NEW YORK – Crime scene investigations are continuing today in two states as law enforcement pursue whoever killed little 7-year-old North Florida resident Somer Thompson.

Somer Thompson

At a mid-morning press conference, a spokesperson for law enforcement announced that all 90 registered sex offenders in the 5-mile radius of Thompson’s home have been spoken to, and at this point it is believed they have no involvement. Reporters were told the convicted offender’s homes and properties have been searched and families have been contacted in an attempt to eliminate them as suspects.

The second grader, in Orange Park, Florida, was last seen on Monday as she walked home from school with her twin brother and sister. This murder investigation has revealed that detectives are very interested in an abandoned house along the route that Thompson walked home. The home has become an active crime scene as law enforcement combs the structure for what they hope may be probative evidence. A local park, across the street, has also been of interest to these crime scene investigators.

And while law enforcement tries to find the killer of Somer Thompson, the little girl’s body that was found in a Georgia landfill on Wednesday, is still in Savannah Georgia, after an autopsy was performed on Thursday.

Investigators are asking for any information from the public on who murdered Somer, but they are also focusing on any and all forensic evidence that can be collected from locations in Florida and also from the little girl’s body.

A sexual assault or “rape kit” testing undoubtedly was performed at autopsy as well as a collection of any material under Thompson’s nails, and a collection of her clothes for sophisticated DNA testing.
A relatively new DNA technique labeled “touch DNA” allows forensic scientists to isolate foreign DNA on a person mainly from their clothes that comes from merely a touch of an assailant. That touch can leave behind skin cells. These skin cells then are analyzed to find the DNA of a possible assailant.

In 2008, touch DNA found from the clothing JonBenet Ramsey was wearing at her death in 1996, not only led to prosecutors officially clearing members of the little girl’s family, but led law enforcement one step closer to solving the murder of this 6 year old Boulder Colorado girl.
Florida authorities say they are hard at work to find the perpetrator of the horrific murder this week of Somer Thomson, not only to find justice for the elementary school student, but to also protect others in this North Florida community.

As reporters were told this morning the goal is to find that “one piece of crucial evidence” to solve the murder of Somer Thompson.

-Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

CANTON, Mississippi–The courtroom was silent as jurors filed in one by one to announce their verdict in the case of Mississippi vs Carla Hughes.

Carla Hughes reacts to guilty verdict

Not one juror looked at the defendant, but two jurors looked the way of the prosecution as they took their seats.

As Judge William Chapman read out the first verdict: the jury finds Carla Hughes guilty of the murder of Avis Banks, Hughes seemed to try to comprehend what was happening. Her quiet but continuous crying continued as Judge Chapman announced the second count: that Hughes was also guilty in the murder of Banks' unborn child.

Avis Banks' family, the victim who the jury determined was shot, stabbed and slashed by defendant Hughes, let out a cry of relief in an otherwise still stoic courtroom.

Following the polling of jurors, the group of nine females and three males left the courtroom to return on Wednesday for the penalty phase. Relatives and close friends of both Hughes and Banks were crying as they left.

Carla Hughes is now facing the death penalty.

Stay tuned to In Session for complete coverage of this case.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

CANTON, Mississippi–Jurors deliberated for about four hours Monday in the Mississippi case of Carla Hughes without reaching a verdict. Earlier in the day, it was a packed courtroom for closing arguments, as prosecutors argued to the jury that victim Avis Banks had everything that Carla Hughes wanted...a new house, new car and Keyon Pittman.

Avis Banks

Pittman was engaged to Banks, who was five months' pregnant with his child. Both mother and child were murdered in the brutal attack.

Prosecutors argued that Carla Hughes had control over all of the incriminating evidence in this case: the gun, the shoes, her cell phone and even her voluntary statement to police.

That recorded statement was made several days after Banks' murder. District Attorney Michael Guest told jurors Hughes originally said in that interview she and Pittman were only friends and that she had no access to a gun.

Pittman was having an affair with Hughes and later that night, after her police interview, Hughes allegedly returned the gun unloaded to her cousin.

This was a gun prosecutors say she borrowed three days before the murder, the same day Hughes allegedly told her lover Pittman "things were going to change."

Assistant District Attorney John Emfinger told the jury that later that Sunday, after an angry Hughes made that statement to Pittman, she went to her cousin and got the gun and a knife.

Defense attorneys put their focus on Keyon Pittman, telling jurors he had a motive to kill his fiancee. "He didn't want to be married or to have that child," State Senator Johnnie Walls told the jury. "You cannot place the gun in the defendant's hand, cannot place Hughes at Banks' home and cannot place those shoes with the blood of Banks on Hughes' feet."

Defense attorneys argued Keyon Pittman left basketball practice and had time to get the gun, wear the shoes he had already admitted to using, and kill a woman he cared so little about.

