The following is a time line of courtroom activity in the Stephen Stanko trial being held in Horry County:
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Day one, Nov. 13
4:52 p.m. —
After fleeing Conway in Turner’s truck, Stanko drove to Columbia and stopped by the Blue Marlin restaurant.
Jane Turner — no relation to the victim — said Stanko struck up a conversation with she and her friend. He claimed he was a real estate agent from New York and was in South Carolina to close on a “big” business deal.
Turner said he was “buying everyone drinks and flashing money.”
She also said he was doing bar tricks and shots with his drinks.
“It was hard to tell if he was exaggerating or lying,” she said of Stanko’s stories that “got more elaborate as the night progressed.”
She said when she left with her date about two hours later she was worried to leave her girlfriend at the bar with Stanko.
Ryan Coleman, a worker at the Blue Marlin said Stanko ran up a $300 tab that night.
4:37 p.m. — A business card found in Henry Turner's home after the death belonged to Stanko. It identified Stanko as a "paralegal and exotic dancer."
3:40 p.m. —
Robert Todd, who was a police officer and a neighbor of Henry Turner’s son, Roger Turner, said he received a call from Roger at about 11 p.m. April 8, 2005 because he was worried since his father missed a dinner date.
They drove to Turner’s home near the Conway Hospital and saw the red Mustang in the yard.
Todd then called 911 and the SWAT team was dispatched to the Turner home.
Capt. Craig Hutchison, a SWAT team member said the 8-man team made entry into Turner’s home.
Capt. Craig Hutchison, a member of the SWAT team, said Turner was “obviously deceased” when he was found face down in his bedroom.
3 p.m. — Although no bickering between the state and the defense has been heard by courtroom observers, Judge Stephen John apparently heard things he did not like.
With the jury out of the room he scolded both sides.
“You are professionals and in my courtroom you will treat each other with respect. I will not tolerate any bickering and arguing amongst counsel,” the judge told the lawyers. “If there is a problem, direct it to the court. If I address this again there will be consequences.”
2:50 p.m. — State’s witness John Marvin Cooper, who was Turner’s next door neighbor described Turner as a “nice old guy who loved to play with his motorcycle.”
He said on April 8, 2005, he saw Turner’s pickup truck in front of Turner’s home.
When he returned Powell returned home at about 9 p.m., the truck was gone and a red Mustang was in Turner’s yard.
2:28 p.m. — As testimony continued it was revealed Powell is the branch manager at a Myrtle Beach location, not in Murrells Inlet where the photos at the ATM were taken. He did not know why no one from the Murrells Inlet branch was called to testify.
2:23 p.m. — Chris Powell, branch manager of the Murrells Inet Bank of America, testified about photographs taken of Stanko at the ATM machine on the day Ling was killed. He made three withdraws — totalling $700 — from Ling’s account.
The state maintains it is Stanko in the photographs but Powell said he could not identify the person.
He also said there was no effort by the person in the car to try to obstruct the view of the camera.
2:10 p.m. — State's first witness, Rebecca Caley — a friend of Laura Ling, testified Stanko had no vehicle. He would drive Ling's red convertable. No questions from the defense for her.
1:58 p.m. — Court resumes
12:58 p.m. — Lunch break
12:51 p.m. — Attorney Bill Diggs does not deny Stanko killed Turner but said he has a brain defect that caused the murder.
He said Stanko and Turner were friends.
“Why would you do that to a friend?” Diggs asked during his opening.
The reason, he explained as he answered his own question, is because Stanko’s brain is “missing a critical function that helps him think things through and analyze situations.”
Diggs said Stanko “is not normal and never will be.”
12:38 p.m. —
“The man in the mirror. In the final moments of Henry Turner’s life he was looking at the man in the mirror,” Solicitor Greg Hembree said during his opening argument. “He was then looking at another man in the mirror.”
That second person, the state contends, was Stanko who allegedly placed a pillow on the back of Turner’s head and shot him using the victim’s .357 magnum.
He then shot him in the chest, Hembree said.
Stanko fled in Turner’s pickup truck.
He was in possession of that truck when he was found in Augusta, Ga. several days later, Hembree said.
12:14 p.m. — The judge returns to the bench. Opening arguments soon.
11:58 a.m. — Judge Stephen John has ruled against the defense which asked for a change of venue. Opening arguments expected this afternoon. The court is now taking a 30 minute break.
11:55 a.m. — The judge said the testimony from Dr. Albiniak did not have “any reliability whatsoever” but has not yet ruled on the change of venue request.
11:42 a.m. — Solicitor Greg Hembree told the judge Dr. Albiniak failed to provide anything that shows the jury panel is tainted. He said the doctor did not produce any studies that have to deal with jury selection.
Hembree said Albiniak has a “total lack of knowledge” about what the jury selection has been like this week.
“This is the worst type of speculation,” Hembree said of Albiniak.
There were many people who were disqualified from serving for saying they knew about the case.
