Murder trial to begin Wednesday: Sullivan’s overheard ‘confession’ ruled out
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Sullivan, 38, is set to stand trial this Wednesday for the May 2000 beating death and robbery of Old Smithville Road resident Louie Johnson, 63. Johnson was murdered in his backyard in what authorities believe was a robbery attempt. Sullivan’s co-defendant, Margie Farley, 32, was convicted this May for facilitation of murder and will be sentenced this week. Lawmen say Farley was a friend of Johnson’s and it was she who took Sullivan to Johnson’s trailer the night of the killing.
Controversy has surrounded the Sullivan case since a deputy testified in a preliminary hearing nearly three years ago that he overheard Sullivan admit to his former attorney, Bart Stanley, who is now circuit judge, that he killed Johnson. Stanley will not be presiding in the upcoming trial nor defending Sullivan. Sheriff’s Lt. Jody Cavanaugh overheard the conversation in the dispatch office of the jail over a closed circuit monitoring system which is located in the adjacent booking room.
During hearing Friday, Judge James Weatherford said he would under no means, permit the overheard conversation to go before a jury. The judge noted, in no uncertain terms, that the eavesdropping violated attorney/client privilege even though the conversation was not held in a private room.
“I can think of no reason under the sun that I would ever permit this before a jury,” Weatherford said. “The only way I would ever even consider allowing this in is if the chief justice of the Supreme Court himself came down here and told me to put it in. And, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
While rebuffed on the overheard statement, prosecutors did succeed in keeping a pair of partial admissions Sullivan allegedly made to jailers in evidence. The pair of jailers said Sullivan volunteered statements to them on separate occasion, both jailers saying Sullivan told them he hit Johnson a “couple of times” but that the victim was still alive when he fled.
Defense attorneys Lisa Zavogiannis and Billy Tollison questioned why the jailers did not come forward a long time ago when the statements were made instead of waiting until just before trial. Jailer Willard King said he felt revealing such a confession could cost him “behind the wall” where he works, noting he did not come forward until he happened to mention the conversation to the chief investigators who then told him to write down what Sullivan had said. Both jailers said they refused to speak with Sullivan about the issue after his initial statements because they are not trained in interview techniques and felt it was not their place as jailers to hear such incriminating information.
With the statements going before the jury this week, the remaining issue at hand Friday was whether the case will be moved to another county due to pre-trial publicity. Both Senior Writer Duane Sherrill and Circulation Manager Steve Warner of the Southern Standard were called to the stand to testify about the publicity.
Warner told the court 57 percent of all households in Warren County read the Southern Standard. Zavogiannis said the widespread readership mixed with 20 articles regarding her client’s case would mean problems in getting a fair jury.
“In almost all the articles, it refers to my client admitting to killing Mr. Johnson. This is the reason I filed for change of venue,” Zavogiannis said. “I believe it would be difficult to get a jury in this case.”
In response, Judge Weatherford said he intends to try to get a jury here, with jury selection to begin Wednesday morning. If there is difficulty in getting a jury, Weatherford said he may then reconsider a change of venue.
Sullivan faces life without chance of parole if convicted.