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Read comments (20)Laboy, who is currently a medical examiner in Shelby County, Tenn., testified for about 3 1/2 hours, describing in detail the injuries and cause of death for each of the victims.
He told the jury the Shepards died of wounds inflicted prior to the fire that allegedly was set by Henderson.
He said Jessie Shepard was dead before the fire started and thatRichard Shepard may have been alive when it started, but only briefly.
In her cross-examination, defense attorney Kathryn Benson questioned Laboy about whether he was able to pinpoint a time of death for either of the Shepards.
Laboy explained that determining the exact time of death was not possible, given the condition of the bodies when they arrived at the medical examiners office and the fire damage to both.
Benson also asked if Laboy could confirm if either of the Shepards had been smokers; he said he couldn't.
Jessie Shepard's son, Kenny Deibel testified yesterday that neither of the two were smokers and further that they were not in the habit of burning candles in the house.
Wednesday morning's session had the jury viewing a video recording of statements Daniel Berning made June 10, 2006, while being questioned by law enforcement officials.
Berning's parents and attorney were present during the taped questioning. He maintained his innocence under aggressive questioning for about 90 minutes, but eventually confessed to the crime and implicated Spencer Anderson and Lyndale Henderson. Parts of his testimony were highly emotional, with Berning breaking down in sobs at some points.
Berning testified before the jury in person Tuesday, Sept. 23, essentially sticking to the June 10 account but adding reference to Carlos Lauderdale and Shawna Smith as having roles in the crime, Fairchild said.
Tuesday afternoon's testimony ended with Pitts, who was the first law enforcement officer on the scene of the fire at the Shepard's home on South Lafayette Avenue.
Pitts testified to the authenticity of photographs of the victims that were taken at the scene.
Defense attorney Kathryn Benson pressed Pitts on cross-examination about whether he knew how the fire had started or how long it had been burning before he arrived. Pitts confirmed the southwest basement door of the house was unlocked and that the front door had not been secured after the fire until some time Sunday afternoon.
Testimony on Thursday, Sept. 25, is expected to be lengthy, said Judge Robert L. Koffman, as he addressed the jury at Wednesday's close.
See also:
Henderson expected to testify, prosecutor names two others who may have been involved:
www.marshallnews.com/story/1463604.html
2 men plead guilty of murdering Shepards, 1 man continues to maintain innocence:
www.marshallnews.com/story/1463472.html
A confession, an additional arrest, another death while Shepard case begins journey through courts:
www.marshallnews.com/story/1462947.html
Community shocked at news Shepards were murdered, 3 teens charged with the crime:
Lil bit, you are so right, I know lyndale very well and me and my entire family have been praying all weekend for his well being. My mother has called me I dont know how many times asking if I heard anything yet. Lyndale didnt do this, he's good kid and people need to stop judging and pay attention. They say why would berning lie? Well why would he wait two years to bring up two other people into it. I just hope and pray to god the jury sees all the dirt here so we can all see and be with Lyndale again. My heart goes out to him and his family.
are any of you paying attention to trial proceedings? i see alot of wrong within the investigation and how it was conducted and handled. first of all there is no eveidence when henderson was called in for questioning and they are treating him as if they do have evidence and they can prove for a fact that he is guilty. and im sure the same way they talked to daniel in his interrogation they talked to henderson as well and all the time they grilling henderson theres not one reason for them to even suspect him. the focus needs to be on how he was done. and its been two years but he knows what they did to him the things they said to him. the police was wrong for alot of things and the fact that the statements on henderson was not writtin in his own hand and they wanted him to sign something they had written fishy business goin on. hendersons interrogation was not recorded like daniel and spencers. i know henderson suffered at the hands of the police because they were calling him a murderer and they had no evidence. im sure they were following the same tactics they were using when they was interrogating daniel. lets not forget henderson didnt confess daniel did and henderson pled not guilty he plead that way because he was not guilty. henderson said he was with his own friends and daniel came up to them he put himself in hendersons life. there is so many things that can be questioned as far as the police and the investigation and interrogations are concerned. henderson has always maintained his innocence and remembers his whereabouts and things he did and people he talked to and he also remembers his accounts with the investigators and how they treated him. we all know that henderson needs an attourney once they tell him hes a suspect. do you think it came up? no recording to say it didnt. this case is full of things that make ya say hmmmmmmm and i feel bad that henderson had to indure that. because hes innocent and still there is nothing that says hes guilty. daneil berning well his testimony was full of things that make ya say hmmmmm as well and i dont believe him when he said henderson was involved. if ya KNEW henderson youd say they have the wrong person and thats if you knew him. this is very shady and has a lot of suspicious things that should be considered. henderson was treated unfairly by being accused without reason in the beginning.
