By Rod Rose/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon
August 05, 2008 09:18 pm
—
Dennis Mullendore did harass his estranged wife, he made “frightening and scary” telephone calls to her, and he lied to police, his attorney said Tuesday.
But he did not kill her, defense attorney Gary Colasessano told a jury of nine men and three women during opening arguments of Mullendore’s murder trial. Testimony was to begin at 8:30 a.m. today in the Boone Circuit Court courtroom, although charges are filed in Boone Superior Court II.
Mullendore is charged with shooting Beth Mullendore, killing her instantly, as she drove to work along Interstate 865 on Jan. 5, 2007. He is also accused of felony stalking; felony attempted intimidation; misdemeanor intimidation and misdemeanor false informing.
“We are not contesting or challenging the fact my client made calls to his wife, soon to be ex-wife,” Colasessano said. They would not dispute messages left on Beth Mullendore’s answering machine, and on another machine after Mullendore dialed a wrong number, could be considered threatening.
“We are admitting those things occurred,” Colasessano said. “We are disagreeing with how you see them and what they mean.”
Colasessano said “a parade of witnesses” will offer “mostly circumstantial evidence” that will leave jurors wondering “why we are here.”
All of the state’s evidence connecting Mullendore to the fatal shooting is circumstantial, Colasessano said.
Prosecution experts would talk about “probabilities,” Colasessano said.
“The evidence is ultimately going to be, ‘it’s similar,’” Colasessano said.
Prosecutor Todd Meyer said in his opening that experts would testify shotgun pellets found in Mullendore’s home and “recovered from Beth’s brain” have “the same zinc plating.” Plastic shotgun wadding found in the side of her face matches that in shotgun shells found in Mullendore’s home, Meyer said.
The day began when it took fewer than seven hours to seat the jury.
Colasessano asked prospective jurors if they could ignore “any feelings of sorrow or sadness, or grief or anger” while reviewing photo evidence.
Meyer asked some potential jurors to for their definitions of reasonable doubt.
“It’s a little squishy,” one replied.
Another said, “we have to use common sense; we have to have a certainty within ourselves.”
During jury selection, Meyer raised his arm head-high and said that represented “absolute certainty.” Lowering his arm to his waist represented a “preponderance of the evidence.”
The “reasonable doubt” the jury must have to find Mullendore innocent lies somewhere in between those levels, Meyer said.
Colasessano asked several prospective female jurors if they could set aside gender issues because the victim is a woman.
“Just because dots have been connected but you’re not sure what it is ... can you vote not guilty?” Colasessano said.
One juror was excused because he cannot read above a fourth-grade level. Another was dismissed because she said she will not look at accidents on television. A third works with the Indiana State Police, and said she could not be neutral.
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Photos
Dennis Mullendore