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Saturday, August 23, 2008

Fiancee's testimony ends in Jones trial

After Kelly Brubeck finished, police and a 911 dispatcher testified in the murder trial of James Reginald Jones II.

RADFORD -- Ken Henry couldn't speak, but his eyes moved as he watched the police officers who found him lying in the parking lot of a Davis Street apartment building, bleeding from two gunshot wounds.

In the fourth day of testimony against James Reginald Jones II, the man charged with capital murder in Henry's July 5, 2006, death, Radford police officers described finding 39-year-old Henry after a neighbor called 911 to report that a man was bleeding heavily in the parking lot and calling for help.

Sgt. Angie Simpkins testified that she was the first officer to arrive. The video camera on her police car captured footage as she sped into the lot and pulled up right in front of Henry, who was flanked by other people. It was unclear when the video was shown in Radford Circuit Court on Friday who the bystanders were, though neighbors have said they tried to help Henry.

Henry's family members, who have been inside the courtroom for parts of the trial, were not there as the video was played.

Henry was shot inside the apartment where Kelly Brubeck, Jones' fiancee, lived. Brubeck at first confessed to the crime but later told police it was Jones who shot Henry.

Jones' attorneys contend that he didn't shoot Henry and have told jurors they can't trust Brubeck to tell the truth. Jurors have seen and heard several audio and video clips of police interviews with Brubeck and of her phone calls, and her version of the events seems to change with nearly every one.

Brubeck said that one of her children is fathered by a man who also fathered a child with Henry's ex-wife, Evie Lewis. Brubeck told jurors over and over that, before the day Henry was killed, she hadn't spoken to him and had seen him only "in rare passings" at the home of the grandmother the children share.

But Jimmy Turk, one of Jones' defense attorneys, presented a document Friday that he said proves Brubeck knew Henry well.

In August 2005, Brubeck made a sworn statement as part of Lewis' divorce from Henry. Asked on a form how she knew "the parties" involved, she said, "We have been friends for years."

Asked by Turk about that Friday, Brubeck said she was referring only to Lewis in saying they had been friends. She said Lewis told her how to answer other questions, including when she and Henry were married and when they had separated.

Turk said Brubeck allowed Lewis to coach her answers just like she let police and Radford Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak coach her on what to say in testifying against Jones.

"You've lied to this jury for two solid days," Turk told her. He told her that she has lied to Rehak and police for two years because they bought her story, "and he has sat in jail," he said, motioning to Jones.

Turk told Brubeck she has lied so many times that she can't keep her stories straight.

"The truth is the truth and that's what I'm telling today," she said.

At one point, Brubeck made a slip-up that no one questioned.

"I've always been involved in the murder," she said, then corrected herself almost before she'd completed the last word by adding, "the robbery part, not the murder."

Brubeck has testified that she and Jones set up a drug deal with Henry and planned to rob him when he got to the apartment. Turk said that she previously stated that the plan was to rob him, kill him, then drive to Draper and dump his body in a lake.

"The murder was never planned but the robbery, yes," she said Friday. She testified that she was to have only one role: "My plan and my part in it was to get him there," she said.

After Jones shot Henry, Brubeck testified, she and Jones ran to a neighbor's apartment. The neighbor, who dried their clothes for them because their dryer was broken, gave Jones some clothes and some bleach to wash his hands, Brubeck said. The neighbor also threw out a tin watch box that Brubeck said belonged to Henry and contained crack.

Brubeck finally stepped off the witness stand Friday afternoon after testifying for parts of three days.

After her testimony, the case began to speed forward, with a 911 dispatcher and three police officers testifying before the end of the day.

Attorneys have said that as many as 60 witnesses could be called. It is unclear if Jones plans to testify.

He is charged with capital murder, in which a guilty verdict is punishable only by life in prison or the death penalty, and several other crimes in connection with the robbery and killing of Henry.

Brubeck is charged with crimes that include second-degree murder. A trial date for her has not been set.

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