Jury to get instructions Friday
BY NATE TAYLOR • NateTaylor@coloradoan.com • May 7, 2009
Defense attorneys Wednesday afternoon called just one witness on behalf of James Whitler before resting their case in the Loveland man's murder trial.
The one witness was Pam Buffington, an investigator with the Fort Collins public defender's office who explained about 15 photos depicting Whitler's injuries two days after he allegedly beat process server Stephen Allen to death with a T-ball bat and then allegedly strangled his two children. Allen died after serving divorce papers and a temporary restraining order to Whitler.
Attorneys and Judge Dan Kaup will meet today to argue about and create jury instructions, which will be read to jurors Friday just before closing arguments.
Jurors are expected to begin deliberating the evidence Friday.
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One witness and defense rests in Whitler's murder trial
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Showing posts with label process server death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label process server death. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Whitler's children take the stand in process server murder trial
By Hallie Woods • For Loveland Connection • May 5, 2009
The two young children of a Loveland man accused of killing a process server testified that their father said he would “get them out of here” minutes before he stabbed his daughter twice and strangled both children.
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James Whitler’s son, 11, and daughter, 13, whose names Loveland Connection is withholding, avoided making eye contact with their father Monday as they gave their accounts of what happened the day process server Stephen Allen was beaten to death.
Whitler is accused of fatally beating Allen with a baseball bat May 28, 2008, after Allen and Lisa Whitler served Whitler with divorce papers and a restraining order.
Whitler allegedly then turned on his two children.
Both children said their father had “planted in their mind” that their mother was a terrible person who was ruining their family...
Read the rest of the story:
Whitler's children take the stand in process server murder trial
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The two young children of a Loveland man accused of killing a process server testified that their father said he would “get them out of here” minutes before he stabbed his daughter twice and strangled both children.
Advertisement
James Whitler’s son, 11, and daughter, 13, whose names Loveland Connection is withholding, avoided making eye contact with their father Monday as they gave their accounts of what happened the day process server Stephen Allen was beaten to death.
Whitler is accused of fatally beating Allen with a baseball bat May 28, 2008, after Allen and Lisa Whitler served Whitler with divorce papers and a restraining order.
Whitler allegedly then turned on his two children.
Both children said their father had “planted in their mind” that their mother was a terrible person who was ruining their family...
Read the rest of the story:
Whitler's children take the stand in process server murder trial
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Saturday, May 2, 2009
Ex-wife: Whitler calmly read papers before attacking process server
BY NATE TAYLOR • NateTaylor@coloradoan.com • May 2, 2009
James Whitler's ex-wife confronted him in court Friday afternoon, describing to jurors how tension in her family grew leading to the day she filed for divorce and her husband is accused of beating process server Stephen Allen to death with a baseball bat.
Lisa Whitler said - in the week leading up to May 28, 2008, when she filed for divorce and got a court-issued restraining order protecting herself and her children from James Whitler - her children on more than one occasion sent electronic "hate messages" to her.
The voice and text messages were sent while the 10- and 12-year-old children were living with James Whitler, who moved back into the family home after living at an apartment for six months while the couple was separated, according to Lisa Whitler's testimony.
Her testimony concluded proceedings in James Whitler's murder trial Friday, day two of the prosecution's presentation of evidence.
Whitler is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The Whitlers' 10-year-old son is scheduled to testify when proceedings continue Monday.
Lisa Whitler said one text message she received said, "DIE DIE DIE." And prosecutors played a voice message for jurors during which her son is heard saying, "Dad has a hearing on Monday so we don't have to see you anymore."
It was that message from her son that convinced Lisa Whitler to deliver the divorce papers and restraining order to her husband the same day she filed for divorce, instead of the next day as she'd planned.
Lisa Whitler said her attorney arranged for Stephen Allen to meet her to serve the documents to James Whitler. She said Allen gave her the option to come with him, arrange for a police officer to help or for him to serve the papers on his own.
