Post by marion on Jun 14, 2006 3:08:57 GMT -5
Two men face death for brutal slaying of wife and her father
John Douglas Chartier is accused
of plotting his wife's murder to
stop her from moving out of
Nevada with their son.
By Matt Pordum
Court TV
June 13, 2006
LAS VEGAS — Rachel Bernat had split from her husband and was planning a new life with her 4-year-old son in New Mexico.
But on Aug. 18, 2004, two days before she was scheduled to move, Bernat, 43, and her 65-year-old father were found stabbed to death in the driveway of their home. Bernat had been stabbed so many times, the medical examiner said, that the attack appeared to be one of "personalized rage."
Prosecutors say her husband, a former treasurer of the Clark County Republican Party, was so distraught over her leaving and taking their child that he plotted the killings and enlisted his friend to help carry them out.
David Wilcox is
accused of killing his
friend's wife and her
father.
Her husband John Douglas Chartier, 37, and his friend David Lee Wilcox, 43, both face the death penalty when their trial opens this week on two counts of murder with a deadly weapon and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
As evidence against the pair, prosecutors plan to point to a letter Chartier allegedly wrote Wilcox in which he spelled out the murder plan, and Wilcox's DNA which was allegedly found at the scene of the crime.
In the letter, Chartier instructs Wilcox to "take out Mom and Grandpa," referring to Bernat's father, Carlos Aragon, who lived with Bernat. Chartier urges his friend to "burn this [letter] once you have committed to memory." The outside of the note reads, "Do not let police get this."
Chartier wrote that he would send Wilcox two checks and some cash from his wallet. He also asks Wilcox, a former roommate and one-time employee, to take care of his son.
"If you will assume the responsibility (your decision) and can get custody — Help my son become a man," Chartier wrote. "Make sure he knows that I love him. Please be his dad."
The letter also provides a glimpse into Chartier's despondent state of mind, according to prosecutor Robert Daskas, because Chartier hints at suicide as he pleads with Wilcox to watch over his son.
"Make sure nothing happens to him and make sure he knows that the rest of your lives he can come to you for anything," Chartier wrote. "Let him know — if there is an afterlife and I can contact him or protect him — I will!!"
A family court judge granted Bernat permission to temporarily relocate to New Mexico with the couple's son, Ezekiel, with the understanding that the move would occur on Aug. 20, 2004.
Chartier was granted visitation with his son on July 9, 2004, but ordered to return the boy to Bernat by her scheduled move date.
Bernat and her father were killed just two days before Chartier was to return Ezekiel to his mother.
Chartier was so distraught about Bernat taking Ezekiel to New Mexico that he told Wilcox, and Wilcox's wife, Cindy, that he wished his wife would "disappear," according to the police report. Daskas plans to call Cindy Wilcox to testify against her husband.
Chartier claims he was asleep with his girlfriend at the time of the murders, and his attorney, Craig Mueller, says there is no physical evidence directly linking his client to the murders.
"It's scary to have a guy facing the death penalty without one scintilla of evidence against him," Mueller said. "He had absolutely no involvement in this, and I'm convinced he has done nothing wrong."
Mueller said the trial, his first death penalty case, "is really against Wilcox, and if the prosecution proves it, they will then try to establish a conspiracy existed, a conspiracy they weren't able to prove during months of wiretapping."
Mueller contends the letter was written years before and "although the letter obviously contains the rantings of a distraught man, it doesn't make him a killer."
Autopsies showed Aragon had been stabbed twice and slashed once. Bernat had been stabbed 14 times — with most of the wounds in the left chest — and slashed 11 times.
Police recovered four droplets of Wilcox's blood near the curb in front of Bernat's home. The droplets contained a mixture of Wilcox's blood and Bernat's, according to Daskas.
Wilcox's attorney, public defender Scott Coffee, dismissed the DNA evidence saying it was found roughly 40 feet from the bodies of the victims.
The public defender said the letter written by Chartier to Wilcox only shows that "Chartier is fairly despondent about his breakup, but doesn't contain anything to suggest David [Wilcox] had any motive or involvement in these murders.''
