More to come throughout the rest of the day and trial. Check back with WCPO.com, KyPost.com and 9News.
Reporter Jessica Noll gives you the minute-by-minute report of the Cheryl McCafferty murder trial.
WEEK 2
Jury Dismissed Until Monday For Closings: 1:45 p.m.
At 1 p.m. Lauren Ferris is called to the stand to testify for the prosecution as a rebuttal witness. The woman possibly in her 20s enters the courtroom in a gray pantsuit, black shirt underneath, shoulder-length light brown hair and a string of pearls around her neck. However, before the witness can testify, the attorneys approach the bench and decide to take a five-minute recess, leaving the jury, Cheryl and spectators—including Bob’s family, the majority of which are in the front row—in the courtroom. The judge and the prosecution are the only ones who leave the courtroom, as the witness still sits on the stand. A five-minute recess turns into a 45-minute recess. The jury follows the bailiff out of the courtroom at 1:26 p.m. and the attorneys come out of the judge’s chambers. The witness leaves the stand and Fleckinger takes her out of the courtroom. Cheryl, Gambrel and Mungo discuss in whispers at the defense table. Dennison re-enters the courtroom and joins the quiet conversation. Cheryl walks back to the holding room, telling people in that that they have to come out. The door is then shut behind her. The judge comes back in and tells everyone to stay seated. Jury comes in and all that is heard is "all rise." Just under an hour later, as everyone is seated in the courtroom, the judge announces to the jury that the trial will stop for the day. She tells them that they will not reconvene on Friday, but rather on Monday, when the prosecution can call more rebuttal witnesses if they choose. She also tells them that on Monday, they will hear instructions for the verdict and deliberation and they will hear closing arguments. Twenty minutes following the jury’s dismissal for the day, the judge said that she and the attorneys would meet about the jury’s instructions for Monday. The media was not allowed to enter that hearing. The trial will resume Monday morning at 9:30 a.m.
Prosecution Calls Rebuttal Witness: 1:51 p.m.
After the pink ribbons are removed and put away, the jury re-enters the courtroom. The prosecution calls their first rebuttal witness, Patty Green, to the stand just before 1 p.m. A longtime friend of the McCaffertys smiles and says hello to Cheryl as she walks into the courtroom, on the way to the witness stand. Green, wearing a thick gold necklace, black pantsuit and green shirt, she tells the jury and Vanita Fleckinger, that she has known Cheryl and Bob for 25 years. In fact, she says, that her and her husband were in the McCaffertys’ wedding. The witness testifies that two days prior to the murder, that Saturday, June 23, 2007, she and Cheryl discussed Molly’s modeling opportunities during a phone conversation. She says that Cheryl told her Molly was offered a modeling contract for LA, but that she would have to accompany her to California, as Molly was under 18 years old. Green says that Cheryl said, "Bob wouldn’t go for that." Deanna Dennison cross-examines the family friend asking her if she was offered a contract or had a contract. Green says that Cheryl told her she had a contract for modeling in LA. Dennison reminds the witness that she just testified that the contract was offered but not that she had a contract. The witness says that she had the contract and that Cheryl was "entertaining the idea." The defense attorney pulls out the police statement that Green gave to Fort Thomas Police on July 10, 2007, and refers to page 18. She asks her to read some of her own statement to police from that day. She read portions to the jury including: "Molly got the offer," and "She was entertaining the idea." Dennison asks if she definitely planned on going to LA for the offer and the witness kept saying that the defendant was "entertaining the idea." Fleckinger asks the witness to read the last line in the police statement to the jury. "…Molly got the offer, but we’d have to move to LA." Green says, "It is so obvious that her and Bob were not on the same page about this—but she was entertaining the idea."
Judge Bans Pink Ribbons In Courtroom: 12:45 p.m.
After the jury is already seated in their seats, the bailiff then instructs them to follow him out the door and into the hallway. The attorneys file out of the judge’s chambers. And Judge Julie Reinhardt Ward addresses the audience in the courtroom. She says that she noticed that many people were wearing pink ribbons—with a silver charm that says ‘believe’ on them—and that they need to be removed from clothing."Whoever has a ribbon needs to remove it." The judge continues to explain that the ribbons can be viewed by the jury as bias and show allegiance to one side of the other, supporting one side of the trial. She says that the jury has to reach a verdict based on the case and the facts and evidence presented. The women remove their pink ribbons that are held in place on their shirts and jackets with pearl pins.
Cheryl’s Mother Shows Support: 12:30 p.m.
The woman who brought the pink ribbons, sporting a silver charm that said ‘believe,’ to the courthouse showing support for Cheryl, starts passing out more ribbons to others in the hallway before the trial starts again after lunch. As she is doing so, Cheryl’s mother Betty Gosner walks up the stairs. She is greeted by hugs and smiles and many people begin talking with her. Someone hands her a red prayer book and another woman pins a pink ribbon on her black turtleneck sweater. Everyone enters the courtroom just after 12:30 p.m. and Gosner takes a front row seat next to attorney Keith Gambrel, just behind Cheryl and her defense table. Cheryl turns around and sees her mother in the front row. She smiles, laughs and says "Oh my God," then the female deputy tells her to turn around. She does so, then begins to cry, dabbing tears from her eyes onto a tissue.
Cell Mate: ‘She’s A Good Person’: 11:46 a.m.
A woman named Ashley, who claims to have been Cheryl’s cellmate for three months says that she is a "good person." The blonde woman with her sunglasses on the top of her head and exposed tattoos on her neck and chest, who is here for her own case, is wearing jeans, a black hoodie, white shirt and white snow boots. She says that after talking to her day in and day out she says that she doesn’t think that she did it the way that the prosecution has claimed during the trial
Defense Rests: 11:06 a.m.
