Defense attorneys presented key testimony from a martial arts instructor and a violent crimes consultant yesterday, suggesting that former University student Andrew Alston acted in self-defense on Nov. 8, 2003, when Charlottesville resident Walker Sisk was killed.
Prior to calling its first witness, the defense motioned during a jury recess to strike the second-degree murder charge against Alston. Defense attorney John Zwerling argued that the "hot-blooded" nature of the altercation between Alston and Sisk precluded the possibility of malice on Alston's behalf, a requirement for the charge of second-degree murder.
"Nothing could be clearer than the fact that Mr. Sisk was the aggressor," Zwerling said. "They were in a fist fight of some type and then an altercation occurred."
Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Jon Zug seemed enraged at the motion, saying it "ignores the central piece of evidence that there was no dispute between Mr. Sisk and Mr. Alston, who interjected himself in an unprovoked manner."
In overruling the motion, Charlottesville Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire noted that the large quantity of stab wounds on the victim prevented him from ruling out the possibility of a cold-blooded killing.
To the apparent surprise of many in the courtroom, the defense spent most of the day fleshing out a hypothesis that Sisk's wounds were self-inflicted, a scenario the attorneys only alluded to in earlier questioning.
Lieutenant Naval Officer John Correa, a martial-arts instructor, testified that Alston trained with him in the summer of 2002 to learn a unique form of self-defense for knife-fighting.
According to Correa, Alston attended his class once or twice a week for a period of eight weeks, during which time he was taught three specific self-defense techniques that Correa testified could have been used in the altercation with Sisk. Students in Correa's class repeated the techniques at least 50 times per session to promote muscle-memory of the movements, he added.
Unlike many martial arts, which are intended for self-defense but can also be used in an attack, Correa said the techniques taught to Alston can only be used to take advantage of an attacker's momentum to redirect blows away from oneself and toward an assailant.
Using a fake knife and a specially prepared t-shirt with marks to indicate the location of stab wounds found on Sisk's body, Correa demonstrated with an assistant how each one of the stab wounds could have resulted from Alston's use of the techniques. In a slow-motion sequence of movements, Correa blocked his assistant's simulated attacks and directed them toward the clusters of marks on his assistant's chest, left arm and lower back.
Because the defender in such an attack would effectively be maneuvering the weapon in the assailant's hand, Correa said students are taught to continue performing the techniques until the weapon is dropped or the attacker goes down.
Correa said in an actual attack 20 stabbing motions could be directed toward an assailant in a period of seven or eight seconds.
Friends and family members of Sisk seemed unconvinced that such an altercation had transpired between Sisk and Alston. In his cross-examination, Zug confirmed with Correa that it could have been difficult to perform the techniques while intoxicated.
Throughout Correa's testimony, spectators on the prosecution's side of the courtroom groaned and rolled their eyes in apparent disgust at the suggested sequence of events.
One of Sisk's former employers, Tim Bourcy, owner of The Mountain Shop in Skagway, Alaska, where he is also mayor, testified that a couple of employees had spoken to him about Sisk's violent behavior when under the influence of alcohol. Bourcy said in one incident Sisk broke Bourcy's car windshield, but Bourcy did not file charges.
Following Correa's demonstration, violent crimes consultant Larry McCann offered forensic analysis of the crime scene and of the knife wounds on both Alston and Sisk.
Referencing details found in police photos taken of Alston's hand, McCann said he determined that the wound was not self-inflicted.
"The evidence indicates that Alston sustained a defensive wound," he said.
The multiple cuts on Alston's hand suggested to McCann that an oncoming knife had slipped across his palm before catching in a crease and causing a gash, McCann said. Had the wound been caused by a blade being used in a stabbing, he said the cut would have been more continuous and the blade would not have caught in multiple places.
Though he had declined to provide a statement to police the night of the killing, eyewitness Kenneth Alston, the defendant's older brother, testified in court that he had borrowed a knife from his brother's roommate, Simon, earlier in the evening to poke a hole into a new belt. Together with his brother and his friend Bill Fegley, Ken Alston shotgunned a couple of beers before heading to bars on the Corner, he said.
Last Thursday, Andrew Alston's neighbor at the time, third-year Commerce student Erica Schaul, said that she saw Andrew playing with a pocketknife in his apartment that night.
Several Charlottesville police officers previously testified that despite conducting extensive searches, no weapon had been found within the vicinity of the crime scene. The prosecution has suggested that Ken Alston could have had an opportunity to dispose of a bloody knife with Andrew Alston's car.
Having testified that he had consumed a large amount of alcohol that night, Ken Alston said he could not recall much of the events that occurred at that point in the evening.
Zug conducted his cross-examinations yesterday, the first day defense witnesses were called, with a sarcastic tone that has characterized his presentation throughout the trial.
Following McCann's testimony, Zug questioned his credentials and interpretation of the forensic evidence. McCann prepared the demonstration t-shirt as well as the map exhibits used by the defense.
"Your name is Mr. McCann -- not Dr. McCann -- right?" Zug asked.
McCann confirmed that while he had worked in the field for nearly 30 years, he does not have a doctorate. Zug also noted that McCann had previously worked under Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro, a prosecution witness who offered on Thursday a different and seemingly incompatible interpretation of the evidence.
Zug also asked McCann to disclose how much money he was paid by the defense to conduct his examination. At $300 an hour, McCann said he has billed the defense more than $20,000 for his work on the trial.
Despite receiving such compensation, McCann maintained that he had offered his true interpretation of the evidence. He added that he has testified hundreds of times in the past on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Before resting its case earlier in the day, the prosecution recalled eyewitness Jeffery Cabrera, a former University student who had spent the night out with Andrew Alston and his friends. In his Thursday testimony, Cabrera indicated that he had only consumed a couple of beers that night, but after reviewing audio and video recordings of his prior statements to police, Cabrera admitted that his earlier accounts of having drank more were probably more accurate.
Compared to the prosecution's lengthy presentation, the defense made it through its scheduled witnesses for the day with two hours to spare. Neither of the two remaining defense witnesses was present to testify a day early.
In an effort to avoid allowing the trial to run past schedule, Hogshire requested that the defense finish its case as quickly as possible to allow the jury to begin its deliberations today and finish before the Veteran's Day holiday Thursday.
Read More
Severe flooding cancels classes, trips for U.Va. in Valencia study abroad program
By Bertie Azqueta | 9 hours agoAdministrators canceled classes for students studying abroad in Valencia beginning Oct. 29 due to transportation concerns. Classes resumed Monday.
Remembering a tragedy: A look at the aftermath of Nov. 13 over the past year
By Grace Thrush | YesterdayOver the past year, several developments in the aftermath of the shooting, from an independent review of the University’s response to a settlement for the victims’ families, have transpired.
Out-of-state students endured a series of obstacles in obtaining absentee ballots
By Bennett Galper and Jackie Bond | YesterdayFour states — Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Dakota — require notarization to either receive an absentee ballot or have it be officially counted.
