Testimony continues in murder trial
Published 5:41 pm Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Testimony from a dozen witnesses was heard in the first day of the trial of a man accused of capital murder in the 2011 death of a toddler.
Homer Herbert II was indicted on capital murder charges stemming from the death of 2-year-old Intrina Johnson.
Escambia County District Attorney Steve Billy told jurors in opening statements that evidence in the case would show that Herbert had time alone with the victim in the hours before she was pronounced dead.
“You will hear testimony in this case including a 911 tape,” Billy told jurors. “You will hear that a first responder’s account of the scene. Dr. Ashley Davis tried to do something but (Intrina) was too far gone and she pronounced the child dead.”
Jerome Carter, an attorney with the Cochran Firm in Mobile, is representing Herbert in the case and said he expects evidence to prove his client’s innocence in the child’s death.
“What you’ve heard from Mr. Billy was his assumptions of things he expected to be presented in this trial,” Carter said. “You did not hear him specify how Mr. Herbert injured or caused the death of this child? The only thing he referenced was there was some alone time with this child. The reason you are hear is because you are the tryers of fact.”
Circuit Court Judge Bradley Byrne is hearing the case expected to span the course of “several days” as the testimony continues.
Jurors were released just after 5 p.m. Wednesday with court to resume at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.