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Yankees hat might be key to trial

Owens' defense: Murder charge just speculation

By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 9, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Rhonda Fields, mother of Javad Marshall-Fields, speaks outside court Tuesday. Her son was killed a week before he was to testify as a murder witness.

Photo by Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky

Rhonda Fields, mother of Javad Marshall-Fields, speaks outside court Tuesday. Her son was killed a week before he was to testify as a murder witness.

Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, both 22, were on their way to pick up a friend when they were killed.

Photo by File Photo

Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, both 22, were on their way to pick up a friend when they were killed.

Sir Mario Owens already was convicted in Gregory Vann's death.

Sir Mario Owens already was convicted in Gregory Vann's death.

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Sir Mario Owens lived by his own criminal code, prosecutors said as his murder trial opened Tuesday: "You snitch, you die."

Owens is charged in the killings of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, both 22, in the summer of 2005. The young couple was gunned down in their car at an Aurora intersection.

The two were killed a week before Marshall-Fields was scheduled to testify as a star witness against Robert Ray, a friend of Owens, in the shooting death of Gregory Vann at Lowry Park after a Fourth of July celebration a year earlier.

Security is tight at the trial. There's an additional level of security to enter the courtroom, jury selection was done in private and a gag order is expected to span at least five weeks.

A detail that's sure to be key is a New York Yankees cap found on South Dayton Street.

DNA tests linked the hat to Owens, and since no weapons or vehicles used in the shooting were recovered, the status of the hat is significant, lawyers on both sides have indicated.

Arapahoe County Deputy District Attorney John Hower told the jury that Owens was likely the passenger in a car driven by an accomplice, a car that pulled up next to the couple and riddled their car with bullets. He said the cap probably blew off during the shootings.

Defense attorney Laurie Kepros said the DNA of at least one other person was recovered from the cap. Noting that there were no witnesses to the shootings, she said Hower was only speculating about Owens' involvement.

"You can't just make something up about a hat blowing off someone's head," she said. "You can't just make up evidence. Sir Mario Owens is not guilty of these crimes."

Owens, 23, wearing a neatly pressed burnt orange shirt, closely cropped hair and stylish glasses, occasionally looked around the courtroom and smiled. He faces the death penalty if he's convicted.

Owens was found guilty last year of first-degree murder in Vann's death and sentenced to life in prison. Ray was sentenced to 108 years in that case. Ray's trial in the killings of Marhsall- Fields and Wolfe - also a death penalty case - is set for August.

Hower portrayed Marshall- Fields as heroic for refusing to give in to threats and bribes by associates of Ray, including Owens.

Both Marshall-Fields and Wolfe had graduated from Colorado State University, and were planning to move to Virginia to start their lives. They had been engaged just a week when killed.

"Vivian Wolfe and her fiance appeared to have the world on a string," Hower said. "Before they could go, Javad had an important duty, an obligation to perform. He had been subpoenaed to testify in a trial.

"Javad was determined nothing was going to prevent him from performing that duty."

Wolfe and Marshall-Fields were on their way to pick up a friend for an evening out when they were shot.

Hower said Ray's wife will testify that Owens indicated he didn't intend to kill Wolfe, having allegedly stated that the "b---- was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The prosecutor said that less than a month after the double killings, Owens bought T-shirts at an Aurora mall that said "Stop snitching" on the front and "RIP" - for rest in peace - on the back.

"These are not merely articles of clothing," Hower said. "They're billboards carrying a message."

Kepros told the jury that a Chicago man visited Ray in June and was scheduled to return home June 19, 2005, the day before the shootings. Instead, he left Colorado later than planned, she said. "Why is this guy here?" Kepros asked. "The time frames are a little fishy. The rumors on the street are that the murders were committed by a hired gun from Chicago."

A nurse who lived near the shooting scene was the first witness to testify. She talked about trying to aid Wolfe before an ambulance arrived. She said Marshall-Fields had no pulse, but Wolfe was moaning.

The nurse choked up as she described seeing Wolfe's bullet-riddled body. "I kept saying, 'You need to hang on, sweetie. You need to hang on.' "

Comments

  • April 9, 2008

    7:17 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mtn__Gator writes:

    What's up with the "Sir" title/name. It's obvious that the only rolaty this jerk is a royal A*^! We don't need this type of stuff in Colorado, I hope he goes to the chair, no need to keep him alive and pay for him the rest of his life.

  • April 9, 2008

    9:14 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    happymike44 writes:

    This guy is using the don't snitch or you die.This is wrong these people are causing a major disruption in our society.The don't snitch policy has became such a problem.That many people who live among these thugs will not come out and testify.Why because they fear retribution at the hands of these gangs.I feel these people should be executed for there deeds.If you give them the death penalty mabye they will get the message for murder is murder.Also once they kill someone they have destroyed a family.They have left a hole in people's lives.So I hope this guy enjoys prison.Because these people are a cancer on our society and must be dealt with in the same manner they deal with the community around them give them the death penalty.