LIVE UPDATES | Day 8: Murder trial for Brad Compher, man accused of killing Nori Jones
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Day eight of the trial for Brad Compher is underway in Bannock County. Compher is charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon enhancement for the 2004 stabbing death of 25-year-old Nori Jones. EastIdahoNews.com reporter Kalama Hines is in the courtroom and will update this story with the latest developments all afternoon.
UPDATES
11:04 a.m. Proctor objects to the verbiage for verdict reading, for the purposes of possible appeal. Gabiola denies the motion. He now thanks the attorneys from both sides.
11:03 a.m. Gabiola says all needed instructions were already included.
11:01 a.m. Defense asking for additional instruction regarding statements made by Radford in closing. State disagrees. Radford says statements about the law “must” be included in closing arguments.
11 a.m. jury is dismissed. They have the case.
10:55 a.m. Jurors 1 and 6 excused.
10:55 a.m. Alternates being selected.
10:54 a.m. Radford asks the jury to find Compher guilty as he closes.
10:53 a.m. Compher is paying very close attention to Radford. Facial expressions don’t change as Radford describes Compher leaving his DNA at the scene when he killed her while attempting to rape her.
10:53 a.m. For the fifth-or-so time, Radford says “facts are stubborn things.”
10:52 a.m. Radford descibes Spillett as a “lonely, creepy old man” with an infatuation with Nori. Radofrd, again raising his voice, says that there is no evidence tying Spillett to the scene.
10:51 a.m. Radford now challenging the dream — and the inconsistencies.
10:50 a.m. Radford challenges Proctor’s claims that SPillett was in his 30s during the attack. Do these attorneys not have his DOB?
10:46 a.m. Radford on the fact that there were two male contributors in sex assault kit. Compher was found to be the major contributor on vaginal swabs and only contributor on anal swabs. He would expect Reo’s DNA on the vaginal swabs.
10:45 a.m. Radford brings up the lack of sperm. Says analysts searched for the protein from the sperm cell, which would have been broken down by the time it was tested.
Radford says “facts are stubborn things.”
10:40 a.m. Radford challenges claims Compher would have left blood or other DNA inside the scene. Claims COmpher would have brought something to wipe off his hands.
10:38 a.m. Radford on rebuttal says facts are a tough thing to disprove. He glances toward Proctor while challenging the claim that Pocatello PD mishandled evidence. “They haven’t shown you a thing” he says with an elevated voice.
10:37 a.m. Proctor finishes by telling the jury to tell their friends when the trial is over. Talk about the duty they served. And tell them they sent Compher home.
10:35 a.m. Proctor says he grew up in Scotland, where, in the 80s, judges decided guilt. Adds that the only thing people could agree on was that that was wrong.
Says the jury is the judge — which is why everyone in the courtroom stands when they enter.
10:34 a.m. Proctor says, in Scotland juries get three possible verdicts — guilty, not guilty and not proven. He says the State’s case is not proven.
10:33 a.m. Proctor says the day he starts having these sorts 0f dreams, he is checking himself into a mental health facility.
10:33 a.m. “He said these things because he was there — because he knew them.”
-Proctor about Spillett
10:32 a.m. Spillett called the scene “brutal.”
10:31 a.m. Now Spillett’s dream: sexual in nature, there were blue sheets, Nori was naked, cuts on legs. All those things matched the dream, Proctor said.
These details were never made public and Nori’s co-worker wouldn’t have told Spillett about them, Proctor adds.
10:30 a.m. Proctor points to the fact that 10 years after the murder, Spillett’s DNA was sent to the lab for testing. Says that suggests he was a viable suspect.
10:29 a.m. Proctor says Spillett had cuts “consistent with defensive wounds” seven days after the murder.
10:28 a.m. Proctor matches Spillett to the person who tampered with the light outside the house — based on hair color and the vehicle driven by the person who did it.
