Hardrock69
06-06-2007, 03:43 PM
Fucking pedophile bastard!
:mad:
Defendant is an idiot, his lawyer tells jury
But Duffer isn't guilty of rape, defense says
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer
In an effort to save his client from a 175-year prison sentence, Jeremy Duffer's lawyer told jurors Tuesday that his client is an idiot whose behavior was "not acceptable."
He even told them that Duffer, a notorious former fugitive accused of raping a child, is guilty of some of the things he stands accused of and confessed to police.
"Clearly, my client's an idiot," Nashville attorney Mathew Mayo told jurors.
"He's an idiot for what he did. He's an idiot for talking to police. He's not very smart."
But in closing arguments, the attorney pleaded with jurors not to find Duffer guilty of the most serious charges against him, seven counts of rape of a child. Duffer, 36, is facing a total of 15 charges.
A conviction on each child rape charge would draw up to a 25-year prison sentence, 85 percent of which must be served before parole. By law, the victim must be under the age of 13 in a child rape case.
Mayo told jurors that whatever they thought of Duffer, who told police and the victim's mother that he repeatedly engaged in sex acts with the boy, they had to follow the law. He also reminded jurors that the boy testified on Monday that the abuse occurred when he was 13.
During the second day of the trial, jurors heard hours of taped recordings of Duffer admitting to police and the boy's mother that he had abused the boy. Duffer had been expected to testify but did not.
The prosecutor in the case agreed with the defense that Duffer is not a smart man.
"The defendant may be stupid, but you are not," Davidson County Assistant District Attorney Brian Holmgren told jurors in his closing argument. The abuse in the case occurred very early and very often, the prosecutor said.
He insisted that Duffer's own statements, along with the boy's and his mother's chronology of the case, showed the abuse occurred when the boy was between the ages 11 and 13.
Duffer's face was plastered on billboards all over Nashville after he cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet last year and skipped bail. He was captured five months later, working in a traveling carnival in East Tennessee. He was later interviewed by the media, and in closing, Holmgren used his words to the TV news against him.
"Mr. Duffer told the news media, 'I ran because I didn't have a chance in hell,' " the prosecutor said.
Jurors deliberated for a little less than an hour before Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins sent them home and told them to come back at 9 this morning.
The case largely focused on Duffer's own words.
A former manager of a Hermitage game store, he befriended the boy when the child began coming to the popular hangout for kids.
After the boy told his mother that Duffer had molested him, she went to police, who had her secretly record a conversation with him.
On that tape, she pleads with Duffer to tell her what happened, saying her son is suicidal, confused and she needs to help him.
The mother wept in the courtroom as she listened to the recordings of her frantic pleas for information.
"You took my son," she told Duffer on the tape after he admitted the abuse. "You took his innocence…."
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS03/706060428/1001
:mad:
Defendant is an idiot, his lawyer tells jury
But Duffer isn't guilty of rape, defense says
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer
In an effort to save his client from a 175-year prison sentence, Jeremy Duffer's lawyer told jurors Tuesday that his client is an idiot whose behavior was "not acceptable."
He even told them that Duffer, a notorious former fugitive accused of raping a child, is guilty of some of the things he stands accused of and confessed to police.
"Clearly, my client's an idiot," Nashville attorney Mathew Mayo told jurors.
"He's an idiot for what he did. He's an idiot for talking to police. He's not very smart."
But in closing arguments, the attorney pleaded with jurors not to find Duffer guilty of the most serious charges against him, seven counts of rape of a child. Duffer, 36, is facing a total of 15 charges.
A conviction on each child rape charge would draw up to a 25-year prison sentence, 85 percent of which must be served before parole. By law, the victim must be under the age of 13 in a child rape case.
Mayo told jurors that whatever they thought of Duffer, who told police and the victim's mother that he repeatedly engaged in sex acts with the boy, they had to follow the law. He also reminded jurors that the boy testified on Monday that the abuse occurred when he was 13.
During the second day of the trial, jurors heard hours of taped recordings of Duffer admitting to police and the boy's mother that he had abused the boy. Duffer had been expected to testify but did not.
The prosecutor in the case agreed with the defense that Duffer is not a smart man.
"The defendant may be stupid, but you are not," Davidson County Assistant District Attorney Brian Holmgren told jurors in his closing argument. The abuse in the case occurred very early and very often, the prosecutor said.
He insisted that Duffer's own statements, along with the boy's and his mother's chronology of the case, showed the abuse occurred when the boy was between the ages 11 and 13.
Duffer's face was plastered on billboards all over Nashville after he cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet last year and skipped bail. He was captured five months later, working in a traveling carnival in East Tennessee. He was later interviewed by the media, and in closing, Holmgren used his words to the TV news against him.
"Mr. Duffer told the news media, 'I ran because I didn't have a chance in hell,' " the prosecutor said.
Jurors deliberated for a little less than an hour before Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins sent them home and told them to come back at 9 this morning.
The case largely focused on Duffer's own words.
A former manager of a Hermitage game store, he befriended the boy when the child began coming to the popular hangout for kids.
After the boy told his mother that Duffer had molested him, she went to police, who had her secretly record a conversation with him.
On that tape, she pleads with Duffer to tell her what happened, saying her son is suicidal, confused and she needs to help him.
The mother wept in the courtroom as she listened to the recordings of her frantic pleas for information.
"You took my son," she told Duffer on the tape after he admitted the abuse. "You took his innocence…."
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS03/706060428/1001