Small Town News

States witnesses tell a gory story

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Small Trial Opens March 29

As the trial of Leslie Small began March 29 in a small Sussex County Superior Court room, one chilling word echoed over and over: scissors.

Small faces seven charges related to the death of 78-year-old June McCarson in November 2009: two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of possession of a deadly weapon during commission of a felony, first-degree robbery and second-degree burglary. Prosecutors say Small stabbed McCarson 20 times with a blunt pair of red-handled scissors.

Small appeared calm as he was escorted into the courtroom. As he sat down, he leaned back in his chair and glanced around the largely vacant gallery.

Prosecutor David Hume kicked off opening statements by reciting the state's account of the Nov. 11, 2009 events that led to Small's indictment.

At the time, Small, 53, was working for Comfort Ride Express, a Lewes-area cab company, Hume said. Small took a client, McCarson, on three errands, including going to a bank where McCarson left with $500 cash Upon taking McCarson home, Hume said, Small forced entry into her house, killed her and took the money.

"He went into her trailer and pushed her on the floor and strangled her," Hume said. He said the autopsy report will show McCarson was stabbed in the throat, neck and face; a bone in her neck was broken during strangulation; and so much pressure was placed on her back, it bent and cracked.

Jurors will hear Small admit to committing the crime in a recording of an interview with Chief Investigating Officer William Porter after Small's arrest, Hume said. In the recording, Hume said, the jury will hear Small say, "I looked for something to stab her with or something." After stabbing her, Small took the murder weapon, a towel and McCarson's purse and left her mobile home in Lewes, Hume said.

Small fled to Traveler's Inn Motel in Milford and spent the $500 he stole from McCarson on cocaine before he was tracked down and arrested. The murder weapon, a pair of scissors, was found in McCarson's driveway. Hume said Small accidentally dropped the scissors as he came out the front door of McCarson's home.

Hume told jurors the defendant's cocaine use at the time of the incident does not change his intent. "It does not excuse what he did," Hume said.

Defense attorney Stephen Callaway asked jurors not to be swayed when looking at photographs from the crime scene or Medical Examiner's Office. "These photographs are very unpleasant," Callaway said. "We ask that you keep an open mind when you look at this evidence."

Callaway said Small's cocaine use should not be used to conclude anything about his character, but instead, should be used to conclude Small's state of mind in November 2009. Jurors must decide whether Small acted intentionally, knowingly or recklessly, Callaway said. An intentional act, he said, is a conscious decision to engage in conduct; to act knowingly is to be aware the conduct will cause a certain result; a reckless act constitutes disregard for the risk involved, he said.

"This case is going to depend on what you believe and find to be the state of mind of Mr. Small in November 2009," Callaway said.

State witnesses then took the stand to offer their recollection of the events. Elaine Levy, an elderly woman who works for Meals on Wheels, said she had been delivering food to McCarson's home in Donovan-Smith Mobile Home Park for about four years. Levy said she found McCarson Nov. 12, 2009, lying on her living room floor in a pool of blood.

"She looked like a mannequin," Levy said. "It was just a horrible-looking mess."

Delaware State Police detectives who investigated the crime scene painted a picture of struggle. Sgt. Keith Marbel, who was supervisor of the evidence unit at Troop 4 in Georgetown, said he arrived at McCarson's home shortly after the victim's body was discovered.

As soon as he entered the trailer, Marbel said, he saw McCarson lying on her back on the living room floor. She had items scattered around her, such as toilet tissue, Visine, a receipt from Happy Harry's Drugstore and a pair of dentures with the inscription, "J. McCarson" inside, he said. Marbel said he noticed a phone had been knocked onto the floor, a statue had been knocked off a table, and blood had splattered far enough to reach the cabinets in McCarson's kitchea

Everything in the house, Marbel said, was covered in a white powdery substance.

On cross-examination, Callaway asked what the white substance was. Marbel said he had not identified it. Marbel also said he had not seized the items in McCarson's living room that had been knocked over; he had only conducted a visual examination.

Det. Robert Cresto, who works for the homicide unit of Delaware State Police, collected DNA evidence from McCarson's residence, from Small and fro-m Small's home on Tobin Drive in Milton. Cresto said he also collected the victim's clothing from the Medical Examiner's Office in Georgetown, which performed McCarson's autopsy. Prosecutor Peggy Marshall asked Cresto to show the clothing to the jury. One by one, Cresto held up a white T-shirt; a white, button-front, collared shirt with blue flowers; and a brown coat with toggle buttons. All three items were stained from neck to torso with dried brownblood.

Cresto also pointed out small holes leading up to the neckline on both shirts.

Callaway asked Cresto to describe the alleged murder weapon police discovered in the victim's driveway. Holding up the red-handled scissors, Cresto said the blade was about 2.5 inches long.

The scissors were squared off at the ends and did not come to a sharp point, Cresto said. McCarson's neighbor, Joseph Szefler, testified that he saw a tall figure, possibly wearing a black wool hat, inside McCarson's home Nov. 11, 2009. "It was a man, sir," Szefler told Hume. "Or a very ugly woman." Everyone in the courtroom laughed, including Small.

Later, a surveillance video from Wilmington Trust showed a tall man, wearing a black skullcap and driving a Comfort Ride taxi, help his passenger perform a transaction at the drive-through. The passenger in the video cannot be identified.

Small appeared relaxed throughout testimony, even cheery. During a break he joked with a young, female court employee, saying she took all the green Jolly Ranchers.





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