SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) -
Day 4 of the re-trial of Robert Coleman in the first-degree murder of retired Blanchard minister Julian Brandon wrapped up with the State resting its case and the defense beginning theirs.
Suspect's brother takes the stand
The first witness for the defense was Coleman's brother, who testified that a cut on Coleman's hand happened while the two were working on a vehicle. He also swore that the shoes with the victims' blood on them didn't belong to his brother, and that he'd never seen him wear them.
Neighbor saw Holmes near victims' home, but never Coleman
The defense also called a neighbor of the Brandons, who testified that she was familiar with Brandy Holmes, but had never seen Robert Coleman in the neighborhood.
Holmes was tried and convicted in the robbery and murder in February 2003 and sentenced to death.
Tonia Strahan testified she saw saw Holmes and her two nephews leaving the area of the Brandon home on the evening of the murder in something of a hurry. But she could not say that she saw any of them actually entering or leaving the house.
Victims' daughter takes the stand
Earlier in the day, Alice Brandon's daughter took the stand and described life for her and her mother following the brutal attack that left her husband dead.
Dawn Finley told the court that she never heard her mother's voice again in the five years she survived after the attack. Alice Brandon had been left with a tracheotomy and unable to speak or open her eyes.
After nearly a month in the hospital, Brandon went home in the care of her daughter.
Finley recalled that when her mother was later asked about the attack, she could only nod her head when responding to questions, and her answers were inconsistent.
The prosecutor's line of questioning took aim at the defense's assertion that Brandon her attackers as two white people to the EMTS who revived her shortly after she was discovered clinging to life four days after the attack.
In their opening arguments, Coleman's attorney made it clear that they seek to prove that Coleman was never in the Brandon home, and that it was actually Brandy Holmes' brother that killed the couple.
Testimony: Coleman, Holmes caught on ATM camera with victim's debit card
Testimony continued Thursday afternoon with John Basil, a Senior Fraud Investor with Chase Bank. He said the evidence he examined showed after the Brandon's attack, Julian Brandon's debit card was scanned twice at a convenience store, where the card holder attempted to get $200. The person who had the car never got the money because a bad pin number was used.
Blood evidence connects crime scene to Coleman
Next on the stand was DNA Forensic Analyst Connie Brown, who at the time of the attack worked in Shreveport. She testified that she was given 79 items to test. One item was a shoe that belonged to Robert Coleman. Brown said there was a blood stain on the shoe and that stain matched blood from Julian Brandon. Based on the evidence, she said the statistical probability that the blood belonged to someone was one in two billion.
On cross-examination, Brown testified that she found no DNA from Robert Coleman at the crime scene, and that there was no way to know who was wearing the shoe when the blood got on it. She told the court her job was to establish a link, and in this case, the evidence did not link Robert Coleman to the crime scene, but linked the crime scene to Coleman.
The trial continues Friday.
Coleman was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005, but his conviction was overturned in 2007 by the Louisiana Supreme Court, which agreed that his rights were violated by prosecutors when they dismissed a black juror from Coleman's murder trial on racial grounds.
If convicted a second time, the Caddo Parish District Attorney's office says it will once again seek the death penalty for Coleman.
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Robert Coleman (Source: Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office)
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