Posted: 11/9/04
Psychologist, victim testify at Meyer trial
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
The defense started its arguments in the Justin Meyer kidnapping trial on November 8, with a psychologist refuting some of the testimony given the previous week.
Dr. Thomas Sannito, a licensed psychologist from Dubuque, Iowa, spoke on Monday about the 3-1/2 hours of interviews and testing that he did with Justin Meyer during three different interviews.
ìI learned that he really is a goofed up individual,î Sannito said.
Meyer cried and sobbed through much of the interviews, Sannito said. ìHe was in a state of depression and guilt over what he had done.î
A psychological test showed that Meyer had low self-esteem, and had been seriously depressed for a long time, Sannito said.
Meyer was above the 99 percent norm for paranoia, meaning he was distrustful, and super sensitive, Sannito added.
Along with that mental assessment, Sannito was led by defense attorney Steven Hodge to recount many of Meyerís statements about the murder of Mark Sullivan and the alleged kidnapping that followed.
Meyer told him that he was intending to kill himself right before he shot Sullivan on December 8, 2003, and he told the woman and Sullivan to calm down. Meyer told Sannito that he had turned to say something to the woman and the gun went off. ìI thought he was coming after me. It was close, it was a reaction,î Meyer told Sannito.
Meyer told Sannito that after the murder, the woman stopped him from killing himself by grabbing the barrel of the gun. She also said they could cover up the crime by burning the house down. ìSheís telling me what to do,î Meyer told Sannito said. ìI was just doing what she was saying.î
After they returned to New Albin after the murder, Meyer told Sannito that the woman objected to his first request for sex, but that she did not object the second time. Sannitoís summary set the stage for Justin Meyerís testimony. But he declined to do that on Monday and the defense rested.
Mother testifies first
Before Sannitoís testimony, public defender Hodge questioned Gail Meyer, Justinís mother.
The New Albin woman told how her son had said he was going to change his life after he and the woman broke up on November 1. Justin Meyer had applied for technical school, and had met with a psychologist, Gail said.
She noted that her son and the woman had gone shopping together on November 23, six days after he was served with a no-contact order from the woman.
Gail Meyer said that Justin had told her on the telephone on December 6 that the woman and their son had spent the previous night with him in New Albin, where he lived with his parents. Gail and her husband were on vacation in Jamaica at the time.
Gail said that after she returned home, she found a camera that had photos of the woman and her son which she believes were taken at the house during that time, which she dated by the state of the remodeling project that had been going on in the house.
Gail also found wine in the refrigerator, flowers in the house, and socks in the laundry that had not been in the house before she went on vacation.
In cross examination, prosecutor Patricia Houlihan said there was no way to prove who the socks, wine, or flowers came from, nor was there any way to prove when the photos of the woman were taken.
Houlihan asked Gail Meyer if she was unhappy with the restraining order that the woman had taken against Justin Meyer.
ìI wouldnít say I was unhappy about it,î Meyer answered. ìI was confused.î
Alleged victim questioned
Prosecutors spent all of last week at the Allamakee County Courthouse in Waukon laying out their case.
The most powerful testimony came from the alleged victim, who described the abuse she had received from Meyer, and the morning of December 8, 2003, when Mark Sullivan was murdered and she was allegedly kidnapped.
The woman faced a grueling two days of questions on November 1 and 2.
Paul Kaufman, a public defender for Meyer, asked the woman why she didnít flee during the kidnapping and after the murder of Mark Sullivan early that Monday morning.
Kaufman also pointed out discrepancies in statements made to authorities after the murder.
About 20 people listened to the gut-wrenching testimony last Tuesday in the courtroom in District Court at the Allamakee County Courthouse in Waukon, Iowa.
It came a day after the woman told about the murder, and the threats and physical abuse she had received from Meyer.
Prosecutor Houlihan questioned the woman first on November 2.
The woman told Houlihan that she was holding her 10-month-old son throughout the ordeal, and that he was crying most of the time. Meyer is the boyís father.
The woman said she tried to go out the front door twice after the murder, but that it was deadbolted shut. One time he slammed the 16-gauge shotgun that he had allegedly used in the shooting of Sullivan against the door, and yelled, ìYouíre not f------ going anywhere,î the woman said.
When she retrieved her cell phone from her car at Meyerís request, he followed her to the car, she said.
Asked why she didnít scream for help, the woman said she felt Meyer would kill her to keep her quiet. She said she thought she was going to die. ìThatís why I started to tell him that I loved him.î
She acted friendly toward him after the shooting to keep him calm, she said. ìHe was on a rampage.î
Meyer kept saying that he wasnít going to go to prison. At one point he wanted to burn the house down, and throw Sullivanís body in the river, the woman said.
Moved Sullivanís truck
Before they went to New Albin, Meyer had the woman drive Sullivanís truck to his house on Grove Street in Caledonia. Meyer kept their child with him in his truck. ìI felt I couldnít escape when my child was in another vehicle,î she said.
During the trip to New Albin, Meyer had the shotgun on the seat between them, the woman said. He turned the truck around and went back to Caledonia, and tried to hide the telephone wires that he had cut, and put a board in front of the basement window that he had broken to enter the house, she said.
She said he had the gun, and she stayed in the truck with her son.
At the house in New Albin, Meyer made a bed for their son on the floor, and gave him a bottle, the woman said; then he took their son to a bedroom upstairs and laid him on the floor there.
