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Jury begins deliberation in Oldson murder trial
It's a murder trial that has been the talk of Howard County for the past nine days. But an end is in sight. Jury deliberations have begun in the murder trial against John Oldson. He's accused of killing 31 year old Catherine Beard.
On the final day of testimony, Oldson did not take the stand. Around 40-50 people packed inside the Howard County Courthouse as the defense and prosecution read their closing arguments for the trial of John Oldson. Now the decision lies in the hands of the jury. Valley County Sheriff Casey Hurlburt took the stand and was questioned about a diary that pins Cathy's death on at least two others. It describes the capture and death of four women and points to a property in Garfield County. Hurlburt says several officers took six ATVs and combed the property finding nothing. Oldson's defense read a report given to law enforcement from John Hopkins, who is now deceased. Hopkins said that Rex White told him, "we skinned Cathy alive and I think she liked it." Nebraska's Assistant Attorney General, Corey O'Brien, read the closing statements for the prosecution. O'Brien said you have to look at all the pieces as a whole not individually. John Oldson was the last person to be seen with Cathy while she was alive. He says to the jury, what are the chances that Cathy is abducted by somebody completely unrelated while John is trying to abduct her in the same alleyway, calling the details remarkable unfathomable coincidences. O'Brien says Oldson wanted to have sexual relations, got upset when he was denied and forcibly tried to take her against her will. One of the defense's arguments was that Oldson saw Cathy get into a pickup in the alleyway with an 88 license plate. But O'Brien says that Cathy's remains were found in a field southeast of Ord that someone had to have been familiar with and added that Oldson had been to that spot before. Defense Attorney Sarah Newell followed with closing arguments saying the state has no physical evidence linking Oldson to Cathy's death. Newell adds that there was no hair or blood in Oldson's truck. The defense points to several other witnesses and persons involved in the case, and even points to the diary, which describes a woman named Kathy with a K being struck and killed by a vehicle.. As far as the journal entries that Oldson wrote, Newell says you have to convict him because he's guilty, you can't convict him because he's weird. The jury is not sequestered meaning they are allowed to seperate. They just cannot discuss the case. They will meet again Friday morning. |
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