Richard Gagnon Case
03/10/08
Double Homicide in South CarolinaThe trial for a man charged with a double homicide, Richard Gagnon, in Conway, SC is set for Monday, March 10.
TruTv, formerly Court TV, will broadcast the trial on “In Session,” during their daytime programming schedule between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. They will televise the trial live.
Gagnon, 35, is charged with murder in the 2005 deaths of Diane and Charles Parker Sr., mother and stepfather of his former girlfriend and one-time co-defendant, Bambi Bennett.
The Parkers, both 54, were killed sometime between the evening of April 11 and about 8:30 a.m. April 12, 2005, police said.
Police initially charged Gagnon and Bennett, who spent six months in jail after the shootings.
Prosecutors dropped charges against her because of a lack of DNA evidence. It is not known if she will testify during the trial.
Bennett and Gagnon had been dating for nearly two years before the slayings, after he started working for her parents at their business, Mirrortec, on S.C. 90.
Gagnon's record includes convictions for petty larceny in New York in 1991 and aggravated assault in 1999 in Pennsylvania. He was sentenced to two to four years in prison for the aggravated assault charge, prosecutors have said.
Jury selection is expected to start at 10 a.m. Monday. Opening statements are expected later that day.
Resources…
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/crime_courts/story/374680.html No longer availabler
Updates
03/13/08
The jury has reached a verdict.
A jury has found Richard Gagnon guilty on two counts of murder and one count of first-degree burglary.
Judge Steven John has sentenced Richard Gagnon to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was also sentenced to 30 years for first-degree burglary.
Resource...
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com:80/news/local/story/381254.html No longer availbable
Verdict Watch
Both sides wrapped up closing arguments just past noon Thursday, then Circuit Court judge Steven John instructed jurors on the law and the charges against Gagnon.
Now, the Horry County jury begins its decision for or against Gagnon.
Gagnon's defense attorney, Bill Grammer, told jurors Thursday that Horry County investigators rushed to judgment and the case against his client had too many questions left unanswered.
Grammer said prosecutors never proved Gagnon was even at the Parker's home the night they were murdered.
Resource...
http://www.scnow.com/midatlantic/scp/news.apx.-content-articles-BTW-2008-03-12-0010.html
03/12/08
State Rests it's case
Gagnon's defense called a former Gagnon jail mate, Scott Collins, to testify Wednesday afternoon.
Collins told jurors that Gagnon was, "Shocked at the murder charges," and Gagnon's, "Life was turned upside down."
Collins said Gagnon told him he was elsewhere when the Parkers were murdered and couldn't believe he was charged with the killings.
Collins, who is an inmate at the South Carolina Department of Corrections, said Horry County Police interviewed him in jail about his conversations with Gagnon while the two were incarcerated at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in 2005.
Collins said investigators questioned him about what Gagnon told him about the killings and Collins said he told police Gagnon said he was somewhere else and Collins didn't think Gagnon was the killer.
After calling witnesses and presenting evidence against Gagnon for a day and a half, Solicitor Greg Hembree rested the state's case against Gagnon Wednesday afternoon.
Read full resource article....
http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlantic/scp/news.apx.-content-articles-BTW-2008-03-12-0010.html
03-11-08
Trial day two
Crime scene investigator, John Caulder, testified to collecting evidence at the Parker's home the morning following the shootings.
Caulder told jurors the inside of the home had a "significant amount of blood spatter" inside the Parker's home.
Caulder also testified that investigators found a rifle inside the home, and after questioning by Gagnon's defense attorney, Bill Grammer, Caulder said investigators never processed the rifle as evidence in the case.
Grammer questioned investigators evidence gathering by failing to find or compare fingerprints found at the scene with Gagnon's.
Grammer also called into question why investigators never collected tire markings from the scene, then never compared those castings to the tires on Gagnon's car.
Solicitor Greg Hembree told jurors that Gagnon was at the Parker home days before the killing to pick up furniture and investigtors had every reason to believe they would find Gagnon's prints or tire tracks at the scene.
Read more! Resources and articles here...
http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlantic/scp/news.apx.-content-articles-BTW-2008-03-11-0009.html
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/378813.html No longer available
Mother testified against son!
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/379675.html No longer available
03-10-08
Double murder trial underway
Opening arguments started in the Richard Gagnon double murder trial in Conway Monday afternoon with prosecutors painting Gagnon as a killer.
Solicitor Greg Hembree told jurors on the morning of April 12, 2005, employees, and Charlie Parker, Jr., were getting ready for work that morning at the Parker's Mirrotec glass shop on Highway 90.
Hembree said Parker's employees noticed Charlie Parker, Sr. was running late, then went inside of his home to find out what was keeping their boss.
Hembree said once inside, an employee, Joey Cannon, found Dianne Parker beaten and shot to death inside her bedroom, and found Charlie Parker, Sr. shot to death inside his bedroom.
Gagnon's attorney, Bill Grammer, told jurors Gagnon is a, "Loud-mouth bragger from New York who no one liked."
Grammer told jurors investigators rushed to judgment in this case and were under pressure to charge someone in the crime, and that person was Richard Gagnon.
Read full resource story...
http://www.scnow.com/midatlantic/scp/news.apx.-content-articles-BTW-2008-03-10-0006.html
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/377820.html No longer available