"It is just as reasonable that Pittman wanted to get rid of Banks as Carla Hughes wanted to get rid of the victim," Sen. Johnnie Walls, Jr. told jurors. And that, the defense concluded, is reasonable doubt.

Hughes is facing two counts of capital murder. Deliberations begin again on Tuesday morning.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

CANTON, Mississippi–Testimony continues Monday in the case of Mississippi v Carla Hughes. On Saturday, the defense began it case by calling witnesses to show Hughes' reputation for peacefulness and truthfulness in her community, as well as a witness who testified that Keyon Pittman, the fiance of victim Avis Banks, left a middle school's gymnasium for over an hour on the night of November 29, 2006.

Carla Hughes

It was in those early evening hours that someone shot, stabbed and slashed Banks, killing her and her unborn child.

First up for the defense was Antonius Caldwell, Pittman's assistant basketball coach at Chastain Middle School. He testified that head coach Pittman told him before practice began that night that Caldwell could be in charge even though the next day the team had a big game.  Caldwell testified that Pittman sat near the exit door of the gym and although Caldwell saw him from about 5:15 until 6:00 p.m., he didn't see him again until approximately 7:10 p.m.. 

Caldwell testified that Pittman usually gave him a ride home after practice since Caldwell lived just a couple of minutes away from the school, but on that particular night, Pittman said he was in a hurry and couldn't do it.

Linda Hughes, the defendant's mother, took the stand to testify she had met Keyon Pittman at her daughter's apartment. She said Pittman came upstairs to a bedroom where she was with Carla's young son. Pittman has testified he had never seen or been in that guest bedroom, and crime scene investigators testified they believed that Banks' assailant had intentionally left that room in disarray to raise robbery as a motive for killing her. Linda Hughes, along with other witnesses, also testified that Carla Hughes has always been a peacemaker in her life.

A former secretary and librarian in the Greenville school system said Hughes didn't have the personality to confront others..."she will walk away." Anita Fuller also testified she put Hughes in charge of advertising for her high school yearbook. She knew Hughes could be trusted with the money that would come in to fund the yearend publication for students.

Camesha Jones, a college friend of Hughes, testified she lived relatively close to Banks' home in November 2006 but doesn't recall seeing Hughes there during the early evening hours on November 29, 2006.

The prosecution, although not able to directly attack Hughes' reputation, tried to dilute the direct testimony of each and every defense witness by bringing out that Pittman may have just stepped outside the gym during basketball practice. Jones admitted that although she and Hughes had taught together earlier in their careers, Jones had not seen Hughes since the summer of 2006.

Carla Hughes is facing two counts of capital murder. If convicted,  the state of Mississippi is seeking the death penalty.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

CANTON, Mississippi–In the midst of a long line of police and forensic expert witnesses, prosecutors in Mississippi trial of Carla Hughes called a witness to the stand that was familiar to jurors. "Basketball mom" Bridget Matlock has been referred to in quite a bit of testimony so far, and jurors and were able to see her for themselves when she took the stand Thursday afternoon.

Bridget Matlock called to the witness stand by prosecutors

Keyon Pittman admitted during his tesimony that he "flirted" with Matlock, a married mother, whose son Pittman coached on the basketball team at Chastain Middle School.

Pittman is also the sixth-grade science teacher whoi admitted having an affair with his fellow teacher and now defendant in this case, Carla Hughes. Pittman's fiancee, Avis Banks, and their unborn child were murdered the night of November 29, 2006, while Pittman says he was coaching a basketball practice.

Prosecutors called Matlock to the stand to corroborate Pittman's cell phone records, showing he was in the vicinity of the middle school during the time they believe Banks was murdered. This alibi witness is important because Hughes' defense team, headed by state Senator Johnnie Walls Jr., has put Pittman front and center in this trial, labeling him as someone who had the motive, ability and opportunity to kill the woman he was engaged to marry.

Matlock testified Pittman was at basketball practice on November 29, 2006 from about 5:15 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. that evening. Prosecutors believe Banks who was shot four times, stabbed and slashed with a knife, was attacked a little before 6:00 p.m. that night.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Walls got Matlock to admit she had a flirting relationship with Pittman, talking and texting with him on a regular basis and even flew to Detroit for a romantic weekend with him 7 or 8 months after Avis Banks' murder. "You would have every reason to support him now," Walls told Matlock. He then questioned her credibility before the jury by asking her "why should we believe what you say about him?"

