By Staff
Trial notes
During an afternoon break, Special Assistant Attorney General Scott Leary called some of the spectators those related to Angela Schnoor and Debbie Boswell into an empty chancery courtroom. The purpose of the meeting is unclear. Whatever it was, it did not halt the trial, which resumed after a 30-minute recess.
One of the jurors had a birthday on Friday. Her family taped a tongue-in-cheek message for her on the courthouse door. It said, "Happy birthday, POW," referring to the fact that the jury is sequestered in a local motel. Jurors ate birthday cake in the jury room to help her celebrate.
Friday's witnesses were: Dr. Rodrigo Galvez, an expert medical witness; character witness Flo Magee, Starns' aunt; character witness Catherine Barger, a friend from Baton Rouge; Jimmy Don Hale, who was an emergency room nurse at Meridian Regional Hospital; Susan Wright, who baby-sat for Angela and an infant half-sister; character witness Lois Garrett, who has known Starns since the sixth grade; and Capt. Betty Evans of the Meridian Police Department, called by the prosecution as a rebuttal witness.
Susan Wright testified that she baby-sat for Angela Schnoor and an infant half-sister in May and June of 1984. Wright said Angela did not appear to be well. "When she was awake, she was groggy … and she wanted to be cuddled a lot," Wright said.
Lois Garrett described Starns as her best friend. The two women have spoken on the phone this week, but Garrett said they did not discuss the trial beyond whether Starns had a good day or a bad day. As fate would have it, Garrett is a neighbor of Debbie Boswell whose efforts to have Angela's death re-investigated resulted in Starns' indictment.
Starns and one of the character witnesses have sons about the same age. Starns is their Cub Scout leader. Defense attorneys had indicated her testimony would include a story about Starns resuscitating a dog last summer, but they apparently changed their minds.
The defense rested its case without calling: Robert Sloan, Starns' father; Peggy Sandifer Greene, who went to nursing school with the defendant and would have testified about the relationship between Starns, Debbie Boswell and Michael Schnoor; and two character witnesses.