Jurors see vicious torture video
Jurors saw video Monday of a young drug addict pleading for his life while three men, including one who is on trial this week, threatened to kill him for stealing cocaine from one of them.
Carl Ware, 20, Dominique Hale, 20, and Emmanuel Usher, 18, are all charged with various felonies and misdemeanors for what prosecutors say is the torturing of a then-20-year-old Spring Green man in April 2007 at a small house on Highway BB in the town of Cottage Grove. Ware is on trial this week in front of Dane County Circuit Court Judge John Markson.
Jurors selected Monday morning heard from the victim both directly and on videotape Monday afternoon. Assistant District Attorney Corey Stephan called the victim as his first witness, and after some preliminary questions on how he came to know Ware, Stephan played for the jury a 17-minute videotape made by Ware. The video showed the defendant questioning the young man about the missing cocaine on the night of the alleged beating and torture.
The victim, on the witness stand, told Stephan that he first saw the video just last week, but said he "couldn't get through it."
As the video played in court while he was on the witness stand, he buried his head in his hands often, occasionally glancing at the video but looking away most of the time.
The video shows the young man in the basement of the small house at 2999 County BB, near its intersection with Vilas Road. As Ware is questioning the man, he admits to stealing cocaine from Ware. Some of the alleged torturing occurred prior to the video's taping, and a hole in his chest is visible from where Usher allegedly shot him with a BB gun. The victim's face is full of cuts and bruises, and at one point during the video, Usher slugs the man twice in the face at Ware's urging.
Most of the video does not contain the actual beatings, kickings and alleged sexual assault of the victim, but shows the victim pleading for his life as the others threaten to kill him.
On some of those occasions, the victim breaks into tears and sobs. The end of the video shows the victim sitting nude after having his clothes removed, thinking he is about to be killed, with a look of abject horror on his face.
The victim received death threats througout the video, and at one point, Hale gives the man three different ways to be killed and tells him to pick one.
"Please don't kill me, Carl," the victim begged.
After the video ended, the jury was sent home for the day. The trial will resume Tuesday with the victim undergoing more questioning from Stephan.
The victim testified Monday that he was good friends with Ware's brother, Richard T. Washington, who was killed in an August 2006 crash when his motorcycle collided with a minivan in the 2200 block of Atwood Avenue. Ware, who was allegedly riding on another motorcycle, is charged with eluding police in that case, which has yet to go to trial.
After the fatal accident, the assault victim said, he grew closer to Ware as both were grieving over the loss of Washington.
The victim said he moved to Arizona with his girlfriend in 2006 and quickly became addicted to heroin. After two weeks of using the drug, he was physically addicted, he said, and decided to return to Wisconsin and enter a rehabilitation program.
The victim said he called Ware, and Ware graciously allowed him to stay at the small home he shared with his girlfriend and her two children. He said Ware also got him various drugs to help him get through severe symptoms from his withdrawal from heroin.
Asked to describe those symptoms, the young man said, "I was sweating profusely but feeling like my body was on ice. I was shaking so hard it felt like my bones were going to break," he added. "It was all around hell."
Ware gave the man cocaine on several occasions and that eased his pain, he said.
On the night of the alleged torture, Ware was out driving with the group of men when got a call from his girlfriend, apparently telling him his cocaine had disappeared.
According to the criminal complaint, Ware blamed the young man for the theft and became angry with him. As soon as they got into the home, he punched the young man and tortured him for several hours.
Hale is expected to testify against Ware at the trial, and Stephan said in his opening statement that Usher may testify as well.
Attorney Terry Frederick, who represents Ware, said his client will also testify. Frederick spent much of his opening statement reminding jurors that the alleged victim was a heroin addict and said addicts "will do things that are disgusting and degradable," to get more drugs.
He suggested the victim -- who escaped when the others fell asleep, went to the Cottage Grove police department and then to a hospital -- was exaggerating the beating claims so he could get more pain killers.
He also argued that Hale and Usher were the ones who did most of the beatings. All are charged as being party to the crimes of major felonies, including sexually assaulting the man with a metal pole and beating him with numerous objects, then dousing his wounds with bleach and alcohol.
Ware
