Guilty Verdict in Behrman Case | IndyStar

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Morgan County Sheriff Robert Garner, (right), escorts defendant John R. Myers II from the courthouse today. - CHARLIE NYE / The Star

Trial backgroundThe accused: John R. Myers II, 31, Ellettsville: A single father of Two and handyman, he has pleaded not guilty to murder.

The victim: Jill Behrman, 19, Bloomington. An Indiana University coed, the avid bicyclist vanished May 31, 2000 during a ride through northern Monroe County. Despite the focus of national media attention, she remained a missing persons case until her remains were found in a woody field in remote Morgan County March 9, 2003.

KEY EVENTS

Oct. 16: Judge Christopher Burnham bars Myers' criminal history from the trial. In court, prosecutors say Myers abducted Jill Behrman, 19, while she was on a bike ride May 31, 2000, after a chance encounter. They say he took her to his trailer, stripped her naked, then later marched her into the woods in Morgan County and shot and killed her. Myers' attorney tells jurors authorities have the wrong man.

Oct. 17: Jurors hear about, and see pictures of, the crime scene, and view pictures of Berhman's bones that were reassembled by a forensic anthropologist team at the University of Indianapolis.

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• Guilty verdict in Behrman case

• Meeting of black leaders begins• Guilty plea in racial arson• Colts’ Reagorcontinues recovery athome• FBI searches IUstudent’s home overfake boarding passes• St. Louis, Gary on dangerous city list

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6:33 PM October 30, 2006

Guilty verdict in Behrman caseBy Tom Spalding and Tim [email protected]

6:20 p.m. - Jury returns guilty verdict

A Morgan County jury tonight found John Myers II guilty in the death of Jill Behrman, the Indiana University student who disappeared on a bicycle ride six years ago.

Myers claimed he was innocent of the murder, and his attorney maintained that the state had only circumstantial evidence to link his client to the crime.

But prosecutors successfully argued that no one but the killer could make as many references to the Behrman case as Myers did with family and friends. Several family members testified against him.

Behrman, 19, was reported missing after a ride through northern Monroe County. Her remains were not discovered for nearly three years.

Sentencing will likely take place Dec. 1.

Myers' brother Sam yelled "Good luck John," as he was led from the courtroom.

Behrman's parents hugged prosecutors after the verdict was announced and family members were crying in the courtroom.

5:20 p.m. - Court says panel has a verdict

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. -- The jury has a verdict in the John Myers II murder case.

Reporters were notified of the development at 5:20 p.m. today by Deputy Morgan County Prosecutor Bob Cline. Myers was being brought back to court from the jail where he was taken after final arguments concluded around 4:30 p.m.

Cline said court would reconvene within the hour.

Myers is charged in the death of IU Student Jill Behrman. Behrman disappeared in 2000 while riding her bicycle in the hills outside Bloomington. Her body was found in a remote, wooded area in 2003.

Prosecutors have put forward an admittedly circumstantial case, but say only the killer could know as much as Myers seemed to know. Defense attorneys said prosecutors have presented no evidence to directly link Myers to the killing.

4:30 p.m. - Jury considering the evidence

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. - The jury finished listening to closing arguments and began deliberations, which should last until 10 p.m. unless the 12-person panel reaches a conclusion sooner.

Prosecutor Steve Sonnega wrapped up the arguments by asking jurors to think of themselves as fact-finders.

"The truth was taken to the grave," he told them. "Thanks to Betty Swaffard (John R. Myers II's grandmother) and her courage and her strength and the grace of God, the truth is that John Myers killed Jill Behrman. Don't let this window of opportunity close without

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Oct. 18: Behrman's parents, Eric and Marilyn, testify about their daughter's love of cycling. They tearfully recall the hopelessness they felt when a search and reward of $100,000 turned up nothing, then of sadness when they heard she'd been found dead. Behrman's bicycle is shown to jurors.

Oct. 19: Defense lawyer Patrick Baker suggests that Behrman was secretly pregnant and possibly involved romantically with a co-worker at an IU gym, and that police were too quick to dismiss that man as a suspect. Baker's description of Behrman's character brings condemnation from her parents.

Oct. 20: Baker files two motions for mistrial - one because the Behrman parents are still witnesses but were giving interviews to the media, one for a detective's accidental use of the word "polygraph" while on the stand. Both motions are rejected. Also, a forensic pathologist testifies Behrman was likely raped, forced to lie face-first in the soil and shot.

Oct. 21: Myers' two brothers, his mother, grandmother and aunt take the stand. The grandmother and aunt testify to having conversations with Myers in which he doesn't confess, but implicates himself in Behrman's disappearance.

