About two months before the homicide trial of Fire Station suspect Myron DeShun Grant is expected to start, Mr. Grant restated his not-guilty plea to the charge of murder with special circumstances, and his attorney said firmly after this morning’s hearing the only known eyewitness was dead wrong about pegging his client because his height estimate was wildly off.
Said public defender Robert Conley, whose client is accused of killing City Hall consultant Paul Bilodeau 2½ years ago :
At last month’s hearing, “Andre Williams (the eyewitness who worked in the next-door office building) was of the opinion that the person (he saw) running from the scene to the vehicle (in the next-door parking lot) was the culprit. Now if there was a discrepancy of a couple of inches, witnesses get those things wrong all of the time.
“But the discrepancy he was describing was 5 to 8 inches. He said the man he saw was between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10.”
Mr. Grant, increasingly resembling a stringbean in each courtroom appearance, is 6-foot-3, and he looked skinnier than usual when he faced Judge H. Chester Horn Jr. this morning.
The day Mr. Williams testified last month, Mr. Conley recalled, “he said ‘shorter than 6 feet.’ Evidently, he had spoken to the prosecutors. But when he had gone on tape before every time, he always said ‘5-foot-10 or smaller’ or 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-10.’ That is a qualitative difference, not just a matter of an inch or two. It’s a head, almost.
“Someone who is 5-foot-10 himself, turns and sees someone running, can see the other person eye-to-eye. He can make a pretty good judgment that the person is his height or shorter. If the person was his height or shorter, it certainly wasn’t Myron.
“The state’s case is circumstantial only,” Mr. Conley said.
(To be continued)