Carla Hughes is facing two counts of capital murder. The state of Mississippi is seeking death if she is convicted.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

CANTON, Mississippi–Testimony continues this morning in the death penalty trial of Carla Hughes. Lead detective John Neal told jurors Wednesday that Hughes was charged with two counts of capital murder in the death of Avis Banks because: there was evidence Hughes possessed the gun that shot Banks, shoes found in Hughes' apartment that had Banks' blood on them, and cell phone records that placed her in the vicinity of Banks' home during the commission of the crime.

Carla Hughes, left, and Avis Banks

Officers were dispatched to the home shared by victim Avis Banks and her fiance, Keyon Pittman, at approximately 8:45 p.m. on November 29, 2006. They found the back door had been smashed in, despite having a dead bolt. That force allowed someone to gain entry to an otherwise secure home.

Law enforcement also found what appeared to be shoe tread prints on that back door as if someone had tried to push it in. Detective Neal said those prints were photographed and documented.

The lead investigator also testified that much of the home was in disarray, but law enforcement believed from the very beginning the scene was staged to cover up a crime of passion.

Upon executing a search warrant at Carla Hughes' home, police found a shoe box and shoes believed to match the shoe tread imprints from the door of Bank's home. Following the collection of those shoes, Hughes was charged with 2 counts of capital murder.

Police initially looked toward Bank's fiance, Keyon Pittman, but when Hughes' cousin contacted law enforcement through an attorney, and turned over a .38 caliber revolver recently loaned to Hughes, she became the principal suspect.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Brandon Dorsey asked the lead detective what evidence he had that Hughes fired the weapon to kill Banks. His response: "none."

Dorsey also got Neal to admit that Pittman exhibited some peculiar behavior during the initial stages of investigation. There was a lack of emotion on his part, he said, as well as canceling several interviews with law enforcement and asserting his Fifth Amendment right at one point during the preliminary hearing.

Detective Frank Dillard also testified Wednesday that when he first spoke with Carla Hughes after the murder, she told him she and Pittman were just friends. "I felt she was being deceptive," Dillard added, so he asked her to come to the police station for another interview.

Hughes agreed and later in that day, December 1, 2006, gave a voluntary statement to police. Hughes was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder five days later.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

CANTON, Mississippi–The former fiance of victim Avis Banks took the witness stand for the most of the day Tuesday in the capital murder trial of Carla Hughes.

Keyon Pittman wipes away tears on the witness stand

Keyon Pittman testified that he and Banks knew they wanted a future together when they purchased a home outside of Jackson, Mississippi and in July 2006, they found out Banks was pregnant with their child.

One month later, Pittman met the defendant, a new teacher at the middle school where he taught science. Pittman and Hughes became virtually inseparable, with phone calls and text messages in a seemingly constant stream throughout the days and weeks until Bank's murder in November 2006.

Pittman testified Hughes knew of his fiancee but 27-year-old Banks originally never suspected his double life. Pittman described how he would go out of town with one of the women, while going out of town the following weekend with the other one.

Although he described defendant Hughes as only a sexual fantasy, Pittman admitted he kept pursuing Hughes and visited her apartment shortly before Banks was murdered and then again shortly after Banks was killed in the early evening hours of November 29, 2006.

Pittman began his testimony with emotional sobs clutching tissues before he began to speak.

On cross-examination, defense attorney and State Senator Johnnie Walls Jr. asked Pittman to explain why he was "bawling before the jury and hadn't shed one tear."

The defense attorney pointed out the continuous calls Pittman made to Hughes and another woman he flirted with, whose son was on the basketball team Pittman coached. In contrast, Walls brought out that Pittman had only spoken with his fiancee twice on the day she was murdered.

Walls focused on Pittman's direct testimony that he left school on Bank's last day alive around four that afternoon, went to get some groceries, dropped them off at Hughes home, went back to school for basketball practice and then ultimately back to Hughes home before going to the home he shared with Banks.

Walls also brought out that Hughes knew about Banks but never even so much as confronted the woman, who was her rival.

Finally, Pittman admitted he called Hughes shortly after he found Banks' body and sent her a text that said "you now know why the Lord sent you to me..."

Walls continued to ask Pittman why he was calling someone he described as simply his sex partner when authorities were taking his murdered fiancee and unborn child to the morgue.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

CANTON, Mississippi–In our new live trial, Mississippi v Carla Hughes, prosecutors allege that Hughes, a middle-school teacher, broke into the home of victim Avis Banks in November 2006 and shot, stabbed and slashed her multiple times before making a fast get a way. Banks was found dead in her garage, in a pool of her own blood.

Carla Hughes sits in court as opening statements are delivered

Banks, a 27-year-old day-care teacher, was pregnant at the time of her murder and lived with her fiance, Keyon Pittman. Pittman and Banks were set to be married one month later.

Defendant Hughes and Pittman taught at the same school, and were having an affair.

