A neighbor of the Harper family testified in the Vincent Brothers murder trial today. Under a deal with the prosecutor, our cameras were not allowed to capture his testimony. Jasper Robinson says he heard a woman screaming and hollering. He sat smoking under the carport next door. Robinson knew Mrs. Harper was a nice lady. She would allow him to go into the backyard and pick lemons from the trees. (SEE BELOW) Robinson said he would use the lemons to make BBQ sauce. But he didn’t know the Harper family any better than that. He recalled buying the Harpers kids ice cream once or twice when the ice cream truck passed through the neighborhood. Robinson first made contact with the screaming and hollering woman near the garage of the Harper family home.“She was hollering and screaming saying that her sister and their kids were dead,” Robinson testified. “She was wild, jumping up and down. I looked at her and said ‘don’t play.’”
Robinson said he didn’t know the woman at the time, and does not to this day. But the prosecutor says that woman was Kelsey Spann, one of Joanie Harper’s best friends.
Robinson said the woman motioned for him to come around the side of the house and look for himself. So he did. She motioned. He said, “I don’t believe you, you go with me.” Robinson entered the house through a sliding glass door. He immediately noticed a bad smell. The woman pointed toward the hallway and a room off to the left. He walked that to bedroom and saw two bodies on lying on a bed. One was an adult and the other was a child. He noticed that a lot of things were out of place. Robinson said he only walked 2-3 feet inside the room and didn’t touch anything. Part of the adult’s body was covered with pillows. Robinson recognized the child as one Joanie’s kids, the oldest one. He couldn’t believe it. Robinson left the house with Spann in tow. Her tried to calm her down. He reached out and grabbed her, but Spann was flailing. “She was beating the hell out of me, swinging and being emotional.” Robinson returned to his house next door and told his sister to call 9-1-1. Then, for a reason he can’t explain, he returned to the Harper home. His sister and his niece followed this time. He pushed the blinds out of the way with the back of his forearm and went back inside with his sister and niece. This time he walked in deeper and found a second child on the right side of the bed. Robinson couldn’t see the child at first because the pillows blocked his view. He saw the boy’s face, his legs and arms. In fact, his right arm was stretched out off the bed. The boy’s eyes were open. Robinson’s sister and niece were in the room, too. But he says he told them not to touch anything. Robinson left, only to return a third time. This time, he says was curious about Earnestine Harper. He went back to the bedroom, turned around, and then went further down the hallway. He didn’t know where Earnestine’s bedroom was, and found himself instead in the laundry room. There was a bunch of ‘debris’ on the floor and an empty purse. But no sign of Earnestine. So he turned around and went back down the hallway. He went past the slider this time, and up a set of stairs, but stopped. He though Earnestine was probably up there somewhere, but decided to turn around again. He went back to the slider and waited for police.
Robinson also recalled today seeing Vincent Brothers watering the concrete patio area in the backyard on Sunday, July 6. That’s the day the prosecutor says the Harper family was murdered. Robinson had been drinking several bottles of beer with his brothers in the front yard and had to use the restroom. But both the bathrooms were full. So headed behind the garage so he could relieve himself on the fence. He says that’s when he saw Vincent washing down the concrete slab. The two didn’t make eye contact or even acknowledge each other, Robinson said. The revelation after he was jailed on a petty theft charge. He was doing a 45-day sentence at Lerdo for taking shrimp from the Ranch Market on Niles. Robinson filled out a form, asking to talk to the police. He says he remembered his brother saying detectives had been by wanting to interview him about the Harper family murders. He had been interviewed by police detectives twice before and never made any mention of seeing Brothers in the backyard. He was later rearrested on drug charges in July 2004. During that arrest, Robinson filled another form to talk with the District Attorneys office. He wanted to see if the prosecutor would be help him out on the drug possession charge. The question now before the jury is whether Robinson’s testimony about seeing Brothers is real, or whether it’s a story he concocted to bail himself out of jail.
Defense attorney Michael Gardina pressed Robinson on when he saw Brothers in the backyard. He also asked Robinson about gunshots he said he heard about an hour before he saw Brothers. Robinson said he has fired a .22-caliber gun before and he knows what they sound like. He said the shot he heard that Sunday evening were different than the fireworks that were being set-off over the July 4th weekend.
When it came to seeing Brothers in the backyard, Robinson testified he couldn’t remember an exact time. He says he thinks it was getting dark, but it wasn’t so dark he couldn’t see. He said it was around dusk. But he also told detectives during an interview that he heard the shots around dusk. The times seem to conflict. Defense attorney Michael Gardina pressed Robinson on how much malt liquor he had to drink that day. Robinson said three to five 12-ounce cans. Gardina also pressed Robinson on whether the prosecutor lightened his sentence on drug charges in exchange for his testimony. Robinson has already testified that he was not given any special treatment. But Gardina asked Robinson about the maximum sentence he faced (4 years) on the charges versus what he was sentenced to (16 months), versus what he actually served (8 months 22 days).
Later in the day, medical assistant Danella Burrage took the stand and said Vincent Brothers showed up at the medical clinic seeking treatment for a sore arm. He said he was riding his bike and was hit by the car. Burrage said he rolled onto the car hood and then right off.
Accompanying Brothers to the office was a woman. The prosecution says it was Joanie Harper and the two were arguing. She says that's key because it shows Vincent and Joanie quarreled just weeks before the murders. And Burrage said when the woman left the exam room, Brothers confided in her that he didn't get hit on his bike. She said he implied it was some form of domestic violence. The splint that Burrage fitted on Brothers' arm was removable, she said. In surveillance video shot at the several locations and presented at trial, Brothers is seen both with and without the splint. Prosecutor Lisa Green says it was part of Brothers' plan so that he would be more identifiable. The defense, meantime, questioned whether Burrage should be able to testify. The said she never wrote anything about domestic violence in the medical report. For all we know, Gardina said, she's some whacko coming out of the woods.
