Evans testifies on his own behalf

When jurors begin deliberations Friday in a murder case out of Stoddard County, Mo., they will have to decide whether to believe Glen Scott Evans' words to them or his words to police.

Evans, 46, took the stand on his own behalf Thursday, offering a different timeline of events than the one he gave police in a videotaped interview four nights after the Feb. 19, 2013, shooting death of 34-year-old Sean Crow of Bernie, Mo.

Glen Scott Evans is escorted to circuit court at Common Pleas Courthouse on Friday, March 14, 2014 in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

That interview is a key piece of evidence in the case against Evans, who is accused of driving Matt Cook, 30, from Dexter, Mo., to Advance, Mo., for the purpose of killing Crow, who was found shot to death in his truck outside a fast-food restaurant.

Both men face first-degree murder charges.

During the interview, Evans made several statements that suggested he knew what Cook was planning before they got to Advance.

Testifying Thursday, Evans said he was too intoxicated and sleep-deprived to remember details clearly during the 3 a.m. interrogation. At one point, he suggested he had been tricked into cooperating with investigators.

Speaking clearly, Evans addressed the jury in an affable tone, his voice dropping as he recounted the details of the shooting.

Evans sounded confident and well prepared as he sparred with Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Russell Oliver during cross-examination -- a marked contrast from the mumbled, sometimes disjointed responses he gave in his interview with police early on the morning of Feb. 24, 2013.

In his testimony, Evans said he had no idea what Cook was up to when he asked for a ride to Advance.

"He asked me if I could give him a ride to take care of some business," he said, but did not say what that business entailed.

Cook was quiet for most of the ride to Advance, spending most of the time exchanging text messages with someone, Evans said in court Thursday.

About halfway between Dexter and Advance, Cook finally spoke, Evans said.

"He made the comment, 'This guy thinks he's getting some [expletive],'" he said, using a vulgar term for female genitalia.

A few seconds later, Cook burst out with another comment, Evans said.

"He said, out of anger -- not out of a plan, out of anger -- that, 'I will kill that son of a bitch,'" he said.

Several times during the videotaped interview, Evans told police he did not take Cook seriously.

"I've heard a hundred thousand guys that said … 'I will kill that [expletive].' … I didn't know he was really going to do that," Evans said.

During the same interview, Evans told officers he had seen Cook with a gun on the way to Advance, and Cook had told him he needed to see a "biker dude that rips people off on dope deals."

In court Thursday, Evans told his attorney, James McClellan, that Cook actually made those comments after the shooting, not on the way to Advance.

"That was something he said on our way back to Dexter," he said.

During cross-examination, Oliver asked Evans a series of questions about the word "dope," ultimately asking him what he thought the term meant when Cook used it in reference to Crow on the way to Advance.

"First of all, I don't remember him saying that on the way up there. It was on the way back," Evans said.

Oliver pressed him on the issue, reminding him that during interrogation, he had told investigators Cook said it on the way to Advance.

"I was recalling the events to the best I could," Evans said, adding he was too intoxicated at the time to remember events in their correct sequence.

At one point during his testimony, Evans choked back tears as he described a moment when Cook threatened his best friend, Brent Montgomery, with a gun.

"He put it to his head and said if he said a word, he would do the same thing to him that he did to the victim," Evans said.

Oliver referred to Evans' tears as a "theatrical performance," drawing an objection from McClellan -- which Judge William Syler sustained -- and asked Evans why he did not tell investigators about Cook's threat.

"I was drunk, I didn't have much sleep, and I was recalling everything I could recall on something that was very traumatic that happened four days before," Evans said.

He admitted he initially had been uncooperative with police, running when they came to question him and lying about the trip to Advance.

Near the end of his testimony, however, Evans suggested he was not the only one who had been untruthful.

"I stood in the living room with multiple troopers. … They told me as long as I fully cooperated with law enforcement from here on out, there would be no charges filed," he said.

McClellan asked who told him that.

"Russell Oliver, the prosecutor," Evans answered.

The jury also heard testimony Thursday from Evans' mother, Glynis Evans, who described him as "a gentle person." She said the morning after his interview with police, he seemed exhausted and told her he hadn't slept in three days.

Under questioning by Oliver, Evans' ex-wife, Nikki Evans, said he had broken her arm in 2005 when he threw a lawn chair at her during an argument.

McClellan asked her about the circumstances surrounding the argument, which she acknowledged had to do with her husband's discovery that she had been unfaithful.

Crow's father, Bob Crow, also testified, countering Evans' earlier assertion that he did not know the victim.

Bob Crow said his son and Evans both had participated in a horseshoe tournament he hosted at his home in 2011 or 2012.

Closing arguments are set for this morning, with deliberations to begin afterward.

Cook's case is set for trial in December in Dunklin County, Mo.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Advance, MO