Through the Window (20 page)

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a horrible crime, and at the end of the guilt–innocence, we are going to ask that you find the defendant, Tommy Lynn Sells, guilty of capital murder.”

DEFENSE Attorney Garcia began by admitting, “This is a horrible case. It is a brutal case, and I told you that. You come in here because all twelve of you said you could be fair, that you had an open mind, and that if you had any opinions, that those would not affect or influence how you looked at this case, and now you understand how critical it is.

“Tommy Lynn Sells came in here today and he pled guilty to the attempted murder of [ . . . ] Krystal Surles. He told you that. That’s the first part of accepting some responsibility for what has been explained to you. The second part is he pled not guilty to capital murder.”

Then Garcia reached the crux of the defense: the evidence for capital murder does not exist. There was no burglary—nothing was taken from the Harris home except the screens from two windows. There was no intent to commit sexual assault.

“Never in those confessions [ . . . ] beginning on January second does he ever talk about ‘My intent to go into the Harrises’ trailer was to commit aggravated sexual assault.’ It never was. You may hear evidence that says, ‘I don’t know why, but I was.’ He is not going to deny that he was inside that trailer, and hasn’t from day one.”

Garcia continued to explain that it wasn’t until five days after his arrest that Sells admitted to touching Kay-lene’s genitals, because he was told that that confession would get him the death penalty. And, at that point, Tommy Lynn Sells wanted to die.

In closing, Garcia said, “We’re not sidestepping responsibility. We’re not sidestepping what happened. Tommy Lynn Sells has accepted responsibility for what he did, and I ask you for you to keep an open mind as to that portion of the case. Thank you.”

When Garcia was seated, he had this note from his client: “The guy with the long hair by the man with the red shirt has a hole in his neck.”

“Tracheotomy scar. It’s surgical. He will be sympathetic with Krystal Surles,” he responded.

“You would have had fun if I had not talked,” Sells jotted.

“I might have gotten you off,” was the reply.

THE first witness called by the prosecution was Noel Houchin, an employee of Larry’s Lakeside Tavern.

“He just blatantly asked me for sex,” she said. “I promptly turned him down.”

“Okay. You have said ‘blatantly’; do you recall what he might have said to you?” Hernandez asked.

“ ‘Will you have sex with me?’ “

“And what was your response?”

“I said, ‘Thank you, but no.’ “

“Did any of that continue?”

Noel rolled her eyes. “All night long. It never stopped.”

“Describe to us how that may have continued through the evening,” Hernandez requested.

“[ . . . ] I told him that my car was broke down. He offered to go and check out my car for me if I would have sex with him. He offered to pay to have it fixed for me if I would have sex with him. He then told me that he owned Amigo Motors and that I could have my pick of any vehicle on the lot if I would have sex with him.”

“And what were your responses when he made these different offers to you?”

“I tried to stay as polite as possible. I told him, ‘Thank you, but no, I have a boyfriend.’ I told him repeatedly that I wasn’t in the habit of getting paid for sex.”

“What was his reaction?”

“He just continued to ask over and over. He never seemed upset about it, just kept asking more,” she said.

“Did you all talk about anything else?”

“No. Not really. He [ . . . ] finally got around to asking me for just five minutes of my time.”

“Okay. And when you mean he asked for five minutes of your time, explain to us what you mean.”

“He [ . . . ] kept telling me that five minutes was all he needed, just five minutes of my time, just five minutes.”

“And how did you respond?”

“I just said, ‘No, thank you.’ I was being polite in as many possible ways as I could.”

“Did he ever ask you anything else?”

“Oh, he asked where I lived, several times,” Noel said.

“Did you tell him where you lived?”

“No, sir, I did not.”

“Why didn’t you tell him where you lived?”

“I thought it was kind of unusual that it would be so consistent, constantly asking over and over again for sex, and I didn’t feel comfortable telling him where I lived.”

“Did you give him any idea where you lived?”

“Yes, he asked me how long it took to get home, and I told him, ‘Approximately five minutes.’ “

“How long did Tommy Lynn Sells stay there at Larry’s Bar?”

“He stayed until [ . . . ] 2:15 A.M.”

The whole time Noel was on the stand, Sells furiously wrote notes and whispered to his attorney. In his mind, the only truth she told was that he was at Larry’s Bar that night. He scribbled “Lie, Lie, Lie” all over his legal pad.

FOLLOWING the barmaid’s testimony, the jury heard from three members of the Harris family. Crystal Harris was the first one of them to take the stand. Her face hung haggard with the pain of her recent loss. Her eyes seemed focused inward, rerunning the memory tape of her daughter, Kay-lene.

When asked how she met Sells, she said, “We met him in church, and when my husband and I decided to buy our car, our truck, we decided to go to somebody who had a dealership through our church, to help them out, and we met Tommy there and also at church.”

“What church was that?”

“Grace Community Church.”

“Now, prior to December the thirty-first of 1999, had
the defendant been to your home or visited your home?”

“Yes,” Crystal answered.

“Do you recall how many occasions he had gone to your home?”

“About three occasions that I’m aware of.”

“Do you know what the nature of his visits were?”

“He came to talk to my husband about marital problems and problems with his job.”

Hernandez asked her, “Had he seen your children when he had gone to your home?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Including Kaylene?”

“Yes.”

“Did he ever play with the dog that was in State’s Exhibit Number Sixteen?”

“Yes, he did.”

“And explain to us how that occurred.”

“On one occasion when he was at our home, the kids wanted to take the dog on a walk and Tommy helped them put the harness on the dog. The kids took the dog on a walk and played with him in the front yard, and he [Sells] was very happy. The dog liked him.”

