challenged by defense attorneys because of his criminal record, testified that he overheard incriminating evidence from Benedetto and Labrador, while they were all incarcerated at Her Majesty’s Prison at Balsam Ghut.
The prosecution, led by Trinidadian Queen’s Counsel Theodore Guerra, rested its case Monday after calling a total of some 24 witnesses. In the afternoon, the judge, jury, attorneys and all, went on a visit to the scenes connected with the crime, including the site where the body was found, Quito’s Restaurant and Bar and the two vacation homes in Belmont belonging to Spicer and the McMillens.
Following the cross-examination of
three Police Officers Tuesday morning, Bermudan Queen’s
Counsel Richard Hector, who represents Labrador, submitted that
his client should not be called as a witness, as there is no
case which should force him to do so.
He reiterated that Plante’s evidence, the only evidence
put up against his client, was illogical, inconsistent and unsupported
by any other evidence.
He attacked Plante’s character, as he raised his record of writing bad checks, serving 9 years of a 45-year prison sentence in Texas and having been married ten times. “He is not a man who has a reputation for telling the truth.”
Mr. J.S Archibald Q.C, counsel for
Spicer and George, began his no case submission Tuesday afternoon
and continued into Wednesday. He also contended that there was
no evidence against his clients and that they should be acquitted.
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