POCATELLO — The second and final day of testimony in the evidentiary hearing for convicted murderer Torey Adamcik opened with retired Bannock County Prosecutor Mark Heideman taking the stand and closed with Adamcik maintaining his innocence and apologizing to the victim’s family.
Adamcik was convicted of first-degree murder for the 2006 stabbing death of his friend and classmate, Cassie Jo Stoddart, and conspiracy to commit murder. His co-defendant, Brian Draper, was also convicted of first-degree murder in a separate trial. Draper’s post-conviction relief hearing was dismissed Feb. 26, 2013.
Draper and Adamcik were just 16 when convicted, and both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Adamcik was the last witness called to testify by his attorney Dennis Benjamin of Boise.
Benjamin maintained that Adamcik’s defense team during the 2007 murder trial, Aaron Thompson, Greg May and Bron Rammell, failed to provide evidence in the case that could have had an impact on the outcome of the trial.
While his former teachers and family members described Adamcik as immature and lacking in critical thinking skills, the 25-year-old was articulate and very much involved in his ongoing defense.
Adamcik also maintained that he had no hand in the stabbing death of Stoddart.
Stoddart was stabbed 29 times while house sitting for a relative in a rural area north of Tyhee Road.
“I thought we were going to scare (Stoddart),” Adamcik said.
He and Draper waited in the basement and at one point, Draper cut the power.
“We were trying to lure them downstairs,” Adamcik said. “I think I turned on the power so the house phone would work and I called them.”
He told the young man that he was at a movie theater and about 30 minutes later, the boy’s mother picked him up.
Adamcik said he argued with Draper, who cut the power again and headed upstairs. Draper was armed with what was referred to in the murder trial as the “Sloan blade,” a dagger-type weapon, and Adamcik wielded a hunting-style knife referred to as the “Rambo knife.”
“(Draper) told me to go into the living room and I said, ‘No,’” Adamcik said. “He went around me and stepped into the living room. Cassie said something to him and then screamed. I thought this is not going according to plan.”
Draper told him to go into the living room and Adamcik said he could hear Stoddart.
“It sounded like she was snoring,” he said. “I knelt down beside her. I might have dropped my knife and I left the room.”
Draper told him to turn the lights back on and he did. Then Adamcik said he went out the back door, removed a mask, his shirt and one glove and put them in the trunk of his car.
“I thought (Draper) was behind me. I waited a couple of minutes,” Adamcik said. “I was extremely anxious, I don’t know how to describe it.”
He doesn’t remember when the video recorder was turned on, but on it Draper said, “I just killed Cassie, I saw her lifeless body.”
Adamcik said he pretended to be high on the video.
Stoddart’s mother, Anna Stoddart, cried quietly as Adamcik gave his account of the events of that evening.
Bannock County Deputy Prosecutor Ian Service noted that it was Adamcik who appears on the video telling Draper that they “had to get their act together,” and Adamcik said he knew they were in trouble.
“I just didn’t know how much trouble,” Adamcik said.
They returned to the Adamcik home and he noticed that Draper had blood on his forearm and hand.
“My thought at that time was ‘how could I ever tell anyone?’” Adamcik said.
According to Adamcik, Draper said they had to get rid of the evidence and they drove to Blackrock where Adamcik dug a hole and buried a video recorded the night of the killing, the knives, masks, gloves and clothing.
Draper later led investigators to the buried items.
“I never wanted it to happen, and I want to apologize to Cassie’s family,” Adamcik said.
Anna Stoddart, Cassie Jo’s mother, said the hearing shattered what little closure the family has attained.
“It’s just ridiculous, the parents need to get over their denial, realize that (Adamcik) did it and he’s going to spend the rest of his life in jail and he should,” Anna said. “They still have their son. I have to visit my daughter in the cemetery. I didn’t get to see her graduate or get married or have babies.”
Anna said the only contact that she has had with the Adamciks since Cassie was murdered was a call from Dr. Phil McGraw asking if she would be interested in appearing on his daytime show with Shannon Adamcik. Anna declined to appear.
Much of Wednesday’s testimony focused on whether or not a plea agreement had been presented to Adamcik and when the deal was offered.
Heideman was the first witness called to the stand Wednesday and he said he had taken a plea deal to Aaron Thompson 60 to 90 days prior to trial and the agreement was offered to Adamcik and Draper.
Under the settlement agreement, the state would have dismissed the conspiracy to commit murder charge and recommended a sentence of life in prison with 30 years fixed in exchange for a guilty plea to first degree murder.
Heideman said the deal was turned down.
Retired Sixth District Judge Peter McDermott testified Wednesday that he was not aware of the plea deal and he said he wouldn’t have gone along with it if he had known.
“Given the crime and all that transpired in the courtroom, I feel the sentence was appropriate,” McDermott said.
Rammell testified Wednesday that Adamcik was not interested in plea deals — they were seeking an acquittal in the case.
Another hiccup in the 2007 murder trial came when forensic expert Rudolf Riet conducted tests using a knife identical to the “Sloan blade” and almost identical to the “Rambo knife,” and a pig belly.
Riet stabbed the pig skin with the knives and compared the results to autopsy photos.
Wednesday, Riet said it was unusual to not test the actual murder weapon, but he said the defense team in 2007 told him they could not access the knives.
When Rammell argued that they could not obtain the weapons from prosecutors, Heideman said he reacted.
“I got a little hot under the collar and I called him a liar. I was out of line and I should have maintained my composure until the jury was gone,” Heideman said. “I had an open door policy and the defense had access to all the evidence. But we weren’t going to just let them go in and take the knives. There had to be an established chain of custody.”
McDermott dismissed the jury following Heideman’s outburst.
The judge also excluded testimony from Riet in the 2007 murder trial.
Benjamin did secure the murder weapons earlier this month and Riet conducted the tests using those knives two weeks ago.
Riet testified Wednesday that the tests indicated that the “Sloan blade” and the “Rambo knife” made similar wounds when the Rambo blade was inserted halfway.
Heideman was also questioned about images downloaded from a computer in the Adamcik home. The content included child pornography and violent images.
Thompson testified Tuesday that the prosecutor told him that unless they withdrew their character defense he would release the disc and to avoid having the jury see the images, they opted not to call character witnesses in the case.
Heideman acknowledged that he told the defense team he would use the contents of the computer to rebut the character witnesses.
Rammell said motions were not filed to suppress or exclude the images because if the judge did approve the motions, the action would have still been argued in front of the jury.
Sixth District Magistrate Mitchell W. Brown will rule on the matter after reviewing briefs from the state and the defense.
Service said the defense must show that not only was legal counsel deficient, but that the deficiency impacted the outcome of the trial.
“I think judge McDermott’s testimony was a turning point in the hearing,” Service said. “He was pretty clear.”
Benjamin said he thought the defense had proven everything it needed to prove and he said public interest complicated the case.
Benjamin has known Adamcik for several years and said it was a privilege to represent him.