Reading a little testimony from Vick Case

[Bleedingheart]

Who was tried and Convicted For Dana Satterfields murder, i found this a interesting.

It took four tries over 10 years, but Michael Pace said investigators finally paid attention in 2005 to his suspicion that his high-school buddy had killed Roebuck hairdresser Dana Satterfield.

Pace told jurors Wednesday that Jonothan Vick -- charged with murder, rape and kidnapping -- planned to visit Satterfield the night she died. Days after the brutal killing, Vick, then 17, threatened his life, Pace said.

"He told me if I told anybody, he'd kill me," he said.

Pace kept his eyes on Solicitor Trey Gowdy through the majority of his testimony during the third day of trial proceedings in Satterfield's death. He avoided looking at Vick, now 28, who is accused of raping, beating and strangling the beauty salon owner on July 31, 1995.

That afternoon, Vick and Pace sat at the snack bar at a bowling alley where Pace worked and talked about the girls passing by. Then, Pace said, Vick "started talking about a lady named Dana and that he was going to ask her out that night."

He said Vick had mentioned the hairdresser in previous months and described graphic sexual acts he wanted to engage in with Satterfield, whom he knew was separated from her husband.

Pace said he laughed at the idea of his friend dating the older woman, and Vick grew defensive. He later gave Pace a ride home about 7 p.m. and said he planned to go to the salon to have his hair cut.

By 9 p.m., Satterfield was dead.

Anonymous tips

Pace told jurors Wednesday that he later put the pieces together after watching media coverage of the homicide that featured the suspect vehicle -- a blue and white Ford Bronco identical to the one his friend drove -- and a sketch of a man Pace thought resembled Vick. He took Vick's threat seriously, Pace said, but did share the tip with the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office about three months later, giving them Vick's name and remaining anonymous.

Pace said he later contacted law enforcement officers after Satterfield murder was featured on the TV show "Unsolved Mysteries," again remaining anonymous. On a third occasion he also anonymously told an officer that he believed Vick had killed Satterfield, Pace said.

In 2005, he again contacted law enforcement, gave his name, and an investigation began that led to Vick's arrest in October.

Pace wasn't the only one to share suspicions with officers. Jurors also heard testimony from Steve Vaughn, Vick's cellmate at the Spartanburg County Detention Facility earlier this year.

Vaughn testified that Vick answered, "Yes," when he asked him if there was any day in his life he would take back, if he could.

"(He said), 'The day he went up to Mrs. Satterfield's,' " Vaughn said.

Vaughn said Vick told him he drove to the shop and parked his Bronco across the street because Satterfield was married and he did not want her husband to see his vehicle. Something happened, and Vick said he left through a window and was scared, Vaughn told the jury.

"He pretty much said he blacked out," Vaughn said.

"He blacked out?" Solicitor Trey Gowdy repeated.

"Yes," Vaughn said.

Defense attorney Doug Brannon implied during cross-examination that Vaughn's testimony was not reliable because of his criminal history, which includes forgery and other misrepresentations.

"He never told you he killed Dana Satterfield, right?" Brannon asked.

Vaughn affirmed that Vick never said he killed the woman. He also said he had received no favoritism from the Solicitor's Office in exchange for his testimony.

A former jailer at the Spartanburg County Detention Facility also testified that Vaughn was the only inmate that ever approached him to share the information without asking for any favors in return.

Death in detail

Satterfield's mother, Chyleen Fowler, held her hand in front of her face Wednesday as photographs showing her daughter's feet and lower legs on the floor of her beauty shop, amid smears of blood, were displayed on a large screen.

The 27-year-old was found hanging from the water heater, a strap from a burgundy Aloette cosmetics bag tightened around her neck and her clothes pulled away, in the combination bathroom-laundry room of her shop. Pathologist Dr. David Wrenn, who performed the autopsy, said Satterfield asphyxiated due to strangulation and also suffered numerous bruises about her body with severe cuts and bruises to the face.

She also likely suffered blunt force trauma to the front and back of the head, Wrenn said. "Either the assailant hit her … or slammed her up against the wall."

There was no sign of trauma from a sexual assault, Wrenn said, adding that assaults often leave no sign. But the possibility that no sexual assault occurred could also be the reason for lack of evidence, he conceded upon questioning from Vick's attorneys.

Also on Wednesday, Thomas Fleming, a former State Law Enforcement Division agent, illustrated how he found Satterfield's body with the help of a full-size model of the homicide scene, using plaster casts and appliances brought into the courtroom. Fingerprints found on the water heater belonged to Mike Satterfield, Dana's husband, and to one of her friends, Fleming said.

Several other prints could not be identified. Vick's prints were not found anywhere in the shop, but neither were Dana Satterfield's.

According to additional evidence from the prosecution Wednesday, mitochondrial DNA showed a pubic hair found on Dana Satterfield's body did not belong to either Vick or Mike Satterfield. SLED DNA analyst Lilly Gallman testified that semen found on Satterfield's body matched Vick's DNA by a probability of 900 million to one, according to a test in October 2005.