AS Terry Harris took the stand, Sells’ pen flashed across his notepad, “Terry Harris. Nail his ass!!! He’s a punk. A want-to-be.”

Harris testified about his relationship with Sells and their encounter before Terry left Del Rio for Kansas. When Garcia did not question him about cocaine, Sells wrote, “You may know what you’re doing but I want to know what you’re doing.”

“I want to cover better when we call Terry back up,” Garcia wrote back.

Sells continued writing. “What’s the point in telling Jessica about sex with the bartender? What’s the point in telling her to seek power of attorney? What do you mean we’re going to call her Friday?”

Then, Justin Harris, Crystal’s blind son, took the stand
to recount the events that had occurred in his room the night Katy died. His testimony locked in the time frame of the crime. He told the court that he awoke before his clock was scheduled to ring at 4:30 A.M. and went to the bathroom. Before he could return to his bed, someone else shut off his alarm.

The judge and the attorneys then discussed the ramifications of Sells’ guilty plea to the attempted murder of Krystal Surles. The possibility of a life sentence and a fine of $10,000 was mentioned by Judge Thurmond. In response, Sells fired off an angry note to his lawyer: “You really need to start letting me know more. On this shit with the Judge today and a $10,000 fine? You told me 5 to 20.” Concerned that his wife would have to cover any fine assessed on him, he wrote, “You have to understand this: Jessica is all I have. Don’t mess this up.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

THE State’s star witness, Krystal Surles, took the stand after a recess for lunch. Sells requested to be absent from the courtroom during her testimony. But the judge insisted that he be there.

A breathless courtroom watched as the young girl, clad in a striped shirt, stepped up to testify. Her blonde hair, pulled back in a ponytail, revealed a face that was grim and determined. All eyes were on her pink badge of courage, a scar stretching from one side of her neck to the other.

Hernandez opened slowly. “How was it that you ended up staying with the Harrises?”

“Because my mom’s fiance met him, because they are interested in the same things.”

“So you knew the Harrises through your mom and her fiance?”

She nodded energetically, her ponytail bobbing behind her. Hernandez reminded her that the court reporter needed an audible answer for the record. “Now, I would like to take you back, if I could, to December thirtieth of 1999, and ask you if you remember being at the Harrises’ on that particular date.”

“Yes,” she answered, a small cloud passing over her eyes.

“Do you remember what you may have been doing early in the day, or throughout the day?”

“Planning a New Year’s Eve party.”

“And when you say, ‘Planning a New Year’s Eve party,’ “ Hernandez asked, “who was planning a party?”

“Me, Katy and Lori.”

“Now when you say the name
Katy
, are you referring to Kaylene Harris?”

“Yes.”

“Katy was just a nickname that her family called her, and her friends, right?”

“Yes.”

“What sort of party were you all going to have? What sort of party were you planning?”

“Just have friends over, so I could meet them before school started again,” she answered.

After easing her through the preliminaries, Hernandez moved her back to that dark memory—into the bedroom that she still feared. “Were you ever awakened during the night?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“What was it that awakened you?”

“Katy’s voice saying ‘Help,’ “ she replied.

“Now when you were awakened, did you notice whether there was any light, or whether it was dark, or— What were the lighting conditions like?”

“It was—The light was on.”

“And what did you notice or hear Katy say, if anything?”

Krystal fidgeted in her seat. “I couldn’t understand what she was saying, what she was trying to say, stuff.”

“Was there some reason why you couldn’t understand what she was saying?”

“Because his hand was over her mouth,” she answered.

“Whose hand was over her mouth?”

A tiny, trembling finger containing the power of life and death rose in the air and pointed across the courtroom to Tommy Lynn Sells. “His hand,” she said.

“The man in the blue jacket and glasses?”

“Yes.” She stared hard at Sells, but his gaze remained transfixed on the surface of the desk. He would not raise his head and meet her eyes.

“God help me here,” Sells wrote. “I’m falling apart. Help me. All I know to do is hang my head. I hate this.”

“Let the record reflect that the witness has identified the defendant, Tommy Lynn Sells,” Hernandez noted. “Now, Krystal, if you need for me to stop at some point in time, I’ll stop. Describe to us what you saw when you opened your eyes and you were telling us you saw Katy and the defendant.”

“The position they were in?” she asked.

“Well, tell us what you saw, yes.”

“Okay. He was standing behind her with his hand over her mouth and the knife right here.” She mimed holding a knife up to her own throat.

“So he had a knife in his hand?”

Krystal nodded and said, “Yes.”

Hernandez had Krystal make a drawing of the room and put marks for the positions of all the players while he continued his questioning. “Now, describe to us what the defendant was doing with Katy at that point in time. You want to have a seat?”

She sat down and her eyes darted left to right in confusion. “Can you repeat the question?”

“When you saw Katy and the defendant standing over here where you have drawn, on the drawing that you have made, what was the defendant doing, and what was Katy doing?”

“Katy was—He was . . .” Krystal’s face crumbled and her sobs echoed through the silent, intent courtroom. The court took a brief recess.

“Help, Jessica. I pray you are praying for me,” Sells scratched on the paper.

When they returned, Hernandez resumed his questioning. “We had been discussing the layout of the room that you [ . . . ] said that Katy had slept in that night. When you opened your eyes, you said, you saw Katy and the defendant standing sort of in a corner of the room, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Can you describe to us what was going on at that point in time?”

“He had his hand over her mouth and the knife like this.” Once again Krystal raised her imaginary knife up to her neck.

“When you say ‘he,’ you are referring to the defendant?”

“Yes.”

“What did Katy do? What was she doing, if anything?”