Attorneys trade barbs on day 6 of Greg Leon murder trial
A slow morning of technical evidence about bullet trajectory and gunpowder residue erupted into a volley of allegations between attorneys during Greg Leon’s murder trial Friday.
What began as two objections from defense attorney Jack Swerling to questions posed by prosecutor Rick Hubbard turned into an acrimonious back and forth.
“There’s no way I would ever ask a state’s witness about something that is not in evidence, that we were not going to rely on in this case. I am just astounded that this is where we are right now!” thundered veteran defense attorney Jack Swerling.
“I’m astounded I’m being blasted as if I’m playing some kind of trickery,” Hubbard, the 11th Circuit Solicitor, replied.
“There’s a lot of slight of hand going on here,” Swerling shot back.
The five-minute exchange took place out of the jury’s earshot after Judge Walton J. McLeod IV ordered the 12 Lexington County jurors and two alternates to take a five-minute break.
The jurors ultimately will determine whether Leon, the owner of several Midlands restaurants, committed murder when he shot and killed his wife’s lover on Valentine’s Day 2016. Leon had discovered his wife, Rachel, and Arturo Bravo Santos on the backseat of a pickup truck. Bravo Santos was naked except for a pair of socks.
Leon says he shot in self defense because he thought Bravo Santos reached for a gun after Leon opened the door. Leon fired four shots, three of them stricking Bravo Santos. Two of those shots were fatal, according to pathologist testimony.
At stake is the pivotal question of how Bravo Santos, a 28-year-old construction worker, was positioned on the backseat of the Toyota Tacoma when he was shot and killed. On the stand Thursday, Leon testified that the younger man was leaning forward and reaching towards a center console, as if for a weapon. No weapon was ever found in the car.
Friday’s testimony came from Bob Tressel, formerly the chief investigator for both the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office in Georgia and the Cobb County District Attorneys Office. Tressel, the second defense witness and 22nd witness overall, made a number of significant claims to bolster the defense’s argument that Leon believed Bravo Santos represented a threat.
Crucially, Tressel testified that he agreed with Newberry pathologist Dr. Janice Ross, who testified on June 23 that a so-called slap wound or slap bruise on the inside of Bravo Santos’ right arm indicated that his arm was down when he was shot.
Ross’ testimony produced one of the trial’s first dramatic twists. She initially had determined that Bravo Santos’ right arm was raised when he was shot. But she later said she changed her finding after discovering the slap bruise, something defense attorneys didn’t discover until she testified. That prompted a three-day delay in the trial and a defense motion for a mistrial, which the judge denied.
But Tressel argued on the stand Friday that even though Bravo Santos’ arm was down, he still could have been reaching for something.
“With his upper arm in this position we still have no way of knowing where his right hand and forearm were,” Tressel testified.
He also testified that while the dynamic situation inside of the car made determining the exact body position difficult, the angle of the slap wound, in conjunction with the bullet wound, was actually consistent with Bravo Santos leaning forwards.
“Forensically yes, they could be consistent with him (Bravo Santos) reaching forward towards the center console,” Tressel testified under a slow direct examination by defense attorney Alissa Wilson.
He also argued that a deformed hollow point bullet found on the ground next to Rachel Leon’s Mercedes SUV was actually the nonfatal shot that passed through Bravo Santos’ chest, before striking the truck window. The state has previously argued that the round that struck the window was found inside of the truck door.
But things grew tense under fierce cross examination by Hubbard.
The solicitor began his questioning by asking why Tressel had not written a report about his findings. Hubbard also said no one from his office had a chance to speak with Tressel before the trial. The defense would later clarify that Tressel had not been asked to produce a report and that his name had appeared on a witness list on June 19.
A defense exhibit showing a “smear” left by a bullet ricochet was shown in Lexington County court on June 30, 2023.
The tension built when Hubbard zeroed in on one of Tressel’s claims that the driver side door in the back of the truck must have been open for a bullet to pass through Bravo Santos’ chest, ricochet off the window and land outside.
A bullet fired in the car would hit “a door, a body, or it’s going to catch air,” Hubbard asked.
“I’m not sure where we’re going with this,” Tressel said.
“I guess I’ve got you in suspense the way you had me in suspense before you got on the stand,” Hubbard replied.
But when Hubbard asked if Tressel had used images generated by Gerry McDevitt, a forensic reconstruction expert contracted by the defense, Swerling made repeated objections. He said it was inappropriate for Hubbard to ask questions about exhibits prepared by a witness that the defense is not going to call.
“I think any attorney is entitled to ask any expert what that expert relied on,” McLeod said after dismissing the jury.
On the record, Wilson attempted to clarify that McDevitt actually used Tressel’s findings to generate his reconstructions, not the other way around. But it was not enough to cool the rising temperature between Hubbard and Swerling.
“I have a right now to be just as angry as Mr. Swerling says he is: My integrity is now being attacked. I’m asking an expert if he relied on something…. if he did rely on it, I can go into it. That’s textbook. And to say somehow that I’m underhanded, that I’m being unethical and that…” Hubbard said
“I didn’t say that,” Swerling cut him off.
“Well, underhanded?” Hubbard
“Alright, y’all can take a five-minute break as well,” McLeod said, dismissing the attorneys. As he left, Hubbard could be heard to mutter “circus.”
When they returned, Hubbard and Swerling once again appeared on good terms.
Before the judge called the jury back, the attorneys took a moment to place more measured statements on the record in recognition that the situation had gotten out of hand.
“Nothing unethical was intended” Swerling said, explaining that he only wanted to make the point that Tressel had appeared on the witness list. “I just wanted to clarify that, it was just a question about when things were communicated.”
Echoing his contrite tone, Hubbard clarified that his line of questioning was only designed to show the lack of a report.
“He’s (Swerling’s) always been a gentleman, somebody I could always reach out to,” Hubbard said.
The trial is set to resume July 5.
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