CHAPTER 16 - THE MYSTERY MAN

The following testimony is from the Preliminary Hearing on 2/4/2004. The person asking the questions is Mr. Doran, the defendants attorney. The person answering is Vickie Brown. Q. "All right. Now you had described to one of the investigators..that there was another person present that you saw; is that correct, Vickie?" A. "Yes."...Q. "And this other individual was in front of the door; is that correct?" A. "Not as in front, like you would get in the vehicle, but on the other side of it."...Q. "Okay. Now, where was the male subject looking at, Vicki?" A. "He was looking at Brian." Q. "All right. Could you describe what this male subject looked like?" A. "No, sir, other than a red hat and a blue shirt."....Q. "All right. Could this other male subject at the scene be holding a weapon in his hand?" A. "I don't know, sir."

The following is from the Preliminary Hearing testimony. Now the person answering questions is Corporal H.J. Folsom. The cross examination is by Mr. Doran. Q. "All right. Now, you had conducted a taped-interview with Vicki Brown; is that correct, Corporal?" A. "I believe two tapes. Q. "All right. Did Ms. Brown inform you during either of those interviews that there was another man present in the parking lot the night Mr. Maxwell was shot?" A. "Ms. Brown indicated to me that there were two or three other people that she remembered seeing in the parking lot. However, she could not recall if it was two minutes before the shooting, 30 seconds before the shooting or 20 minutes before the shooting. Later in the subsequent--I did a second interview of her." Q. "Yes, sir." A. "She seemed to recall that there was someone there who she identified--she identified in the bar that night. There were some deer hunters from St. Louis, and she identified a man who she thought was standing near the front of the van as an Inman, and subsequently later, I located the actual person she identified as Brian Inman. I conducted an interview of him and I located the  deer hunters, who she identified in the bar, and I conducted interviews of them." Q. "All right. Did any of those individuals appear to have been present during the incident?" A. "No, sir." Q. "So would it be your belief that Ms. Brown was mistaken as to whether someone was actually there during the shooting?" A. "It would be my personal belief that Ms. Brown was so intoxicated, I do not believe that she knew if there was anyone standing there at the time of the shooting or if they were there 15 minutes before the shooting. That's my personal belief." Q. "So you believe she was very intoxicated?" A. "From her description and witness' descriptions, she had to be carried from the bar that night, she couldn't even walk on her own, so I would say that she was, in my opinion, too intoxicated to remember actual timelines of when she had seen someone in the bar..."

The following testimony is from the criminal trial. On the stand is Vickie Brown. Cross examining is Mr. Mitchell. Q. "Was there anyone else located at the van?" A. "At what time, sir?" Q. "At the time of this alleged pop." A. "When I went around the van I saw Mr. Brooks kicking him, and I saw a man in a red hat and a blue shirt standing in front of the door." Q. "And who was that man?" A. "I believe he was from the bar." Q. "You can't identify him, can you?" A. "No. I don't think I can identify him." In his closing statement, this is what Mr. Mitchell said. "..Comes around, this time kicking and stomping, and lo and behold, we have a new entrant, a new person. Who is this mystery man with the blue shirt and red hat? Don't hear a lot about him. Nobody else knows he's there, but Vickie tells you he is. Is she the one that committed this heinous crime? Is it the mystery man standing at the front of the van? I don't know. But what is con--Those are all inconsistencies, things that changed. Why? Why?"