Kill the Ones You Love (20 page)

CHAPTER 36

On August 9, 2011, the court session began in Judge Martin Stone's courtroom in Coquille as to whether Gabe would be found guilty. If he was, then what kind of sentence would be pronounced? There was no jury—only Judge Stone would decide Gabe's fate.

DA Paul Frasier began his opening arguments, relating the timeline of all the events and pointing out the circumstantial evidence that he alleged showed that Gabriel Morris was the sole killer of Robert Kennelly and Robin Anstey. Frasier's opening statement was fairly short and so was that of defense attorney Peter Fahy. They were both going to let the witnesses on direct and cross-examination tell the story in full for them.

 

 

DA Frasier called Detective Sergeant Daniel Looney to the stand, and Looney went through questions and answers concerning Deputy Slater finding the bodies of Robert Kennelly and Robin Anstey, the investigative work in the house and on the property, as well as the connection to the Eschlers. He also testified about Kennelly's pistol being found down in San Diego.

Looney testified, “We put out a ‘To locate Gabriel, Jessica and Kalea Morris' bulletin to law enforcement agencies. We knew they had a silver Ford Taurus that belonged to Fred Eschler. We used the media and
America's Most Wanted
and also the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.”

Sergeant Looney went on about the items he had found in the silver Ford Taurus in Virginia, including maps with routes marked in ink and a note from Fred Eschler. There had also been ammo clips found in the vehicle and hallucinogenic plant material.

As far as the Popes' red pickup truck found behind a small hill on Bob Kennelly's property, there was a bunch of marijuana residue in there and a glass marijuana pipe as well. On the property itself, there was a small marijuana grow in the garage area with twenty-six small plants.

Looney said, “The defendant had talked Robin and Robert into applying for permits to grow medical marijuana.”

Defense lawyer Peter Fahy objected to this, saying, “Objection to who advised about this.”

The objection was sustained.

So Frasier got into the fact that in Gabe's room was a receipt for construction materials that were related to the marijuana grow room. It was a receipt from a hardware/lumber company in Coos Bay.

Looney testified that bullets recovered from the bodies of Robert Kennelly and Robin Anstey matched to bullets that would have been fired from the gun found in San Diego, California. And it was known that Gabriel Morris had been in San Diego on that date because there had been surveillance video of him robbing a convenience store there.

A check of Bob's residence had been made to try and find the holster that went with Kennelly's HK .40-caliber handgun. Looney said the holster had been found underneath Gabe and Jessica's bed in Kennelly's residence.

Looney next spoke about the area where Gabe had done surveillance on the residence in the morning hours of February 8, 2010. Gabe had been in a tree line above the garage area, looking at the residence through binoculars. The Popes' pickup truck was hidden from view behind a hill. All of this came from Jessica's interview concerning what had happened on that day.

 

 

Sergeant Looney's testimony on direct took quite a while, as photos and other evidence items were introduced, one by one. On cross-examination, Michael Barker asked Looney just exactly what his role was with the team that was put together to investigate the crime scene.

Looney said, “As a case officer, we have a multi-agency team that gets together on major crimes, such as homicides. The case officer, which I was on this case, directs people to go out and do things. I try to keep up with everything that is going on with the case.”

Barker walked Looney through the trail of the Morrises down to San Diego after the shootings and asked what he had found in the Popes' red pickup, which had been left behind the garage area. Looney replied, “If I remember correctly, there was a sleeping bag or two, a box with some pots and pans, a guitar and bowling shoes. Jessica's purse was in there as well.”

“Anything in the purse, like money?”

“I don't remember.”

Barker also questioned about a check made out to the Morrises from Lewis & Clark College and whether they could have cashed it for money, rather than just leaving it in Coos County. Looney said he didn't know. The implication Barker was trying to get at was that Gabe was so delusional that he didn't even take this money with him.

So then Barker asked if anything belonging to the Morrises had been found in Bob Kennelly's white pickup abandoned near the Eschlers' home. Looney said there hadn't been anything.

Barker asked, “You talked about thirteen shell casings that were found. Am I correct that the lab decided that all thirteen were fired from the HK-40?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“You found a clip that belonged to the HK-40 at the scene in Oregon?”

“Yes.”

“Did you ever find a second magazine?”

“No.”

“So that weapon that was sent back to you from San Diego was sent back without a clip?”

“Correct.”

“As far as you know, the weapon was not fireable after it left the crime scene.”

“That is incorrect.”

Perhaps Barker was trying to discover if Gabriel Morris could not have fired the gun at a robbery in San Diego if it was inoperable.

Since thirteen spent shell casings were found at the crime scene, Barker wanted to know if all thirteen bullets could be accounted for. Looney said that not all of them had been found. He said there was at least one bullet that probably went through Robin's head and was out in the brush somewhere. The number of bullets found came to ten, so that left three not discovered.

