Friday, June 14, 2002
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Friday, June 14, 2002 |
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Mistrial denied; witness says he saw Jim Watson outside couple's home hours after his wife disappeared By JOHN
MUNFORD
A Fulton County Superior Court Judge overseeing the murder trial against Jim Watson denied a motion to declare a mistrial in the case Tuesday afternoon. Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. said there was "no evidence" to support claims from the defense that a written statement from a particular witness was not provided to them before the trial. The witness, Greg Bierbrodt who used to live in the Watsons' south Fayette subdivision testified that as he drove by the Watson home several hours after Beverley Watson reportedly disappeared, he saw Jim Watson outside the home carrying "something he had underneath his right arm." Jim Watson saw him drive by and he "appeared a little startled to have seen somebody drive by," Bierbrodt said. Bierbrodt's statement is important to the prosecution since in a three-hour interview with the GBI, Watson never mentioned carrying anything outside his home after his wife disappeared. Instead, Watson told the GBI he watched TV and later went to bed after playing with the dogs. Bierbrodt said knew the approximate time he drove by that morning around 3:20 a.m. because he wanted to make sure he was home before his wife's alarm went off at 3:33 a.m. so she could get up and go to work. Bierbrodt also said he knew the person he saw early that morning was Jim Watson since outdoor lights near the garage were on, giving him a clear view of Watson's face. Watson attorney Lee Sexton asked for the mistrial since Bierbrodt also said he gave a written statement to the Fayette County Sheriff's Department about what he saw that night. A copy of that statement hasn't been provided to defense attorneys, Sexton argued. But such a statement from Bierbrodt apparently doesn't exist, countered Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Sheila Ross. Ross said before the trial she looked through the entire case file at the Fayette County Sheriff's Department and didn't find it. The local sheriff's department investigated the case as a missing person's case although a top detective admitted to suspecting Jim Watson of foul play in Beverley Watson's disappearance just hours after he reported she walked off from the couple's home in January 1997. The Fulton County Police Department opened a murder investigation in the case after Beverley Watson's remains were found in a wooded area off a gravel road in south Fulton County in 1999. Watson told the GBI that he assumed his wife had arranged for a friend to pick her up. He noted that he had heard the front door chime just before she left the couple's home; the chime always rang anytime the front door was opened, he said.
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