The sun rises over the courthouse in Schoharie County, where Calvin Harris, charged with Second Degree Murder in connection with the disappearance of his wife Michele in September of 2001, is on trial.
By 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, the jury was called into the courtroom for the first time in the entire day, and was subsequently released for the day and was offered apologies by Schoharie County Judge George Bartlett III for the delay.
But the daylong arguments, according to Calvin Harris’ attorney Bruce Barket, are vital, he stated, to proving his client’s innocence.
The prosecution in this case, Tioga County District Attorney Kirk Martin and Special Prosecutor Paul Clyne, a former district attorney from Albany County, continued to object to witnesses and testimony that the attorney is attempting to put in front of the jury – stating that it is all hearsay, and is playing to the defense’s theory that someone else killed Michele Harris.
Defense arguments stemmed around testimony by Kevin Tubbs that he saw someone else at the end of the Harris’ driveway on Sept. 12, 2001, arguing with a woman who looked like Michele Harris. He also testified as to what color truck the man was driving that he witnessed.
Now the court will allow the defense to put a name with a face.
Since Tubbs first came forward in 2007 with this information, an investigator working for the defense, David Beers, went to task to find photos from people that were mentioned throughout the investigation. Those three men were Stacy Stewart and Christopher Thomason – who are in Texas, and Michael Hakes who worked at Lefty’s in Waverly, N.Y. where Michele Harris was employed.
The photo of Michael Hakes, Beers testified, was obtained through the sex offender registry. And although Beers went to the initial investigators on the case for a photo, he was unsuccessful and reached out to a private investigator in Texas who was able to obtain photos of Thomason and Stewart.
Beers testified to the court and outside of the jury on Wednesday that of these three photos, Kevin Tubbs was able to identify Stacy Stewart as the man he saw the morning of Sept. 12, 2001 at the end of the Harris’ driveway.
Also included in this testimony was the vehicle identification of the truck driven by Stacy Stewart at that time – describing it as a black Chevy truck. The vehicle identification was confirmed by Motor Vehicles as the truck that Stewart was driving at that time, according to the defense, and this connection was made long after Kevin Tubbs came forward.
“It is absolutely amazing that when Kevin Tubbs picked this photo… and the truck that belonged to him matched,” said Barket to the court. In an outburst later, Barket also said to the prosecutors, “When my client is acquitted, I hope you go out and do something to get the person who is responsible.” “That is your job,” he added.
The defense also argued throughout the day to bring Julie Brinkman, the former girlfriend of Stacy Stewart who is working as a parole officer in Texas, back to the stand.
“The photos will give Tubbs credibility as to what he saw, and Brinkman will testify that Stewart told her he was the last man seen with Michele Harris,” the defense said to the court.
But the prosecution continued to object to these witnesses and their testimony, and tried to discredit David Beers as he testified outside of the jury.
Beers is a former police officer, who according to prosecutors was fired from that position for tampering with evidence.
Beers testified that he was exonerated of those charges, and noted that the incident took place in the early 1990’s.
The prosecution also challenged the photos, telling Beers that he didn’t present them to Kevin Tubbs in a fashion for identification that might have been performed by a police officer during an investigation.
Beers replied with, “I wasn’t acting as a police officer.”
By the end of the day, the judge ruled that Kevin Tubbs could return to the stand for the photo identification. Also discussed on Wednesday was a subpoena for Stacy Stewart to come from Texas and take the witness stand as others have testified that he was the last one identified by Tubbs as being seen with Michele Harris.
Court is expected to begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, with a probability that Kevin Tubbs will be called back to the stand for photo identification of whom he thought he saw at the end of the driveway.
The prosecution expects to call several rebuttal witnesses, and according to Judge Bartlett, the case could go to the jury some time next week.
