Web posted
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Eleven women testify to being followed
Judge will decide if their testimony can be used in the Thurber trial
By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net
Eleven women were called by the prosecution to the witness stand Wednesday afternoon in the Justin Thurber case.
Prosecutors argued that the women -- mostly young and petite -- should be allowed to testify at Thurber's trial in June because their testimony is relevant to identifying the defendant as the one who abducted, raped and killed Jodi Sanderholm
The defense argued that the prosecution's motion to have them testify be denied. Lead defense attorney Tim Frieden argued that some of the events the women related happened a long time ago, or their testimony wasn't relevant to the events surrounding Sanderholm's disappearance and death.
Among those who testified were former girlfriends and restaurant employees who had worked with Thurber. Members of Cowley College's dance line squad, of which Sanderholm was a member, also testified.
They said they had seen stalking behavior by the defendant or were stalked by him.
The prosecution also called three male witnesses, police and sheriff's officers who had followed up on some of the stalking incidents and a childhood friend of Thurber's.
"With these motions, what we are trying to show is what the defendant does: goes out and finds women -- petite and young -- gets them into his car or gets in their car," said lead prosecutor Vic Braden, assistant state attorney general, after the 3 1/2-hour afternoon session.
"These activities are similar to what happened to Jodi Sanderholm."
At the start of the hearing, Frieden objected to allowing the witnesses to testify in an open, public pretrial hearing. Their testimony could prejudice jury members picked for the June trial, he has argued.
"The court previously ruled whether this hearing would be open or not," Judge Pringle responded. "I stand by my previous ruling."
Pringle had ruled in a hearing earlier this month that all pretrial hearings would be open to press and public, with the exception of a hearing on Thurber's statements to the police.
Wednesday's afternoon session focused on whether to allow the witnesses at trial to testify to alleged previous "bad acts" or criminal behavior of the defendant.
The stalking incidents described by witnesses did not result in criminal charges, according to yesterday's testimony.
For instance, Cowley County Sheriff's Deputy Joe Owens said he had investigated an incident in April 2006 in which Thurber was said to have taken two young women in a car into the country. The women testified he drove them from Arkansas City south into the country to show them a car for sale. But he kept driving farther out of town even after they asked him to take them back home. Finally, they jumped from the car.
"Did you arrest him?" asked Frieden.
"No," Owens said.
A woman of Hispanic descent was one of the two women involved in the incident. She said she had briefly dated Thurber. She had brought along a 13-year-old girl on the ride to interpret conversations with Thurber for her because she could not speak English.
The woman testified yesterday in Spanish. Her testimony was translated into English by an interpreter.
"Why did you get in his car?" Braden asked.
"He said he had a car to sell me," she answered.
The 24-year-old woman said Thurber took her and the 13-year-old out of town on a dirt road. During part of the ride he was touching his groin, she said.
"Why did you get out of the car?" Braden asked.
"So he would stop so (the 13-year-old) could get out ... You could just see his bad intentions."
The woman said she was sitting in the back seat, opened the car door and pulled the 13-year-old with her out with her. Meanwhile, Thurber had hold of the 13-year-old's left arm. But the girl was able to get out although she injured her knee.
The two women ran through a field to get away from Thurber, she said.
The incident occurred "more than a year" after the woman had stopped dating Thurber, she said in response to a question by Frieden.
"How did you get in touch about buying a car?" Frieden asked.
"We bumped into each other in front of Country Mart," she said.
Frieden questioned what the woman meant by the defendant's perceived "bad intentions." She said he had told her as he drove them out of town that the car he was to show them was "only a little while longer" but then kept driving.
Nicole Topper Hays, a former manager of the Arkansas City Subway, testified that Thurber had worked for her at the restaurant for a few weeks starting in late December 2006.
One day she found a rose on the windshield of her car parked at the restaurant, she said. There was a note that said the person liked her eyes and smile, and thought about being with her someday.
She said that on another day, early in the morning, as she was unlocking the store so she could take inventory, Thurber approached her on foot and said his car had broken down and he needed a ride home.
"I told him I didn't have time, I was doing inventory," she said.
A little later, after Thurber had crossed the street and used a phone at a service station and store, she saw him driving his blue car down Summit Street, she said.
In early January, Hays said she asked for a police escort to follow her to work because she felt uneasy that Thurber might be around.
Another Subway employee, Meghan Maloy, testified that she worked with Thurber at the restaurant. She said she saw someone on a Tuesday morning walking for half a block toward Subway, Maloy said.
Later, she received a phone call from Thurber after he had sent a text message about Maloy to Hays, Maloy said.
"He called Subway and asked if I was single," Maloy said. She added that she knew he wanted to take her out on a date, but she told him no.
Cowley County District Judge Jim Pringle yesterday did not rule on the motions to allow the witnesses. He said he would try to have a written ruling ready by the next Thurber hearing date, Feb. 27
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