Upon everyone’s return to the courtroom, the attorneys approach the bench to talk with the judge. No sooner has the day begun; it has stopped for lunch. Defense attorney Frank Mungo says, "the defense rests." The judge tells the jury that the prosecution may call rebuttal witnesses after lunch at 12:30 p.m., as they never officially rested. Dennison says yes, they were planning to rest today. "When we said rest—we rested our case," said Mungo, outside the courtroom. He says that he anticipates closing statements to start on Friday and will include instructions for the jury as well. They will be explained at that point what the law is and what she can and cannot be convicted of. The defense did not call the children, Molly and Patrick again to the stand, nor did they call her mother, family members, coworkers, abuse expert or therapist to testify about abuse. "Should’ve been a death penalty case," a Bob McCafferty says outside the courthouse, after the defense rested.
Morning Delayed, Whispers Erupt: 10:30 a.m.
Cheryl, who is wearing a white sweater with small detailed, crimped strips on the chest with small buttons cascading down the middle and tucked into a brown skirt, that has a thick darker brown band at the waist line. Her brown buckled shoes are offset by her white panty hose. She dons her pearl earrings again today. The judge walks in fashioning a new set of bangs and haircut; while the juror, who had a doctor’s appointment this morning, now has his pink cast off of his arm and now wears a smaller brace on his wrist and hand. The morning starts with the courtroom filling up with media, spectators, the attorneys and the jury. After 10 minutes of whispering about the trial, Cheryl and personal anecdotes, the judge’s bailiff announces for everyone to leave the courtroom. Everyone, including a row of women in the courtroom who wear pink ribbons on their lapels, makes their way out to the hallway and waits. The pink-ribbon wearing ladies, who support Cheryl, say "Cheryl knows" why they wear the ribbon. Donna, a supporter of Cheryl’s who has been here since day one of the trial, says that she wearing the ribbon because, although she doesn’t know her personally, she believes her story.
Consultant Paid Large Sum For Time: 2:41 p.m.
Michelle Snodgrass begins her cross-examination by asking Gardner about the money that he is paid to testify for the defense. "[You’re] paid for your time." To which, the witness agrees. She goes on to say that he is paid $295 per hour for his services, or $2,950 per day. He also receives money for his flight, meals and hotel, she says and he agrees. He also received payment and travel for his trip that January to Fort Thomas, Ky., to review the evidence in person per the defense’s request, she says—and he agrees. The prosecutor moves on at that point. She questions that while although he did review the video and photos, he did not use the diagrams drawn of the crime scene. The diagrams, which she says, would have shown the correct measurements for distance between the victim’s head and other items. He says that it was irrelevant to his analysis. Gardner says that the sketch or diagram of the crime scene is a second version of the photos that he did have. He tells the jury that nothing in the diagrams would have offered any more information for his testimony. As Snodgrass pulls up the photo of Bob’s fatally wounded head on the large projector screen again; Cheryl turns her head down and to the right at her shoulder. The witness says that by the blood flow shown in the photos and the presence of spatter, the head was moved in some way. "Flows stop and then are smeared." Snodgrass asks if the weight distribution of Cheryl shooting him and getting off the bed could have made the flows stop or create the smear. "Fires the gun right at him—boom!" Snodgrass says to the witness as she points her hand at him in the shape of a gun. He agrees that it could’ve caused a jostling effect. Gardner does say that that victim’s hands should have been bagged, since the GSR wasn’t taken until after he was at the morgue and the body was moved. She asks if it’s possible that the morgue placed Bob’s hands on top of his chest left hand on top of the right hand, getting lead trace on his left palm. She shows him by example, putting her hands one on top of the other on her chest. He says that it is possible. He says; however, that it is more likely that it could’ve gotten there by handling a gun when it was fired or being around the gun that was fired. Snodgrass adds the third possibility of being exposed to the other hand that had lead on it from close contact of gunfire. The attorney then takes the witness to the photo of the fleece. He says that at the moment of the "final event" the fleece had been "introduced into the bed." "We really, really don’t know—only one person really knows," Snodgrass says to the witness, while pointing directly at Cheryl. Gardner confesses that we may never know what happened. He continues that we’ll never know everything that happens at a crime scene. As the witness tells the jury that he would limit the victim’s head to being off the pillow by four inches at the time of the shot, he shows the jury with a Dixie cup how his head was while he was shot in bed. He says that the head was found downward and that to be shot, his head would have to have been rolled and up. Then he says that the police and detectives on the case only used four of the bloodstain patterns to focus on, whereas, he thinks they should’ve used more to analyze. Snodgrass questions the witness; saying that in his own book it says that four is enough. "No ma'am, you’ve taken that out of context. You may want to read that," he says to the prosecutor. He continues that in his book, he says that investigators should review 10-12 stains, but if there are only four, that that is enough. He says that in this crime scene, there were in fact more. The courtroom overcomes with hushing and whispering as he says, "I don’t’ want you to tell me what I wrote," to Snodgrass. He says that the detective reviewing the case did not recognize that there was more to be done more stains to use. Court was adjourned for the day at 3:10 p.m., to reconvene Thursday at 10:30 a.m., instead of 9:30 a.m. because the juror who has a cast on his arm has a doctor’s appointment in the morning.
Victim’s Head Raised When Shot: 1:45 p.m.