In their opening statement, prosecutors for the state told jurors that they relied on the defendant's cousin, who came forward several days after Banks' murder, saying Hughes had recently asked for protection. A loaded .38 caliber weapon was loaned to Hughes, prosecutors asserted.

Hughes then allegedly returned an empty gun to cousin Patrick Nash shortly after Banks was killed. .38 caliber bullets were found in Banks' body.

Prosecutors will also be relying on footprints at the scene matching shoes Hughes had in her closet, as well as blood spatter on the top of those shoes.

Cell phone tower records confirm what prosecutors say also will show that Hughes was close to the home of Banks when the woman was murdered.

The defense brought out other facts in its opening statements, which they believe will show that Hughes is not the double murderer that prosecutors portray her to be.

Keyon Pittman, the lover of both women, was not at basketball practice that early evening they told the jury, and no one will be able to testify where he was.

Pittman and Hughes both wore the same size shoe and were known to exchange shoes. Furthermore, the defense stated to the jury, Pittman had a key to Hughes apartment and continued to have access after she was arrested for the double homicide.

If convicted, Carla Hughes could face the death penalty. Stay tuned to In Session for complete coverage of this case.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

NEW YORK – The lab technician who worked in the same building as a murdered Yale graduate student Annie Le has been released by New Haven police.

Raymond Clark, left, is a person of interest in the murder of Annie Le, right

Raymond Clark, named a person of interest in the investigation, worked in the same Yale Medical School campus building where Le performed experiments as a pharmacology student. Authorities were able to take Clark into custody Tuesday night by executing what is called a search and seizure warrant. This warrant allows officials to hold someone who is not charged with a crime in order to obtain DNA samples. The warrant is based on probable cause and allows law enforcement to search the person described in an accompanying affidavit that also lays out the particular facts known to law enforcement at that time.

The Fourth amendment to the Constitution, guards against unreasonable search and seizures. Last night’s search of Clark had to be limited in nature, sanctioned by a judge and based on a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed and the person searched may have committed it.

Police said in a late night press conference on Tuesday that Clark’s DNA was taken by officials through saliva, fingernail scrapings and hair. Clark cooperated with authorities and according to the New Haven Police Department Clark was released at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The reason Clark was almost immediately released after being taken into custody is that it would have violated his constitutional rights under our Fourth amendment to hold him for a longer period of time.
As Chief Justice Rehnquist stated in the 1990 case of United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, “the driving force behind the adoption of the Fourth Amendment…was widespread hostility among the former Colonists to the issuance of writs…and general search warrants permitting the search of private houses. The purpose of the Fourth Amendment was to protect the people of the United States against arbitrary action by their own government.”

Authorities have also executed a search and seizure warrant on Clark’s apartment in Middletown, Connecticut.

Le’s body was found on Sunday within the basement wall of her lab building on the Yale campus. She was set to get married that same day. Raymond Clark has not been charged with her murder.

-Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

SARASOTA, Florida – Closing arguments in the penalty phase concerning convicted killer Michael King have now concluded and the jury is deliberating over whether he should face the death penalty.

Prosecutor Lon Arend, foreground, delivers his closing argument in the penalty phase as defendant Michael King, second from right, sits with attorneys at the defense table

Prosecutor Lon Arend argued to the jury that King's actions in committing the murder of 21-year-old Denise Lee were heinous, atrocious and cruel. Arend described how King was abducted from her home and taken to King's home where she was then raped. Lee was was in the back of King's car and saw the shovel that King got from his cousin. The dramatic 911 call, from Lee herself using King's cell phone, came with her knowing that shovel was in the car with her, Arend told jurors.

Lee was taken to the woods, stripped naked and with one shot to the front temple of her head was shot dead. There is no evidence, Arend argued to the jury, that Lee had duct tape over her eyes. She saw everything up to and at the time of her death.

Public defender Carolyn Schlemmer started off her closing argument by telling the jury that regardless of their finding of aggravating circumstances, they are never required to return a recommendation of death. Schlemmer told them that a vote for life would mean King, now a convicted murderer, would take his last breath in a Florida state prison, and it doesn't diminish the loss of the precious life of Denise Lee.

The lead attorney urged the jury to focus on the entire life of King, one that included a life of non-aggressive behavior, being a good husband, father and boyfriend. She said witness testimony showed King exhibited good character traits during his life, a good record and background. Balance that, Schlemmer said, with the one "terrible, terrible day."

King's attorney also argued that harshest penalty is not appropriate because of the defendant's below average intelligence. There was no way he could calculate such a cold-hearted, pre-meditated murder. Schlemmer told the jury King would not have had the cognitive ability to murder Lee and plan to evade arrest.

The defense concluded by re-emphasizing the non-violent life of King and that nothing prior to January 17, 2008 contradicts those realities.

-Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent