Published: May 02, 2006 12:41 pm      

Prosecution case compelling in Wilson trial

CHICKASHA — State of Oklahoma vs. Steven Wilson began on a Friday, on Nov. 5, 1982.

Wilson had been held in Grady County’s jail since May 12. Since then, he had been before a judge twice already. At his initial appearance on May 14, his request for bail was denied. His preliminary hearing was held on July 9, and the court again declined to set a bond. The preliminary hearing was also when the court ruled that there was ample evidence to hold Wilson over for trial.

Judge Milbern Jay Adams presided over State vs. Steven Wilson. Representing the state was district attorney Tony Burns. The defense’s attorney was Ken Johnston.

That Friday morning marked the first day of pretrial motions, where both attorneys make requests of the judge. After those requests, ranging from barring evidence to questioning why certain witnesses were being called. After the pretrial motions, three witnesses were called as part of the pretrial process.

The first witness that day was Terry Cunningham, a deputy sheriff for Grady County. Cunningham had been present during Wilson’s preliminary interview, on the day his 11-year-old stepdaughter, Audra Matheny, was found dead in her Tuttle home. His testimony was followed by assistant district attorney Larry Kirkland, who was also at the preliminary interview.

The main topic of their testimonies were on the validity of the arrest, and whether Wilson’s rights were compromised. Cunningham testified that Wilson was advised of his Miranda rights at the time; Cunningham believed Terry Kirkland was the person who read Wilson those rights, and that Wilson signed a rights waiver.

Kirkland said, during his testimony, that he had either read the rights to Wilson or had Wilson read them, but couldn’t recall which.

Wilson himself took the stand as the final witness of the pretrial. Wilson testified that after being arrested in his kitchen, he was taken to the county jail, where he was issued prisoner’s clothing and put in a cell. He stayed here for about 15 minutes, then went to the D.A.’s office.

Wilson said that Kirkland did not advise him of any type of rights or warnings before the preliminary interview. He said that he could not have signed the rights waiver before his statment, since he still was in handcuffs. Wilson also testified that he asked for an attorney repeatedly - at the beginning of the interview and later, at the hospital - but those requests were ignored.

Wilson said that after the interview, he was taken to the hospital to have hair and blood samples taken, and the officers left him in the examination room alone. While he sat there, he said, he decided that he did not want to take a polygraph test, and he waved the officers back in and told them that he wanted to talk to an attorney before taking a polygraph.

Wilson told the court that he was told that a court order could be obtained forcing him to take a polygraph.

“I told them I didn’t care what they got, I wanted an attorney,” Wilson said.

During cross examination, district attorney Tony Burns questioned Wilson’s testimony. Burns questioned why deputies would keep Wilson secured in handcuffs during the interview at the D.A.’s office, but would then leave him all alone in a hospital examination room an hour later. Burns also questioned why Wilson said he was not read his rights, even though on a taped copy of the preliminary interview, Larry Kirkland stated that both Chief Coder and himself had informed Wilson of his rights and had him read an sign a waiver sheet acknowledging that fact.

Burns wondered why Wilson didn’t stop the interview right there, and say he hadn’t been informed of his rights or signed anything. Wilson said that Kirkland went right from those statments to asking the first question about Audra’s death, and so he answered the question and the interview proceeded.

Judge Adams asked Wilson when he requested a lawyer, since it wasn’t on the tape recording.

“Before that tape recording started,” Wilson answered. “He told me that - he asked me if Coder had advised me of my rights and I said ‘Yes,’ and he said ‘Do you want an attorney?’ and I said ‘Yes.’” Wilson said that he was then told that he would need to come in the D.A.’s office first, and then the interview began.

Wilson would not actually get a lawyer until two days later, on May 14, when his parents hired Ken Johnston to represent him, a short time before his initial appearance.

Pretrial motions concluded on the second day, on Wednesday, Nov. 10. The trial itself began that next Monday, Nov. 15.



Voir Dire Examination

The selection of the jury, or voir dire, began early on Wednesday, Nov. 10. Voir dire is the time that the attorneys and judge question the jury pool and pick the 12 jurors and one alternate who will serve during the trial.

On this particular winter morning, the courtroom was a cold and uncomfortable one, as a malfunction had occurred within the heating system. Prospective jurors were asked to speak loudly, to be heard over the noise of trucks stopping and starting up on the street outside the courtroom, or pause if the noise was too loud to speak over.

During voir dire, jurors were asked about their families, where they lived, what they had heard about Audra’s murder, and other various questions. People from the northern part of the county were questioned especially long about any hearsay or gossip they remembered from the time of Audra’s death.

Questioning continued for the entire day, and started up again the next morning at 9 a.m. The final jury selections were made later that morning, the jury was sworn in, and opening statements began.



