By BRAD DICKERSON
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW
March 27, 2008 03:50 pm
—
One the first day of a murder trail in Barren County, jurors saw a videotape of Luis Rodriguez’s body being pulled from a lake.
William R. “Billy” Haynes, 61, of Glasgow, is charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the death of Rodriguez, 45, also of Glasgow.
The jury — 12 members and two alternates — watched footage of law enforcement recovering the body from Barren River Lake in Allen County on Oct. 19, 2007.
An apparent gunshot wound to Rodriguez’s lower back was visible on the tape. Blood could also be seen on his front midsection.
Kenny Tishner and Charles Stankiewicz, witnesses for the prosecution, testified that they were fishing in the lake the morning of Oct. 19 when they came upon something unusual.
“It appeared to be a body floating in the water,” Tishner said.
The two testified they tried to notify authorities by using their cell phones, but the phones did not have clear reception. The men went to shore and Stankiewicz called 911 using an emergency phone at the Brownsford boat ramp.
Deputy Dwight Keen with the Allen County Sheriff’s Department testified that he was dispatched to the boat ramp. One of the fishermen took him to the body’s location.
Keen said he used a rope to tether the body to the boat.
“I noticed what appeared to be a bullet wound in the subject’s back,” Keen said.
In her opening statement, Commonwealth Attorney Karen Davis told jurors they would here from more than 40 witnesses during the duration of the trial.
“I want you to be able to put the pieces of this puzzle together and I want you to hear personally from each and every person that I believe has a pertinent piece of the puzzle,” she said.
Davis said the alleged murder stemmed from “greed” on behalf of the defendant to protect profits he would make from a marijuana-growing operation he allegedly ran with a second man, David Houchens.
At Haynes’ initial December hearing, Kentucky State Police Detective Chad Winn, the lead investigator, said it is believed that Haynes shot Rodriguez after Rodriguez, along with three accomplices, tried to break into an indoor marijuana-growing site on property owned by Houchens at 2836 Winn School Road.
“This case is about one of the seven deadly sins because I believe that this case is about greed,” Davis said.
The prosecution said other evidence will show that Houchens received a call the night of Oct. 18, while at work, from Haynes saying that he had just shot a person.
“You’ll hear how, yes, he helped Mr. Haynes pick up Luis Rodriguez and load him in the truck, and they talked about where to take him,” Davis said.
In his opening statement, Buddy Alexander, one of the three attorneys representing Haynes, said the defendant was not present at the time of alleged burglary and therefore “can’t tell you how many guys showed up to participate.”
The defense said other proof would show that Rodriguez knew Houchens for a long time, making him privy to knowledge of marijuana growing on the property.
“This thing gets a whole lot deeper than the commonwealth has apparently wanted to lead you all,” Alexander said. “There’s a lot of conflict here.”
Opening statements did not begin until the middle of the afternoon following a lengthy jury selection. More than 100 potential jurors were whittled down to the final of 12, plus two alternates.
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