Dance of Death (35 page)

“She volunteered this information about poison. She volunteered this information about a knife. These weren't questions that were put to her in a manner where she had no choice. They were open-ended questions and she just starts talking.”

Hembree held the jury spellbound with his theatrical performance:

Brent Poole's family followed every word of Hembree's presentation. Their ashen faces and swollen red eyes testified to the many sleepless nights they had experienced since first hearing of Brent's murder.

“The plan, ladies and gentlemen, was laid out, not only the plan to commit the murder, but the plan to cover the murder after it was committed.” Hembree delivered his fiery argument, using an elongated pointer to tap on the floor and the exhibits for emphasis when he wanted to make a point.

Hembree contended there were certain tasks Frazier had to do in preparation. “The plan goes into action, John Boyd Frazier first: One, got off work the eighth, nineth, and tenth. Two, got to have a car that nobody recognizes. Borrows car from his friend Kayle Schettler. Three, got to have a gun. ‘I need a weapon. I can afford to get rid of that TZ-75 because it has a tendency to misfire.'

“Then, Renee's got to prepare. One, got to get the hotel. Gives John the room number at Carolina Winds. Room six-oh-four. Two, got to get him alone in a secluded area. They know of a secluded place in Myrtle Beach, where it's dark and no lights. Three, got to get a baby-sitter. Needed a baby-sitter from ten until two.

“That was all part of the plan. Renee and John had at least one conversation during the course of the week when she was trying to call the baby-sitter. And he was over at her house on the Saturday before they left for the beach. The plan is in—-the train now is on the track. The plan is rolling, the execution of the plan.”

Hembree waited for the jurors to digest it. His voice then turned soft and sympathetic.

“As you recall, little Katie was sitting on her daddy's lap. She begins crying when he gets up to leave. He's kind of trying to console her. ‘Let me get you something to eat. Are you hungry?' And as Carolyn Murphy described it, Renee Poole was like, ‘Get on out.' Go. Go. She was shooing him. It was sort of push . . . shooing him: ‘Get on out. We've got to move. We've got to get moving.' And is this somebody on vacation or is this somebody that has a deadline to meet?”

The prosecutor continued to lay out the agenda: Dick's Last Resort, Fast Eddie's, the withdrawal of fifty dollars at the ATM and the Wings Beachstore to get a towel.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna submit to you that this starts one of the most diabolical aspects of this whole plan,” he stressed. “This young man, his anniversary at the beach, [he's] excited . . . he's enthusiastic. They're going to get a towel, for one reason, and one reason only. . . .”

Hembree continued to build the suspense. “They began walking north. Brent Poole was happy. They get past Eighty-second Avenue and at some point there, Kimberly Renee Poole engages Brent Poole in . . . sex. . . . ” His voice became even softer and he looked as if he were almost to the point of tears. “To give her lover time to get to the killing field. We know that, and the SLED officer testified that there was semen in his underwear on his anniversary.”

Expressions on the juror's faces seemed to change, as if they, too, believed that was the most despicable act they'd ever heard.

“John Frazier. She's held up her end of the deal. She's got him secluded. She's got him vulnerable. She's got him right where she said she'd have him. North of the hotel, walk away from the lights, just like the plan, twelve o'clock, end of the baby-sitter's shift. Late as she could possibly do it. Have him right there. She's held up her end of the deal.”

The jury was spellbound.

“After listening to all the testimony,” Hembree concluded, “it is clear as to what Renee's plan was.”

He then turned his comments toward Renee's lover and ridiculed him for his role in the murder.

“John Boyd Frazier, his execution of the plan. Now, John Boyd Frazier is certainly not a professional assassin. He has demonstrated that through his handling of this murder, the way he acted. He's hanging out at the hotel. He thinks he's pretty clever, all black. He must have seen this on
Hogan's Heroes,
or something. He's all dressed up in black—you know, black pants, long pants, in the middle of the summer, for heaven's sake. What's gonna draw someone's attention to you more than this—who is this yo-yo wearing, you know, a long-sleeved, hooded sweatshirt in the middle of the night, when it's warm, and long black pants? It drew their attention.

“The Hobbses, the first thing they [saw] when they came down for a midnight walk. You consider the credibility of those two witnesses, ladies and gentlemen. You consider the credibility of the Hobbses. It's their anniversary, too. It's kind of ironic. They come down here, they're gonna go for a walk on the beach, and they see this guy and he looks suspicious, and Mr. Hobbs said he had that kind of funny look in his eyes.”

Hembree defended the Hobbses' description and identification of Frazier: “I'll tell you folks, that photo-lineup procedure that was followed in this case is outstanding. . . . Immediately, [they said] ‘That's the guy. No problem. . . . No question about it.' Lo and behold, what a coincidence, they identified John Boyd Frazier.”

Hembree paused to take a poke at the defense's ponytail theory.

“. . . And this whole bit, I have to clear this up. It's not that important. This whole ponytail business, don't get sidetracked by that. You listen to the tape. There's no mention of a ponytail on that tape.... He never said anything about a ponytail. That was something Mr. Diggs kind of asked him about.”

Hembree told the jurors that Renee and John had planned to cover up the murder with a robbery. But the found wallet with credit cards and money still in it—pitched twenty-five feet into a yard—had to dispel that notion.

Furthermore, why would a robber kill Brent and not Renee?