Oct. 23: Myers' ex-girlfriend testifies that he took her on a three-county nighttime drive in March 2003 to show her a woody, remote location -- the same spot where Behrman's remains would be found three years later. Also, six former coworkers recall odd statements Myers uttered between 2000-2003 about random details he had of Behrman's disappearance.

Oct. 24: Wendy K. Owings, a Bloomington woman who was investigators' original suspect (along with two friends she implicated) admits lying about her involvement in 2000 because she faced her own legal woes and wanted to use her tips to reduce prison time. Also, a jail worker and inmate at Monroe County Jail testify about statements Myers made during separate stays between 2002 and 2005, where he talked about Behrman.

Oct. 25: The state rests its case after calling more than 50 witnesses. Indiana State Police Det. Rick Lang takes the stand. Prosecutors and defense focus on a May 2, 2005 interview between Myers and police, and tactics used to ellicit a comment.Oct. 27: The defense rests after calling two witnesses.

doing justice."

Attorneys for both sides then left the courtroom.

4:00 p.m. -- Defense calls prosecution case 'speculation'

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. - Attorneys for John R. Myers II said the state provided no physical evidence or proof that Myers killed Jill Behrman.

During closing arguments this afternoon in Myers' murder trial, Patrick Baker held up a blank sheet of paper before the jury.

"Here's the evidence against Johnny Myers," said Baker. "Nothing -- because it does not exist."

In a 65-minute closing presentation, Baker and his father, Hugh Baker, co-counsel, argued the state failed to pursue other suspects and scenarios that could have led to the person who actually killed Behrman.

"The state's evidence does not exclude every reasonable theory of innocence," saidPatrick Baker. "The state has not proven anything. Nothing. It’s called speculation,speculation, speculation."

Baker said there are several other, more plausible explanations for what happened to Behrman, including the theory that she was involved in a relationship with an older co-worker and may have been pregnant, or that three "druggies" who were initially implicated in the case actually killed Behrman. One admitted in court she provided misleading information to throw investigators off their trail.

The prosecution is expected to make a rebuttal statement later this afternoon

The jury should begin deliberating by this evening.

2:52 PM -- Proscutor uses elaborate computer presentation

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. - After a four-hour delay, and with one less juror, closing arguments finally began this afternoon in the John R. Myers II murder trial.

Prosecutors made a simple request: bring justice to Jill Behrman.

Prosecutor Steve Sonnega showed an elaborate computer presentation flashed on a big screen that detailed how authorities pieced together Myers' involvement in the Indiana University student's death.

One slide on the computerized presentation showed a color photo of Myers' face along with 15 pointed arrows detailing the names of people who had information or evidence linking Myers to the girl's death.

Sonnega also highlighted large portions of a May 2, 2005 transcript that Myers gave to two Indiana State Police detectives. In the transcript, Myers never confessed, but Sonnega claimed that Myers was elusive.

But ultimately, Sonnega said, Myers was caught in a big lie.

When detectives asked him if he had ever talked about Jill Behrman, Myers replied "no."

But Sonnega said in truth, Myers had spoken to 14 people about Behrman - including his grandmother and aunt.

"Who is lying? All these people or the defendant?" Sonnega said. "He is trying to go around the truth. Why? Because the truth convicts him."

Myers seemed calm in the packed courtroom. His attorney, Patrick Baker, will offer closing arguments next.

2:31 PM -- Judge interviews all jurors, lets final arguments start

After a four-hour delay so that jurors could be questioned, attorneys begin to present closing arguments in the murder trial of John R. Myers II.

The prosecution began at 1 p.m. with its version of the 2000 abduction and slaying of Indiana University student Jill Behrman.

Prior to starting opening arguments Morgan County Judge Christopher Burnham said that he could find no indication that jurors had been tainted by inappropriate outside influence over the weekend. The judge said he spent "quite some time" this morning interviewing each juror in the presence of the prosecutor and the defense attorney to determine if anything had occurred over the weekend that would have influenced their ability to render a fair and impartial verdict.

Burnham said they found no evidence of that in the interviews with the jurors.

Earlier in the day one of the jury members had been dismissed for personal reasons and questions were raised about the possibility that jurors had been privy information that might have influenced the outcome of the trial.

11:05 AM -- No sign of outside influence, detective says

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. - Indiana State Police Det. Rick Lang, lead investigator in the Jill Behrman killing, elaborated on why the judge in the John R. Myers II murder trial called for a recess until 1 p.m. today.

