The prosecution has begun laying out its case in the jury trial stemming from the murder of a Brownstown man in September 2017. 71-year old David Leroy Bright of Mulberry Grove is charged with two counts of murder for the September 2017 death of James Skinner of Brownstown. After opening statements by Fayette County State’s Attorney Josh Morrison and Public Defender William Starnes, Morrison began the state’s case by calling retired Illinois State Police Special Agent Jeff Kline to testify about the process of the investigation and what eventually led them to Bright as a suspect, with that being 12 suspicious missed called from Bright to Skinner over the course of an hour and 21 minutes leading up to the estimated time of death for Skinner on September 17, 2017. The state then turned to the victim’s son Ryan Skinner, who testified and laid out the timeline for his father James for that morning, including having breakfast at Mark’s Café and switching trucks to haul cattle. Ryan Skinner then testified as to the circumstances which led him to go to his father’s house later in the day on September 17, 2017 where he discovered his father with traumatic injuries and went to his cousin and neighbor’s house, Karen Sefton, to seek help. Due to COVID restrictions, Sefton was unable to attend the trial to testify but her submitted statement was read aloud by SA Morrison explaining that after Ryan Skinner came to her house and told her something bad had happened to his dad, she called another neighbor, Troy Scott, to go check on James Skinner. Scott was called to the stand and explained receiving the call from Sefton and going to check on Skinner and finding him in the bedroom with the traumatic injuries and when asked, said he did not try to render aid because he “knew it wouldn’t have done any good” as he believed Skinner to already be deceased. Former coroner Bruce Bowen who handled the case while still in the coroner’s position, testified as to his actions that day with responding to the call, surveying the scene and calling in the crime scene investigator to process the scene and assisting with that processing after declaring Skinner dead at 5:34pm. Illinois State Police Master Sergeant for Crime Scene Investigations Abigail Henn was called to the stand and discussed her processing of the scene and the body and sending it for an autopsy. After the autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt force trauma, Henn talked about the discovery of the murder weapon in weeds in front of the Skinner residence which turned out to be a sledgehammer. Dr. Marissa Feeney was the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy and explained the extent of Skinner’s injuries and coming to the cause of death which was blunt force trauma to the right and rear head area of Skinner in which there were lacerations, and fractures to the jaw, facial area and skull area as well as hemorrhaging and damage to the brain from multiple blows.
The trial will continue on Wednesday morning at 9am as the state will continue to lay out its case with the continuance of its witness list.
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