Opening Statements

The district attorney, Tony Burns, spoke first. He told the jury who would be witnesses for the state during the trial, from Audra’s mother to officials from the OSBI, and explained the purpose of the opening statement.

“I’m not trying to testify to you,” he said. “I’m trying to give you an outline of what I anticipate the evidence to be in this case - the testimony that the witnesses will giveyou from the witness stand.”

Burns told the jurors that they would hear from Audra’s teacher, Denise Woods, and that various officials and physicians would testify and try to help the jurors understand the events of May 12, 1982, the day Audra was found dead.

Burns addressed several points the defense would bring up, including a chance of a break-in.

“You’ll see the facts are on May the 12th that the only people in that house were Steve Wilson, Audra Lynn Matheny and this four-year-old boy [Audra’s half-brother]. The officer will tell you that there are no signs of forcible entry anyplace upon that residence,” Burns told the jurors. “You’ll see photographs and diagrams of the house in Tuttle showing you the relationship of the - one room to the other so you can see for yourself.”

Wilson’s attorney, Ken Johnston, chose to give his opening remarks directly after Burns, instead of waiting for the defense portion of the trial.

“I should like to caution you that in the statement that was just made by the prosecutor that what he said right now is not evidence,” Johnston told the jury. “Neither what he read to you by way of information is evidence in this case. And I think that as this trial unfolds you’re going to find some things are vastly different from what the prosecutor just told you in his opening statement.”

Johnston painted a picture of the Wilson family, starting with Steve Wilson’s parents, Glen and Gerry Wilson, who he said lived in a small mobile home on two acres in Bradley, Okla., a small town in southeast Grady County. The Wilsons were in their 50s during their son’s trial. Johnston told the jury about Glen Wilson’s years of Naval service during World War II, and how the family moved to Chickasha from Arkansas in 1951, where they ran a small truck stop and cafe on the east side of town.

“That’s where Steve Wilson grew up and spent his early days here in Oklahoma,” Johnston said.

Johnston told the jurors that the family moved to a little California town called Manteca when he was still a boy. Steve returned to Grady County with his family after his father retired, and tried to start a business.

“You’ll find that Steve is a licensed mortician and that he moved back to Oklahoma and moved to Tuttle, Oklahoma less than a year ago so he could start his own business,” Johnston told the jury. “What Steve was doing and Linda was doing, the whole family was doing, they were manufacturing a new concept. They were manufacturing these concrete liners for burial vaults.”

Johnston said the vaults weren’t used in Oklahoma, but were used in California, and could reduce the cost of a funeral by $6,000-$8,000.

“So it was a new concept and they were starting a new business,” he said. He added that Glen and Gerry Wilson had sold all of their property in California, and the week before Audra’s death, they had been scheduled to move back to Grady County and go into business with their son.

Johnston told the jury how Wilson was 31 and in fact, had celebrated his 31st birthday in jail. He told them how Wilson was drafted into the U.S. Army after his 1970 high school graduation, and was given the highest clearance given in the army - top secret security clearance. Johnston said that Wilson was assigned to the eighth radio research unit working out of Phubi in North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

“From Phubi, Steve and seven marines, you’ll find as the evidence unfolds here, went on secret missions into North Vietnam and Cambodia,” Johnston said. “These seven marines and Steve, who was an army intelligence person, were dropped behind the lines of Cambodia into North Vietnam and into areas that were highly classified.”

Burns objected at the way the remarks were headed, and the court sustained the objection and reminded the defense attorney to stay on track.

Johnston finished up with Wilson’s service in the armed forces by telling the jurors that Wilson was highly decorated, and re-enlisted in the army after his initial service was up.

“After five years, he returned to Manteca, California, and while Steve was at the latter part of his service in Vietnam, he wounded out and was assigned what we call a mortuary unit, and that’s how Steve became an embalmer, that’s how he became a mortician,” Johnston said. After returning to California, Wilson received an apprenticeship and graduated from a mortuary of science program, Johnston said. Wilson’s father helped him buy a home and 25 acres in Manteca. Then he met and married Audra’s mother, Linda.

At that point, Johnston went in a different direction, focusing on the events that led up to Audra’s death.

He told the jury how the Wilsons had readjustment problems with their marriage, like many young married couples, and how Wilson’s parents were helping to support them until the business got going full time. Linda Wilson went to California to try to save their home there, which was being foreclosed on, Johnston said.

“The evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that she went out on a weekend. She checked on the home on a Monday and found out that the home was already lost. They couldn’t save it,” Johnston said. “But instead of coming home, she decided that she would spend a week out there and vacation. You’ll find that this was okay with Steve that she stayed out there a week while he cared for children while [Linda] was in Manteca, California.”

Johnston went on to talk about Audra’s health, and the cold she had the week before her death. He told the jury about the difficulties Audra had with her lungs, and that one time in her life she had pneumonia, and had a spot on her lung.

