Jun 28, 2007 - 04:10:07 CDT
MINOT - An inmate in the Cass County jail plans to testify that Moe Maurice Gibbs gave a "jailhouse confession" to murdering Mindy Morgenstern, a prosecutor said.Defense attorneys challenged the credibility of the inmate.
Gibbs, 34, was charged last September with Class AA felony murder in the death of Morgenstern, 22.
Morgenstern, a Valley City State University student from New Salem, was found dead in her off-campus apartment on Sept. 13, 2006.
During his opening statement, Barnes County State's Attorney Brad Cruff said Jeremy Leopold had been an inmate at the Barnes County jail while Gibbs worked there as a jailer, then was in the custody of the Cass County jail at the same time that Gibbs awaited trial in that facility.
"That's where Mr. Leopold heard the defendant say he'd do it again about Mindy's death," Cruff said.
However, Gibbs' defense attorney, Jeff Bredahl countered that Leopold has a long criminal history that includes giving false information to police and multiple forgery and drug convictions, and that he and Gibbs were not cellmates at the time of the alleged confession.
Cruff previewed the state's case during a 20-minute opening statement in which he talked about DNA found under the fingernails and on the shirt of Morgenstern. The DNA on the shirt was found to be a match to Gibbs or a male relative, and the DNA under Morgenstern's fingernails was a match to Gibbs. Cruff is being assisted by Barnes County Assistant State's Attorney Lee Grossman and Assistant Attorney General Jon Byers.
Bredahl said experts will testify that the DNA was in such a small amount that it was likely "touch DNA," which he says could have been transferred to Morgenstern by touching a doorknob Gibbs touched several times while moving out of his apartment.
"They used the same door to leave and come in," he said.
Bredahl is being assisted by attorney Dennis Fisher.
Cruff said prosecutors will not be able to offer a motive in the murder.
"We are not going to be able to offer evidence as to why," he told jurors. "At the conclusion of the trial, you'll still be wondering why."
He said the state's case will center on the "jailhouse confession," as well as the DNA evidence, Gibbs' lack of an alibi for part of Sept. 13, and the 6-foot-2-inch tall former college football player and professional boxer's ability to commit the crime.
Bredahl challenged Cruff's preview in his own 35-minute opening statement by pointing out that none of the fingerprints in the apartment matched Gibbs, nor was Gibbs' DNA found on knives and gloves at the murder scene.
"Things just don't fit," Bredahl said. "There's too many unanswered questions."
Prosecutors had called three witnesses by the court's noon break. Morgenstern's friends Toni Baumann and Danielle Holmstrom testified they had been unable to get in touch with Morgenstern, so they stopped by her apartment to get her to go out with them.
Baumann said it was unusual for Morgenstern to be so hard to reach.
"If you called Mindy and she didn't answer, she was either busy or at work," she said. "But she'd always call you back."
She said she ran into the apartment building to get her friend.
"I rang the doorbell, I knocked on the door and I yelled Mindy's name," she said, adding that she called Morgenstern again to try to hear her phone.
Baumann, crying, said she opened the door, switched on a light and saw Morgenstern on the ground. The door was unlocked, which was unusual.
At first, she thought her friend might have had complications with her multiple sclerosis, but then she saw something around Morgenstern's neck. Morgenstern's eyes were open, and there was blood on her shirt, Baumann said.
"And then I just jumped up and ran out," she said.
Baumann and Holmstrom said they called 911. Holmstrom said she went upstairs with a man who had heard the women screaming and checked out what was going on.
The man, Robert Lynes, testified he was visiting Shelly Rose, the mother of his daughter, and his daughter, Meghan. He said he went alone upstairs to see what was wrong with Mindy, saying he did not recall either of the women going upstairs with him.
Lynes said there was "an overwhelming smell of Pine-Sol" in the building, and he saw a bottle of the cleaning product under Morgenstern's arm.
He said police arrived after he touched Morgenstern's arm and discovered she did not have a pulse.
"It was quite evident that she wasn't alive," he said.
Lynes said he was a suspect for a while, because he was new in town and has a criminal history. He said he voluntarily gave a DNA sample to police.
Baumann and Holmstrom also testified Morgenstern had a relationship with an older man, estimated to be in his 50s, and was worried about being stalked.
After a noon break, prosecutors called six more witnesses, including friends of Morgenstern, people who were in the apartment building around the time of the murder, Gibbs' former father-in-law and a detective who investigated the scene.
Lacey Undem, who said she had been friends with Morgenstern since preschool, said she saw Morgenstern at the Valley City State University library on the morning of Sept. 13. Morgenstern planned to meet a friend and the friend's daughters after lunch.
The friend, Jennifer Peters, testified she had decided to go to lunch with her husband and three children before meeting up with Morgenstern. She called Morgenstern at around 12:46 or 12:47 p.m., but the call went to voicemail, and Morgenstern never returned that or subsequent calls.
Rose's daughter, Nicole Rose Thoreson, said she smelled Pine-Sol in the apartment building when she walked in at around 1 p.m. She said she also saw an unfamiliar man in a flannel shirt walking in behind her at the same time.
Rose said she also smelled the pine-scented cleaner when she and her daughter went outside to smoke several minutes after 1 p.m.
Rose also testified that she and her younger daughter went upstairs when Lynes went up to see what was wrong with Morgenstern. She said she went up to grab her daughter to keep her from seeing anything that might be wrong.
"I just could feel something was wrong," she said.
Rose said she had someone try to "push in" her door about a week before Morgenstern's death, but she never reported it to police.
George Judd, Gibbs' former father-in-law, said he went to the apartment Gibbs shared with Judd's daughter, Christina, to get information about Gibbs' wedding ring and to use his daughter's car at around 3:30 p.m. Sept. 13. Judd said he was on his way to Fargo to run errands and pick his wife up from the airport.
Gibbs wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, Judd said. He said he was just sitting on the couch, being "normal Moe."
Valley City Police Det. Mark McDonald began testifying Wednesday afternoon, but his testimony was not completed when Southeast District Judge John Paulson called the evening recess at 4:20 p.m.
McDonald said he was called to Morgenstern's apartment at 9:03 p.m. for a report of a suspicious death. He displayed photos of her apartment and of her body to the jury.
Morgenstern had been strangled with her own nylon belt, her throat had been cut and Pine-Sol had been dumped on her body, McDonald said.
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MamaMia wrote on Jun 28, 2007 10:30 AM:
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