“He shot him, execution style, two bullets to the head. Now, again, not the best professional assassin in the world. [Frazier says,] ‘We're gonna cover this thing with a robbery. That's the plan' . . . Well, if you're gonna commit a robbery and kill the witnesses, because there's no other reason in the world if you believe it's just a straight-out stranger robbery—and you're gonna kill the witnesses. You're gonna kill some, but not all? So now, you've got a witness not only to a robbery, but to a murder? It doesn't make sense. It's crazy. If you're gonna do that, you're gonna shoot one, and then you're not gonna shoot the other? It's not a robbery; it's a murder. It's an execution.”

As related to Frazier's drive home after the murder, Hembree speculated he had 5½, almost 6 hours from the time he committed the murder until the officer knocked on his door to get back. “He had not only time to get back, he had time to wash the car, wax the car, take his clothes and drive out in the country and burn them. I mean, he had all kinds of time. That's not the problem.”

The jurors were getting much more from Hembree than they had ever expected. He attacked the defense's perception of Renee's demeanor and told them Renee had waited five minutes before she acted. And that her vague story was part of the plan to protect herself and her lover. He reminded the jurors that her demeanor was calm and confident at times, looking for a check next door. It was the same type of masquerade she had worn while pretending to be “Miss Christian” with her friend Cynthia Hanson, but the statement to her next-door neighbors of, “I know he was a shit, but I still feel sorry for him” belied her true feelings.

“What possibly could be going through her mind and her heart?” Hembree dangled the question before the jurors. He then discussed her “supposedly” coercive testimony that the defense had made a lot of hoopla over. The prosecutor reminded the jury she had a lawyer. “She agrees to talk. It's just that simple. She made voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver, and she signed it, agreed to it. She made a choice.”

Hembree disputed the testimony of the defense's key expert witness, Dr. Tony Albiniak. He alleged the expert witness did not give accurate information and had made assumptions that were outside his area of expertise.

“These statements are a tremendous problem for the defense in this case,” he redirected the juror's attention in a loud voice. “Because they said, ‘I did it.' They say, ‘I'm guilty. I planned the murder with my boyfriend and I went out and I did it. I killed him,' and now here we are. [If] they don't deal with those, there's no reason to be here, okay? They've gotta do something about it. They can't just let them lay there, so they drag in ol' Dr. Albiniak from Coastal Carolina, a paid defense witness. ‘Tell us what you know, Doctor. Give us your opinion on all this,' and he says, ‘You know I don't like it.'You know, he doesn't like it. Well, folks, he's not the boss, all right? He's not the one that gets to decide these things. He's a psychologist, for heaven's sake. He's not—and he says—he admits this has nothing to do with the law. This is a legal problem. There's no legal problems with this, ‘But as a psychologist, I have problems with it.'

“Well, you know, if he's on trial, then we can talk about that. But he's not, right? This isn't a court of psychology. Thank heavens we haven't moved to that yet in our country. It's a court of law. We deal with law, and he admits that that's not his thing, that's not what he's looking at. What's particularly troubling, though, about his testimony, which was really interesting, when he said, ‘Well, there may have been actual cases where people have admitted to things that they didn't do, but nothing as serious as this now.' Those were his words, folks, ‘But nothing as serious as this.' Now, I guess this would be the first reported case of its kind in his mind in the world. I find that kind of a stretch.”

Hembree pointed out further that Albiniak failed to interview the defendant and even failed to listen to [Renee's] last interview tape [with the police]. “He just didn't take the time to do it. He had the tapes. He just didn't say, ‘I didn't have the opportunity to,' [he] just didn't take the time, and that's poppycock. That's junk science, and it ought to be treated just like that.”

The prosecutor then addressed what the defense had termed as being “unfair and dishonest” police interviews.

“It's no secret that they lied to her. That's no big revelation or smoking gun. They did it. They misled her to try to get her to confess. Now, you may not like that. I mean, personally you may feel like that's unfair or it's distasteful, but I'm gonna tell you it's legal. It's legal. Not only is it legal, it's effective in reaching the truth.”

Jack and Marie Summey looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

Finally, the last issue Hembree chose to contest was the defense's contention regarding Renee's withdrawal from conspiracy.

“She could have canceled the trip, changed the hotel, or canceled the baby-sitter. At any point along here, she can get off that train. She doesn't do that. She can save her husband's life [at] any point. So many ways. ‘Let's not go out tonight. Let's stay in the hotel. Let's not go to Dick's Last Resort. Why don't we go to the south end? I'm sorry, I don't feel like going out on the beach tonight. I have a headache. Why don't we put the kids [
sic
] to sleep and go out on the balcony? Or why don't we change hotels?' Or take your pick, all these opportunities to withdraw from this—this diabolical conspiracy—and every single time is consistent with one goal, one result. The death of Brent Poole.”

It must have occurred to the jurors by now that the prosecution had already painted a portrait of inconsistency in Renee's testimony and her actions. Just in case, the solicitor provided them another plausible motive.

“She did not withdraw for a reason. And that reason was she wanted it all. She wanted the money, the hundred thousand plus; she wanted the house; she wanted the truck; she wanted sole custody of her daughter; she wanted her lover; she wanted to do what she wanted to do. That's why she didn't stop this thing. That's why she didn't withdraw. She not only didn't withdraw, she continued on after the crime had been committed, lying to protect herself and her lover. That's not withdrawal, ladies and gentlemen, that's not even close. That's not even a second thought.”