Karma will get shawna in the end, and yeah the reason why she is probably still running the streets is because her dad is a cop. She never gets in trouble or at least has any harsh punishment, go figure huh?
You make a WONDERFUL point union6688. That trashy little girl needs to be behind bars! Henderson has sat there for 2 yrs of his life and that girl has ran free being the crook she is! Lying and stealing, never caring about anyone other than herself. Well from the looks of her clothing and appearance she didnt even respect herself. All I can say is SHE WILL GO DOWN WITH THE DOGS! God knows what she has done! Hes been watching and he is the one who has decided to let her name FIANALLY be put out there! TAKE THIS GIRL DOWN!
When Will Carlos Lauderdale and Shawna Smith Be Brought To Justice. There Is NO Reason For Their Names To Be Brought Up Into This If They Wern't Involved. You Dont Just Pick Two Random People Out And Decide "Hey Lets Drag Them Into Our Mess To!" I Know Lauderdale Is Already Behind Bars, But What About Smith?? Why Is She Allowed To Remain Free When She Had Just Has Much To Do With This As The Boys Did? Is It Because Her Dads A Cop? Whos To Say She Doesn't Run!? Why Hasn't She Been Brought In And Held-They Have Held Henderson Behind Bars For TWO YEARS On Just Speculation So Why Not Smith, What Makes Her So Special? She Needs To Be Punished As Well.
Way to go justme1186 Finally someone speaks the truth on this girl! She is no good and never has been! And im glad someone else sees that! Well I know alot of ppl see that! Karma will come around and SHE WILL get what she deserves! I have thought from day one she was involved! It hurts to have something like this happen to ppl you know, and i pray day by day the guilty will be sentenced and the innocent will be set free! And my gut feeling says she wont be set free! In time it will come out!
Ok here's some info, I grew up "knowing" all these kids that are involved, every single last one I have at least had a conversation with, as for shawna, she does not care about her family at all. She lives with her grandma and treats her like crap, well at least she did live with her. Anyway, she would steal checks from her, take off in her truck, sneak guys into the house, anything she wanted, and her grandmother couldnt do anything. Shawna is not a respectable person. and it would not surprise me if she was involved. Her own family has told me that. I was told she was sitting outside the house in a car during an investigation just laughing it up. Carlos has a criminal record also and has shot a man before but got away with it because it was on his property and said it was in self defense. I know this because he told me himself. Ashley is a habitual liar. Berning has always had issues, emotionally and mentally,whether due to foster care or whatever, Anderson is Carlos cousin they are from Ohio, Lyndale has had a instances with trouble BUT WHAT TEEN HASNT!? He didnt make a habit of it and he honestly was a good person. I would have parties and he would come, he never caused problems, never got real drunk, didnt do drugs I mean I understand where everyones opinions are coming from but if you really dont know any of these people you have no right to judge. I know how it sounds and looks and how it would come across to people. And yeah if u didnt know any better I could see why you would jump to conclusions of guilty. However, has it ever crossed anyone's mind that maybe he just is innocent? Maybe people do lie? Do you not think that this berning kid he is capable of murder?? Would he not be capable of lying?? Just think people and think of the people that truly know these kids and what they are about. I dont know how many cases there are where someone is said to have committed murder and were put behind bars only to find out that they really didnt do it. But yet no one here seems to think this is possible.
