Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 29, 1991 TAG: 9103290685
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF/ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
One of King's attorneys had told the jury in an opening statement Monday that "Becky King's going to testify even though she doesn't have to." He had said she would explain that she didn't know that her bigamist husband was going to kill a Roanoke County real estate agent last Oct. 11.
But King's attorneys apparently decided that the point was made clearly enough in testimony from a paralegal they took with them to Buckingham Correctional Center last fall to obtain a confession from her husband, Danny King.
The paralegal, George Harris III, told the Roanoke County Circuit Court jury Thursday that Danny King admitted killing Carolyn Horton Rogers in a murder-for-hire scheme that his wife knew nothing about.
Danny King told Harris that his wife thought they were looking for a house to buy last Oct. 11, when she called Rogers under an assumed name and asked to see the $160,000 house on Foxcroft Circle where Rogers was stabbed to death.
Defense attorneys for Becky King had called Danny King as a witness Wednesday, but he invoked his Fifth Amendment right and refused to testify.
Danny King faces the death penalty and his wife faces two life sentences in the robbing and killing of Rogers. Danny King's trial is scheduled for June.
Defense attorneys called only two witnesses in addition to Harris and King. They were Becky King's brother-in-law and the woman who legally is Danny King's wife.
Gail King, from whom King never obtained a divorce before marrying Becky King, testified that her husband was a smooth talker who could be very convincing.
Danny King often lied and said that he had a great deal of money, she said.
Gail King said her husband often had violent outbreaks and once kicked in a door while he and Becky King were at her house.
Becky King's brother-in-law, Dale Clark, testified that Danny King had spoken in his presence of having lots of money and of owning several businesses.
Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Burkart presented rebuttal testimony to show that Becky King knew her husband didn't have any money, and therefore could not believe he was actually going to purchase a $160,000 house.
On Oct. 10, Becky King went to Total Action Against Poverty offices with Danny King while he applied for a job through one of the TAP programs for ex-convicts.
Danny King was given a voucher to purchase gasoline so he could get to a job interview, testimony showed.
Danny King's mother, Anna King, testified that she wired $75 to her son and Becky King in Richmond days before Rogers' killing.
In an attempt to disprove that Becky King was afraid of her husband, as the defense has maintained, Burkart also tried to introduce letters that Becky King has mailed to her mother-in-law since her arrest. But Judge Kenneth Trabue ruled that the letters were not proper rebuttal evidence.
Becky King had asked her mother-in-law to forward the letters to Danny King. In the letters, Becky King made such statements as, "If you talk to Dan before the letter gets there, tell him it's on the way and I love him and take care of himself please."
In another letter, Becky King said, "Thank you so much for forwarding Dan's letters to me. They are so lifesaving to me."
Burkart argued that Becky King's statements in the letters didn't sound like those of a woman who was afraid of her husband.
Closing arguments were expected today.
Keywords:
ROMUR
by CNB