The courtroom is packed full, as it sits and waits for the trial to resume, Mungo writes on the dry-erase board in front of the jury, Robert McCafferty at the top and then below, he writes, left palm, left back, right palm, right back. Once he is finished, he greets the witness who is already sitting at the stand. He asks the man to introduce himself to the jury. The gray-haired man, donning glasses, says his name is Ross Gardner and is retired from the Army. The blood stain and crime scene analyst sits, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and maroon tie, and thoroughly describes his training, experience, degrees and expertise to the jury for reference. He now is a consultant all over the country and has written several books on the topics of his expertise. As they seem to be in her line of vision when looking at her attorney, Cheryl glances at the jury as she watches Mungo question the witness. Gardner tells the jury that bloodstain patterns "tell us what is going on in a scene." The patterns, he continues, are created by contact. The photos help him to put those patterns into context. Mungo confirms with the witness that the defense did pay him to come today. He was hired as a consultant, he says, however, he denies that his testimony bought. "Lawyers buy my time, they don’t pay me for my opinion." He also says that in lieu of his testimony, he created a power point presentation to show the photos and his analysis to the jury. Mungo shows Gardner photos on the stand of the crime scene, more specifically, the headboard and Bob’s T-shirt—the witness takes off his glasses to correctly identify the photos for the jury. He tells them that the photos he reviewed are important for his analysis. "We rely on the crime scene documentation," he says. "We define action, explain in what order [they happened]." In fact, he says that he received a forensic report, autopsy report and photos and the blood spatter report to go over. He also came to the Fort Thomas Police Station to review in-person some of the physical evidence, such as the comforter and bedding, and the clothing from the closet and that which was on the victim. He used infrared photography, he says, to see blood stain patterns on those items, as well, GSR. He used the first six photos that were taken at the crime scene, he says, because they were the most "critical." As he tells the jury which photos he reviewed, he points with a red laser dot on the large projector screen in front of Cheryl and the jury. He shows, on the screen, photos from the crime scene. He says that he concluded that there was someone else in the other side of the bed, then he points out where Bob’s head was shot, pointing his laser at a large photo of a closeup of Bob’s head. "He is as he lay—his head had to be oriented slightly up and to his right," he testifies about the positioning of Bob’s body and head at the time of impact. He continues to say that the blood flows are disturbed and that there is a smear of blood on his face. He tells the jury that the headboard, in the photo, had a blood spatter pattern in line with the victim’s wound. Cheryl turns her head downward and to the left away from the screen, as the photo of her bloodied husband is showcased in front of her, just inches away. She puts her head in her hand. The witness continues by showing the jury the pillow case’s blood flow on the photo. "There’s no question that Mr. McCafferty’s head was not at that position when he was shot." Gardner begins to then question the techniques of Det. Carnahan, who testified for the prosecution earlier in the trial. He says that he concentrated on four larger stains only, but that there were many smaller ones that also told a story about the victim’s position. With that said, he tells the jury that in the photo, Bob was not where he was at the moment of the shot. He was above the pillow and at or near the same level of the second pillow. However, the witness says, that he is not able to determine the conscience state of the victim in his crime scene analysis. Mungo moves on to the blue fleece in evidence. In the photos, Gardner shows the jury that the fleece was in between two pillows and particially under the comforter and one of the pillows—that it was not dropped onto the bed. The fleece also had the gun underneath of it. He tells the jury that the gun and the fleece were together at some point of the gunshot—possibly "put down together" on the bed. The pattern of powder burns, he says, were on sleeve and show that it was draped over the gun, not wrapped around the gun. Gardner tells the jury that he received Amy Dorsey’s GSR test results to review as well. In that report, he says, it showed that Bob had lead found on both his left and right hands. His right hand was exposed, in the photos, at the time of the gunfire; whereas the left hand is under the comforter, he points out to the jury. Therefore, he says, the left hand contracted lead tracings on it at some other time than during his own fatal wounding. The lead on his left palm, he testifies, is not explained through the gunshot in the bed. In fact, he says the lead on his hand would suggest that it happened in the closet. Any removal of layers on the bed could result in cross-contamination and transferrance, he says. "Any alteration of the crime scene changes the context in which we view it," Gardner says. Any evidence found after that would be considered "post-incident artifacts" and would change what he and others thought happened.
Lunch Extended For 2 Hours, 14 Minutes: 1:44 p.m.
Court is adjourned for lunch at 12:30 p.m. The door to the holding room to the courtroom opens at one point to show Cheryl sitting during her lunch break, laughing and talking to people. The media is ready at 1:30 p.m. to get back into the courtroom for the defense’s next witness but everyone is halted by an unknown delay. As everyone starts chatting about what may or may not be going on inside the courtroom, where the attorneys are already, the jury begins to slowly creep down the stairs from the third floor, where the jury lounge is located. One jury member comes down the second floor where everyone is to fill his bottle of water and three others are escorted through the crowd to go outside for a smoke break. Meanwhile, the next witness is outside the courtroom around 1:30 p.m. talking with Mungo. At 1:44 p.m. the group of media and spectators cram into the courtroom, packing each row of seats to their capacity.
Was Victim Asleep Or Awake?: 10:45 a.m.
After the recess, before the jury enters the courtroom, Cheryl and Dennison sit at the defense table sifting through 4x5 photos. There is also a large, blown-up photo of Cheryl’s face, in which her eye appears purple and shut. It sits in front of the defense table staring back at Cheryl herself. The defense calls Dr. George Riley Nichols II, a retired chief medical examiner, now a consulting medical forensic specialist to the stand just before 11 a.m. Mungo approaches the dark gray-haired man who is wearing glasses, a dark gray suit, striped tie and white shirt. The witness, who speaks through a thick dark gray mustache, testifies to performing more than 10,000 autopsies and supervising about 25,000 over his career. He also was the deputy coroner for Hamilton County and is licensed to practice medicine in Ohio and Kentucky. One of the detectives on the case, he says, sent him materials regarding the case Nov. 26, 2007. That package included: lab reports, autopsy report, black and white photos of the victim and the crime scene, X-rays, medical records from Cheryl’s hospital visit and photos of Cheryl in the hospital and in jail. Mungo asks the witness if he is familiar with Dr. Stephens who performed Bob McCafferty’s autopsy. He says that he does in fact know him. Prosecution objects. The attorney continues to question Nichols by asking him about Cheryl’s injuries that he saw in the photos that he reviewed and examined. He testifies that there was bruising on her temple in a circular shape. He says that the bruise was not created by the edge of a counter or a fist, as he holds up his fist, showing the jury that the fist has knuckles and would not create a circle. "Whatever did this caused a singular circular contusion." Mungo then questions Nichols about the possibility of whether or not someone can determine whether or not a victim was sleeping or awake when they are killed. He testifies that in rare cases it is possible due to gunpowder in the eye. He says that if a person is awake, there should be gunpowder, or gunshot residue on the eyeball, if not it would be on the eyelid. He was never able to finish this portion of his testimony, as the prosecution asked to approach the bench and the judge issued a recess. His testimony was stopped cold and upon return from recess, the prosecution had no cross-examination questions for the witness.
