Trial of Tenn. women accused of killing local man begins

Two Tennessee women will apparently blame the killing of a Williamsburg man two years ago on the other one during their homicide trial, which is scheduled to begin today.
Jury selection is slated to begin this morning in the trial of Evelyn Ball and Loretta Evans, who are accused in the death of Edgar Perkins on May 12, 2004.
Attorneys indicated during a hearing Tuesday morning that each defendant will likely blame the killing on the other.
On June 14, 2004, the Whitley County Grand Jury indicted Ball, 35, of Duff, Tenn., for capital murder in Perkins killing, and Evans, 33, of Jellico, for criminal complicity to commit murder in Perkins death.
His brother found Perkins, 76, of North Sixth Street, dead early the morning of May 12, 2004, and state medical examiners determined that he was strangled to death.
Both Evans and Ball were also indicted for first-degree robbery for allegedly using physical force on Perkins in order to accomplish a theft, according to their indictments.
Prosecutors announced last year that they plan to seek the death penalty against both women, but struck a deal with Evans earlier this year not to seek the death penalty against her – provided the jury convicts her – if she testified for the prosecution during the trial.
Early on in the investigation, Evans gave a statement to police blaming the killing on Ball.
Mark Stanziano, an attorney for Ball, told Judge Paul Braden Tuesday that his client contends that she wasn’t the killer, but rather that Evans was responsible for the slaying.
Stanziano also indicated that his client planned to introduce evidence of prior criminal acts involving Evans, which her attorneys described as an effort to portray her to the jury as someone with “bad character.”
Stanziano told Braden that Evans told police Ball struck Perkins with a wine bottle, and then strangled him. He contended that Evans has twice struck people over the head with bottles though.
“We are trying to show this is the person more likely to be hitting someone over the head, not Ms. Ball,” Stanziano argued.
Evans lawyer, Roger Gibbs, said introducing such allegations would be very prejudicial to his client. Ron Findell, another attorney representing Evans, noted that she has no felony criminal record, but that she did have a misdemeanor record.
Braden indicated that he would review the matter, but that his inclination would be to rule that Evans prior criminal record would be inadmissible since she was not convicted of any felonies.
Stanziano asked if Braden ruled the evidence inadmissible that he severe the two trials, and try Ball first, which Gibbs said Evans would not object to.
Opening statements in the case are slated to begin next Tuesday morning.
Braden reserved the remainder of the week for jury selection, which is expected to last until at least late Thursday afternoon, if not longer.
Braden noted that if enough jurors could not be qualified for the jury pool, then he would probably delay the trial until November.