Wilcox, who once worked as a data entry clerk for an accounting firm owned by Chartier, earned a Purple Heart as a Marine after surviving bombing in Beirut in 1983. According to his attorney, the bombing left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
John Douglas Chartier is accused
of plotting his wife's murder to
stop her from moving out of
Nevada with their son.
By Matt Pordum
Court TV
June 13, 2006
LAS VEGAS — Rachel Bernat had split from her husband and was planning a new life with her 4-year-old son in New Mexico.
But on Aug. 18, 2004, two days before she was scheduled to move, Bernat, 43, and her 65-year-old father were found stabbed to death in the driveway of their home. Bernat had been stabbed so many times, the medical examiner said, that the attack appeared to be one of "personalized rage."
Prosecutors say her husband, a former treasurer of the Clark County Republican Party, was so distraught over her leaving and taking their child that he plotted the killings and enlisted his friend to help carry them out.
David Wilcox is
accused of killing his
friend's wife and her
father.
Her husband John Douglas Chartier, 37, and his friend David Lee Wilcox, 43, both face the death penalty when their trial opens this week on two counts of murder with a deadly weapon and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
As evidence against the pair, prosecutors plan to point to a letter Chartier allegedly wrote Wilcox in which he spelled out the murder plan, and Wilcox's DNA which was allegedly found at the scene of the crime.
In the letter, Chartier instructs Wilcox to "take out Mom and Grandpa," referring to Bernat's father, Carlos Aragon, who lived with Bernat. Chartier urges his friend to "burn this [letter] once you have committed to memory." The outside of the note reads, "Do not let police get this."
Chartier wrote that he would send Wilcox two checks and some cash from his wallet. He also asks Wilcox, a former roommate and one-time employee, to take care of his son.
"If you will assume the responsibility (your decision) and can get custody — Help my son become a man," Chartier wrote. "Make sure he knows that I love him. Please be his dad."
The letter also provides a glimpse into Chartier's despondent state of mind, according to prosecutor Robert Daskas, because Chartier hints at suicide as he pleads with Wilcox to watch over his son.
"Make sure nothing happens to him and make sure he knows that the rest of your lives he can come to you for anything," Chartier wrote. "Let him know — if there is an afterlife and I can contact him or protect him — I will!!"
A family court judge granted Bernat permission to temporarily relocate to New Mexico with the couple's son, Ezekiel, with the understanding that the move would occur on Aug. 20, 2004.
Chartier was granted visitation with his son on July 9, 2004, but ordered to return the boy to Bernat by her scheduled move date.
Bernat and her father were killed just two days before Chartier was to return Ezekiel to his mother.
Chartier was so distraught about Bernat taking Ezekiel to New Mexico that he told Wilcox, and Wilcox's wife, Cindy, that he wished his wife would "disappear," according to the police report. Daskas plans to call Cindy Wilcox to testify against her husband.
Chartier claims he was asleep with his girlfriend at the time of the murders, and his attorney, Craig Mueller, says there is no physical evidence directly linking his client to the murders.
"It's scary to have a guy facing the death penalty without one scintilla of evidence against him," Mueller said. "He had absolutely no involvement in this, and I'm convinced he has done nothing wrong."
Mueller said the trial, his first death penalty case, "is really against Wilcox, and if the prosecution proves it, they will then try to establish a conspiracy existed, a conspiracy they weren't able to prove during months of wiretapping."
Mueller contends the letter was written years before and "although the letter obviously contains the rantings of a distraught man, it doesn't make him a killer."
Autopsies showed Aragon had been stabbed twice and slashed once. Bernat had been stabbed 14 times — with most of the wounds in the left chest — and slashed 11 times.
Police recovered four droplets of Wilcox's blood near the curb in front of Bernat's home. The droplets contained a mixture of Wilcox's blood and Bernat's, according to Daskas.
Wilcox's attorney, public defender Scott Coffee, dismissed the DNA evidence saying it was found roughly 40 feet from the bodies of the victims.
The public defender said the letter written by Chartier to Wilcox only shows that "Chartier is fairly despondent about his breakup, but doesn't contain anything to suggest David [Wilcox] had any motive or involvement in these murders.''
Wilcox, who once worked as a data entry clerk for an accounting firm owned by Chartier, earned a Purple Heart as a Marine after surviving bombing in Beirut in 1983. According to his attorney, the bombing left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.