BAM…. Someone else finally is actually getting the respect issue in the society, there is NONE…
The young woman that everyone is refuring to, Maybe she did and maybe she didn't have anything to do with this, either way, god is watching her and if she did she will get what is coming to her, And I do feel the same way that everyone else feels, that IF, she did have anything to do with it, She should and will get hers… Has anyone ever heard of KARMA, well it will sneak up when you least expect it…
I know what I have HEARD, that this young woman is/was the couple's great niece, and yes, she did have something to do with it, she wasn't there but she was SUPPOST to be involved with one of the boys that did the crime, She told them that Tiny and RD kept large amounts of money in the house, and the best way to get into the house, and if everyone thinks about it, someone had to know this for these boys to target these people, It wasn't like Tiny and RD broadcasted what they had in their home, I don't know what these young people were actually thinking, they made a very bad choice and they are going to pay for it.. And they should… But at the same time, if there is a innocent man sitting in jail, which, I don't know if he is or not, from what I have been reading, and that is that there is not a bit a physical evidence against him, if he is innocent and had no part in this, think about how his life has changed and it will never be the same again…
I red that There was a individual who testified that she had seen one of these boys earlier in the day and then later that night she saw these boys walking down the street and she mentioned what the one boy was wearing, I didn't read anything about, her talking to these boys when she saw them walking, So she assumed that because the one boy that she saw walking down the street and the clothes he was wearing, was the same boy she had seen earlier in the day…Now come on, Common since tells everyone, that it's dark outside and you see a African American person walking down the road, and from a distance, with a hoodie on, You don't know for sure as to who it is… by the sounds of everything, if this man is innocent there is going to be some trouble, you know most families don't play with this kind of stuff, everyone needs to take a step back and look at this from every side of the tracks… STOP all of the crazy comments before this gets blown way out, I understand that this is a very horrible thing that has happened, it has had to be very hard on all the family members of the victims and the boy's families, and just the town itself… I'm not a member of any of these families, I know some of the family members of the victims, and I also know some of the family of the young man being accused and I know of the young man who has already pleaded guilty and from what I can remember of him, he was always troubled and had problems, He lived near a family member of mine and he seemed very aggressive towards the neighborhood children, It appeared that he had a lot of anger in him.. (Not trying to say anything to offend anyone), but go figure, And finally, I'm a white female who has lived in Marshall pretty much all my life, I'm not prejudices, I don't date out of my race and I don't have a problem with others that do, each their own, In fact I have several different races in my family, I'm just trying to see things from every point of view.. Now I hope I don't get attacked on here… :)
They were not her grandparents, they were her great aunt and uncle.
If she didn't tell her friends that grandma & grandpa kept large sums of money in the house, who did? Somebody had to, as I don't believe the Shepards would have advertised it.
I think that IF this girl was involved, she deserves everything that is coming to her. Those people didn't deserve this and ESPECIALLY from a FAMILY member! Family is forever and like the saying goes Blood Is Thinker Then Water. Sad to think that she betrayed her family for either a few bucks or a few good times with some boy. There is NO excuse for this whatsoever. She has been walking around for TWO YEARS while the family has had to suffer and wonder who could have possibly betrayed them-she thought she was off the hook-now she is going down,hook line and sinker.
Opinion123, I think your use of words makes it very clear as to what level of Marshall you fit into. Respectable people can think of other word to use. You need your mouth washed out with soap!
First of all...I dont know any of the boys that is listed for this matter...I know the girl whose name is dragged in it....I know of what has gone on on her part...Which is nothing...& no Im not dated to be anywhere...I am listing my OPINIONS...Simple as that...So yeah come on jump in...everyone is entitled to do so!
Hey can I jump in...first of all I don't care how mad you are, what gives you the right to post your foul language here? More importantly I have seen far less from post that have been censored and deleted but someone can throw around the "F" "S" bombs and it's allowed to stay. Next what makes you "opionion123" the fact mongrel. Since you are so full of facts and know it all let us know what day and time the defense or prosecution has you scheduled to testify with all your facts you all knowing one. Hey what was that one guy's name that got caught a few years back...you know the one that was a serial killer...and the one that all the neighbors were shocked because he was boy scout leader and were so shocked because he was a church going man and never thought he could do something like that. As for anyone lying on the stand that is up to the jury to decide and not you...and anyway how the hell would you know he was lying about who was there unless you were with them when it happened.
Opinion123: I appreciate your frankness, but my role is to report on the trial proceedings, not on the truthfulness or lack thereof of anyone's testimony. That's for the jury to decide.
amh: Okay, I'm glad you understand. I know it's frustrating for everyone involved on both sides of the issue.
WONDERFUL COVERAGE IS RIGHT! OR IS THAT A JOKE?? I SAW YOUR BLOG KATHY AND I UNDERSTAND COMPLETY.. I JUST DONT THINK ITS FAIR THOS KIDS KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND ITS NOT RIGHT THAT THEY CANT GET THE DEATH PENATLY! LIKE I SAID BEFORE THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING THEY SHOULD GETS EXACTLY WHAT THEY DESERVE AND WHAT THEY DID TO THE VITIMS!
Again, amh, the death penalty is not an option in this trial. It would not have been an option for Berning, either. Only Anderson was eligible, and he has already pleaded to a reduced charge, which takes the death penalty off the table for him, too. Please see my blog at the address below for an explanation:
http://www.marshallnews.com/blogs/kathyf...
what wonderful coverage....
SO WE WAIT 2 YEARS FOR THIS CARLOS GUY WHO THEY HAD IN COUSTODY AT ONE POINT!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!! GET IT TOGETHER AND GET THESE PEOPLE WHERE THEY NEED TO BE! DEATH PENATLY!!!!!