RSS | 
Twitter
| 
Be a fan!
Ex-student testifies about 1999 escape
And, when Doran attempted to re-enter the house from another entrance, he said he was confronted by a black man wearing a hooded sweatshirt with a white scarf covering his face.
The man yelled, "We've got another one," Doran testified in the first day of the murder trial for 28-year-old Terrell Yarbrough before Washington County Judge John DiSalle.
Yarbrough is accused of kidnapping Brian Muha, 18, of Ohio, and Aaron Land, 20, of Philadelphia, from their Steubenville home and bringing them to Robinson Township, where they were shot and killed. Doran, Muha and Land were Franciscan University students at the time of the incident.
Rate This Story:
1 the lowest - 5 the highest
Current rating:
It was about an hour later when Doran was awakened by the commotion, he said. When he got no response from his roommates after yelling for them, Doran said, he decided to get out of the house.
And, after being confronted by the other man, Doran said he ran to a neighbor's house, where he called police. Doran stayed there until police arrived.
Several Steubenville police officers testified that when police went to the house, Muha and Land were gone. And, although there was no signs of forced entry into the building, there were signs of a struggle, as items and furniture were overturned and there was blood spattered in the living room and Land's bedroom.
A frantic Doran related what had happened to police but said he could not identify the intruder.
Police immediately contacted university security to report the incident and asked for any help, including photos, in finding the men. They later learned that Muha's black 1996 Chevrolet Blazer was missing from outside the house.
About 6 p.m. June 1, Steubenville city patrolmen pulled over the vehicle. The driver and a passenger ran from police, and a short foot pursuit ensued.
Patrolman Jason Hanlon testified that the passenger eluded police, but the driver was apprehended. The driver identified himself as "Michael Poole." It was later learned that the man had misidentified himself to police. His real name was Terrell Yarbrough.
A short time later, after leaving Yarbrough at the police station and returning to their patrol, the officers were dispatched to a report of a suspicious vehicle.
Upon checking the license plate, they found that the green BMW had been stolen from a Squirrel Hill woman. Police apprehended the driver, Nathan "Boo" Herring.
At the time, Yarbrough and Herring were not suspects in the kidnapping and killing of Muha and Land.
Steubenville Detective John M. Lelless testified that on June 4, 1999, Herring took him to a spot along Route 22 in Robinson Township where Herring said Muha and Land's bodies were located. The bodies, however, were not found in the wooded area.
Yarbrough's trial opened Monday, a week and a half after proceedings began to select a jury to decide his fate. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty in the case if Yarbrough is convicted of first-degree murder.
A jury consisting of nine women and three women, as well as two female and one male alternates, listened intently as Assistant District Attorney Michael Lucas and Yarbrough's attorney Ken Haber gave their opening statements.
Lucas told the jury that he would provide evidence during the course of the trial to prove that both Yarbrough and Herring intended to kill Muha and Land when they followed them up a steep and rocky hillside in Robinson Township, near what is now known as the P-G Pavilion.
Lucas also said he will show that Yarbrough and Herring tried to use Muha's bank card to get money from an automated teller machine in Pittsburgh before carjacking a woman in Squirrel Hill and stealing her BMW.
The jury then heard from Haber, who contends it was Herring who killed the students and then made a frantic attempt to destroy the evidence, especially the large-caliber gun used in the shooting. Haber claims that a .44-caliber gun was found in 2001 in the duct work of an Ohio house formerly occupied by Herring's uncle.
The gun did not have a barrel or a grip, and it was wrapped in a towel and a copy of a search warrant issued by police two years earlier for Herring's residence in Steubenville.
The defense attorney claimed the barrel of the gun was removed so that police could not identify it is as the murder weapon by comparing imprints with the bullets used to kill Muha and Land.
Haber said Herring was the smarter of the two men and referred to a 59 score that Yarbrough received after taking an IQ test several years prior the murders.
"The evidence will show that Terrell Yarbrough did not kill anybody," said Haber.
This is Yarbrough's second trial in connection with the slayings.
In 2001, an Ohio jury convicted him of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death. The Ohio jurors also convicted Yarbrough of an array of other charges, including kidnapping, receiving stolen property and weapons charges, for which he was sentenced to 59 years in prison.
In December 2004, however, the Ohio Supreme Court overturned Yarbrough's murder conviction, saying there was no jurisdiction to prosecute in Ohio since the killings occurred in Washington County. The decision did not pertain to Yarbrough's other convictions.
Two years later, then-Washington County District Attorney John C. Pettit decided to charge Yarbrough and retry him here for the deaths.
Meanwhile, Herring also was convicted in Ohio for the slayings and was sentenced to life in prison for a murder conviction that also was overturned. Herring also has been charged in Washington County and is waiting to be tried after Yarbrough.
Yarbrough's trial is to continue at 9:30 a.m. today.
Related articles:
Robbery victim: Yarbrough acted as 'protector'
Former FBI blood analyst takes stand in double murder trial
Detective testifies on day two of murder trial
Selection continues for jurors in Yarbrough death-penalty case
Victim's mother finds comfort in his life
Home
LIFE : 10/27/2009
They should both be sentenced to death. They were already found guilty! They should have never overturned the ruling! What if the jury messes this up? Then there are 2 killers on the lose again!
Reliving this! : 10/27/2009
Just as members of the deceased are not pleased with reliving this nightmare, neither are the family members of those accused of doing this. The families on both sides have been saddend and tormented with the thoughts and actions that have occurred. Their are relatives on both sides of this story, that have experienced pain from this frightful event. Please keep everyone in mind!
Agree : 10/27/2009
I agree DC. These two are just wasting tax payers money for a new trial. They were found guilty once, they will be found guilty again and the tax payers will be paying for a long time.
Channel 9 : 10/28/2009
According to channel nine, a old jail mate of the defendent sd Yarborough sd it was in the river? There is alot to get straight. God Bless everyone involved!
Mistakes : 10/28/2009
Half of the facts and dates in this are wrong. Yarbrough/Poole was a suspect from the day he was arrested -- May 31, because he was driving the missing man's car. Also, Boo Herring was not driving the BMW when police found it -- it was abandoned. He wasn't arrested until several days later, when a search warrant was served on his residence. Please try to be more accurate!
re:Reliving this : 10/28/2009
while i am sure the relatives are stressed/saddened by their family members actions all over again, there is just no comparing to the fact that the victim's families are missing 10 years of their loved ones. Those boys are always going to be 18 years old thanks to the killers. Big difference.
RE: Reliving this: : 10/29/2009
I would hope that you were raised not to judge a book by its cover! My point was that everyone involved in this situation has been saddened and experienced alot of grief behind what has happened. But let the truth be told, you nor I have no idea what happened that day, we can only speculate and listen to what others are saying. Keeping that in mind, pray for all of those involved, instead of just pointing the finger. Read the stories, not everything is adding up...these men, then boys that are on trial for this have missed 10 years of their lives also. What if the man in ? in this trial actually didnt murder these boys, then what...Guess what he spent 10 years of his life locked up for something that he didnt do...Think before you speak out of turn.
RE: reliving this : 11/1/2009
Again I ask, better off alive or dead? No judgment necessary. Simple fact. And there is nothing out of turn of what I said. What kind of bizarre accusation is that? You may speak, but I may not?
