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Case against Toolan unfolds with testimony
Reddington argues that because Toolan has suffered for years from mental illness, alcohol use and the need for prescription drugs "taken day after day until his life was a blur" he is not criminally responsible for Ms. Lochtefeld's death. Reddington also said yesterday that he will not appeal the verdict unless it is for firstdegree murder, which is an automatic appeal in Massachusetts.
amount" which soaked through all the bedding and into the mattress on one bed as well as flowed down the side of the bed onto the floor in two areas. He also said that the trail of blood traces in the cottage portrayed a progression of movement from the bedroom to the living room during the event, and that it appeared as though a struggle occurred. While last week Toolan seemed fairly relaxed and smiled at his parents when he entered the courtroom, yesterday his demeanor was somber and he avoided looking at the jurors, witnesses or evidence presented except for a couple articles of his clothing held up for identity.
Van Johnson, the Transportation Security Association Supervisor at La Guardia's main checkpoint, testified that first Toolan denied carrying any sharp objects, then said he was going to cut a birthday cake, then said he was going fishing and intended to use the knife to clean fish. Contrary to the other testimonies, Johnson said Toolan seemed a little unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glassy and his speech was slurred. The next testimony came from Leslie Costello of San Diego, Calif., who knew Ms. Lochtefeld from their college years and kept in touch with her. She met Toolan the third week of September, 2004, shortly after the couple began dating and when they traveled to California together where he had business. She said at the beginning of the relationship Ms. Lochtefeld was fond of Toolan and even spoke of marriage, but after they dated longer her feelings for him changed "dramatically for the worse."
MONDAY On Monday, jurors heard from Dr. Richard Evans, a state medical examiner and forensic psychologist who performed the autopsy on Ms. Lochtefeld. He said he concluded that her death was a homicide and that she perished from blood loss and altered breathing. He testified that many of her wounds were four and four-and-a-half inches deep with one measuring five inches, and that a number of them punctured her lungs. Cuts to a hand were considered defensive in nature. There was no evidence of sexual assault, according to Evans. In cross-examination by Reddington, Evans was asked if he had experience with "frenzy killings," whereby numerous stab wounds are inflicted from different directions. Evans said he did have that knowledge. Reddington also asked him to talk about different parts of the brain and how damage to them can affect emotions, movement and impulsivity. Chemist Dan Pratt, supervisor of the Massachusetts Crime Lab and a crime scene responder, also took the stand. Pratt, who came to the island in the late afternoon on the day of the murder, was accompanied by other lab chemists and people from his crime scene services unit. Pratt described in detail how the cottage was surveyed and a quantity of blood was found in a bedroom that was in disarray as well as splatters and transfers of blood found throughout rooms and on objects. He also testified that a knife sheath was found inside the closet of the bedroom in question, an end table in the living room was found broken, and made references to a "vegetable matter," now believed to be marijuana, that was found on and next to the victim. He further stated that two knives - one a bread knife and the other a carving knife - were found on a kitchen counter. The blade of one knife apparently revealed blood traces. Pratt also testified that he processed the sweater Ms. Lochtefeld was wearing when she was murdered, and that it was torn seven times on the front and at least 10 on the back. Pratt was among those, including local police, who also examined the rental car returned to Nantucket Airport by Toolan. He said he viewed a plastic bag in the car containing three full beer bottles and one empty bottle was found on the front floor of the Ford Escape. In addition, he saw an empty beer bottle and empty vodka bottle in the bushes next to the victim's cottage. During cross-examination by Reddington, Pratt said he did not know whether the bottles found in the cottage bushes or if cigarette butts found in the cottage were tested for DNA evidence. He also acknowledged that certain chemical testing can produce blood evidence reactions, such as when a knife has been used for cutting steak. The third key witness on Monday was Patrick Kegan, who met Toolan eight years ago at a Hazlden in-patient rehabilitation program and stayed in touch with him in phone conversations on a fairly regular basis until after Toolan's arrest. Kegan stated that he was aware that Toolan had experienced setbacks in his attempts at sobriety. He said they never drank together, so his only knowledge of Toolan's ability to drink heavily and still appear functional came from what Toolan told him. According to Kegan's testimony, he received a call from Toolan at about 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2004, after he was initially kept from boarding a plane