The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/299712
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Any reg- istered voters wanting to vote early can do so in the clerk's office from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Mon- day through Friday. Also, they will be open for early voting 8 a.m. to noon on Sat- urday, April 26 and May 3. On election day, May 6, the polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Marva Brumfield, Terry Schmitt, Paul Schmitt, Bar- bara Schmitt and Indiana State Police Detective Greg Winkler. Norma McGillem, Chris Helsley's 87-year-old grandmother, took the stand via video recording. Jurors viewed a lengthy video of the crime scene and dozens of photographs submitted by McDonald and Assistant Prosecutor Noah Shafer. Defense attor- neys Steven Ripstra and Na- than Vercamp had three wit- nesses present for the first day and informed the judge there would be more avail- able on the second day of the trial. Helsley's petition con- tended there had been a mistake made by council in not including additional wit- nesses that could bring miti- gating circumstances. McDonald's opening re- marks advised the jury of the "two innocent murder victims," facts in the case, and took the 12 jurors to the scene of the crime. Mc- Donald looked directly at a slumped-over Chris Hels- ley and said, "He murdered Brad Maxwell and Marsha Rainey." Marva Bradfield, Hels- ley's partner while working 24-hour shifts at the Pike County Ambulance Barn, explained how she came to the barn for her 7 a.m. shift the morning of April 18 and found the pair murdered af- ter realizing they had not re- sponded to a call from Cen- tral Dispatch. Pathologist Mark Levaughn reviewed his au- topsy findings for the jury, and described the multiple gunshot wounds received at close range by the two vic- tims. Defense attorney Ste- ven Ripstra asked Levaughn if he was paid to be pres- ent at the sentencing retri- al and Levaughn explained that he was using compen- satory time for his appear- ance. Levaughn is the chief forensic pathologist for the state of Mississippi now, but in 2001 was brought to the scene in Pike County from Kentucky, and then per- formed autopsies for the murder case. Dr. Ed Haskins of India- napolis had diagnosed Hels- ley with amnesia, saying Helsley had no memory of the incident. However, Mc- Donald established that ly- ing about circumstances of a homicide was not consistent with borderline personality disorder or major depressive disorder. Marva Brumfield's tes- timony described moving from a part-time EMT po- sition to full-time in 1998, working 24-hour shifts with Chris Helsley as her partner. She said everyone looked to Marsha Rainey for guidance because of her 18 years of experience. She said they all worked as a team and that Brad Maxwell was "gung ho" at his job, a big volun- teer in the community and was always wanting to help Pike County residents. Helsley's uncle Ter- ry Schmitt, grandfather Paul Schmitt, and Barbara Schmitt confirmed on the stand that Helsley's moth- er, Brenda Richardson, kept Helsley in his room much of the time. Eighty-seven year old Norma McGillem con- tended she raised Chris Helsley and that he was a very happy, always smiling boy who had few friends. She stated she liked his stepdad, Larry Helsley, but stated "Brenda was al- ways at the Red Cross barn and not available to Chris." Both Larry Helsley's moth- er, Brenda Richardson, have passed away since the orig- inal trial. While the video of Nor- ma McGillem was viewed by the jury, Helsley sobbed out loud from his chair be- tween the two defense attor- neys. Helsley was not hand- cuffed or shackled for the trial but did wear an ankle bracelet and leg brace de- vice that could lock and pre- vent an escape, according to Pike County Chief Deputy Kent Johnson. During the second day of the trial, witnesses includ- ed Reverend Art Michel, Ja- mie Manning, Sandra Traut- vetter, Dr. Edmund Haskins, Indiana State Police Detec- tive Greg Winkler and Chris Helsley's younger brother, Eric. Winkler took the stand and explained portions of the investigation that in- cluded two interviews with Chris Helsley. One 29 -min- ute recording on cassette tape revealed a calm and collected Helsley, who an- swered complicated ques- tions such as his movements during the evening, prior to Marva Bradfield discover- ing the bodies the following morning. Dr. Haskins painted a picture of an individual who may have lost all memory of the murders due to dissocia- tive amnesia. The disorder can cause loss of memory, blackouts or 'redouts,' but is often temporary. McDonald showed Haskins that the new DSM5 (Diagnostic and Statisti- cal Manual of Mental dis- orders) warns to be aware it could possibly be a lie. Haskins said, in cross exam- ination by McDonald, that it could be malingering, mean- ing making up problems and that "it is possible he remem- bers it now." Asked about a prognosis, Haskins stated "he can get better with age, time, thera- py and medicine." There was still a danger potential with Helsley at that point. Indi- ana Department of Correc- tions progress notes viewed by Haskins indicated panic attacks and a gay aspect that could be a trigger or be con- tributing factor. In an interview with Hels- ley, he reported daily beat- ings and mistreatment that was not confirmed by any family or friends, including his brother, Eric. Winkler interviewed Hels- ley in the morning after the discovery and Helsley easi- ly described people, cloth- ing, his movements and tim- ing the night before. He was questioned about firearms and stated he had traded a .357 magnum revolver and "got rid of" a .45 semi-auto pistol two