NORWICH – The defense says accused murderer George Ford Jr. will take the stand Friday.
Defense Attorney Randel Scharf told reporters outside the Chenango County Courthouse Wednesday that Ford would testify in his own defense tomorrow.
The announcement came just an hour after District Attorney Joseph A. McBride told Broome County Judge Joseph F. Cawley that the people were resting in the case. McBride called 21 witnesses since he began presenting his case Feb. 2.
After McBride rested his case, Scharf tried unsuccessfully to have the charges against his client dismissed.
“The prosecution’s case, judge, is replete of evidence of intent. There isn’t any evidence that George Ford intended to commit murder when he caused the death of Shyanne Somers. And that’s simply because he didn’t intend to kill her,” he said.
The 44-year-old Ford is charged with the July 2007 slaying of his 12-year-old neighbor, Shyanne Somers, who was supposed to baby-sit his two-year-old son so he could return to a graduation party.
After picking up the girl at around 11:30 p.m. July 7, 2007, Ford’s wife, Cindy, decided against returning and Ford then allegedly left with the girl to bring her home. Ford said he took Somers to see some horses he kept on Will Warner Road and accidentally ran over the girl while turning his pick-up truck around.
The prosecution claims that a GPS tracker in Ford’s truck, evidence found at the scene and at an abandoned seasonal residence just up the road prove that the defendant lied to police and murdered the young girl.
Another factor in the case is that Ford did not arrive at the hospital with the girl until several hours after the incident.
“Judge, he left her there. Not because it was good for her, because it was good for him. Because now to prevent him from getting in trouble, he had to come up with a story as to what happened,” said McBride yesterday.
In his effort to get the case dismissed, Scharf reminded the court that medical examiner Dr. James Terzian, who performed the autopsy, still to this day could not classify Somers’ death as a homicide. He also said that the time of her death supported Ford’s story as much as it did the prosecution’s.
Scharf also said the accident reconstruction evidence was not definitive and lacked the ability to show intent.
“The accident reconstructionist who carefully examined the scene on Will Warner Road said he couldn’t tell, couldn’t say, if it was a homicide or any other type of accident because he said he’d have to know what was inside of George Ford’s head,” said Scharf.
Scharf went on to add that the GPS evidence also could not show intent.
“It doesn’t account for human emotion. It doesn’t account for what’s in somebody’s mind. It just depicts where the GPS tracking key was located. It doesn’t say what somebody felt or thought or what their intentions were. And it’s 40 something feet off the road,” he said.