to Nantucket from New York because he was carrying a knife. Kegan said when Toolan phoned him that evening it sounded like he was in a bar and was intoxicated and very depressed. Kegan said when he asked how things were going between Toolan and Ms. Lochtefeld, Toolan said things were not going well. Kegan suggested Toolan take a cab home and sleep and that he would check on him the next day. When Kegan phoned Toolan on Monday there was no response. He said that at about 7 p.m. that night Toolan called him from Rhode Island, saying only that he had been arrested for driving drunk, and asked Kegan to call the victim, "to see if she was okay," and to have her call the police "to straighten this out." Toolan called Kegan again an hour later, and when he learned Kegan had not been able to call the victim, he told him "not to worry about it." Kegan said that while Toolan sounded intoxicated on Sunday night he sounded more lucid when he phoned from Rhode Island. FIRST TESTIMONIES FROM FRIDAY The trial began in earnest last Friday morning after a 16-person jury was chosen in fairly short order on Thursday with only seven of the total pool of 175 potential jurors left available for the panel after the majority were excused and the defense ended its challenges. Some observers were surprised that, given the nature of the case, 13 on the jury are women. Though Reddington tried for a second time to change the trial venue, insisting that an impartial jury could not be found on Nantucket, presiding Judge Richard F. Connon denied his motion and Reddington's subsequent appeal made to Boston's Supreme Judicial Court was also denied. During Friday's opening remarks district attorney Glenny said Ms. Lochtefeld was stabbed 23 times. He said that when Toolan arrived on the island Monday morning, Oct. 25, after renting a car at the airport he drove to Force Five Watersports where he inquired if they sold knives. He was directed to Brant Point Marine where he is said to have bought two knives: one measuring eight inches long and another, smaller scallop knife. The scallop knife was later found by police beside the car Toolan rented at Nantucket Airport. Glenny stated that after the murder was discovered and Toolan had flown off Nantucket to Hyannis, police found Ms. Lochtefeld's wallet in bushes at the local airport as well as items in the terminal trash bin, such as blood-stained paper towels with the stains matching Ms. Lochtefeld's DNA. When he was arrested that afternoon driving a rental car through Rhode Island, blood stains on several items of Toolan's clothing were tested and also matched the victim's DNA. Her cell phone was found in a pocket of Toolan's coat in that car. In Reddington's opening remarks, he said Toolan's image was a "facade," and that he could be "hammered" and still appear functional. He also told the jury Toolan has had long-standing mental problems and relapsed after attempts at treatment for his drinking. If Reddington's defense of diminished capacity/lack of criminal responsibility succeeds, the jury may return a verdict of manslaughter, which is murder without malice. In that event, Toolan may be sentenced for an indefinite period in a secure mental facility. The first witness was Peter Lochtefeld, the victim's oldest brother. He explained that when Ms. Lochtefeld returned to the island from Manhattan on Saturday, Oct. 23 - where it is said that after she broke off her brief relationship with Toolan he held her overnight in his apartment - she asked to stay at her brother's house for the weekend. When she left to return to her cottage Monday morning she told her brother she would pick up his son at school at 1 p.m. Ms. Lochtefeld's landlady, Barbara Kotalac, testified that the victim told her of her 1 p.m. plans. Subsequently, Toolan arrived at the property and asked Kotalac if anyone was home next door. Kotalac said she looked around quickly and did not know who Toolan was but identified his clothing. She said she did not know if Ms. Lochtefeld was home at that time, but when her car was still at the cottage when she was to have picked up her nephew and a shade was unusually pulled down on a cottage bedroom window, Kotalac became concerned and left a message on Peter Lochtefeld's phone. When he received the message he phoned 911 and asked police to make a well-being check on his sister. Besides police officers Brandon Coakley and Daniel Furtado, who were dispatched to Ms. Lochtefeld's cottage after the 911 call, others who testified included several Hawthorne Lane residents who saw the Ford Escape Toolan rented here parked near her cottage during a particular timeframe before the murder was discovered. One of the residents of the road saw Toolan on the cottage property walking toward the rental car and identified the car and his clothing. Dr. Timothy Lepore, the island's medical examiner, confirmed that Ms. Lochtefeld died from multiple stab wounds to her chest and back, but said he did not conduct an examination to gauge the time of death. While the trial lasts, jurors are not permitted to read, watch or listen to news accounts of the case, nor to discuss the case with anyone, including family members. Witnesses are being given gag orders not to speak about the case until the verdict because some may be called to testify again. I |
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