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Judge to rule on showing photos of dead family

This story originally appeared January 20, 2007

By JESSICA LOGAN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jlogan@bakersfield.com | Friday, Feb 16 2007 12:32 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Feb 16 2007 12:32 PM

Marques Harper sat up in bed after his mother and sister were shot to death at his side and started gnawing on his fingers as the killer shot his grandmother to death in another room, the prosecution theorized Friday in hearings building up to Vincent Brothers' trial.

The 4-year-old would have run away if his father, Vincent Brothers, hadn't told his oldest son to stay still, Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green said as she argued for photos of the child's injuries to be shown to the jury.

Brothers is charged with murder for the death of five family members, including his three young children.

The prosecutor argued that photos of the gunshot wounds show the killer shot the children from just inches away.

Defense attorneys Michael Gardina and Anthony Bryan argued that none of these photos should be shown to the jury because experts could explain the wounds without the visuals.

The defense has not fully responded to these photos in court and a gag order prevents them from speaking to the media.

But Gardina said the prosecutor wants some of the photos only to prejudice the jury, particularly autopsy photos that show the angle bullets entered the bodies.

Green said many of the photos are necessary to prove essential elements of her case such as when the family was killed.

"It's going to be unpleasant because death is unpleasant, and children's death is unpleasant," Green said. But the photos aren't particularly bloody and would not prejudice the jury, the prosecutor said.

"The death of children is serious enough without showing the bodies," Gardina countered later.

Brothers turned away and crumpled down in his seat as the prosecutor showed photo after photo on a large television screen of his dead family: his three young children, Marques, Lyndsey and Marshall; his wife, Joanie Harper; and his mother-in-law, Earnestine Harper.

Even Green appeared flustered at times, seemingly unable to catch her breath, as she shuffled between shots of the family dead in their home and their bodies during autopsy.

Kern County Superior Court Judge Michael Bush said he wants to hear more from the experts before he decides which photos will be shown to the jury.

The photos of 2-year-old Lyndsey Harper's hands and feet revealed one area of hot contention between the prosecution and defense.

When a fireman first saw the bottom of the girl's foot, he thought he saw blood, suggesting she walked through blood before she was killed.

But Green said this is wrong. Lyndsey had no blood on her foot. Rather her foot and hands had darkened as her body decomposed in the house for two days before the family was discovered.

Green fears the defense will argue against this and needs the photos to prove her point.

Harpers at church

Earlier in the day, the judge ruled Green would be able to show the Harpers at church on the day the prosecution believes they were killed, but nothing of the other parishioners.

Green wants to prove that the family was wearing or had just taken off their church clothes for a nap between 2 and 6 p.m. on July 6, 2003, before an evening church service.

The prosecutor believes the killer shot the family to death during this window of time because the killer knew the family's schedule.

Hand testimony out

The judge also ruled a prosecution expert can't testify about which hand the killer used to shoot one of the children.

Bush has been asked to decide next week if the jury can walk through the Harper's house. That may be a problem because the house is in the process of being sold, Green said.