Local accused of attempted murder
Slaughter
Murphy – Defense attorneys want the attempted murder trial against local resident Jackie Slaughter to be won on the witness stand.
Local attorneys Rich Cassady and Holly Christy filed motions asking the court to prohibit physical presentation of the alleged weapon and exclude videotaped interviews with drunk witnesses. They also wanted the court to exclude evidence from a previous murder case against Slaughter that was ultimately dismissed because Graham County sheriff’s deputies used excessive force during the arrest.
Slaughter, 58, has been incarcerated for nearly four years awaiting his opportunity to convince a jury of peers that he did not assault Cody Austin White on the evening of May 7, 2017. Defense attorneys asked a judge to prohibit prosecutors from physically showing jurors the weapon allegedly used to cut White’s throat because it is covered in reddish rust, which “looks very much like dried blood.”
Cherokee County sheriff’s deputies found the knife during a search of the property where the assault happened a short time after the incident. Court documents say the knife wasn’t submitted to the state lab for DNA and fingerprint analysis until more than two years later.
Court records include photos of the alleged weapon taken before it rusted over, which the defense team argued shows “no indication of blood or any other substance on the cutting edge of the knife.” However, the physical condition of the knife in custody of the sheriff’s office today “looks absolutely nothing like the knife depicted” in evidence photos.
The defense team argued the rusted condition of the knife would be unfairly prejudicial to their client and asked that prosecutors only be allowed to show jurors photographs of the knife in the condition it was originally found.
“The knife now looks like an instrument made use of by the notorious Jack the Ripper, after bathing it in the pooled blood of one of his prostitute victims and allowed to dry on the bathroom counter,” the defense team argued in their motion. “The effect this imagery will have on the jury cannot be overstated. They will not see inexcusable neglect by the possessors of this evidence or simply reddish rust. They will see blood.”
During a hearing Monday, the state acknowledged the physical condition of the knife had changed since the evidence photos were taken. However, prosecutors argued that jurors should be allowed to at least see the knife in person to understand its size and heft.
Judge William Coward deferred ruling on whether the physical knife can be shown at trial and asked Cassady to draft language on how to instruct jurors not to consider the state of the alleged weapon today when deciding a verdict in the case. After the two sides agree on the jury instruction, Coward will deny the defense team’s motion to prohibit physical presentation of the knife.
Defense lawyers also asked the judge to prevent prosecutors from showing jurors videotaped interviews of two witnesses. According to court documents, two women were in the home with Slaughter and White at the time of the assault. The women told a detective they had been drinking vodka prior to the incident, with one of the purported witnesses saying she had been drinking since about 3:30 p.m. that day.
In their motion, Slaughter’s attorneys argued that the women’s slurred speech will make it hard for a jury to understand a great portion of the recordings. The defense also argued that the women made several prejudicial comments during the interviews, which includes allegations of Slaughter being high on meth-
amphetamine.
The defense team asked Coward to prohibit the video and only allow in-person testimony at the stand. Prosecutors consented to the motions Monday, stating they prefer live testimony over the recorded interviews.
Additionally, the defense asked the court to exclude evidence from a prior murder case that made Slaughter infamous in western North Carolina.
Slaughter was previously charged with murder in the April 2012 death of Robert Smith. However, in 2016, a judge dismissed the charge after doctors determined Slaughter had suffered retrograde amnesia following repeated tases by Graham County law enforcement.
The court ruled Slaughter’s memory loss was permanent and non-recoverable; therefore, he could not assist counsel in his defense, making him legally incapable of proceeding to trial.
“There will never be any similarity between the two crimes,” Cassady said while arguing that there’s no reason to present evidence from the murder case at this trial. “There is no relevance between these two cases.”
Prosecutors argued that it was premature to rule on whether evidence from the prior case should be prohibited because the defense team may mention something about the 2012 incident, thereby making it appropriate for prosecutors to address.
Coward agreed with the state and deferred ruling on whether to prohibit information from the murder case at this trial.
Opening arguments in the case were expected to begin Tuesday afternoon, after the Cherokee Scout went to press.