Barker asked if a laptop computer had been found in the Castle Room, the room in which Kalea slept. Looney had to look through his notes and stated that they found a Dell computer, but he wasn't sure now if that was a laptop computer. He looked farther into the notes and said, “Okay, here it is, an HP Pavilion laptop.”

Moving on, Barker asked if Gabriel Morris had a wallet with him when he was arrested. Looney couldn't find that in his report, so Judge Stone broke in and asked if Looney could check on that later. Looney said that he could, and Judge Stone said to Barker, “I'll have him look for it sometime this week and you can recall him if you want.”

Barker next questioned, “You said that a vehicle had gone up against a bank as it left the area. Your words—‘It was dangerous and silly.'”

“Yes.”

In this line of questioning, Barker might have been getting at that nothing Gabe was doing that day made any rational sense.

“Is it true there is no way you could know where Ms. Anstey was when she was first struck?”

“Not for sure, but I can make a good educated guess.”

“I'll ask you what your guess is.”

“Okay, based on the evidence at the scene, both the individuals had just come home, they walked in the door, and Robin Anstey was probably just ahead of Robert. She set her purse down on the couch with some grocery bags, and then the defendant started opening fire.”

Apparently, Detective Sergeant Looney pointed at Gabe Morris at that point, and Barker objected to Morris being pointed at.

Judge Stone replied, “I'll sustain the objection.”

Looney went on with his testimony. “I believe Robin was real close to the chair with the bullet hole in it, when first struck. Bob was in the same area. The one French door was probably still open and then the shooting started.”

“So you have to assume Ms. Anstey moved out under her own power?”

“Oh, absolutely. She was getting the heck out of Dodge.”

CHAPTER 37

DA Frasier, on redirect, asked several questions about Gabe trying to get .40-caliber ammunition from Fred Eschler, but Fred didn't have any. So he gave Gabe a 9mm Beretta.

Then Frasier asked, “Last week, did you take the HK-40 out and test-fire it?”

Looney replied, “I did. I wanted to find out about its characteristics. Semiautomatics—they toss casings depending on the brand of the gun. I was curious which way the shell casings were tossed from that gun. I found that they basically would go right past my shoulder.”

Frasier said, “There were no shell casings found on the balcony?”

“Correct.”

“Yet there were strong indications, based on trajectories that the shots were fired from the balcony?”

“Yes.”

“So, how do you explain that there were no shell casings up there?”

“Basically, the shell casings would have hit the bathroom wall and bounced down to the lower floor. And the shell casings down on that floor were where they should have been. They're also metal, so they went bouncing off the Pergo floor.”

 

 

After Sergeant Looney was through, DA Frasier wanted the stipulations that had been agreed upon by the prosecution and defense to be read into the record. These, in essence, were things that the prosecution had contended, and that Gabe Morris and his attorneys agreed were true.

Among the first things stated were that both sides agreed the crimes occurred in Coos County between February 8, 2010, and February 10, 2010. Robert Kennelly and Robin Anstey were killed during the same episode, shot to death, and this occurred at Robert Kennelly's home. It was agreed that Robin Anstey was the defendant's biological mother and was the girlfriend of Robert Kennelly.

The defense even agreed that Gabriel Morris, Jessica Morris and Kalea Morris quickly left the scene in a pickup truck that belonged to Robert Kennelly. They also agreed that Gabriel Morris took an HK-40 handgun that was owned by Robert Kennelly.

The defense agreed with the prosecution that the defendant drove with Jessica and Kalea to the home of Fred and Laura Eschler, where he procured a car, clothing, money, a 9mm Beretta handgun and ammo clips. The defense also agreed that the defendant drove with his family to San Diego after that, then to Arizona, and eventually to Dumfries, Virginia. It was there that they all stayed in the home of Judy Ward and her husband, Doug Miller, from February 15, 2010, to February 22, 2010.

The defense even stipulated, “On February 22, 2010, the defendant attempted to leave the residence of Ward and Miller. Miller was at work and Gabriel Morris was driving a vehicle belonging to the brother of Judy Ward. Ms. Ward was in the vehicle with Gabriel. Jessica and Kalea Morris were following the defendant in the Eschlers' vehicle. After a short distance, Jessica and Kalea were stopped by the police. Then Gabriel Morris was stopped by the police. Jessica and Gabriel Morris were taken into custody.”

Defense counsel Peter Fahy agreed that all these stipulations were true and factual. What he did not stipulate to was the alleged “confession” by Gabriel Morris to the killings while he was in Virginia. So Frasier had the audio and video of that interview played for the judge; it took up about a ninety-minute period of time.

The autopsies were entered into evidence, showing the various gunshot wounds and possible angles from which they had been fired. Like the other evidence, all of this was a slow and meticulous process. An item would be presented to Judge Stone, he would ask the defense if there was any objection; and with few exceptions, there were no objections to the admission.