"It's individual questions of the jurors ... to make sure jurors make a decision on what they heard in the courtroom," Lang said. "There is no indication of outside influence with the jury whatsoever."

"I'm not sure how it started," Lang said, "but they want to make sure that everything is done right. It was information that apparently had come from somewhere and like I said, the judge and both parties want to make sure their (the jury's) decision is based on what happened in the courtroom."

No official word on what caused the delay was immediately available, said Dave Remondini, an Indiana Supreme Court representative assisting the Morgan Superior Court.

Although the legal issues that were debated behind closed doors were not known, Myers' defense attorney, Patrick V. Baker, has asked for a mistrial at least three times of the course of the 11-day trial, which wrapped up last Friday.

None of those motions for mistrial were granted by Judge Christopher Burnham.


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Burnham has said in court after one of those denials that he does not want a mistrial.

Lang said he didn’t want to think about the long investigation ending in a mistrial. “I think we're in good position and we have goodinformation to provide the jury with. This is just another glitch and another hurdle that we'll get over like we have over the last six and ahalf years."

Baker declined to comment, as did prosecutors in the case.

10:04 AM -- Attorneys, judge meet behind closed doors

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. - The judge in the John R. Myers murder trial called for a recess until 1 p.m. today to make sure the jury had notbeen improperly influenced.

The six-man, six-woman jury has been sequestered during the trial.

Officials in Morgan Superior Court would not comment, but attorneys for the state and Myers' defense met behind closed doors for an hour this morning with Judge Christopher Burnham to discuss the issue with the jury. The judge then called for the recess.

Myers is accused of abducting IU student Jill Behrman in 2000 and killing her with a shotgun blast to the back of her head.

The trial had been expected to resume today with closing arguments beginning at 9 a.m.

On Sunday, jurors viewed 18 locations related to Behrman's disappearance and death. One of those spots they saw firsthand -- atWarthen and Duckworth roads in Morgan County -- was where the woman’s student's remains were found.

When court started nearly all of the estimated 80 seats in the second-floor courtroom at Morgan County Courthouse are taken up.

Myers, 31, Ellettsville, has pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Behrman, a 19-year-old IU student who vanished May 31, 2000 while on a bicycle ride through the hills of northern Monroe County. Her remains were found near Paragon March 9, 2003.

Myers did not comment as he arrived to the courthouse today. He was escorted inside by sheriff's deputies.

Myers' entourage arrived just after 8 a.m., with his mother Jodie and Myers' brother Sam walking out in front. They did not comment.

The Behrman family, led by Jill's parents Eric and Marilyn, also arrived a short time later in a large show of force but they did not comment.

Morgan County Sheriff Robert Garner also arrived to the courthouse and had mixed emotions about the ramifications of the closing arguments. "How can you be satisfied? It's a tough deal."

Each side will get 90 minutes to make its case, and the jury will be read instructions that explain to them the difference between circumstantial and direct evidence. They'll be reminded that prosecutors have the burden and must show Myers is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

One of the 12 jurors was replaced with an alternate because of personal reasons.

9:05 AM -- Closing arguements to start.

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. - Jurors will hear closing arguments in the trial of John R. Myers II today, a day after they viewed 18 locations related to Jill Behrman's disappearance and death. One of those spots they saw firsthand -- at Warthen and Duckworth roads in Morgan County -- was where the Indiana University student's remains were found.

Closing arguments begin at 9 a.m., today and nearly all of the estimated 80 seats in the second-floor courtroom at Morgan County Courthouse are taken up.

Myers, 31, Ellettsville, has pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Behrman, a 19-year-old Indiana University student who vanished May 31, 2000 while on a bicycle ride through the hills of northern Monroe County. Her remains were found near Paragon March 9, 2003.

Myers did not comment as he arrived to the courthouse today. He was escorted inside by sheriff's deputies.

Myers' entourage arrived just after 8 a.m., with his mother Jodie and Myers' brother Sam walking out in front. They did not comment.

The Behrman family, led by Jill's parents Eric and Marilyn, also arrived a short time later in a large show of force but they did not comment.

Morgan County Sheriff Robert Garner also arrived to the courthouse and had mixed emotions about the ramifications of the closing arguments. "How can you be satisfied? It's a tough deal."

Each side will get 90 minutes to make its case, and the jury will be read instructions that explain to them the difference between circumstantial and direct evidence. They'll be reminded that prosecutors have the burden and must show Myers is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

One of the 12 jurors was replaced with an alternate because of personal reasons.

This story will be updated.

Copyright 2006 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved

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Guilty Verdict in Behrman Case | IndyStar