or three weeks earlier that he said was of no value. Helsley stated he had "no reason to have it" in the interview. He added, "I don't have any ammo." In the interview, he is heard saying he tried to kill an opossum and the am- mo was no good. He bought it in a bag in Oakland City at the Trading Post gun shop. Winkler later recovered the pistol without the bar- rel in the glove box in Hels- ley's car after he recanted the story. Misty, Helsley's wife, knew about the gun and state police recovered car- tridges and casings in the car and at the home, con- sistent with what was at the double murder scene. Mc- Donald asked if there were both old matching W WII cartridges and new Federal cartridges and casings, and Winkler said, "yes." The defense tried to prove an abusive relationship be- tween Chris Helsley's step- dad, Larry Richardson, and mother, Brenda, and very little evidence was present- ed by witnesses and records to support the accusations stated solely by Helsley to Haskins, while Helsley was incarcerated. Ripstra asked jurors to in- dividually decide mitigating circumstances that could change the sentencing ver- dict. Without a unanimous vote to keep the original sen- tence of life without possi- bility of parole, two 45 -year sentences could be imposed. The evidence phase of the sentencing trial was expect- ed to be concluded and sent to the jury today ( Wednes- day) to deliberate a verdict. mentary school), Coleman Cemetery near Coe and the EMS yard. R J's Mowing Service bid $125 for the Old Town Cem- etery, $ 825 for the Coleman Cemetery and $ 35 for the EMS Building. Triple J Mowing bid $ 80 for Old Town, $ 80 for Cole- man and $25 for EMS Build- ing. "That has to be a mistake on Coleman Cemetery," said commissioner Ryan Cole- man about the $ 825 bid by R J's Mowing. Commissioner Nelson moved to accept the lowest bid. It was approved by a 3- 0 vote. Commissioner Assistant Bryant said a proposal form was sent out for the heating and air conditioning for the courthouse and three com- panies responded. Johnson Controls bid $29,054, Messmer Mechani- cal bid $29,900, and Benner and Co. bid $ 82,905. Bryant said the specs called for new actuuator controls, but only Mess- mer's bid included new con- trols. The others were us- ing old controls. "Messmer is the under contract now to do the maintenance . . . They are the ones familiar with the system." Commissioner Nelson moved to accept Messmer's proposal. It passed 3-0. Commissioners took three proposals for "trend- ing," which is an updating of property assessments. Three firms submitted proposals: Property Assess- ment Solutions $14,000; Rel- ler SIAC $14,900 and Indi- ana Assessments Service $23,071. Some of the propos- als also had conditions as to how many challenges they would assist the county in before extra charges apply. The bids were taken un- der advisement. In other business, Evan Beck, of the Patoka Valley Conservation Partners LLC, asked the commissioners to vacate a portion of CR 200 S., from CR 375 W. to CR 500 W. Beck said the road is un- der water several months of the year and not passable most of the year. He said Patoka Valley Conservation Partners LLC had purchased a large tract of ground in that area and were working toward a con- servation project. A hearing on the road clo- sure request was scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, May 17. • EMA Director Tonda Dixon did not attend the meeting but notified them she is seeking a $25,000 grant to purchase either a storage building for EMA supplies or to fund a full scale active shooter exer- cise at a county school. She explained she had two appli- cations but will only receive one. Either one is 100 per- cent reimbursable. • Indiana Region 15 Di- rector Lisa Gelhausen asked the commissioners for a res- olution committing $ 31,000 as their match for a $274,000 project that could clean up the former Day Oil gas sta- tion and car wash site on Main St., Petersburg. She said the county had to commit to their match as part of the grant application. The next commissioners meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Monday, May 5. Continued from page 1 H Commissioners take bids under advisement H Helsley claims amnesia in re-sentencing trial H Primary election Continued from page 1 Circus is Saturday afternoon in Winslow Skeeter the Clown entertained children Wednesday morning at the Pike County Headstart morning preschool class. She will be one of the performers at the Culpepper and Merriweather Circus in Winslow on Saturday. The circus is being sponsored by the Winslow Lions Club and will have two performanc- es starting at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the event or in advance from a Winslow Li- ons Club member. No one was injured when a school bus and car side- swiped each other in a sharp curve Monday morning near Knights Chapel. Indiana Master Trooper Paul Bastin said Jason Hill, 36, of Otwell, was driving a Pike County School Corpo- ration bus east on CR 125 S. near Knights Chapel when he entered a 90 -degree turn. Megan R. McKendry, 25, of 3676 W. CR 125 S. was driv- ing west in a 2002 Pontiac and she entered the turn at the same time. Trooper Bastin said the two sideswiped each other in the sharp turn, causing only minor damage to ei- ther vehicle. There were 23 students on the bus. None were injured. He said students were trans- ferred to another bus and taken to the school. He added, the school nurse checked on each stu- dent to make sure no one was injured. The accident happened at 7:45 a.m. Bastin said he didn't find fault in the accident. "It was just two vehicles in a sharp curve at the same time." School bus, car collide Monday