Private Investigator Briefly Called To Stand: 10:31 a.m.
The defense calls Lori Eifert private investigator to the stand from the Northern Kentucky Investigative Services. Wearing a blue blazer, white shirt and black pants, the brown-haired woman walked through the courtroom and sat in the witness sit. Dennison asks her if she took the photos that she is showing her. She says that she did, as she was requested to go the Fort Thomas Police Department to photograph Cheryl June 25, 2007. She says that she took 14 photos on that day. Dennison shows her the photos that she took and the jury sees a larger photo of it as she looks at hers from the stand. At this point the attorney asks her about the bruising in the photo. Prosecution objects. The witness steps down without further testimony and prosecution has no questions for her. Court takes a recess.
Nurse Only Examined Cheryl’s Face: 10:14 a.m.
Vanita Fleckinger cross-examines Tyson at 10:14 a.m. reiterating to the witness that "documentation is key." She agrees with the attorney. But testifies that she is not the one who ultimately determines if abuse occurred against Cheryl. And while the lighting in the photos that she took, she says, can obscure the coloring—she says that she documents the bruising by colors in the photos. Tyson also tells the jury that she only documents and examines areas that the patient complains about. She says that she only concentrated on and documented Cheryl’s head. This is why in the documentation of Cheryl’s injuries, Fleckinger clarifies, is marked as bruises caused because she was hit with a gun. The witness agrees. The swelling, Fleckinger, points out in the photo, is not red, just raising of the skin. She also asks the witness if the redness above Cheryl’s lip, in the photo, could’ve be caused by anything, including a breakout, allergic reaction, rosacea or rubbing her nose and crying. Tyson says yes. Cheryl also complained of pain in the middle of her stomach, left of her belly button, Tyson says. But continues that she was more focused on her face not the entire body. Cheryl and her attorneys did not request for further examination at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, where they do more detailed abuse examinations, says the witness. Cheryl’s legs are crossed and her foot is vigorously shaking back and forth under the table, as she listens to the nurse’s testimony about her alleged injuries. It was also documented, Fleckinger points out, that the pain scale was zero. During a redirect, Dennison asks if she remembers "this girl?" "It’s not every day a girl is arrested for murder?" Prosecution objects. Fleckinger asks the witness whether she can confirm how the bruises got on to Cheryl’s body. She could not.
ER Nurse Describes Cheryl’s Bruising: 9:55 a.m.
The defense continues their witness list by calling Tricia Tyson from St. Luke Hospital, where Cheryl was taken to after the police station following the June 25 murder of her husband. Dressed in a white cardigan, black pants, she carries in a stack of photos and takes the stand. Tyson testifies that she has been a registered nurse for 15 years and that she also does sexual assault examinations and DOVE, or domestic violence examinations. She says that Cheryl was brought into the hospital at 2:25 p.m., June 25, 2007, in handcuffs. She is shown 41 photos that she says she took of Cheryl in the hospital. Dennison asks the nurse to describe the injuries while pointing at large photos in front of the jury. She testifies that Cheryl had a "contusion to the right temple area, little redness on her upper lip, two bruises and swelling to the middle of her forehead." She admits that it was difficult to photograph Cheryl because of the lighting and the poor quality of the camera that she was using. The defense shows the witness the blown-up document from the hospital that includes a diagram of the patient’s head. She points out the injuries that she found on her at that time. Cheryl’s arms are crossed during testimony, and she is holding her worn and tattered prayer card with her left thumb against her right arm. Tyson tells the jury that Cheryl had told her that she was nauseous and was struck in the head with a gun. The nurse describes her bruises as "red, purple and blue, circular and tender to the touch." While she describes this, a blown-up photo of Cheryl’s face close-up to show the bruising. She says that her forehead had swelling and that she had swelling, redness to her upper lip. The defense shows a large photo to the jury to review her lip’s redness. Dennison also hands the jury a smaller photo for them to pass around within the jury box. The X-ray report, she says, showed no fractures, no infections in sinuses and no "abnormality seen." She was discharged from the hospital at 5:05 p.m.
Courtroom Is Packed With No Seats Empty: 9:50 a.m.
Cheryl enters the courtroom wearing a lime green cardigan sweater, one that she wore last week, with a black skirt and shoes, her pearl earrings and large pearl necklace. As everyone enters the courtroom and takes every available seat, there is a blown-up poster-sized photo of Cheryl in a hospital bed. In the photo, Cheryl is wearing an aqua-blue shirt with a white stripe on each sleeve and a pink shirt underneath. Under the large photo, a blown-up emergency room document from her visit. It sits in front of the jury. The judge enters the room with arms full of papers that are slipping through her hands as she approaches the bench.
DAY 7, March 3
Snodgrass Questions Cheryl's Story: 3:50 p.m.
