Source: Grand Rapids Press, WOOD TV
Steven Scarborough testified in his own defense on Monday and Tuesday
WOOD TV screen captureGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- It was phrased as a question, but the look on accused murderer Steven Scarborough's face made it appear it was news to him.
"If you hadn't stolen from Victor Manious, you would have gotten away with this," Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Helen Brinkman said to Scarborough, who returned to the stand Tuesday in his own defense on the charge of felony murder.
Brinkman told Scarborough there were no prints on the car or other evidence tying him to the slaying. It was the use of the dead man's credit cards that focused law enforcement on him, tracking his trail to Houston.
Brinkman had spent nearly two hours working to poke holes in the story offered by Scarborough on what occurred on the late July weekend when the 62-year-old died.
The defendant hopes to convince a jury that a sexual assault allegedly perpetrated upon him by a 62-year-old local church leader led to Scarborough's attack on the older man.
In his first day of testimony on Monday, Tennessee native Scarborough said Manious came into the Kalamazoo Avenue SE apartment, where the 21-year-old was staying with his friend of seven weeks Justin Robinson. Robinson was introducing Scarborough to Grand Rapids via tours of the downtown bar scene.
Asked by his attorney if he knew Manious before the incident at Robinson's apartment, Scarborough said no.
Scarborough testified that Manious asked for Robinson, then the 62-year-old Egypt native hit the younger man in the head and knocked him out. Scarborough said he woke up to find Manious in his underwear, on top of him, sexually assaulting him by oral sex.
Scarborough testified that he was so unnerved by the assault, which violated his beliefs as a Southern Baptist, that he grabbed a nearby bat and hit Manious in the head.
Scarborough maintains that, while he gave variations on his testimony to investigators after he was arrested for the July slaying, he was reacting in panic to a homosexual assault after he was unconscious from a blow to the head.
Robinson soon returned, and they hatched a plan to put Manious into the trunk of his car then drive him to Ottawa Avenue NW, where they parked the vehicle, Scarborough testified. They then enjoyed food and shopping on Manious' credit cards.
Defense lawyer Paul Dennenfeld asked Scarborough if Robinson suggested "getting rid of the body?"
"Yes," he answered.
"Did you and he put the body in the trunk?"
"Yes we did."
Robinson allegedly told Scarborough to keep his name out of it and to create phony voice-mail messages that would give Robinson an alibi.
"I didn't see no reason to pull my friend into all this," said Scarborough, who is charged with felony murder and faces life in prison if convicted. "He didn't have nothing to do with what happened at (the apartment)."
Prosecutors scoffed at Scarborough's story of a sexual assault and his contention Robinson masterminded the robbery and cover-up. Brinkman emphasized Scarborough constantly changed his story, and admitted he lied to investigators.
"Tell the jury," Brinkman said, "why you would lie to the FBI in a homicide investigation."
"The reason I lied for a little bit was to cover myself up because I didn't want it out there like that," Scarborough said, "and the reason I lied about Justin is because I didn't want my friend involved at all."
"Every time they asked you, you said he wasn't involved," Brinkman said. Scarborough said yes. "And when your mother asked you, you said he wasn't involved." Again, Scarborough said yes.
"So you would lie to protect yourself, that's what you just told the jury," Brinkman said.
"I would lie to not let that be out," he replied.
"To protect yourself."
"To protect what I believe in and what happened."
Then Brinkman said, "To stay out of trouble?"
"Yes," Scarborough said.
Scarborough finished his testimony just before noon. Closing arguments are expected to begin Wednesday, and then the case will be in the hands of the jury.
Scarborough was arrested near Houston after he allegedly used Manious' credit card to buy a round-trip ticket to Texas. In interviews with police, Scarborough said Manious, of Gaines Township, stripped down to his underwear, put his arm around him, tried to kiss Scarborough and grabbed at him.
A taped interrogation taken shortly after Scarborough's arrest in Houston was played for the jury last week. In it, he admitted killing Manious.
He said he woke at a friend's apartment to find his pants down, and believed Manious sexually assaulted him.
"I didn't mean to ... I didn't mean to kill the guy," a sobbing Scarborough, 21, told police in a videotaped recording played in court Thursday.
"I just wanted him away from me. I jumped up and grabbed the baseball bat and hit him with it. I didn't mean to kill him."
He told investigators he panicked after the killing, stuffed Manious in the trunk, and left the car parked the wrong way on Ottawa Avenue NW.
Assistant Prosecutor Helen Brinkman said she thinks Scarborough, a Tennessee native visiting a friend here, lured Manious to the friend's apartment to rob him. The friend, Justin Robinson, 19, earlier testified Scarborough said he could "get away with murder in Grand Rapids."
Scarborough said in today's testimony that, despite telling an FBI agent he saw Manious' mouth moving and him breathing, Scarborough believes he was dead before he was placed in the trunk.
Scarborough also said he found Manious' credit card-laden wallet only after he drove the car to the Ottawa Avenue and Lyon Street parking spot.
Full article: Steven Scarborough defends actions in court | Grand Rapids Press
Murder suspect says sex assault led to attack | Grand Rapids Press
Prosecutor to Scarborough: 'tell jury why you lied' | WOOD TV
Suspect confessed on video to killing Manious | Grand Rapids Press