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JENNIFER LIBERTOThe trial is halted when a witness says the Sheriff's Office gave her a lie detector test. Jurors are not allowed to know such tests occurred.
BROOKSVILLE - The murder trial of a Spring Hill man ended unexpectedly in a mistrial Tuesday afternoon, because the Hernando County Sheriff's Office failed to pass on basic information to trial attorneys.
Circuit Judge Jack Springstead halted the trial of Edmund Dwyer, 25, of 7116 Fair Oaks St. after a witness in the trial mentioned that the Sheriff's Office had given her a lie detector test, which is inadmissible in Florida state courts.
Dwyer is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Robert Kahrs, 23, of Holiday. Kahrs was shot Dec. 15, 2002, as he was driving a car west on County Line Road after a night of drinking at Miller's Pub in Pasco County. He died hours later at a St. Petersburg hospital.
Normally, trial attorneys coach witnesses against mentioning lie detector tests in court. Although law enforcement officials commonly use lie detector tests in investigations, juries are not allowed to know such tests occurred for fear they would give the test unwarranted consideration.
However, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office failed to tell trial attorneys that they subjected witnesses Catherine Vazquez, Jesus Vazquez and Melissa Lee Wood to a Computerized Voice Stress Analysis test, a technology considered by some to be more accurate then a polygraph test.
When Catherine Vazquez mentioned her lie detector test during her testimony Tuesday, she surprised everyone. Assistant Public Defender Alan Fanter immediately asked for a mistrial, because so much of the case depends on how much the jury believes each witness.
"This whole case is depending on credibility and to go forward would have been inviting a reversal; we want to do it, and we want to do it right," Springstead told the jury as he dismissed them. "Mrs. Vazquez put us on a sinking ship ... since (attorneys) didn't know about it, we all got blindsided."
Hernando County Sheriff's Office officials admitted making a mistake in the Dwyer case late Tuesday evening and accepted responsibility for wasting two days of trial time, said Lt. James Blade. He also stressed that the Sheriff's Office did not intentionally withhold information.
"We're not going to sit here and say we're happy about what happened, but by the same token, accidents occur and human accidents do happen," Blade said.
The mistake occurred because Detective Curtis Tourney, the deputy who conducted the lie detector test, either forgot to write or pass on a report that was supposed to detail the test. Blade said the Sheriff's Office will launch an investigation into the incident, and disciplinary actions could follow.
About a dozen witnesses, including several deputies, testified Tuesday. The trial was expected to continue another two days.
The thrust of the trial soon developed, as attorneys focused on whether Dwyer pulled the trigger of the gun that killed Robert Kahrs, who died from a gunshot wound to his leg.
Drinking, smoking and fighting framed the fatal evening two years ago, which began at Miller's Pub in northern Pasco County. Kahrs was among those involved in a big bar brawl, which spilled outside that evening. Pool cues came down on heads and backs before bar owner James Miller ushered the brawlers into their cars and urged them to leave.
Kahrs was shot while driving a gold Subaru west along County Line Road as he left Miller's Pub along with three others, who also were involved in the brawl. The fight began over a girl, Candace Morgenstern, now 23. Morgenstern was one of Kahrs' passengers in the Subaru, and she had kissed somebody at the bar who was not her boyfriend.
"A simple kiss stimulated a series of events that led to the death of Robert Kahrs," said assistant state attorney Don Scaglione, during opening statements Tuesday morning.
The state was trying to convince a jury that Dwyer shot the Subaru while seated in the back passenger side seat of a Chevrolet Caprice driven by Jesus Vazquez, whose head had been cracked open with a pool cue earlier that night.
Witness Catherine Vazquez, wife of Jesus Vazquez, sat in the front passenger seat of the Caprice, allegedly in front of Dwyer. Right before her testimony was cut off, she said Dwyer had shot at the Subaru while the Caprice passed the car on the left and Dwyer had said: "Don't worry, I just shot out the tires."
Dwyer maintains that he wasn't involved in the fight at the pub and he wasn't even in the Chevrolet Caprice, his attorney, Fanter, said during opening statements. Fanter said Jesus Vazquez shot at the Subaru because he was angry and seeking revenge after the fight.
"The state doesn't have to prove motive, but motive is not to be ignored," Fanter said to the jury. "Vazquez had the motive and the opportunity to carry out the crime."
Other new facts came out during opening statments. The State Attorney's Office had recovered a gun that Dwyer had asked his friends to get rid of during a phone call he made from the Hernando County Jail. Dwyer's friends had tossed the 9mm handgun in the Pithlachascotee River in New Port Richey. The gun matched the type of gun used in the crime, Scaglione said.
Jurors also heard that the back window of the Caprice, where Dwyer was seated, rolled down only halfway, as a child protection mechanism. That means Dwyer would have had to stick his arm out, above the windows and then reach down with the gun to have shot at the angle which matched how the bullets struck the Subaru.
Also, Fanter mentioned that he had a witness who was going to testify that he had overheard Melissa Lee Wood, who had also been in the Chevrolet Caprice, talking with the Vazquezes some months after the crime.
Fanter told the jury that the witness heard Wood say she wanted "to tell the truth." But one of the Vazquezes said to her: "If we do that, we're all going to jail."
The jury that hears the case will have to figure out who to believe, as the case hinges on the credibility of witnesses who had been drinking and driving that night.
During the trial, Robert Kahrs' family sat in the courtroom, wearing buttons with the victim's face on it. Several teared up during testimony.
Springstead had stressed to the jury that mentioning the lie detector test was a serious problem during the course of a trial. Judges have been known to hold those responsible for uttering anything about such a test in contempt of court, Springstead said.
Four months after the Sheriff's Office had given the witnesses the lie detector test, the agency changed its policy regarding such tests, which are now audio and video recorded with reports submitted to appropriate authorities, Blade said.
"Unfortunately, this was an older case, and it didn't get picked up on," Blade said.
If convicted, Dwyer faces life in prison. He will appear early today to have a new trial scheduled.
Jennifer Liberto can be reached at 352 848-1434 or liberto@sptimes.com