Joseph's double-murder trial begins

It was a full first day for the jury sitting for the trial of Cape Girardeau murder suspect George Joseph. By the time court recessed just before 6 p.m., jurors had heard opening statements, testimony from nine witnesses and a 911 call, in addition to watching a video.

In a "twisted act of mercy," Joseph killed his wife and son after more than a year of financial difficulties, assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff said as opening statements began Monday.

Woodruff outlined Joseph's move from accounting to investments and eventually to what she referred to as a "Ponzi scheme." She said he promised his investors large returns, but, she said, "it's only successful as long as you have new money coming in."

George Joseph sits in the foreground as Detective Jeff Bonham with the Cape Girardeau Police Department holds up an spent shell casing from a .22 caliber handgun during his testimony Monday at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson. The casing was found in Mary Joseph's bedroom during the police department's 2013 double-murder investigation. (Laura Simon)

She drew lines from Joseph to Keith Monia, who faces charges of financial exploitation of the elderly, saying the two "had something in common: They were ripping people off."

Woodruff said with bad checks Joseph wrote coming due at the end of May 2013, he borrowed two guns, shot his wife and son, Mary and Matthew, and turned the gun on himself in their pool in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

She described the discovery of the crime scene the morning of the shootings, then Joseph's alleged admission in the hospital that police could stop looking for the shooter, and he'd acted alone.

Cape Girardeau County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Angel Woodruff, holds up a photo of George Joseph's hand, taken by a member of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, Monday during the first day of Joseph's double-murder trial at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson. Joseph is accused in the 2013 shooting deaths of his wife, Mary Joseph, and son, Matthew Joseph, at their home on West Cape Rock Drive. (Laura Simon)

"Evidence will show that was the last time George Joseph took responsibility" for the shootings, Woodruff said.

Defense attorney Cynthia Dryden also spoke of that hospital interview with police in her opening statement, saying the "percussive" action of being shot had caused cognitive damage, and Joseph couldn't focus while being questioned.

"That's what police take advantage of," she said, contending police used Joseph's faith to try to coerce a confession.

Dryden asked the jury to consider two questions when viewing the recorded interview: Is this voluntary? And does Joseph know what he is doing?

"From start to finish, this is the most messed-up investigation you will ever hear," Dryden said.

Dryden described ways the defense believes the crime scene and evidence were mishandled and referred to a bullet casing missing from Matthew Joseph's room. She speculated it could have been "a souvenir the killer took" or perhaps tracked somewhere by one of the police officers.

Dryden said the state had "no scientific, objective proof" Joseph had pulled the trigger, and finances were not a feasible motive.

"Mary and Matthew would have been provided for beautifully if that were the motive in this case," because of a million-dollar life-insurance policy held by George Joseph.

The state first called Betty Griffith, Mary's mother and neighbor, then Robert Griffith, Mary's brother. They told the tale of Betty Griffith letting her dog out the morning of May 30, 2013, to find the Josephs' dog, which by its behavior tipped her off something was wrong down the street.

"She just sat there with her head down and wouldn't move," rather than playing like normal, Betty Griffith said.

Betty Griffith testified she went down to the Josephs' house. Finding everything silent, she called her son, Robert, and her son-in-law.

"She said, 'Something's bad wrong at Mary's,'" Robert Griffith testified.

He said he entered the house through an unlocked door and found Mary -- whom he thought at first to be George Joseph -- and Matthew dead in their beds and called 911. It wasn't until his brother-in-law called out from the pool house that George Joseph was there, wounded, that Robert Griffith went back and discovered it was Mary Joseph dead in the master bedroom.

Mary and Matthew's heads had been covered with pillows, on which had been placed a rosary, Robert Griffith said.

Woodruff's third and fourth witnesses were Detective Jerry Franks and Cpl. Brad Neels of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, who were sent to the Josephs' house the morning of the deaths. Both testified they didn't see any indication items had been stolen from the house.

"Did you see any signs of forced entry?" Woodruff asked Franks.

"No, I did not," Franks replied.

Dryden asked Franks and Neels about the police department's crime-scene sign-in log, establishing no ambulance, EMTs, firefighters or civilians had signed the sheet, even though all these people had been in the house.

Dryden also asked about creating a crime-scene diagram, indicating there were several mistakes in measurements used to create the department's diagram of the Joseph house.

Spending the longest time on the stand Monday was Cape Girardeau police Detective Jeff Bonham, who was in charge of evidence technicians at the time of the shootings.

From the start, Dryden focused on errors the defense contends were made at the crime scene.

Bonham said he'd been trained on how to retrieve a weapon from water, telling the court he knew to "keep it in that same type of water to preserve it" and keep it from rusting.

He testified because he was uncertain of whether the pool chemicals could damage the weapon, he called David Warren at the crime lab for guidance and invited him to the crime scene to advise about fingerprints on the gun.

He said Warren advised him to let the gun air-dry and put it in a cardboard box; the gun was delivered to the lab about 26 days later.

Dryden referred to a deposition in which Bonham had said Warren had told him to get it to the crime lab as soon as possible -- something Bonham said Tuesday he didn't recall Warren saying. Later in the same deposition, after finding the gun had not been delivered until June 25, Bonham retracted his statement about Warren's instructions.

"At any point did anyone find anything resembling a suicide note of any kind?" Dryden asked. Bonham replied they had not.

Dryden pointed out discrepancies between photos taken of the crime scene at different times.

Bonham said other than the crime-scene video that was shown to the jury during Bonham's testimony, he did not have any other documentation items in the home had been moved, including some financial documents.

On cross-examination by Woodruff, Bonham testified no one in the family had claimed anything was missing from the home.

"Did anyone fingerprint anything in the home?"

"No," Bonham said, not that he was aware of.

Bonham testified several checks were found in the trash, all dated near the end of May 2013 and made out in varying amounts in the thousands of dollars, and a .45 Taurus revolver known as "The Judge" on a pillow on the sofa in the living room.

Many questions asked of Bonham centered on his visit with Joseph in early June 2013 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Bonham admitted Joseph had asked immediately for a lawyer when they tried to question him, but he also consented to having swabs taken for testing.

Bonham said they kept talking to him because they "had the right" to do so because he was not under arrest or in police custody at that point. He also agreed they had used Joseph's religious beliefs to try to encourage him to tell the truth about what had happened.

"At any point, did he seem to be hallucinating?" Woodruff asked.

"No, he did not," Bonham answered. He said Joseph appeared to be following the conversation and confirmed personal details such as his address, name and where he had gone to school.

"He said there was nobody else to look for other than him," Bonham said.

Rounding out testimony Monday were an EMT and a paramedic with Cape County Private Ambulance who treated George Joseph at the scene and transported him to the hospital; Sgt. Keith Green of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, who retrieved a .22 handgun and shell casing from the Josephs' pool; and officer and evidence technician Kevin Wehrle, who took gunpowder and Ferrotrace tests of Joseph's hands at the hospital.

Court resumes at 9 a.m. today.

kwebster@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

1220 W. Cape Rock Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO

100 Court St., Jackson, MO