Frasier got the interview with Judy Ward and Doug Miller entered into evidence, and then he rested his case. He had called very few witnesses. In essence, he let the physical evidence and Gabe's own words to investigators in Virginia make the case for him.

CHAPTER 38

On direct from Peter Fahy, Michael Woods told what a good employee Gabe had been at the BMW dealership and an “all-around nice guy.” Woods also spoke of when Gabe came to see him in early 2010 and he could not believe the changes in Gabe. Gabe seemed a lot more stressed, spoke in a nonstop manner and drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. Woods said it was radically different than the Gabe he had known.

 

 

It was this aspect of seeing Gabe in 2010 that Frasier zeroed in on during cross-examination. Woods said that he had met Gabe at a nice hotel in Troutdale, Oregon, and spent two hours there with him. “Gabe was smoking pot and drinking beer. I knew he had served on a mission for the LDS Church, but I didn't comment on any of this to Gabe.”

So Frasier asked what Woods thought of that activity on Gabe's part. Woods replied, “I don't know. I was just taken aback. It was such a drastic change from the way I knew him before. A lot of time had passed and he had grown up and changed.” Woods was going to go on, and then was at a loss for words.

Frasier wanted to know why Woods hadn't said anything to Gabe about smoking pot and drinking beers.

Woods replied, “I was basically listening to what he had to say. And just taking it all in.”

“Were you disappointed in his behavior?”

“I don't know.”

“The reason I ask, sometimes people who see them doing different things—”

Woods broke in and said, “I felt, wow, he's kind of out there. It's such a drastic change. I didn't know what was going on.”

Woods went on to say that Gabe told him about being in Special Forces, a black ops group. Frasier noted that Woods had spoken with an investigator for the defense about this. Then Frasier asked, “You indicated to the investigator that you didn't see any holes in his story. Why not?”

Woods answered, “The stories were very well-told. I mean, I knew that he had been in the military. I know that he wanted to be a pilot, but that didn't work out. From him being so truthful before, I trusted some of what he was saying.”

“So your only source about this was Gabe. There was no outside source saying that he switched out of the ROTC or anything like that?”

“No.”

Frasier asked, “Did you think you had to do anything to help this young man?”

Woods said at the time that he didn't.

Frasier followed up by asking if Woods thought Gabe might hurt someone.

Woods answered in the negative to that question and one that concerned whether he thought Gabe was delusional. In fact, Woods added that at the time he only thought that Gabe was telling him “big stories.” He did not think that Gabe was out of control or hallucinating.

But when Frasier asked if Woods thought that Gabe was mentally ill, there was a long pause. Finally Woods said, “I didn't know what to think.”

Frasier followed up with whether Woods said to Gabe that he needed to see a mental-health counselor. Woods replied that he did not. He also replied negatively to other questions. He had not gone to the police about this or Gabe's other problems.

Frasier wanted to know if Woods had any contact with Gabe in the week before the shootings. Woods said that he had not.

Frasier added, “You cannot give us an indication what his mental state was on the day of the homicide?”

“No, I cannot.”

Fahy had his chance again on redirect and asked if Woods had ever seen any signs of violent or aggressive behavior on Gabe's part. Woods answered, “No, just the opposite. He was easygoing. I don't think I ever saw him get angry at anybody.”

Switching to Gabe's days as a missionary in Australia, Dr. Terrence Barry was next on the stand. On direct, he spoke of what a fine young man Gabe had been. Fahy asked him about these qualities and Dr. Barry said, “He was pleasant, always upbeat. He had a very positive outlook.” And once again he stated that Gabe was an extraordinary young man among extraordinary young men.

Fahy wanted to know if Dr. Barry ever doubted Gabe's honesty. Barry replied, “Never.”

“Did he present any problems in his missionary life?”

“None.”

“Could you have foreseen something like what happened?”

“No.”

 

 

DA Frasier wanted to know on cross how long it had taken Dr. Barry to make Gabe a senior companion on his mission. He may have been getting at the assumption that it took longer than the norm. Dr. Barry said that he didn't recall. So then Frasier asked if it was outside the normal period of time. Dr. Barry replied that he thought that was not the case. Frasier queried if Dr. Barry had ever given Gabe a leadership role at any time. Barry recalled that he had made Gabe a zone leader overseeing other missionaries.

Frasier then got to the point that Dr. Barry had not seen Gabriel Morris since 2001. Frasier asked if there had been any reunions of missionaries and if Gabe had attended any of those. Barry didn't know if Gabe had or not.

Frasier wondered how many missionaries Dr. Barry had seen while he was in Australia. Barry thought the number was somewhere between three hundred and four hundred. So Frasier asked if any of those had fallen away from the teachings and tenets of the LDS Church. Barry responded that he was sure a few might have.

Frasier asked, “You indicated that it was a surprise for you to see the defendant in this position. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“In the intervening time from when you last saw him, you had no idea what decisions he made or how he ended up in this position?”

“No. The only information that I had was that this episode occurred.”