Jury to begin deliberations in attempted murder case

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- One thing is certain: the night of June 17, 2004, someone set fire to Billie Davis' house at 224 Goodson Drive in Jackson while she was in it. She was able to crawl to safety, but she suffered burns on her arm and smoke inhalation and required hospitalization.

A jury of four men and eight women now have to decide whether Davis' daughter, Tara McClanahan, helped set it. The prosecution's major witness, co-defendant Juanita Holderbaugh of Jackson, who earlier negotiated a plea agreement and is serving a 10-year sentence in connection with the incident, recanted her confession at the last minute. Part of her plea agreement was to testify against McClanahan.

Public defender Jason Tilley targeted the credibility of the prosecution's other key witness, Mark Messmer of Chaffee, Mo., a reported crack addict with a criminal history, who apparently had a short-lived romantic involvement with McClanahan and testified against her Monday.

McClanahan's trial was moved to Mississippi County on a change of venue. She is charged with first-degree arson, second-degree attempted murder and first-degree burglary. Prosecution and defense both presented their evidence and witnesses Monday. Today, the jury will hear their closing remarks, and will begin deliberations.

Prosecutors Morley Swingle and Jack Koester attempted to prove that McClanahan sought to gain financially from her mother's death. They also tried to establish that McClanahan wanted Davis dead because Davis had recently found several thousand dollars missing from her checking account.

The prosecution was counting on Holderbaugh's testimony to prove its case against McClanahan. Early in the testimony Monday Swingle filed with Judge David Dolan a prior consent statement, which Dolan approved, to allow the jury to receive Holderbaugh's previous testimony. Swingle said that prior to a 2000 change in the law allowing the prosecution to present previous testimony and impeach its own witness, the case would not have gone forward. That motion enabled Swingle to play for the jury a taped interview Holderbaugh had with Jackson Police Lt. Rodney Barnes in which she stated that she and McClanahan entered Davis' home during the night, lit candles, then set the curtains and pillows on fire in Davis' bedroom while she slept.

Swingle also entered into evidence previous written statements Holderbaugh made to Jackson Police and state fire investigator James "Butch" Amann stating that she and McClanahan had set the fire, that they had used candles and later submitted a supplemental statement claiming that they had thrown the candles out the car window on Greensferry Road on their way home from Davis' house. She also had said that the day of the fire, McClanahan had taken a $3,000 check from her mother's kitchen, deposited $2,600 of it into her mother's account and kept $400. The check was from an IRA she had with Edward Jones that she was going to deposit in her overdrawn checking account.

Changing statements

Holderbaugh took the stand Monday and admitted that she had made those statements, that she had confessed on tape, and that she had admitted her involvement to an investigator during a presentencing investigation and eventually told Judge John Heisserer at her sentencing that she made the statements freely and knew what she was saying. But Monday, she said it was all a lie.

Prosecution called a representative from Edward Jones, where Davis has an IRA account, to establish McClanahan's intent to get to her mother's money. Juanita Penfield testified that McClanahan had called several times regarding her mother's IRA account which she said has a balance of more than $120,000. Days before the fire, Penfield said she had helped Davis liquidate some securities from her IRA and mailed her a check for $3,000 so she could cover the negative balance of her checking account at the Bank of America.

Penfield said when she told McClanahan over the phone that she could not answer her questions regarding Davis' account for reasons of client confidentiality, she claimed that McClanahan became vulgar, and testified that she heard McClanahan use vulgar language toward her mother whom she heard talking in the background.

Penfield also testified that after the fire, when she came to see Davis after she got out of the hospital, Davis told her that she knew McClanahan had been in the house that night.

Davis said while she was trying to crawl from her burning bedroom to safety through a hallway thick with smoke, all she could see in front of her was a pair of shoes. Penfield testified that Davis told her she recognized the shoes as McClanahan's.

Public defender Tilley challenged Penfield's testimony, claiming that she was "embellishing" testimony that she had given previously in written deposition. He pointed out that in her previous deposition, she had not mentioned the shoes, or the vulgar language McClanahan reportedly used against her mother. Penfield countered that during the deposition, she had not thought that information was essential. Tilley also asked Davis during questioning if her daughter had ever called her the vulgar name Penfield said she had and Davis denied it.

Tilley also sought to discredit Mark Messmer's credibility, pointing out that he has a history of drug abuse and prior convictions for forgery and noting that he admitted he had forged at least 10 checks on Davis' account. Under Tilley's questioning, Messmer admitted that he would forge checks at retail businesses, resell the merchandise for money and buy crack with it, with McClanahan's knowledge.

Messmer also claimed that he was in the house he shared with McClanahan when Holderbaugh and McClanahan, who he claimed had previously discussed ways of killing Davis, left that night dressed in dark clothing. He said that when McClanahan came back, she said, "by now the old

-- is dead." Messmer testified that he had been afraid of McClanahan after the fire but Tilley challenged that statement, pointing out that the two continued to live together.

McClanahan and her mother both testified that theirs was a close relationship and that McClanahan had her mother's permission to write checks for her to pay bills and shop for her. A tearful McClanahan implicated Messmer for her mother's missing money, saying that not only was her mother's bank account pilfered, but hers was as well, that until she met him, neither had had any problems with overdrawn accounts. Both women testified that McClanahan had no reason to kill Davis for her assets because Davis had provided for her in her will.

Amann testified that initially the fire in Davis' house did not appear to be arson. After Holderbaugh came forward with her statement, he said, it became more evident that the fire had been set intentionally. That is the one thing no one disputed. Someone set the house on fire and left Davis in it to die.

It's up to the jury now to figure out whether or not it was Tara McClanahan.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160