He talked about Audra’s last day of life, and the events of the next day, starting with Wilson finding her dead at 6:15 a.m. and finishing with his arrest.

Johnston asked the court to remember that his client was innocent until proven guilty.

“Steve Wilson has denied his guilt of thise charge of murder in the first degree,” Johnston said. “And he still denies his guilt and as he sits there the law says that he is presumably innocent and I am positive that the evidence as it unfolds will prove to you that there is a reasonable doubt, there is more than reasonable doubt as to Steve Wilson’s guilt.”

After the lengthly opening statements, the jury and court were given a break for lunch, reconvening at 1 p.m. Although a day and a half of the trial had already passed, the jury had yet to hear any evidence. That began right after lunchtime.



Mike Anderson

The first witness for the state, Mike Anderson, was the first police officer on the scene after Wilson reported Audra’s death.

Anderson told the court how he was on patrol when dispatch called him back to the station. There, the dispatcher told him that Wilson had gotten up to get his children ready and found his daughter dead. Anderson told the dispatcher to call the emergency medical technicians and then went to the home. There, Steve Wilson led him back to the southeast bedroom, and he confirmed that Audra was dead. He checked on Sean, as well, and found him still sleeping soundly in the master bedroom.

Tony Burns asked Anderson to describe Wilson when he first arrived.

“He was - he had looked like he had just gotten - he had just cleaned up, getting ready to go to work. It seemed like his hair was wet like he had just gotten out of the shower and he - oh, he had a stare on him, like, you know, you would be in shock,” Anderson said. “He’d say, you know, ‘She’s dead. I know she’s dead,’ like there was no use for me to check her. And that’s when I asked him to just show me where the child was.”

Burns asked Anderson to describe what he saw in emotional reaction.

“Well, I don’t think he was in any shock as far as a great loss had been - he had just sustained a loss,” Anderson began.

Johnston objected, but the court overruled it, and Burns asked Anderson to continue.

“He was calm,” Anderson said. “He wasn’t crying.”

Anderson also testified that he checked the security of the house, and found that all the windows were closed secure except one the master bedroom, which was open halfway.

“I thought that was odd because it had been raining all night long,” he said. “And there was a foul odor in the room where the body was found and a fan on the windowsill, it seemed like on full blast pointing at the body and running.”

After Chief Coder arrived, Anderson said, he went outside and checked outside all the windows and looked for footprints under the windows, and found no footprints or pry marks.

Afterwards, Anderson left to visit the school and obtain Audra’s attendance records, then attempted to serve a summons on an unrelated case. He returned to the house at 10 a.m. Wilson had called his cousin’s wife, Diana Hays, and she had arrived at the home. Anderson said that Wilson was worried about the family members that were going to start coming in, and asked if he could clean the house a little. Anderson said that Wilson motioned to the hallway and asked if it was all right to go back there. Anderson told him that he could.

“He came back out of the hallway with all the dirty laundry, all the sheets,” Anderson said. “The first thing he done is he cleaned up the girl’s bedroom.”

At the time, Anderson said, he did not know Audra had been murdered.

On cross-examination, Johnston showed Anderson photos of Audra’s room, and noted that there was not a fan in the windowsill in the pictures. Anderson said that Wilson had removed it when he was cleaning her room. Johnston also asked if Anderson had noticed a hole in one of Audra’s window screens when he was examining them, and Anderson said that he had not.

Johnston brought up Anderson’s earlier testimony about Wilson’s actions that morning.

“I believe you indicated on direct examination that Mr. Wilson appeared shocked,” Johnston said. “Did he appear in a state of shock?”

“No, sir,” Anderson answered.

Johnston asked him what he meant by shock.

“He appeared to me like he was acting - acting remorse for the loss of his child and at times his acting would be, I would believe, real good and it would produce - when I think he would really think about the girl’s life being gone that they would be geniune tears,’” Anderson said.

On redirect, Burns asked Anderson when he believed the geniune tears came.

Anderson said it was when the medical personnel were still there, and the police were telling him that they needed to get contact information from him, so they could notify Linda of her daughter’s death.

“He kicked open the rear door and stormed outside and cried for a minute,” Anderson said. The officer said that he didn’t see Wilson’s face as he cried, but he saw him wiping away the tears.



Gary Forbis

Tuttle emergency medical director Gary Forbis was the second witness for the state. As an EMT, Forbis was the first person to give any kind of medical examination of Audra’s body. Forbis said that he checked her for signs of life, but found none, and also saw that rigor mortis was present.

“I returned to the kitchen area where I introduced myself to Mr. Wilson,” Forbis testified. “Told him that I couldn’t find any vital signs on the little girl and that I suspected she was deceased or dead. Mr. Wilson, at that time, told me that he knew what death looked like and he knew she was dead.”

