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By Patrick Tepoorten
Story filed at 6:45 p.m., Feb. 12, 2008
Day two of testimony in the Craig Fleming trial saw the
continuation of crime scene expert testimony as well as that of eyewitnesses. It
also saw the continuation of attempts by the defense to plant seeds of doubt
regarding the veracity of witness testimony and procedures used by investigators
during the investigation.
Defense attorney Gregory J. Rebeau may have had his most
success in undermining the state's case with the testimony of Tory Mogensen,
considered an eyewitness to the shooting of Martin Carlson, 25, of Center City.
Mogensen, who lived at 30495 Park Street in Lindstrom with girlfriend Leah
McLafferty at the time of the shooting, was in the room when Carlson was shot
and gave similar testimony to Slattengren in that regard. There were differences
though.
Mogensen stated that he left Rocky J's Bar in Chisago City at
12:45 a.m., before Carlson, Jason Slattengren, or Craig Fleming and stopped in
to see Lafferty at a laundromat two blocks from the house. After a few minutes
he proceeded home and was scratching lottery tickets when Fleming and girlfriend
Lona Linc arrived. According to Mogensen, Fleming asked where Carlson could be
found. After Mogensen replied that he wasn't sure, Fleming stated that he was
looking for Carlson and was "going to hunt him down like a dog."
Five minutes after Fleming left, Slattengren and Carlson
arrived. Like Slattengren, Mogensen recalled comments made about Fleming's truck
outside the residence and remembered Carlson going out on the porch yelling to
Fleming. As well he recalled a similar chain of events, resulting in the
shooting of Carlson, after Fleming and Linc came into the house.
Mogensen testified that after the shooting, Fleming
pointed the .45 Ruger handgun at him and asked, "Who's next?" At that
point he ran out a side door and up to nearby Hwy. 8 in downtown Lindstrom. It
is there he said he saw Linc, who had departed the house at some point, Mogensen
wasn't sure if it was before or after the actual shooting. He then returned to
the house just after McLafferty pulled up from the laundromat. He witnessed
Fleming on the porch but did not hear him say "No more Marty." After Fleming
appeared to be leaving, Mogensen went into the house and after coming out the
side door again, saw Fleming's truck pulled up next to McLafferty's car before
driving off.
Rebeau, as in his cross examinations with Slattengren and
LcLafferty, has established through questioning that certain statements about
Fleming's behavior were not given in the early stages of the investigation, but
came later. He showed that Mogensen reported Fleming's threat to hunt Carlson
down like a dog a year after the July 22 shooting. It was not in Mogensen's
statement from the night of the shooting or from another three days
later.
Mogensen revealed that he only remembered the remark while he
was in treatment for drug and alcohol use a year after Carlson's
death.
"All of a sudden you got a better memory, 13 months later?,"
asked Rebeau, who suggested the remark may have "percolated up at
treatment."
Another seeming contradiction was testimony about witnessing
Fleming pull a handgun from his belt. Rebeau reminded Mogensen of an earlier
statement to police that he didn't see Fleming pull the gun because he was
scratching lottery tickets.
Mogensen acknowledged that he had been looking at lottery
tickets and added, "I forgot to bring that up."
Rebeau also established that Mogensen had been in McLafferty's
car, in the house, in the driveway around the house, and near two vehicles
parked there and the garage at various times just after the shooting. He also
questioned whether Carlson was a confrontational person, to which
Mogensen replied he wasn't confrontational but would stand up for what was
right.
Following more questions about the events immediately related
to the shooting, testimony became confrontational briefly when Rebeau asked,
"You ran like a rabbit didn't you?"
"No I stood there, until he (Fleming) pulled a gun on me,"
replied Mogensen.
McLafferty also testified today, to events immediately
following the murder. As with Mogensen, Rebeau pointed out that her statement
that Fleming said "No more Marty," came after the fact, not in early
statements.
McLafferty responded that she thought she had made that
statement to Lakes Area Police Department (LAPD) Investigator Tim Tougas the
morning of the shooting.
While on the stand, she characterized Fleming's behavior on
the porch immediately following the shooting. "He was proud of what he did," she
said.
Today's testimony also brought a host of crime scene experts.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's (BCA) Kurt Moline, a handgun expert, said
tests conducted to tie the fired round to the .45 caliber Ruger found in
Fleming's truck were "inconclusive."
Many local officers testified as well, including former LAPD
officer Kurt Roettjer and LAPD officer Chad Slagter, who were first on the
scene; and Chisago County Sheriff's Office Investigator Russ Frank and Tougas,
who worked on the investigation. In cross examinations of officers, Rebeau often
returned to a similar line of questioning: Was the garage and driveway taped off
as part of the crime scene? Was the house given a thorough search? Were the two
vehicles parked in the driveway searched? Was McLafferty's car searched? In each
case, the answer has been "no."
To BCA laboratory experts, Rebeau typically poses what has
become an almost rhetorical question: Was there anything you discovered during
an investigation that told you why the shooting took place? Invariably, the
answer has been "no."
Prosecutor Fred Fink expects the state have concluded its
case during the morning session on Wednesday, Feb. 13, and the defense's
case should proceed in the afternoon. It is possible that closing statements
could begin by mid-morning on Thursday.
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