Read the rest of the story:
Ex-wife: Whitler calmly read papers before attacking process server
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James Whitler's ex-wife confronted him in court Friday afternoon, describing to jurors how tension in her family grew leading to the day she filed for divorce and her husband is accused of beating process server Stephen Allen to death with a baseball bat.
Lisa Whitler said - in the week leading up to May 28, 2008, when she filed for divorce and got a court-issued restraining order protecting herself and her children from James Whitler - her children on more than one occasion sent electronic "hate messages" to her.
The voice and text messages were sent while the 10- and 12-year-old children were living with James Whitler, who moved back into the family home after living at an apartment for six months while the couple was separated, according to Lisa Whitler's testimony.
Her testimony concluded proceedings in James Whitler's murder trial Friday, day two of the prosecution's presentation of evidence.
Whitler is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The Whitlers' 10-year-old son is scheduled to testify when proceedings continue Monday.
Lisa Whitler said one text message she received said, "DIE DIE DIE." And prosecutors played a voice message for jurors during which her son is heard saying, "Dad has a hearing on Monday so we don't have to see you anymore."
It was that message from her son that convinced Lisa Whitler to deliver the divorce papers and restraining order to her husband the same day she filed for divorce, instead of the next day as she'd planned.
Lisa Whitler said her attorney arranged for Stephen Allen to meet her to serve the documents to James Whitler. She said Allen gave her the option to come with him, arrange for a police officer to help or for him to serve the papers on his own.
Read the rest of the story:
Ex-wife: Whitler calmly read papers before attacking process server
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Judge reverses order about news updates from process server murder trial
Loveland Connection staff • May 1, 2009
District Court Judge Daniel J. Kaup has changed his decision limiting the dissemination of information to the public during the murder trial of James Whitler.
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After deciding Thursday that media outlets covering the trial could not report about courtroom proceedings until after court had adjourned for the day, Kaup changed his ruling this morning saying news updates could be filed throughout the day from outside the courtroom.
Kaup said he changed his mind after reflecting on his original decision and made the new ruling official after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed with his inclination to allow updates outside the courtroom.
"I have reason to pause whether this court has the authority to tell someone they can't update a Web site," Kaup said. "There still can be no transmissions of any kind leaving the courtroom while court is in session."
Whitler is on trial for for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
He is accused of beating process server Stephen Allen to death with a baseball bat at his west Loveland home in May 2008 and then turning his rage on his two children trying to choke them to death after he was served divorce papers and a restraining order.
Read the rest of the story:
Judge reverses order about news updates from process server murder trial
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District Court Judge Daniel J. Kaup has changed his decision limiting the dissemination of information to the public during the murder trial of James Whitler.
Advertisement
After deciding Thursday that media outlets covering the trial could not report about courtroom proceedings until after court had adjourned for the day, Kaup changed his ruling this morning saying news updates could be filed throughout the day from outside the courtroom.
Kaup said he changed his mind after reflecting on his original decision and made the new ruling official after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed with his inclination to allow updates outside the courtroom.
"I have reason to pause whether this court has the authority to tell someone they can't update a Web site," Kaup said. "There still can be no transmissions of any kind leaving the courtroom while court is in session."
Whitler is on trial for for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
He is accused of beating process server Stephen Allen to death with a baseball bat at his west Loveland home in May 2008 and then turning his rage on his two children trying to choke them to death after he was served divorce papers and a restraining order.
Read the rest of the story:
Judge reverses order about news updates from process server murder trial
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Thursday, March 19, 2009
Murdered Process Server's Family Wants New Law
Mike Hooker - FORT COLLINS, Colo. March 4, 2009
The family of a process server murdered on the job says it's time to protect others in the profession, so they want a new law on the books.
Police say the server, Steve Allen, 57, was attacked and killed with a knife and a baseball bat last summer after going to a home in Loveland to serve divorce papers to James Whitler.
