Prosecutors say the murder of Wayne “Frog” Hutchinson went down in an overcrowded house in Hawthorne — an eruption of violence and the bloody work of two screwdriver-wielding criminals.
But the defense asks, where’s the blood? Where’s the Phillips head screwdriver? Where’s the proof?
Hutchinson was killed seven years ago Monday at the age of 45.
On Friday, after five days of trial and more than six hours of deliberation, jurors emerged deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared by presiding Circuit Judge Mark W. Moseley Friday night.
A new trial was scheduled for the week of Nov. 1, when prosecutors will again try to prove that Eddie Gillins, Jr., 55, and William Leander Bascomb, 41, planned Hutchinson’s death.
Witnesses said a screwdriver was used to stab Hutchinson repeatedly in the chest and stomach, but the medical examiner said Hutchinson was never stabbed in the chest or stomach, but rather in the neck, by what would have been a knife blade.
The 2003 murder investigation ran cold until Terrence Gillins asked to be interviewed from a Florida state prison.
He accused his uncle, Eddie Gillins, and Bascomb of the murder. The men were arrested in 2009, six years after the event, and have been in prison for more than a year awaiting trial.
Terrence Gillins said he was there when Eddie Gillins choked Hutchinson from behind while stabbing him repeatedly in the chest and stomach with a Phillips head screwdriver.
Bascomb helped drag his body behind a newspaper container in the dirt lot of 6419 SE 215th St. in Hawthorne, where it was later found, Terrence Gillins said.
But Gillins said a lot of things.
His story has changed six times since the start of the investigation, and the other three witnesses for the prosecution have changed theirs multiple times.
One witness also admitted to being on the far end of a three-day crack cocaine binge at the time she saw the suspects near the scene of the murder.
Each were also being rewarded by the state for their cooperation in the trial, according to the defense.
In closing remarks, the defense said the questionable testimony from unreliable witnesses contradicts what little evidence there is.
The investigation of the murder scene returned almost nothing. No murder weapon. No DNA. No fingerprints. No blood trails.
The medical examiner, however, did find a bag of crack cocaine, a bag of marijuana and $48 in the victim’s pockets. The defense said that if Gillins and Bascomb had robbed Hutchinson, they didn’t do a very good job.
The autopsy also found that the strangulation would have been caused by rope or a cord, not possibly by someone’s arm from behind.
Both defendants have criminal records: Gillins has 11 past felony charges as well as 26 aliases. But, the defense reminded the jury not to let that sway their decision.
Under federal law, the prosecution must prove the guilt of the defendants beyond a reasonable doubt in the jury’s mind.
Gillins’ defense attorney, Michael Finesilver, said that should be difficult for the prosecution, as their argument is flimsy at best.
Though, as in all murder trials, the prosecution said the same about the defense.
The families of both the defendants and the victim sat through the weeklong trial.
“It’s a small town, and we all know each other in a way,” said Babette Wood, Bascomb’s younger sister.
She said the families still greet each other around town and offer their prayers to one another for a speedy resolution of the case.
“I wish my brother would’ve come home today,” Wood said. “But we all wish for closure.”
