Ginn admits he staged crime scene
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“I lost control,” Ginn told investigators in a taped interview played for jurors during the opening day of his trial Tuesday. Ginn is charged with first-degree murder for stabbing Webb to death on March 31, 2002. The confrontation occurred outside Ginn’s residence on Perry Road.
“I saw a bulge in his waist-line and knew he carried a gun,” Ginn said, noting he attacked his friend with a Bowie knife near his front deck, fearing Webb would draw and begin firing at him. “When I realized he didn’t have the gun, I panicked.”
Ginn said he does not recall how many times he stabbed Webb during the fight. However, after killing his friend and then realizing Webb was actually not armed, Ginn told police he went over to Webb’s truck, pulled the gun out of the truck and fired into the side of his own trailer to make it look like Webb had opened fire on him.
According to investigator Marty McGinnis, Ginn’s admission came after he had lied to him during an interview shortly after the killing. In a video-taped interview made earlier, Ginn said Webb fired at him, prompting him to draw a knife and begin stabbing. However, McGinnis said the angle of the bullet hole in the trailer suggested the shot was fired right next to the wall and could not have been fired from off the deck as Ginn first said. McGinnis also questioned how the gun holster, found lying on a grill on the deck, could have had blood on it if it was laid there by Webb before shooting the gun.
According to Ginn, his friend was mad over an incident earlier in the evening whereby he said Webb had directed him to bring back some meth to his home in DeKalb County. When Ginn did not return with the meth, the defendant said Webb started calling and threatening him.
Among the threats, Ginn said, was that Webb was going to shoot him or run his truck through his trailer. In his interviews played for the jurors, Ginn said he and Webb had been best friends since the seventh grade, often living together in earlier years.
However, Webb’s widow, Janie Webb, said she had seen their friendship “breaking apart” over the year leading up to the killing. She recalled a heated exchange between her husband and Ginn’s sister over the phone immediately before Webb left their house to go to the Ginn residence around 3 a.m.
Along with the words of the defendant to investigators, District Attorney General Dale Potter also produced a 911 tape where Ginn’s grandfather called for help when Webb first arrived. In the background, screaming and crying can be heard along with the sound of a gun being fired.
Ginn can be heard picking up the phone several minutes into the call, even as deputies were rushing to the residence.
“I think he’s dead,” Ginn can be heard telling 911 operator Valerie Womack, noting he had “stabbed (Webb) all over the place.”
While Ginn’s own words appeared damaging on the opening day of the trial, Public Defender Dan Bryant urged jurors to listen to all the evidence before making a decision. Bryant noted the defense strategy will be one of self-defense since Webb was on the Ginn property threatening harm. Bryant has also suggested Webb may have intended to ram his truck through the trailer.
However, Potter countered in his opening statement that Ginn went beyond the force needed to defend his property by “finishing off” the victim once he was on the ground and unable to defend himself. The apparent fact Ginn also sought to stage the crime scene is something Potter believes jurors should consider when determining whether the killing was premeditated.
The second day of testimony continues at 9 a.m. today at Warren County Courthouse.