THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150483
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Michael Logan, who could face the death penalty for last year's execution-style slaying of two paraplegics, had no reason to kill them, defense attorney Richard G. Brydges told jurors Wednesday.
Logan was not involved in drugs and did not know the victims, who were drug dealers, Brydges argued Wednesday as Logan's capital murder trial got under way in Circuit Court.
Logan is charged with murdering Brian Scott Cassidy, 23, and James S. Davis, 20, on July 9 as they sat in their Camaro IROC-Z, their wheelchairs in the hatchback.
A co-defendant, David Williamson, told the jury Logan unexpectedly shot the two men as Williamson was buying marijuana from them.
``I saw the light from the gun and I saw their heads kicking back,'' Williamson testified Wednesday.
If Logan is found guilty, prosecutor Bill Monroe said, he will seek the death penalty.
``When police arrived, behind the seat they saw wheelchairs. In the front were two young men who were crippled. They had been shot execution-style,'' Monroe told the jury in opening arguments.
``Scott had been in a traffic accident 1 1/2 years before that left him unable to walk. Jamie had been in a diving accident the year before his death that left him a quadriplegic.''
During his own opening argument, Brydges disputed Monroe's sympathetic description of the victims.
``They had more than wheelchairs in their car,'' Brydges said. ``They had a marijuana. They had drug scales. One wore a T-shirt that said, `Just say yes to drugs. . . ' Yes, they were paraplegics, but they were also big-time drug dealers.''
Brydges told the jurors that Williamson, the key witness for the prosecution, had been promised ``a sweetheart deal'' for his testimony - charges reduced from capital murder to a misdemeanor.
``He went from the electric chair to the equivalent of a traffic violation,'' Brydges said of co-defendant Williamson, whose nickname is Dopey. ``I contend he would testify against his own mother for a deal like that.''
Another key prosecution witness, Shawn Dunn, testified Wednesday that Logan told him the night of the shooting that he'd killed the two men.
Dunn said Logan threatened to kill him if he told anyone. Neither he nor Williamson reported the shooting to police.
Brydges asked Dunn about a conversation he said Dunn had with defense private investigators: ``Didn't you tell them you made up the story about Logan telling you what he'd done because Williamson was your friend and you wanted to help him?''
Dunn denied it.
Brydges said he planned to place his investigator on the stand later in the trial to contradict Dunn's testimony. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN/
Michael Logan is charged with the execution-style slaying of two
paraplegics in Virginia Beach last year.
KEYWORDS: TRIAL MURDER SHOOTING by CNB