10:26 a.m. Proctor says Compher was 220 pounds. Spillett was 165, which is a body more likely to get up and through the window. He says he doesn’t believe the window was the entry point, but if the jury believes that it is something to consider.
10:25 a.m. With all the questions about the ring, Proctor says Spillett would want the ring off during an attack.
10:24 a.m. Proctor asks the jury to think about what it owuld take for them to lock themselves in a bathroom to hide from someone in an open public place. Nori did that when SPillett came to Job Service.
10:23 a.m. Like Gabiola and Radford before him, Proctor asks the jury to use its common sense.
10:23 a.m. Proctor says Spillett hassled Nori at work, wanted to marry her and thought she was leading a double-life.
10:22 a.m. Proctor sayd SPillett definitely did encounter SPillett at Job Service and definitely freaked Nori out.
10:20 a.m. Proctor is going to “switch gears” and talk about Spillett. Says it is not his job to prove Spillett did it, just that there’s a possibility Compher didn’t do it.
10:19 a.m. Proctor asks Compher to stand and introduces him to the jury, then says it is easy to forget why we’re here.
10:19 a.m. Proctor says all these questions present a reasonable doubt.
10:17 a.m. Proctor is asking about the evidence that was not taken for testing. cigarette butts found outside the house, pillows, sheets, carpet. Bed spread was taken, but no results were reported.
10:16 a.m. Proctor says if Compher sustained wounds during the attack that left scars 10 years later, he should have been bleeding profusely, but his blood was not found at the scene.
10:15 a.m. Proctor asks why Compher’s DNA wasn’t on the bed or comforter. Also, scars on Compher’s arms 10 years later was “probing” because the case is so weak.
10:14 a.m. Proctor says the sex assault kit was “erroneously marked as destroyed” when it was not. Says, “that’s the kind of evidence” jury is being asked to believe.
10:13 a.m. He asks how detectives missed the ring. evidence collection was “flawed,” Compher says.
10:11 a.m. Proctor says the fact that there were two contributors in sex assault kit is the worst part of the State’s case. Explanation is that the investigators “messed that up.”
10:10 a.m. Proctor cites the Cutler, who said DNA matches on Nori was on the “lower end of significant” match.
10:08 a.m. Proctor claims investigators cross-contaminated while collecting evidence.
10:05 a.m. Proctor points to multiple tests that were conducted shortly after the murder and did not find sperm.
10:04 a.m. Proctor calls the touch DNA the “good DNA.” “Now lets talk about the bad DNA.”
10:03 a.m. Proctor maintains the window was NOT the entry point. Suggests the door made more sense as an entry point.
10:03 a.m. Proctor says the DNA on the window is “absolutely” Compher’s. Then says it was put there when Compher was asking for water.
10:01 a.m. No prints at the entry point either. Proposes the killer was wearing gloves and would not have left a print at all.
10 a.m. Proctor says the print should have had blood on it if he’d committed the murder. He also asks why there were no prints in the bedroom.
9:59 a.m. Handprint on the window: it is reasonable to assume Compher’s prints were put there while he was getting water.
9:57 a.m. Proctor brings up the evidence “the State highlighted.”
9:55 a.m. Proctor tells the jury, if they don’t believe COmpher killed Nori, the case is done. Then goes into burglary. Says burglary requires a plan to take something.
9:55 a.m. Proctor says it was an “honor” to represent Compher in this important case.
9:54 a.m. Radford concludes after around 45 minutes. Proctor offers defense closing — says evidence is insufficient.
Remember, Compher’s posture changed after telling detectives he was never at the house then finding out his fingerprings were there.
9:51 a.m. Radford reminds the jury that Compher told detectives, twice, that he had never been at Nori’s home. He then brings up Doug Coffin’s testimony, which put Compher at the house prior to the murder.
9:50 a.m. Radford says the only way Compher could have left the prints on the door was, he did it while inside the home.
This is something discussed in the Cold Justice episode on the case “Still of the Night.”
