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Outburst That Stopped Homicide Trial Doesn't End It

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

TAMPA - The trial of man charged with murder will continue today despite an outburst Tuesday afternoon where a man in the courtroom gallery yelled that the defendant killed his brother and struggled with bailiffs as he was dragged from the courtroom.

Assistant Public Defender Kenneth Littman asked Circuit Judge Robert Foster to declare a mistrial. Littman discussed with the judge other cases in Florida where appeals courts have demanded retrials for similar reasons.

If the trial were to continue, Littman asked the judge, what is to prevent another grieving family member from disrupting the court with incendiary statements?

Foster told Littman that the jury was sent from the room while the man was yelling and struggling. A 911 tape recording was playing loudly at the time, Foster said, making it difficult to hear what the man was saying.

Foster polled each of the jurors immediately after the outburst. Only one said it may affect her ability to be fair and impartial. She was removed as a juror.

The remaining jurors were polled again this morning. All said they thought they could judge the case on the facts and ignore the man's words.

"They were told to only consider the evidence at trial," Foster told Littman. "That was not evidence."

Before the trial continued this morning, Foster reminded jurors to focus only on the facts. He also reminded the victim's family to refrain from outbursts.

The man who made the comment and struggled with deputies, identified by his mother as Joshua Stewart, is not being allowed back into the courtroom.

About 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, a 911 recording was played for the jury. On it, George Stewart tells an operator that Timothy Craig Blackwelder is at his house despite a court order to stay away from Stewart's wife, Brittani.

In a second call to 911, Stewart tells the operator that Blackwelder has stolen his car. He then says Blackwelder has returned.

Blackwelder, Stewart said, pulled a gun and pointed it at him. Stewart is heard screaming. Authorities say he had been shot. The last moments of Stewart's life were recorded.

As the tape rolled Tuesday, and Stewart screamed in agony, his brother stood in the courtroom and began to yell. In a screaming tirade, he said he wanted to get Blackwelder because Blackwelder killed his brother.

Bailiffs grabbed him and pulled him from the room. Family members tried to calm him but to little avail.

Foster ended court for the day.

Prosecutors contend that Blackwelder, a childhood friend of Stewart's wife, went to the Stewarts' home, shot George Stewart and left with Stewart's wife. He was arrested in Georgia.

Defense attorneys have said Blackwelder and Stewart's wife continued a sexual relationship after she married Stewart. Littman told jurors that Blackwelder did not shoot Stewart but was there that night. He did not offer an alternate suspect.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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