Update: Weldon trial halted again over witness interview
Last Modified: Saturday, September 01, 2012 6:53 PM
By Johnathan Manning / American Press
DERIDDER — Billie Joe Weldon’s second-degree murder trial won’t continue until Tuesday morning, Judge C. Kerry Anderson ruled Friday after a hearing to determine if the defense had access to all the evidence.
Weldon is on trial for the August 2009 death of 27-year-old Kimberly Ann Stephens, whose body was found in a vacant lot off Granberry Road.
The trial was halted Thursday in the middle of witness Michelle Tharp’s cross-examination, when defense attorney David Wallace asked her how many times she had been interviewed by investigators and whether any of those had been recorded.
Tharp said she was aware of one instance of her interview being recorded — a copy of which Wallace did not have.
Wallace said Friday that there was also a recorded interview with June Toothman, who testified Thursday, that he wanted a copy of.
Detectives Mark Herford and Jared Morton both testified about a list of people that were interviewed early in the investigation.
Morton said those witnesses’ interviews weren’t necessarily recorded because many of them were questioned just to find information that would lead investigators in the right direction.
Prosecutors and the defense were to meet at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Beauregard Parish District Attorney’s Office to go over the list and make sure all interviews had been exchanged.
The court had already planned to pause for the holiday weekend.
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