Allen's niece, Jen Castaneda, was at the Larimer County Justice Center for a motions hearing in the murder case Wednesday afternoon.
"What's surprisingly difficult is knowing it's your own family member who went through the terror," Castaneda said.
"You have all these things that go through your mind, like what was he thinking, how terrified he must have been. It was not a quick thing he went through that day," Castaneda said...
Read the rest of the story:
Murdered Process Server's Family Wants New Law
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The family of a process server murdered on the job says it's time to protect others in the profession, so they want a new law on the books.
Police say the server, Steve Allen, 57, was attacked and killed with a knife and a baseball bat last summer after going to a home in Loveland to serve divorce papers to James Whitler.
Allen's niece, Jen Castaneda, was at the Larimer County Justice Center for a motions hearing in the murder case Wednesday afternoon.
"What's surprisingly difficult is knowing it's your own family member who went through the terror," Castaneda said.
"You have all these things that go through your mind, like what was he thinking, how terrified he must have been. It was not a quick thing he went through that day," Castaneda said...
Read the rest of the story:
Murdered Process Server's Family Wants New Law
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Process server is beaten, stabbed to death
Rocky Mountain News - Bill Scanlon
A 45-year-old man used a baseball bat and a knife to kill the process server who had just handed him divorce papers, and then used his hands to choke his two children into unconsciousness, Larimer County sheriff's deputies said Thursday.
The process server who was bludgeoned and stabbed to death Wednesday night was identified as Stephen D. Allen, 57, of Fort Collins.
James Scott Whitler, 45, is being held without bail in Larimer County Jail on charges of murder, attempted murder and child abuse.
Larimer County deputies said they saw Whitler strangling his own children as they entered Whitler's home near Loveland.
Allen, the process server, had just given Whitler divorce papers and a restraining order at the house in the 4900 block of Glade Drive when the attacks occurred, sheriff's officials say.
Witnesses said Whitler left the room before the attacks, supposedly to gather his personal property. When he returned, he attacked the process server with a baseball bat.
It took two Taser shots to subdue Whitler, deputies said.
The 10- and 12-year- old children were taken to Medical Center of the Rockies. Their conditions have not been released. Whitler's wife, Lisa, also was injured in the incident, deputies said.
Two weeks ago, Lisa Whitler had called the sheriff about disturbing text messages sent to her phone by her husband, sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said.
Four days ago, James Whitler told deputies that his wife was out of control and that the children did not want to go with her.
Read the rest of the story:
Process server is beaten, stabbed to death
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A 45-year-old man used a baseball bat and a knife to kill the process server who had just handed him divorce papers, and then used his hands to choke his two children into unconsciousness, Larimer County sheriff's deputies said Thursday.
The process server who was bludgeoned and stabbed to death Wednesday night was identified as Stephen D. Allen, 57, of Fort Collins.
James Scott Whitler, 45, is being held without bail in Larimer County Jail on charges of murder, attempted murder and child abuse.
Larimer County deputies said they saw Whitler strangling his own children as they entered Whitler's home near Loveland.
Allen, the process server, had just given Whitler divorce papers and a restraining order at the house in the 4900 block of Glade Drive when the attacks occurred, sheriff's officials say.
Witnesses said Whitler left the room before the attacks, supposedly to gather his personal property. When he returned, he attacked the process server with a baseball bat.
It took two Taser shots to subdue Whitler, deputies said.
The 10- and 12-year- old children were taken to Medical Center of the Rockies. Their conditions have not been released. Whitler's wife, Lisa, also was injured in the incident, deputies said.
Two weeks ago, Lisa Whitler had called the sheriff about disturbing text messages sent to her phone by her husband, sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said.
Four days ago, James Whitler told deputies that his wife was out of control and that the children did not want to go with her.
Read the rest of the story:
Process server is beaten, stabbed to death
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