Just before Michelle Snodgrass begins her cross-examination of Cheryl McCafferty, the witness motions to her attorneys for a cup of water. Deanna Dennison takes her some on the witness stand. Snodgrass returns from the recess with several files in hand. With an authoritative voice, she begins speaking to the witness. "Mrs. McCafferty…Is that what you still go by?" Cheryl says "always." The Commonwealth’s Attorney starts out by telling Cheryl that she needs to tell the jury the truth about her pay. She says that she makes a base pay, but that she gets commission. Cheryl agrees that sometimes she could get commission. Snodgrass notes from her paystubs: $450 $150 $300 $903 $2,638 $1,300
"Why don’t we want the jury to see whole picture," Snodgrass poses to the witness. "I don’t want people to be mislead. You aren’t the only one paying for things for your family." In fact, she says to Cheryl, Bob would give her money. She lists check amounts to Cheryl: Cheryl agreed that Bob did give her money, but only if she begged for it. "Right, only way you could get it, is if you begged," Snodgrass says to witness, to which the defense objects. Cheryl, however, stays calm during her cross-examination. The prosecution tells Cheryl that she had a spending problem, spending thousands of dollars every month. She continues that Cheryl did not take responsibility for those actions, even after she wrote Bob the letter. She shows Cheryl a list of charges: And she goes on to ask Cheryl about the modeling school and the cost of $2,200. She says that she spent more than that on modeling. Cheryl confesses that the photographer who made Molly’s portfolio charged $50 per month, for a couple of months. Snodgrass says there were also a few more checks made out the photographer for $100. Cheryl tells the jury that she met with a Cincinnati agency the same week that she met with Keith Gambrel. But Snodgrass says that she met with other agencies prior to that, in fact, the day that Bob’s mother died, June 3, she left the funeral to meet with an agency. "We had the money to do it," Cheryl says. Snodgrass then questions Cheryl about a phone call between her and her mother at jail. She says that Cheryl’s mother said on the phone that Bob was against the modeling. Cheryl says that her mother was talking about out-of-state modeling, which they were both against. However, Snodgrass questions Cheryl about her friend Patty Green and a conversation where she told her that her daughter had a contract for modeling in LA. Cheryl says that never happened. Snodgrass continues to question about another conversation that Cheryl supposedly had with her boss about a Milan modeling contract. According to Snodgrass, Cheryl told her boss that she needed June 15, 2007 off for an appointment with her attorney; however Cheryl says that she Bob would not allow her to go to the appointment and instead they went on their weekend houseboat trip to Tennessee. Cheryl did meet with Gambrel the next week on June 20. The prosecutor tells Cheryl that she did have choices aside from killing Bob. She says "you had: money, a good job, education, an attorney (who gave you options), a husband that traveled, a family—you were not alone or isolated." Cheryl says, "I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel." She says that she didn’t want a divorce, "I didn’t want that. I wanted our family." Snodgrass returns to questioning Cheryl about her finances. A woman in the audience whispers to someone next to her: "She’s going back to the money because she doesn’t have anything else." And when the attorney gets into amounts, the same spectator whispers again, "That’s not much money when you’re making what they were making." Cheryl confesses that after sitting in jail for two years, she cannot remember what she spent all of the money on. "Some things are easier to remember than others," rebuts Snodgrass. The credit card that had Cheryl’s mother’s address as the mailing address for the statement, Cheryl says was a card that she "had tucked away in case I ever needed it." "Is that just one of the things you didn’t tell your husband about?" questions Snodgrass of the witness, moving on to his checks that she wrote out to herself. Cheryl tells the jury that yes; she took checks out from the back of his checkbook and did not tell him. She signed his name to them, and wrote them out to herself. He later found out in May, she says. "…He was going to tell people," Snodgrass says to Cheryl. She moves on to the letter that Cheryl wrote to Bob next. She reads an exert from the letter to Cheryl: "the real pathetic me is finally out." To which Cheryl admits, she had issues. In October 2007, Cheryl gave Bob a Sweetest Day card. Snodgrass hands her the card for her to read to the jury. Among other things, she reads: "I hate that you’re being nice to me. It’d be better if you yelled and screamed at me." It continued to state that she hated herself for the both of them and that she "needs serious help. I don’t deserve your love, but I love you." Cheryl says that she was upset that her name is not next to her husband’s on his gravestone. She says that it hurt her. "You think your name deserves to be there when you put a bullet in his brain?" Snodgrass questions. Cheryl again says, "I had no choice." To that, Snodgrass questions the timeline of the morning in question. She states that Bob was "sound asleep" for two hours, between 6-8 a.m., according to Cheryl’s fears about the sprinkler coming on and him waking to it; and then her shooting him just after 8 a.m. The attorney asks her why she turned the gun around when she found it in bed, under the covers, if all she was doing was trying to leave. Cheryl said she needed protection. "A loaded gun against a sleeping man is not protection? A loaded gun against a sleeping man is not protection?" Snodgrass poses, twice. And when she called 911, she told the dispatcher, Snodgrass says, that she didn’t know whether or not Bob was dead, yet she left the house without her children. "I didn’t want them to wake up and see their dad," Cheryl argues. "I panicked." She says that the puppy was barking after the gunshot, but that she didn’t know if the puppy barked after his alleged gunshot in the closet, because her ears were ringing. Then Snodgrass takes the courtroom to the bed where Cheryl shot Bob. Cheryl says that she was on all fours reaching for the gun. She asks Cheryl if she had any experience with a gun and Cheryl says no. "You’re a good shot then, right to the head." "I didn’t mean it, it just happened." Snodgrass questions why she didn’t grab the phone he put on his nightstand, when he was pacing in front of the bed earlier in the morning, with his back turned to her. Cheryl says that there wasn’t time and that she couldn’t exactly say: "Honey, put the gun down while I dial, come on…" Snodgrass asks if it was possible to grab the gun and step back. "Was it possible, was he unarmed?" she questions. "Answer the question, was your husband unarmed when you put a bullet in his head?" Cheryl could not be heard answering the prosecution’s question. When she was locked in the closet back in May 2007, she says that she hid the knife that he had allegedly abused her with, she says. "Why didn’t you throw it away? Because then you wouldn’t have evidence?" Snodgrass questions Cheryl. She says that she kept it for proof of abuse for her restraining order that she says that she was going to file. Court recesses at 4:31 p.m. And returns at 4:41 p.m. Snodgrass follows up with Cheryl regarding a July 24, 2007 phone call that she had with her daughter Molly while in jail. She says that she recalls the conversation. The prosecutor asks Cheryl if she said: "You can’t take someone’s life and go free?" to her daughter. Cheryl says that she continued in the conversation saying until she could prove self-defense. Defense did not redirect and the witness stepped down. Court was let out for the day at 4:44 p.m. and will reconvene Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.
Cheryl Tells Her Story: 1:25 p.m.
