Texas v. David Graham
"The Cadet Murder Trial"
Both sides rest after Zamora refuses to testify
NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS, July 22 (Court TV) -- Despite the offer of an immunity agreement, Diane Zamora decided to invoke her Fifth Amendment Rights and refused to testify at her former fiancee David Graham's trial. And to the surprise of many courtroom observers, Graham's defense rested its case without calling a single witness.
Graham's defense had wanted to present Zamora as a witness, arguing that she had given up her Fifth Amendement Rights when she testified at her own trial for Adrianne Jones' murder. Zamora, however, claimed that her conviction was still on appeal and still had a right not to incriminate herself. In a hearing outside the presence of the jury, Judge Don Leonard ruled that Zamora, indeed, still had the Fifth Amendment privilege.
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Diane Zamora invoked her Fifth Amendment Right and refused to testify on David Graham's behalf.
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After Judge Leonard issued his ruling, defense attorney Dan Cogdell asked Zamora a two questions for the court record: (1) Did she, and she alone, kill Adrianne Jones (2) Are you willing to admit that Graham had nothing to do with Jones' murder. Zamora responded to the first question by invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege; her trial lawyer, John Linebarger, invoked that privilege for her on the second question.
Cogdell then told the court that he wanted to call Zamora at trial to do a physical demonstration with a gun in front of the jury. He said he wanted jurors to see Zamora's height, weight, size, the length of her arms, and the condition of her left hand because there had been issues raised about Zamora being a diminutive female. (This may have implied that Zamora may not have had the power to overcome Jones and hit her with a weight.) The state argued that allowing Zamora to partcipate in a physical demonstration would be like forcing her to testify. Judge Leonard sided with the prosecution and denied the defense's request.
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The previous day, prosecutors filed a Use Immunity Agreement with the court which may have allowed Zamora to testify at Graham's trial and not have her testimony used against her in any future proceeding. Zamora's trial attorney, John Linebarger, opposed the immunity agreement because it still violated her Fifth Amendment rights. It was disputed whether Judge Leonard could have forced Zamora to accept the immunity agreement. But ultimately, the judge ruled that the agreement was not sufficient enough to protect Zamora.
After the ruling, the jury convened, and the state called its final witness, John Green, to the stand. He said that Graham and Zamora stopped by his house in the middle of the night of December 4, 1995. Graham, he said, told him that he was his best friend and to please not ask them any questions. Green admitted that he was groggy and did not have his glasses on, but he did not notice any blood on clothes of Graham or Zamora. He did, however, notice that the bandage on Zamora's left hand was unfurled. Green also testified that Zamora was the dominant person in her relationship with Graham.
The prosecution then presented two letters Graham wrote to Green in the months following his arrest. In those letters, Graham quotes the Scripture several times and the media reports on the case are wrong. He tells Green he is not worried and does not feel guilty because his fate is in God's hands.
Cogdell said that while Zamora's decision to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege was disappointing, it was not surprising. He said he believes that prosecutors have not proven beyond reasonable doubt that Graham was present when Jones was murdered. Closing arguments are expected to begin tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm EST.
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