Sound of the Sins |H.s

VI

The case is actually the article Ara was reading about

Styles Murder Case Goes to Jury : Trial: In closing arguments, defendant is described as a liar and a psycho by the prosecution. Defense calls him a 'perpetual victim.'
May 17, 2014
|BARBARA MURPHY | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

A man charged with killing his friend and his dog in the mountains above Virginia was described by the prosecutor Carter as a liar and a psycho who coldly shot the victim in the back and then partied with another friend in the dead man's truck.

But as jurors were about to begin deliberations, the defense painted a much different picture of Harry E. Styles, calling him a "perpetual victim" who was abused first by the real killer and then by detectives who only pretended they wanted to solve the crime.

"There is not one cruel, vicious, nasty type of bone in Harry Styles' body," defense attorney Steve Pell said in the trial's closing arguments. " . . . (This) killing is a killing by an animal. It's not a killing by Harry Styles."

Harry, 21, of Cheshire, faces murder, robbery and other charges in connection with the March 4 shotgun slaying of Luke Brian, 21, of Virginia.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Calvert told jurors that Harry, who lives with his mother and sister who were abandoned by the father of family, committed the murder so he could steal Luke's truck and leave the area.
The suspect's envy of Luke's relationship with her friend and his alleged obsession with her festered into hatred for Luke, resulting in his violent death.

The prosecutor said in his closing arguments that Harry told one lie after another to police and his parents, inventing a gang member named  Frosty "out of thin air" and blaming the murder on him.

Harry testified that he and Luke, who met the day of the murder, were fishing together and Luke was killed by Frosty when he returned to his truck to get more bait.

Frosty and another gang member then held Harry at gunpoint, forcing him to hide Luke's body in the nearby brush, the defendant said. After one of the men shot Luke's dog several times as she barked in the front seat of the truck, Harry was forced by Frosty to drive him in Luke's truck to Washington DC.

There the truck was abandoned and Harry claims he spent the next 36 hours trying to walk home, getting as far as Bethesda before he called his parents for help.

Calvert argued Carter that every time Harry got caught in a lie or learned about evidence that contradicted his story, he would change his account to fit the new facts.

"He starts scrambling, and things (get) to the point of absurdity," Calvert said. "It gets to the point of being ridiculous."

For example, the prosecutor said, Harry had to explain why he was kept alive after Luke was killed, so he said Frosty was too drunk to drive. When that did not explain why he wasn't killed after Frosty sobered up, Harry added that Frosty could not drive a stick shift, Calvert said.

And after insisting that he and Frosty never got out of the truck or stopped during the 14 hours from the time of the murder to when the truck was abandoned in Washington DC, Harry testified during the trial that they stopped for gas once and paid with cash.

"You start telling lies, and you get confused and you can't keep them all straight," Calvert said.

The prosecutor said the real explanation for the 14 hours was that Harry picked up a friend after leaving the campground, bought some marijuana and partied in the truck.