The defense team calls its first witness to the stand: Cheryl McCafferty, the witness everyone can't wait to hear from. Defense Attorney Deanna Dennison calls Cheryl McCafferty to testify, as a packed courtroom watches and waits for possibly the most-anticipated witness yet. As Cheryl approaches the witness stand, she clutches her prayer card and several tissues. She smiles to the courtroom while she says her name for the jury, and her attorney asks her to speak up. Dennison asks her what she was feeling right now on the stand. "Absolute fear," Cheryl says, continuing that she should be relieved to be on the witness stand after being in jail for more than 600 days. "Sitting here is very scary—very numb," she says. "[In jail] you can’t mourn, can’t cope—jail’s not a place to do that." She tells the jury that her emotions and memories are bottled up inside and that she is "scared to let it all out." "[I’m] scared that I won’t be able to portray the fear and emotion I felt that day because it’s buried," the witness, accused of killing her husband while he slept, tells the jury. Dennison asks Cheryl if she shot her husband. She answers with, "Yes, I did. I had to." Her attorney follows up and asks her client if it was self-defense. Prosecution objects. The judge explains to Cheryl that self-defense is a legal question and she cannot answer it. Dennison asks Cheryl why she did it. "I had to save my life, my kids’ life." Her attorney asks her to tell the jury exactly what happened. Cheryl begins to tell the jury her account of the events leading up to Bob McCafferty’s murder and the gunshot itself. In a soft, quiet voice, she says it was Sunday, and that an incident happened earlier that day. She went to the laundry room with her cell phone where she could be alone and call her attorney about her options regarding a divorce, restraining order. She says that she left a message for him. Starting to cry, she goes on to say that she went upstairs to tuck her son Patrick into bed, and because he has trouble falling asleep, she stayed with him watching TV. She says that she fell asleep in his bed, only to wake up to her hair being pulled by Bob, dragging her out of the bedroom telling her to go to their bed. First, she says, she let the dogs out to do their business, took her contacts out, taking her cell with her to the bathroom. She tells the jury that she left her cell phone on the counter with her attorney Keith Gambrel’s business card in it. At this time, Cheryl begins crying and looking down at her prayer card; she pauses for a few seconds before continuing her testimony. After falling asleep, she says that she awoke to Bob sitting on top of her. She says that he rolled her over and put the gun at her mouth, not in it. Cheryl tells the jury that her husband "kept screaming kept screaming: ‘Why’d you have to tell. Everything was perfect,’" she says, seemingly taking on his voice as she mimics what he said to her. "I was looking up at him. His eyes were so evil, so mean," she says about the man that she says wasn’t the same man she married. "Sweat was pouring down his head, his face was fire red." She tells the jury that Bob told her: "It’s perfect. You’re gonna kill yourself, it’s in your paper." At this point, she says that she had a hard time breathing. "I felt like I was under water." Cheryl shows the jury, by grabbing her own hair upward, how Bob grabbed her by the hair and hit her in the head with the gun or his hand. She says that she tried to focus, but that he had the gun to her chest, trying to put her hand around the gun. "I couldn’t do it." And that, she says, "infuriated him even more." She says that he began pacing at the bed, she mimics him saying, "you can’t even do this right." "[I was] scared to death. I didn’t know the right thing to do," she tells the jury about her struggle with Bob the morning leading up to his murder. "I decided I had to do something." At that point, she says in a calm voice, with his back turned to her, she made a run for the door. But he caught her, she says, by the back of her T-shirt and then threw her into the closet. She says that she hit the cabinets in the closet and fell to the ground. She was on her side, when he again, got on top of her, she says. "He’s in a rage now," she says. "[He] jammed [the gun] into my temple as hard as you can imagine." And it was then, she says, she thought that she was going to die and that her kids would find her in the closet dead. According to Cheryl, he tells her to kill herself or that he is going to kill the kids and then she’ll want to die. "I heard click." She says that she remembers thinking that it was "that thing you click before you pull the trigger." "The next thing I know he shot—I knew I’d been shot, I felt it. I felt the pressure on my head," she says to the jury, continuing that she could smell the gunfire and that her ears were ringing. She says that she knew she was alive, because she could feel him get off of her. So she lay there pretending to be dead she says. "I could feel his presence around me. I didn’t want to open my eyes," she says, because she didn’t want him to know that she was alive. Dennison asks her how she felt. She pauses for a moment and begins to cry. Cheryl tells the courtroom that she didn’t know how to feel when the man she spent half her life with does this. She says that he jerked her up and out of the closet, back to the bedroom. Cheryl recalls cowering to the headboard with the covers up over her body, shaking and rocking back and forth. And as she sits on the bed, she says he yells, "Look what you made me do!" That’s when it hit her, she says, remembering that she was shaking and sobbing on the bed. He told her that she wasn’t leaving that room alive. To which she started to plead with him she says. "Please don’t do this—I love you, the kids love you." His response, according to Cheryl, was "You don’t love me—you’ll turn everyone against me." It was at the time, she says, he told her again that she had to kill herself or he would kill her kids. She swore to him that she wouldn’t tell anyone and that she wouldn’t divorce him, crying and sobbing, she says. "He always hated when I cried," she says, and then remembers that he backhanded her across the right cheek. She points to her face with an open-hand showing how and where he slapped her. As she was crouched against the headboard, crying, she says, he was telling her to shut up and that he needed to think, with the gun up against her head. She says that her husband got under the cover at that point and she remembers that his foot touched her leg, and how hot it was, it was "on fire." Cheryl tells the jury that in the calmest voice Bob leaned down to her and whispered in her ear, "You know you have to die" or he’d kill the kids, "it’s your choice." That was the last thing that he ever said to her, she says. He lay down in the bed, on his side, facing toward Cheryl, she says, re-establishing her immense fear to the jury. "I knew what he was capable of, he’d hurt me in the past, but nothing to this extreme." Once he lay down, she says he grabbed her shirt and held the gun to her side. "I knew I was out of options," she says, after she says that she tried to talk her way out of it and leave. The time she spent laying there next to him, she says felt like forever. She lay there and prayed, she said. After a while, she felt him twitch in his sleep, but wasn’t sure how asleep he really