It takes more than a single ax blow..

[nbcatlover]

Cell mate testifies defendant admitted to killing 86-year-old city landowner

By Brian Fraga
Standard-Times staff writer
July 24, 2007 6:00 AM
NEW BEDFORD — Christopher Viger admitted in jail to murdering 86-year-old Leonard Silveira on July 11, 2003, a former cell mate testified Monday during Mr. Viger's murder trial.

The witness, Roger Dubois, was incarcerated with Mr. Viger, 28, in the Bristol County House of Corrections in 2006. Mr. Dubois, who was in jail on a drug possession charge, said Mr. Viger confessed on two separate occasions to killing Mr. Silveira, a local landlord who employed Mr. Viger.

"I did it. But it's not the way you guys think," Mr. Dubois said Mr. Viger told him in their jail cell one night. Mr. Dubois' testimony came on the last day of evidence in the weeklong trial held at New Bedford Superior Court. The jury will begin deliberating after closing arguments today.

Questioned Monday by Assistant District Attorney Raymond P. Veary Jr., the inmate said Mr. Viger admitted to murdering Mr. Silveira after other inmates antagonized him.

On one occasion, Mr. Viger confessed he hit Mr. Silveira with an ax, cutting his arm and face. However, that was not enough to kill him.

"He said, 'The old ... wouldn't die,'" Mr. Dubois said, adding that Mr. Viger later told him he finally murdered Mr. Silveira by hitting his head with a hammer nine times.

According to testimony, Mr. Viger then told Mr. Dubois that he ".... up" by not breaking a window in Mr. Silveira's house to make police think the man was killed during a home invasion.

Mr. Silveira, a World War II veteran, described by friends as a modest and generous property owner, was found dead on the second floor of his house after firefighters responded to what was deemed a suspicious fire. An autopsy said Mr. Silveira was struck by a blunt object, and that he was dead before the fire reached him.

Mr. Viger was indicted in 2005 after witnesses told investigators he was at Mr. Silveira's house the night he was murdered.

However, forensic evidence presented Monday did not definitively link Mr. Viger to the murder scene. An ax and two hammers found inside the house did not have enough DNA for testing, officials said. It has also been determined that Mr. Silveira's DNA was not found on Mr. Viger.

J. Drew Segadelli, Mr. Viger's lawyer, noted the lack of forensic evidence against the defendant. He also questioned the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses, especially Mr. Dubois, who has spent 22 years in jail and been arrested 132 times.

For three solid minutes in the courtroom, Mr. Segadelli read from Mr. Dubois' rap sheet, which included arrests for assault, witness intimidation, larceny, drug possession, robbery, breaking and entering, burglary, restraining order violations, shoplifting and resisting arrest.

Mr. Segadelli also highlighted the fact that Mr. Dubois made a deal with the District Attorney's Office to testify against Mr. Viger in exchange for a reduced jail sentence, restitution to his larceny victims and an 18-month probation.

"You would have done anything to get yourself out of jail, isn't that correct?" Mr. Segadelli asked Mr. Dubois, who replied: "The right way, yes."

Also Monday, Mr. Segadelli called on Lori Ann Viger, the defendant's mother, as a witness.

She testified that she had a party at her house on the night of July 10, 2003. She said Mr. Silveira attended the party and left her house around 10:45 p.m. in a taxi.

Ms. Viger also testified she woke up at 5:45 a.m. and saw her son, Christopher, smoking a cigarette on the couch. She said he called her around 11:30 a.m. to tell her about the fire at Mr. Silveira's house.

"He was very upset, in shock," Ms. Viger said.

Contact Brian Fraga at bfraga@s-t.com

This was in the New Bedford Standard-Times today. The highlighted parts reminded me of the Bordens.

[Kat]

So it's harder to kill someone with only one blow of an axe, huh? That is creepy! Thanks for the info.

It reminds me of that true story of the woman who was accused of killing her husband in the same bed with her by axe, and tried to say it was an intruder. He slept near the wall too, and the person would have had to reach over her.
I keep flashing on that story but I can't remember where I read it. It's an *old-time* story. Does anyone recall it? There were sleeping teenagers in the house too. Set in the mid-1800's?

[nbcatlover]

From today's paper:

However, forensic evidence presented Monday did not definitively link Mr. Viger to the murder scene. An ax and two hammers found inside the house did not have enough DNA for testing, officials said. It has also been determined that Mr. Silveira's DNA was not found on Mr. Viger...

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbc ... 60/-1/TOWN

Contrary to today's CSI mentality, many crimes are not being solved by forensics. Even if one was 100% certain that the Borden murder weapon had been found, it still might not provide any answers.

[Susan]

Thanks, Cynthia, interesting. From reading through the Trial documents, it sounds as though unless a major artery like the carotid was cut, death is not immediate from multiple axe blows to the head.

Trial, volume 2, page 1055, Dr. Edward Wood on the stand:

Q. Doctor, taking the results of your observations, what should you say as to the time of death after the wounds were inflicted?
A. I am able to form an accurate judgement in the case of the man. I can only approximate in the case of the woman.

Q. You may give your opinion or judgement.
A. In regard to Mr. Borden, the cutting across of the internal carotid artery within the skull meant immediate death. In the case of the woman, there was stunning from the first blow, unconciousness, and the length of survival might be five minutes, might be ten. Death may have come in one minute.

Q. You put the extreme limit at ten minutes?
A. Yes, sir.

Q. After all the blows were inflicted?
A. Yes, sir.

Q. Ten minutes after all the blows were inflicted?
A. Yes, sir.

Whereas Andrew's death sounded more immediate, Abby may have lingered after receiving all nineteen blows. I can only hope that Abby was indeed unconcious throughout and died after without knowing what hit her.

[nbcatlover]

Getting hit with an ax or hatchet seems so horrifying to me that it's hard to believe that it is not a very efficient method unless the killer is willing to be exceptionally brutal.

I guess I'm just shocked at how hard it is to prove a case of this nature even today. We have such great faith in forensics but they don't always work in these type of cases. The Borden hatchet, even with today's technology, might not provide "real" evidence. As in Lizzie's time, it comes down to he said, she said.

[Kat]

Thank you for the testimony Susan!

There are several stories of victims surviving axe attacks.
It's almost unbelievable!

[nbcatlover]

Today's news is the acquittal despite a troubled and complicated past with the victim and an uncorroborated alibi.

The jury felt the witnesses for the prosecution had too many issues to be trustworthy in the absence of forensic proof.