A week after the jury was selected in the Steven J. Potter murder trial, prosecutors and Potter’s defense team are scheduled to make opening statements Thursday morning.
Potter, 55, is accused of killing his former wife, Kay Robertson-Potter, 51, in their Hudson, Virginia, home in October 2010. The former boss of the now-defunct Stonecon Corp. is charged with one count of capital murder, with an alternative of either the death penalty or life in prison.
During jury selection, prosecutors and Potter’s defense team both expressed confidence in their cases.
“I am confident he did not kill his wife,” defense attorney Patricia Chesley told Fox News. “I don’t know how many times he heard the question, but they keep saying they don’t know, but that’s because they don’t know.”
During jury selection, prosecutors and Potter’s defense team both expressed confidence in their cases.
Potter was a neighbor and trusted business associate, especially to Robertson-Potter, who had worked there for more than 20 years. Prosecutors say he killed her after she hired two female co-workers, Elizabeth London and Cassandra Smith, as an obstacle to continue her union against Potter, who they say betrayed Robertson-Potter.
The woman Robertson-Potter hired testified that she heard a struggle between her and Potter and caught him during a video chat from prison.
“Yes, I heard the screams. I heard her get screamed at and, yes, she was holding her throat,” London said.
But Potter’s attorneys said the jailhouse video never showed his client, and that any information from London is just speculation and not credible.
“The only thing that they have that is credible is Cassandra Smith,” Chesley said. “They decided that she was the objective witness and she admitted that she embellished her testimony. And she clearly has a motive to lie.”
Chesley said she believes the case against Potter is circumstantial, and that the killer and the motive are unknown.
“It’s always a guess, but we don’t have the motive. But we will, if need be. And in this case, the motive is not clear. And I don’t think they have it. The defense is going to have to find it. And that is the burden on the defense. “
Chesley also said both of Potter’s live-in companion, Diana Eubanks and his son-in-law, Kyle Parker, are seen on the jailhouse video recording sharing a “smooch.”
“We know their whereabouts because we know that there are two cell phones that were with them,” Chesley said. “And we know where they were, at other times in that timeframe, because they are involved in the conversation. And we know because our client talks about it to Eubanks about being in a cave in the woods or a cabin in the woods. He actually introduced Diana to his son-in-law.”
While it is unclear whether Potter used that timing information, it does raise questions about Parker’s and Eubanks’ evidence, who were hired as consultants to the defense and could be key witnesses against Potter.
“Kyle [Parker] said in a letter of reference that he would help me, his son, get his mother out of prison,” Chesley said. “That’s the first time his son-in-law ever talked about his mother being in prison, and then Kyle said “there is a mole in the defense room. And then at some point, Kyle Parker gave that deposition to the defense. And the prosecution realized they could call him and put him on the stand to testify.”