was. "I was afraid to move my, my body." Cheryl says that she could feel his grip on her shirt loosening little by little and it was starting to get light outside. She feared that the underground sprinkler system would turn on, at its scheduled 6 a.m. time, and wake him. She tells the jury that she played every different scenario in her head, leaving, getting kids, but nothing was working in her scenarios. Everything led to her husband waking up in her mind. But she did not, she says, leave her house without her kids in tow. She remembers that Bob had one hand out of the comforter and could not see the other, as she rolled over on the bed next to him—as to not wake the puppy—feeling for the gun, under the comforter. "I had to get the gun—inch by inch, by pain-stakingly inch I began to maneuver," she says about looking for the gun. She felt the gun, but wasn’t sure if he had a hold of it or not. She turned the gun around and brought it up as slow as she could, staring at his closed eyes the entire time, making sure, she says, that he did not wake up. As she tells the jury about how she pulled the gun out, she closes her eyes and reenacts pulling the gun up. When she pulled the gun up, she says, he opened his eyes, raised his head off of the pillow. "I shot him. I didn't aim. I didn't mean it. I didn't plan it. It was that quick," she tells the jury about the moment that she killed her husband. In a very soft voice, she says, "All I knew (was) I had to stop him." Dennison asks Cheryl, if he woke up did you intend on shooting him? She responds with, "I was not going to let him get that gun again." Cheryl says that she dropped the gun and backed off the bed and out of the room. After that she says that she let the puppy out so that it didn’t wake her kids, went to the bathroom and put on her glasses and grabbed her phone. "I was in shock. All I wanted to do is get out of that room and close the door," she says, continuing to the family room where she says she was shaking and wrapped up in a blanket. She tells the jury that she panicked and called her mom. She told her mom what had happened and asked her to come and get her kids. Her mom told her to call 911. Never moving from her spot she made the emergency call. She doesn’t recall the entire 911-call conversation. "The whole thing was like a blur." She says that she remembers going outside with the blanket around her and the phone up to her ear, on her shoulder. Upon exiting her house, police had guns drawn on her, she says. They told her to put her hands up, so she dropped her blanket and went to the end of the driveway as she says she was instructed to do. She doesn’t remember, she says being taken to the police car or the ambulance. She says that she was "hysterical and hyperventilating" at the police station, where they tried to calm her down. Her attorney Keith Gambrel came to the station, and after talking with her, told the police to find the knife and baseball bat the she alleges her husband used on her to abuse her. He also, she says, told the police that there was a bullet in the closet, but that she didn’t know where. At the hospital, a nurse photographed her and asked her questions, she says. "[My] head was throbbing. I was very nauseous and had stomach pain where he was sitting on me." After X-rays, she says she was escorted to jail and placed in isolation under suicide watch, for the next 3-4 days. When police came to take photos of her she says that her bruising was worse than it was at the hospital. Dennison takes Cheryl back to that Sunday, June 24, the morning prior to the murder and asks her to explain what happened that day. Cheryl tells the jury that the McCafferty family went to the 12:15 p.m. mass, then to the Wendy’s drive-thru like always, finishing their trip with a stop to Radio Shack. After Bob returned to the car, she says, "He just went ballistic, [in an] absolute fit of rage directed at my daughter." He was yelling, pointing and banging on the steering wheel, she remembers, yelling "You’re mine, no one’s gonna stop me now, my mom’s gone." To which Cheryl tells the jury that Bob had done something to Molly, their daughter, while his mother, their grandmother, was sick and staying with them before she passed away. "She stopped him from doing what he was doing to Molly," Cheryl says. When they returned home after church, Patrick went to his room and Molly stayed in the car, she says. She finally got her daughter to get out of the car and Bob, she says, was standing in the doorway screaming at her. Cheryl tells the courtroom that her husband yelled, "I’m gonna beat you up and when I’m done I’m gonna beat your mom!" At this point, she says, Molly went back to the car, refusing to get back out. This is when, Cheryl says, Bob started banging on the windshield, telling Molly that he was going to break the windshield and drag her out through the glass. During her testimony, spectators in the courtroom are crying. She continues, saying the Bob counted to three, pounding on windshield, as she begged for her daughter to get out of the car. Molly did, she says, and ran passed her father. Cheryl says that he was calling Molly a failure and that she’d never amount to anything, just like her mother. When they entered Molly’s room, she says Bob through her computer and then she and Bob went to the family room to continue the argument. He called her a "terrible mother, terrible wife," she says. They returned to Molly’s room, where she says, he continued yelling, "Do you know your mom was stealing from me, how can you love her?!" When Cheryl tells the jury that she and Patrick ran up the street barefoot, the prosecution objects and Cheryl continues talking. The judge tells her to stop talking when they object. Then Cheryl says "I don’t know what I can say, judge can you help?" To which, the judge explains what she can and cannot say. Cheryl tells the jury that she had been hurt before by Bob, starting about 16 years ago. She says that he shoved her and pushed her. Prosecution objects and as the counselors approach the bench, Cheryl rolls her eyes at Michelle Snodgrass, prosecuting attorney for the Commonwealth. Court takes a five-minute recess. After the recess, Cheryl walks back into the courtroom at 2:41 p.m. with her arms crossed, and makes her way to the witness stand. Dennison asks Cheryl to recall the past-alleged abuse at the hands of her husband Bob. She tells the jury that he had shoved her down a flight of stairs, urinated on her, locked her in the closet, locked her out of the house, punched her, kicked her. And in May 2007, she says that he "actually lost control." Knowing that she is deathly afraid of knives, she says, he pulled the knife in question on her. She tells the jury that she covered her face with her hands as he drew the knife over her arms saying, "how’s that feel, does that scare you?" She says that he then used a baseball bat to jab her head, shoulders and back. The next morning she looked in the mirror and saw a black eye and bruised, cut-up body staring back at her. "I looked lie I’d been attacked by a Grizzly bear," she says. "I knew he’d crossed the line and could never go back." She admits that she wrote a letter to Bob apologizing and saying that she loved him. "I did love him, I still do," she tells the jury. Telling them that most of the time she had blamed herself for all of their problems. But also saying that there were more good times than bad. "I