Painful predicament: Sullivan faces murder charges
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Questions of the bandana, along with testimony by two jailers who said Sullivan admitted to hitting murder victim Louie Johnson, 63, were the centerpieces of the state’s case Thursday. The defense begins this morning after the state rested its case late Thursday.
Sullivan is on trial for allegedly robbing and murdering Johnson outside the victim’s Old Smithville Road trailer in May of 2000. Prosecutors say Sullivan used a tire tool from Farley’s car to land 15 blows on Johnson’s head, causing the fatal injuries. The blood-covered tool was found beside the road near the crime scene.
His alleged partner in crime, Margie Farley, 32, is serving a 37-year sentence following her recent convictions on charges of facilitation of murder and robbery.
Farley was an acquaintance of the victim who said she brought Sullivan with her the night of the killing.
During her trial this June, Farley testified Sullivan was the person who attacked Johnson. Farley did not testify against her former boyfriend Thursday and it is not known if Farley will appear for the defense today.
One of the first tasks Thursday for prosecutors was to connect Sullivan to Farley since she has already been convicted for participating in the crime. The state produced witnesses who said they had seen the two together shortly before the crime. Prosecutors also brought a Cumberland County jailer to testify Farley had bonded Sullivan out of that jail the day before the murder.
Prosecutors next brought witnesses who identified a bandana, found beside the road near the crime scene, as that often worn by Sullivan. The bandana was found a few feet from Johnson’s empty wallet just off Old Smithville Road, where both had been allegedly thrown as the pair made their getaway.
The defense countered that such bandanas can be purchased by anyone. However, prosecutors presented FBI forensic scientist Karen Lanning to testify fibers from the carpet in Farley’s car were found on the bandana. There was no evidence of hair found in the bandana to further link Sullivan to the scene.
After trying to make a connection to Sullivan and the crime scene, prosecutors next used the defendant’s own words against him. First, sheriff’s investigator Tommy Myers testified Sullivan, when questioned, offered no firm alibi, saying instead he had “rode around Spencer” for a couple of days during the time of the crime.
The state next brought jailer Willard King to the stand. During his testimony, King said Sullivan made statements to him outside his cell, which perhaps incriminated the defendant. King noted he did not question Sullivan, but instead the statements were unsolicited and came as a surprise to him.
“He said ‘I just hit the man a couple of times and ran,'” King recalled of the short conversation with Sullivan. “The next time we talked he said he ‘wasn’t going to take the fall himself.'”
King said Sullivan did not mention Johnson by name during either conversation.
Defense attorney Billy Tollison questioned why it took King three years to come forward with his statement since the comments were reportedly made in June 2000.
“I didn’t want to get anyone behind the wall mad at me,” King said, referring to why he kept quiet about the statement.
King said he first revealed the statement when he overheard investigators talking about preparing the case recently for the Sullivan trial. King’s statement led to a delayed revelation by fellow jailer Nettie Cuttrell who testified Sullivan made a similar statement to her.
“He said ‘I didn’t kill the old man, I just hit him a couple of times and walked away,'” Cuttrell testified, noting Sullivan did not elaborate on the identity of the “old man” in question.
Cuttrell, who is now a court officer, said she was recently subpoenaed to testify when Assistant District Attorney Larry Bryant discovered Sullivan had made the statement to her.
“We were talking about what Willard was told and I said to Mr. Bryant, one day in court, that it was odd since Mr. Sullivan had told me basically the same thing,” Cuttrell testified. “That’s when Mr. Bryant told me I had just become a witness in this.”
The state ended its case Thursday with the testimony of forensic pathologist Dr. John Gerber who testified to the numerous wounds suffered by Johnson. Gerber said several of the wounds were consistent with wounds which would have been inflicted by the suspect tire tool. Prosecutors noted the tire tool was missing out of Farley’s car and the special type of tool was the type commonly used with her make of car.
Perhaps most important to the state was Gerber’s testimony that there was no evidence of defensive wounds to Johnson’s hands, suggesting he had been surprised by his attacker.
While presenting a day full of witnesses, prosecutors were not able, and will not be able, to reveal Sullivan’s alleged confession to his former attorney to the jury. The court ruled the confession, overheard by a sheriff’s officer while Sullivan was talking to his attorney, was a violation of attorney-client confidentiality. The confession allegedly involved Sullivan telling his former attorney, and present circuit court Judge Bart Stanley that he had beaten the victim, noting he had done it to defend Farley. Stanley has been recused from hearing the case.
Sullivan’s trial is expected to conclude today. Sullivan faces life without chance of parole if convicted on the murder charge.