Of the 12 jurors and four alternates chosen, 10 said they know nothing about the case.
111:19 a.m. — Attorney Diggs told the judge because there are very few nationwide manhunts involving someone from this area, this case stands out.
He said the defense ran out of strikes and the final juror seated admitted during questioning she knows Stanko has been sentenced to death already.
Another potential juror was dismissed for saying this case is a waste of time because Stanko is already facing death.
He wants the jury selected discharged and a panel from somewhere else brought in.
He also said one of the jurors seated on the panel has a robbery conviction. He couldn't eliminate that juror because he ran out of strikes,
10:50 a.m. — Dr. Albiniak, a psychologist at Coastal Carolina University, testified people sometimes do not express their true opinions about matters when questioned by “authority figures” such as judges. He said it is “much more difficult” for people being questioned to be on a jury panel to be totally honest because of the setting they are in.
He said it would be much better if the jury pool was selected from somewhere else besides Horry County.
10:33 a.m. — With the jury out of the room, Dr. Bernard Albiniak is testifying about the possibility the jury panel selected may be tainted because of the pre-trial publicity the case has recieived since 2005.
10:22 a.m. - Attorney Diggs said he will soon make a motion for a change of venue. If it is granted, the trial would not take place until a jury from elsewhere in the state can be selected and brought to Conway.
9:52 a.m. — The jury panel has been selected and will be
sworn in soon Still not allowing the media or anyone else from the
public in the courtroom.
8:50 a.m. — Solicitor Greg Hembree and Stanko's attorney, Bill Diggs are in the Horry County courtroom to begin jury selection. The public, including the media, is not being allowed inside until the jury selection concludes.
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Day Two, Saturday Nov. 14
10:46 a.m. — The state rests its case
10:03 a.m. — Dr. Collins testified Turner was shot in the chest area before he was shot in the back.
9:54 a.m. —
Dr. Kim Collins, a pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, performed the autopsy on Turner’s body. She said Turner died from two gunshot wounds. One shot was to the right of his chest. The other was on the back of his body.
Both bullets were recovered during the autopsy.
9:25 a.m. — Jim Gordon, an officer with Richmond Ga. County Sheriff’s Office was the one who processed the truck Stanko was driving after the arrest was made.
He testified he found a registration in the glove box showing the truck belonged to Henry Turner.
He also found a Goose Creek High School ring with Stanko’s name engraved inside.
He went on to say he found a pullover Hooter’s shirt in the truck.
Stanko had been wearing a Hooters shirt when he met Dana Putnam at a tavern three days earlier.
Other items found in the truck include a bag which had a loaded handgun
inside as well as Turner’s checkbook and a receipt book which belonged
to Stanko.
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Day 3, Nov. 15
5:11 p.m. — Court in recess until 9 a.m. Monday.
5:09 p.m. — The defense has rested its case. Now, the state has the chance to call rebuttal witnesses.
4:15 p.m. — The judge spoke with Stanko about his right to testify on his behalf. If he were to testify, the state could legally question him about the crimes he was convicted of in 2006 and other years. Stanko told the judge he will not take the stand but he did ask his attorney a question before issuing his decision. The content of the question he asked was not revealed.
4:10 p.m. — Dr. Thomas Sachy, a forensic psychiatrist and neuropsychiatrist, who was hired by the defense to study Stanko’s mental state, told the jury Stanko “was insane at the time” of the killing.
However, when questioned by Hmebree, Sachy admitted he has testified as many as 50 times and has never found a defendant to be sane.
2:48 p.m. — Dr. Joseph Wu from the University of
California testified Stanko has brain damage which
causes decreased activity in his frontal lobes. That, Wu said, makes it impossible for Stanko to distinguish between moral right and wrong.
12:10 p.m. — The defense also questioned Dr. Marc Einhorn, a self-employed neurophysiologist from Georgia, who testified he conducted a PET scan of Stanko’s brain at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2006.
He testified Stanko has an IQ of 140, which, he said, is above normal.
“It is in the gifted area,” he said.
The results of the testing underwent analysis by Dr. Joseph Wu of the University of California.
10:38 a.m. — The defense concluded its questioning of Dr. Gur.
10:23 a.m. — “This brain is abnormal. There is no doubt about it,” Dr. Gur said about his analysis of Stanko’s brain.
He said Stanko has damage to the “frontal lobe” portion of his brain.
Although very rare, Gur said people with that problem have a brain “that can malfunction in a very serious way.”
The doctor testified because of the frontal lobe problem, Stanko has a personality that causes him to have little regard to others.
Such people treat others “like instruments.”
He said “they can be very charming but have no feeling beyond the external demeanor.”
He also said people with the problem “can be super cool...and all of a sudden they can attack.”
9:10 a.m. — Dr. Ruben Gur, a psychiatry professor and neurologist from the University of Pennsylvania is testifying about Stanko's mental status at the time of Henry Turner's death.