think that’s why stay—hang onto hope that things will get better." Dennison asks the witness what her plan was. She starts to tell the jury that she went online, when the prosecution objects. Cheryl rolls her eyes and folds her arms as the attorneys talk with the judge. She continues that she made an appointment with divorce attorney Keith Gambrel. Dennison shows Cheryl the business card that was found in the master bathroom with her phone, as well as Cheryl’s notebook that had Gambrel’s address and the appointment time written down in it. It was located in her vehicle. The weekend before the murder was Father’s Day weekend, Cheryl recalls for the jury. But during a trip on the family’s houseboat to Tennessee Cheryl says that she and Bob argued in front of other friends. She explains to the jury that their daughter Molly had been jumped at school, while Bob was out of town. Cheryl starts crying when recalling how her daughter was "beat up pretty badly." She says that Molly was excited for her dad to return from his trip earlier on Friday because, Cheryl says, she knew he’d not let anyone do this to "his little girl." However, upon his return home, she says, instead of taking Molly into his arms, he started yelling at her about rolling around in the dirt and asking what people are going to think about it. After Cheryl and Bob’s argument at the boat, she says that she went to her bedroom on the boat to "get away from him." Patty Dill, Cheryl says, came down to see her and she told her that she wanted a divorce. Bob followed. She told him as well, she says. Cheryl recalls for the jury that she told Bob that she was going to take half of everything, because she knew that’s what mattered the most to him. She could not recall her husband saying, "Cheryl, don’t you love me anymore?" as witness Patty Dill had testified to earlier in the trial. That night, she says she remembers waking up to a pillow on her head, suffocating her. Cheryl tells the jury that Bob told her that "he’d kill me if I ever embarrassed him again." After Cheryl met with Keith Gambrel initially, she says she went back to her desk, ate her lunch and searched online for a few minutes to see how he was connected to the Amy Bosley case. While she did visit with the attorney, she tells the jury that she didn’t want a divorce, didn’t want to make it a hostile situation for the kids. She says that she wanted to "handle it the right way." The defense then questions McCafferty about her financial situation leading up to the murder. She confirms for the jury that she was employed by the Cincinnati Enquirer and in charged of the medical advertising for the newspaper. After her attorney shows her paystubs from 2006 and 2007, Cheryl says that in 2006 she made $87,000 and in 2007 was projected to make $44,000. She took home about $2,274 a month. During their marriage, Cheryl tells the jury that Bob wanted them to each have separate checking accounts. He would pay for the mortgage, utilities, the boat, their Highlands Country Club membership and his "toys." She says that she paid for "everything else." Groceries Medical bills Prescriptions Tuition Clothes Lunches School supplies Equity payment Car payment Gas Edward Jones payment
She admits that she did have a spending problem. "I like to shop—I shopped a lot, for Bob, kids, house, me." But says that she didn’t buy diamonds and furs. Cheryl continues by confessing that she did in fact signing Bob’s checks to "avoid confrontation." She says it wasn’t right, but it was better than groveling. Starting in 2003, she says is when the credit cards started to accumulate. She lost her job and over the span of a few years, she had, as earlier testimony stated, racked up nearly $47,000. This was; however, as Dennison states "marital bills" and "marital money." "It’s not like I had a drug problem or a gambling problem," Cheryl says about her spending habits. She says that cash advances that were documented on her Fifth-Third credit card were then deposited into her Fifth-Third checking account to pay for Christmas and the annual Thanksgiving bash at her house that they threw. She encourages the jury to check through the statements and to see where the money went. "[I] felt bad that the credit cards go out of hand—I wanted to show him I was remorseful," she says about writing him the letter. Back to the computer searches that the prosecution says were on the family’s computers. Cheryl says that the computer that had information about embezzlement on it hadn’t been used in about four years. And the Check n’ Go searches that she did online, were for a prospective client for the Enquirer. She testifies that she was preparing for a Monday morning business meeting. Dennison asks her client to tell the jury about the modeling and her daughter Molly. Cheryl tells the jury about her daughter, at the time 15 years old, and how they were at Kenwood Towne Center one day and were approached by a modeling scout. "Molly had a lot of issues—this would’ve made her happy," Cheryl says. So she signed her up for local modeling and spent $2,200. She says, after looking at a black portfolio that Dennison shows her on the stand, that she did sign a contract agreeing to paying 20 percent from any job to the modeling agency, owned by Jake Lang. "It made her feel good." She says that her husband was not against Molly modeling. In fact, she says that Bob gave Molly a greeting card, which she reads for the jury. Among other things, it said, "You’re so driven…I’m so impressed…" She also tells the jury that she had permission to write checks out of her husband’s account because he was often out of town and things needed to be taken care of in his absence. She agrees that it is her handwriting located in Bob’s check register. "I took care of things when he wasn’t there." Giving examples, Cheryl mentions A/E Doors and the ‘fish guy’ whom maintained Bob’s tropical fish once a month. Dennison asks the witness about the gun that she shot her husband with on June 25, 2007. She says that she didn’t own the gun and did not know anything about it or where it came from. Her attorney then asks: "Did you shoot Bob because you wanted your daughter to model?" To which Cheryl says, "absolutely not." "…Because you wanted to spend more money, collect insurance?" Cheryl says no and shakes her head. "I’d never shoot their dad, unless I had to," she says. "I had no choice. I did it to save my life and the life of my kids."
Defense Starts To Call Witnesses: 1:17 p.m.
Just after lunch the defense starts calling its witnesses, including a recall of Det. Brad Adams. However, before the jury and judge return to the courtroom, one spectator is asked to move to the other side of the room, by the judge’s bailiff, for continuously motioning for Cheryl’s attention during trial. Campbell County deputy sheriff Laura Guilford then asks two men in the courtroom to remove their hats. Cheryl, with her arms crossed, paces back and forth next to the defense table before the jury comes back in. Frank Mungo recalls the prosecution’s witness to the stand. He confirms for the jury that he reviewed video and photos of the master bathroom. Mungo shows a photo to the witness that includes the counter in the bathroom, where her cell phone and Keith Gambrel’s business card, her divorce attorney, are placed. Cheryl clutches her prayer card close to her as council approaches the bench.
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