She said she followed him upstairs, where he asked to have sex with her one more time. ìI said ëNo, Justiní,î the woman told Houlihan.
She said she didnít know how he could do that. ìHow sick is he to be doing this?î she remembered thinking. She told investigators that she had told that to Justin.
ìI just laid there and I turned my head,î she said.
Asked why she didnít fight him off, the woman answered, ìëCause heís a lot stronger than me.î
Both called police
After the alleged assault, Justinís brother came to the house. The woman said she told Justin to tell his brother that he had killed a man, and he did.
They all went to the garage to smoke a cigarette. Then the woman went back into the house. She said she heard Justinís brother tell him to turn himself in.
The woman used her cell phone to call 9-1-1 at 7:52 a.m.. Meyer called police on a different phone at 7:46.
When the police came, she ran to meet them and tell them what had happened. She was asked if she had been raped, and she said yes. She said she told them that Mark Sullivan was a good man and didnít deserve that.
She called her father and stepmother. Her dad came and took her to the Waukon hospital, where a rape exam took place. ìItís humiliating,î she said in a halting voice.
Houlihan then read part of the womanís statement that she gave to police after the rape exam, how Meyer wouldnít let her call anyone, and that he wanted to kill himself and her.
Kaufman objected, calling the comments needless cumulative evidence intended to play to the jury. Judge John Bauercamper overruled the objection.
ìHe was in control, I had no control,î Houlihan read from the womanís December 8 statement.
Houlihan asked the woman why she didnít tell authorities right away that she had moved Mark Sullivanís truck after the murder and before they went to New Albin. ìIt was really hard for me to deal with it,î she said. She felt that by moving the truck that she had something to do with it, that she was afraid of what Markís friends would think.
Houlihan asked the woman to point to Meyer, who sat at a table about 20 feet in front of her. She pointed a shaking arm in his direction and sobbed, ìHeís over there.î
Houlihan asked how the woman felt about Justin Meyer today. Kaufman objected, saying the question was not relevant. Bauercamper sustained the objection.
Houlihan then asked if the woman willingly had sex with Meyer. ìNo I did not,î she answered.
Did she willing go with him to New Albin? ìNo I did not.î
Did she ever feel she could get away? ìNo, I didnít.î
Cross-examination
Testimony during Kaufmanís cross-examination became even more emotional as he tried to put a different slant on the points that Houlihan had raised.
Speaking in a loud voice, and occasionally jabbing a finger at the woman, he read from depositions that the woman had made, which seemed to fluster her and brought frequent answers of ìI donít know.î
Under his questioning, she admitted that she had initiated contact with Meyer after a no-contact order had been issued about a month before the murder.
Kaufman said the woman never told Meyer their relationship was over, and had in fact told him that she loved him as late as December 7, the day before the murder and alleged kidnapping.
ìI donít know if I said that,î she said.
The womanís memory faltered on other points, like when she had last been to Meyerís house, and that she had been with him at a shopping mall in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on December 4.
Kaufman recounted the womanís statements to police on February 23, when she admitted to moving Sullivanís truck, how she had told some people that Sullivan had walked to her house on the night he was killed.
ìI was afraid of being involved in all of this,î she explained.
ìNone of that was true, was it?î Kaufman asked in a stern voice.
ìNo!î the woman sobbed.
You could have driven to the police, Kaufman pressed.
ìMy son was not with me. I could not leave him,î the woman answered.
Yet you told officers that Meyer would not ever hurt your son, Kaufman said.
ìI didnít know where he would take him,î she replied.
Kaufman also brought out discrepancies in the womanís statement about when Meyer went back to her house to cover up evidence of the crime, about whether or not Meyer took their son with him, and whether he had the gun with him.
ìIf I could have gotten away, I would have,î she cried. She could not talk after that, so Bauercamper called a recess.
After more questions, Kaufman said the woman suggested that Meyer cover up the crime. She said she was acting like she cared. ìI didnít want to make him mad.î She called it reverse psychology.
ìYes sir, I played his game and Iím alive now,î she said defiantly.
Mistrial motion denied
Editorís note: The final two paragraphs of this section of last weekís story on the Meyer trial were inadvertently omitted. Here is the section of the story intact.
In between the two opening statements on November 1, public defender Paul Kaufman asked for a mistrial, claiming that prosecutor David Voight had made inflammatory and prejudicial remarks and that Meyer could not have a fair trial.
He objected to a statement and demonstration by Voight that Meyer had raised a 16-gauge shotgun to his shoulder and pointed it at the woman and Sullivan. Kaufman read from the womanís disposition where she said ìGod noî when asked if Meyer had held the gun to his shoulder.
Voight responded that the woman had said she was staring down the barrel of the shotgun. He said Meyerís conduct in the murder said volumes about his conduct toward the woman and why she acted as she did.
It was ìinextricably intertwinedî with how he confined her and moved her, Voight said. ìQuite frankly, murdering Mark Sullivan was the means to do that,î Voight said.
Judge Bauercamper dismissed the motion for a mistrial, stating the opening statement was consistent with the courts ruling of evidence. If there is a variance, it is not extreme enough to cause a mistrial, the judge said.
Bauercamper estimated that the trial could take two weeks.
The prosecution has a witness list of 46 people. The defense has five witnesses, not including Justin Meyer, whom Hodge said will testify on his own behalf.
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