Wilson told Forbis that Audra had been sick for around three weeks, and that the morning before her death, she had gotten out of bed complaining of headache, coughing and wheezing, and he had given her some Chlor-Trimeton and some Anacin. She had gone to bed that night at about 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m., Wilson told Forbis, and he had gone to bed at midnight and heard her coughing and wheezing off and on throughout the night.

Forbis also testified that he was the one to take the body to Chickasha, to be examined by Dr. Elaine Soter at Grady Memorial Hospital.

On cross, Ken Johnston questioned Forbis about Tuttle chief of police Kevin Coder. Forbis was also Tuttle’s town manager at the time, and confirmed that Forbis was currently suspended from the force.



Dr. Elaine Soter

Dr. Elaine Soter, an emergency physician at Grady Memorial Hospital, had been practicing medicine for four years prior to May 12, 1982, when Audra Matheny’s body was wheeled into her examination room.

“At the time we uncovered her, she was on her right side with her legs drawn up and with her arms laid at rest, one underneath her face,” Soter said. Rigor mortis was complete, and lividity (or settling of the blood within the body) had taken place.

Soter testified that saw large amounts of blood and froth around the nose and mouth, which puzzled her.

“If anybody has that kind of - amount of fluid coming from the nose and mouth in my experiences as an emergency physician, those people are usually in quite a bit of respiratory distress and don’t just lie there in a quiet position,” Soter said. “Usually they are in - how can I - they’re in a lot of distress. It just didn’t fit the picture.”

That, along with numerous injuries, made Soter extremely suspicious as to Audra dying of natural causes, and she notified the State Medical Examiner’s office and told them the death might be the result of foul play.

Both Burns and Johnston asked Soter about her hair, which had been uncovered during the examination. One of Soter’s long, black hairs were found on Audra’s body, along with hairs from the family dog and Wilson’s hair.

Johnston questioned Soter on why she believed the cause of death was not natural, and whether the bluish discoloration of the lips and blood and froth around the mouth could have been a part of a natural death. She answered that she believed that even if Audra had been unconscious, the kind of trauma that would cause blood and froth in those amounts would have sent her into respiratory distress, jarring with the natural resting position in which she was found.



Dr. A.J. Chapman

Continuing with the chonological order of events, the state next called A. J. Chapman, Chief Medical Examiner for the State. Chapman performed the autopsy on the body. Burns questioned Chapman about the steps he took and things he saw during the autopsy, then asked what his conclusions were to cause of death.

“She simply smothered to death by being sexually assaulted,” Chapman said.

Chapman helped the court pinpoint the time of death from his understanding of lividity of blood. The settling of the blood becomes permanent after seven to nine hours, Chapman said, and the discoloration could not be removed, even by embalming. By looking at a photograph of Audra’s body, taken in her bed between 6:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. on May 12, Chapman could estimate that her dead body had been in that position for seven to nine hours beforehand, making time of death as early as 10 p.m. the night before.

Johnston questioned Chapman about Audra’s pubescence, and whether the blood that was found on her pajamas could have been menstrual. He asked if the damage the prosecution believed was caused by rape could have been caused by other activities, like horseback riding. Chapman told him that he did not find her to yet be menstrual, and that the damage, due to the extent of the tearing and hemorrhage, was due to forcible rape.

Chapman’s testimony was the last the jury would hear that day; the attorneys finished with him after 5 p.m., and they were sent home for the day.



Kevin Coder

Although the jury had left, the court met with the prosecution and the defense in court chambers, and initial questioning of Tuttle Chief of Police Kevin Coder took place. Coder was on suspension at the time, and the line of questions reflected that.

Coder testified that he was under suspension, although he had not been told whether it was with or without pay. Johnston produced the Tuttle town council resolution that indictated Coder was suspended without pay and it was admitted into evidence. Coder said that he never received notice, but he had not received pay since August.

Coder said that he received a letter from the town manager informing him he was being placed on suspension because of allegations of malfeasance of property, and was investigated by the OSBI.

Tony Burns objected to the line of questioning, saying that the allegations against Coder were brought up at the beginning of August, and Audra was killed in May, so the suspension had no bearing on the Wilson case. Johnston said that Coder had been chief at Tuttle for two years, and the allegations concern the entire time he was there.

“Certainly they should be relevant,” he said. “They go to his credibility as a witness and in the areas that are delineated under the new evidence code.”

Judge Adams adressed Coder, asking him if he wanted to exercise his fifth amendment amendment privilege in regard to questions involving the allegations, and Coder said he would.

Johnston’s last line of questioning for Coder concerned whether he had been promised any kind of immunity or deal in return for his testimony, and Coder said that he had not.

After Coder’s testimony, the judge and attorneys discussed issues with the case, then called it a night. They would reconvene, with the jury, the next morning at 9 a.m.