Yarbrough trial enters second day
By SUMMER WALLACE-MINGER, Staff writerWASHINGTON, Pa. - Tuesday, Steubenville Police Detective John Lelless continued his testimony in the second day of Terrell Yarbrough's trial in the slayings of two Franciscan University of Steubenville students on May 31, 1999.
Yarbrough, 28, of Pittsburgh, is charged in Washington County Common Pleas Court with two counts of criminal homicide and two counts of conspiracy to commit criminal homicide in the deaths of Aaron Land, 20, of Philadelphia, and Brian Muha, 18, of Westerville, Ohio.
Yarbrough and Nathan "Boo" Herring, 28, of Steubenville, are accused of breaking into the apartment shared by Land, Muha and Andrew Doran at 165 McDowell Ave. in Steubenville, Ohio, at approximately 5 a.m. May 31, 1999, kidnapping Land and Muha, then transporting the two men in Muha's stolen 1996 black Chevrolet Blazer to a section of U.S. Route 22 near the Bavington, Pa. exit and shooting both men once in the head.
Doran testified Monday that he escaped through a bedroom window, after being awakened by sounds of a struggle from the family room where Muha was sleeping, and called 911 from a neighbor's home.
Several Steubenville police officers testified Monday that Yarbrough was arrested at approximately 6 p.m. May 31, 1999 after being spotted driving Muha's Blazer in Steubenville.
Prior to Lelless' testimony, a 1-hour, 10-minute recording of an interview Lelless conducted with Yarbrough at approximately 7 p.m. May 31, 1999 was played for the jury. It was noted that Yarbrough was claiming his name was Michael Poole at the time the interview was conducted.
During the interview, Yarbrough said he didn't know what had happened to Land and Muha and he had not seen the Blazer before being picked up at approximately 4 a.m. May 31, 1999 by Herring and Brandon Young. He said Herring and Young had blood on them and had said that they had "beat down" someone with a gun that night or the night before. In the interview, Yarbrough also said Herring and Young told him that a "crack head" had given them use of the car in exchange for drugs.
Toward the end of the May 31, 1999 interview, Lelless told Yarbrough that he was a suspect in the disappearance of Land and Muha, and Yarbrough began to weep and deny that he had any involvement and threatened to commit suicide.
"It's been 15 hours and no one has heard from them," Lelless said on the tape. "They (their families) just want to know. They just want to know where their sons are."
During his testimony Tuesday, Lelless said that when Yarbrough was arrested, he was examined for injuries and his clothes examined and seized. Socks and a pair of sweat pants Yarbrough was wearing when he was arrested were submitted into evidence.
Lelless said Yarbrough was wearing Muha's rosary when he was arrested, having claimed at two different points that the rosary was a gift from his sister and a girlfriend.
During cross-examination, Defense Attorney Kenneth J. Haber questioned Lelless about Yarbrough's understanding of his rights and waiving his rights at the time of the interview.
"He never ever ever said, 'I understand these legal issues and I am waiving my rights,'" said Haber.
Lelless testified that Yarbrough was read his Miranda rights both when he was arrested and when he was interviewed, and he both read the waiver of his rights and it was read to him when he was asked whether he understood them and Yarbrough replied "not really."
Haber also questioned Lelless whether Herring and Young had gang affiliations and whether, in Lelless' experience, those who have information about criminal activities of gang members might be frightened of potential retaliation if they share that information with the police.
Lelless testified that, in his experience, some people were afraid of retaliation, but Yarbrough had made light of Young's gang connections and said his brother was a member of the Crypts.
Haber also questioned Lelless about blood evidence collected at the McDowell Avenue apartment, and whether blood "droplets" found on a foot locker in Land's bedroom belonged to Herring. He asked if the blood had come from an injury on Herring's hand. He entered photos of Herring's injured hand as evidence.
Lelless said that he could not speculate as to how the blood got on the foot locker and did not know to whom it belonged.
Haber also entered a police report into evidence in which a complainant alleged that Young and Herring had assaulted him, beating him with a handgun on May 30.
Lelless testified he later became aware of the report, but was not aware of the date nor did he remember whether he was aware of it when interviewing Yarbrough in May 1999.
He was then excused, with Assistant District Attorney Michael Lucas reserving the right to recall him at a later date.
Also testifying Tuesday was Vera Haspel, who lived in Burgettstown at the time of the murders. Haspel said that she was traveling from her home to her job in North Fayette, going eastbound on Route 22, shortly after 5:30 a.m. the morning of May 31, 1999.
Haspel testified that she was at the Candor Road exit when she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. She said, fearing it was a deer that would run out onto the highway, that she slowed down to between 25 and 30 miles per hour. She then saw the figure was a black male of less than average height and a slender build, wearing a dark brown jacket and blue jeans, who was running down a hillside toward a dark-colored Blazer. She said she saw no one else on the hillside nor in or around the vehicle.
The last witness of the day was Steubenville Police Officer Kenneth Anderson, who testified that he had photographed injuries to Herring's shoulder and left hand on or after the date of his arrest on June 2, 1999.
Yarbrough and Herring both were found guilty of the kidnaping-slayings in Jefferson County, but their murder convictions were overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court, which found that the murders took place in Pennsylvania. Yarbrough also was convicted of aggravated robbery, kidnaping, gross sexual imposition and theft and was sentenced to 59 years in prison in Jefferson County. The state supreme court allowed those charges to stand.
Herring was sentenced to life in prison for the murders, which was vacated, and 65 years for other charges, which also stood. His murder trial in Washington County is pending.
A Jefferson County jury sentenced Yarbrough to death, but the sentence was vacated with the conviction. If he is convicted in Washington County, the Washington County jury may either sentence him to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
(Wallace-Minger can be contacted at swallace@pafocus.com)