9:49 a.m. Radford says there are now two different witnesses who put Compher at the scene — DNA and fingerprint. As you will remember, there were no eyewitnesses that put Compher at the home on the night of the murder.
9:47 a.m. Radford now discussing Compher’s fingerprint on the door, and blood transfer on the same door.
9:43 a.m. Rafdord shows a picture of Nori’s left hand — described as being in an “awkward” position. Then he adds that Compher’s DNA was on the ring. “There may have been something about that ring, or something she was saying about that ring, that made Compher angry.”
9:42 a.m. Radford shows the jury a picture of the ring. “I told you earlier that the ring has to mean something.”
9:41 a.m. None of the jurors taking notes right now. Tells me they had already reached this conclusion.
9:41 a.m. DNA showed a “strong indication” of being semen, Radford says. “It’s very clear what happened here.”
9:40 a.m. Radford describes the position of Nori’s body as “sexually vulnerable.”
9:38 a.m. Radford shows images of wounds to both Nori’s hands. Says a defensive wound to her left hand would have immobilized it. Says that Compher’s DNA is only under Nori’s right fingernails becuase she would not have had the use of her left hand
9:36 a.m. Touch DNA shows it was Compher, Radford says, the Y-chromosome DNA, (which is not as reliable a match) shows what happened once Compher was inside the home.
9:35 a.m. Radford asks the jury to avoid being sidetracked or bamboozled. Compher was the person who entered the home, based on the touch DNA, he says.
9:34 a.m. Radford says stab marks were left in the comforter, showing the attack began while she was under her covers.
9:33 a.m. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it was Brad Compher” who entered Nori’s home through the window. So you know, Brad Compher entered that house with a knife or sharp object and intended to do something with that knife of sharp object.
9:30 a.m. Radford doing some math. Says 93 trillion is more than 11,000 time the earth’s population.
9:30 a.m. Radford says the DNA found on the window — entry point — matched COmpher. Adds Spillett was removed from consideration as a possible donor. He previously added that the position of the handprint does not align with a common hand placement for any reason other than entering the window.
9:27 a.m. This is where COmpher gained entry into Nori’s house — “use your common sense. … “This is the entry point.”
9:26 a.m. After extensive discussion, Gabiola decided the jury would not hear testimony to the window being the entry point. But Radford is allow to describe it as such in his closing. He does as part of his description of the crime.
9:23 a.m. Radford describes how Compher left a handprint on the window as he entered the home — this handprint was matched to Compher by DNA (the one-to-93 trillion match).
9:22 a.m. Radford suggests Compher could have overheard employee discussion about the value of Nori’s ring and hatched a plan to steal it. Radford now lays out the plan — that Compher went to Nori’s home to tamper with the light and prepare his entry.
9:21 a.m. Radford says Compher made contact with Nori, either at Job Service or her house — possibly both.
9:21 a.m. Radford likens the case to a Monet painting — you must stand back to see the full picture.
9:20 a.m. Radford says Compher broke into Nori’s house with the intent to rape her and ended up killing her.
9:18 a.m. After being redirected twice by Proctor objections, Radford tells the jury — if you decide Compher broke into Nori’s house then killed her, that is first-degree murder.
Burglary is illegally entering a home to commit any crime.
9:17 a.m. Radford explains some other options possible crimes the jury can find Compher intended to commit. He names rape, burglary, grand theft — Proctor objects. Objection sustained.
9:16 a.m. Fry is timing Radford’s closing remarks with is eyes glued to the jury.
9:14 a.m. State does not have to prove the murder was intentional, Radford says. If a person kills another in the perpetration of another crime — in this case, burglary or rape.
9:13 a.m. Radford explains the meaning of “reasonable doubt.” Says the doubt must be within common sense reasoning. “Don’t overthink this — use your common sense.”
9:12 a.m. Had some personal technical difficulties. Radford is giving closing.