Everson Trial Day 5: Testimony begins
Monday was a difficult day for Tom Everson as he relived the final days before his wife Nancy Everson’s death.
Tom was the first witness to take the stand for the prosecution as testimony began in the state’s case against Grant Everson.
Everson stands accused of first-degree premeditated murder in the fatal shooting of his mother Nancy and second-degree attempted murder of his father Tom. He also faces charges of aiding and abetting murder in the first and second degree related to Nancy’s death. Nancy was found shot to death in the Eversons’ Chaska residence on Jan. 15.
The prosecution’s opening statement laid out their argument that Grant Everson, with help from Joel Beckrich, hatched a plan to murder his parents and was successful in carrying out a portion of that plan as it related to Nancy.
The defense countered with its own opening statement asserting that, while there was no question of attempted murder, the plan was not followed through on and that any premeditation flew out the window when Everson and Beckrich retreated from the bedroom without killing Tom and Nancy. The eventual shooting of Nancy was a “new plan” resulting from Nancy confronting the boys and Beckrich “reacting instinctually.”
Tom’s testimony
Tom limped to the witness stand after taking his oath Monday morning. As he settled into the witness chair he took a deep breath and prepared for the questioning to begin. There was a noticeable warble in his voice as he said his wife’s name aloud.
When asked to describe his wife, Tom said she was “kind, thoughtful, a great cook and a green thumb,” adding that she “never did anyone harm.”
However, his description of his son, Grant, was less than glowing. Tom recalled that in the days leading up to Nancy’s death, they were both concerned for their son, wondering why he wasn’t coming home for days at a time, why he was doing so poorly in school and why he wasn’t doing the job they had hired him to do.“It was totally unreasonable,” said Tom.
Tom testified that Nancy called Grant two days before the shooting to warn him that if they didn’t hear from him in the next day, they would come looking for him.
In the end, Tom and Nancy went a different direction, imploring Everson’s girlfriend to assist them in contacting their son.
According to Tom, the girlfriend was able to bring Grant back to the Eversons’ Chaska home, where they had a lengthy discussion with him about his responsibilities. Tom said that both he and Nancy were satisfied with Everson’s responses and willingness to do better, try harder. They spent the rest of the evening of Jan. 14 eating dinner and watching a movie with their son and his girlfriend.
However, the evening took a drastic turn later when, in getting ready to walk the family dog, Nancy found a pistol in one of her hats in the workshop, Tom said. The pistol, which belonged to Tom, had been moved from its usual place behind the headboard in the master bedroom, he said.
“I went to Grant’s room,” recalled Tom. “I asked him, ‘Do you know where I found this?’” According to Tom, Grant denied knowing anything about the gun or how it migrated from the bedroom to the workshop.
Tom alleged he knew Grant was lying to him.“His deceptiveness was frustrating,” said Tom.Tom had no further interaction with his son that night.
He testified that he went to bed shortly after that exchange, still upset with Everson.
The next thing Tom remembers is being awakened by a metallic sound. “I heard my wife scream,” he said, recalling that he heard his wife yell at Grant to get out of the house.“It was the voice of absolute betrayal,” said Tom. “I’ve never heard her like that before.”
According to Tom, Nancy screamed again, but her scream was cut off by two shotgun blasts. “I knew she was dead,” he said. Tom testified that he then retreated to the couple’s walk-in closet to barricade himself inside with his pistol.
“My wife had just been murdered and it made sense to me that I would probably be next,” said Tom.
It was then that Tom said he made the “toughest decision of his life,” he testified.“What was that decision?” asked Carver County Attorney Michael Fahey.“To shoot my son when he came in the door,” he answered.
According to Tom, from his position in the closet, he could see the bedroom light flicker on. It was then that he came up with Plan B, he said.“I decided if I shot my son, I’d have to step over my dead son’s body and see my wife,” he testified. “I didn’t want to see that.”
Instead, Tom used a stepladder to climb on top of his dresser and escape out a small window in the closet. He ran to a neighbor’s home and contacted 9-1-1.
Following through on the plan
Tom’s testimony ended there. But the prosecution had already filled in the gaps, as they saw them, for the jury in their opening statements. Carver County Assistant Attorney Peter Ivy told jurors that two masked and armed intruders entered the Everson residence early that morning. “One of those intruders was (Nancy’s) son,” said Ivy.
Ivy painted a picture of a 20-year-old boy who had hit “below rock bottom” after failing in technical school and catching flak from his parents.
According to Ivy, Everson hatched a plan to kill his parents for the insurance money.
Ultimately, Ivy told the jury, Beckrich and Everson headed to Chaska with a plan to use Husky box cutters to slit Tom and Nancy’s throats. They brought a shotgun as backup, Ivy said.
The plan went awry when Nancy began to stir as they entered the bedroom, Ivy said. The two boys retreated to the hallway, where Nancy would find them with a gun pointed directly at her, he said.
With the gun thrust into his hands by Everson, Beckrich asked Nancy “Head or chest?” Ivy said. “‘I like to give them a choice,’ he would later tell police,” Ivy told the jury.
Beckrich then sent “a load of No. 4 steel shot into her skull,” said Ivy. “The plan was always to kill,” argued Ivy.
“There could not be any bigger betrayal,” he added.
Premeditation?
But the defense countered in its own opening statements. As promised to the jury last week, public defender Christine Funk did not deny the charges of attempted murder.
“Grant is guilty of those attempted murders, and he should have never been there,” she said.“You are allowed to be angry by that, disgusted by that,” she said. “But don’t stop listening.”
Funk argued that Everson and Beckrich did drive from Beckrich’s townhouse in Burnsville to Everson’s home in Chaska intending to kill Tom and Nancy. But upon arriving at the house, things changed.
“They planned it, they went there, they couldn’t do it,” she said. “They realized they couldn’t kill these people and they walked out of the bedroom.”
Funk said they retreated to the mudroom, returned the ski masks and were about to leave.“They’re ready to leave, they’re standing at the threshold of the rest of their lives,” she argued.And then Nancy came down the hall.“What happens next is a series of Joel Beckrich’s reactions,” she told the jury, writing his name in large letters on an easel pad.
“A premeditated murder did not actually happen.”Funk then read several quotes from Beckrich’s previous testimony, including a statement from his plea hearing: “I was trying to stall for time. I said ‘Head or chest?’ and I didn’t want to be there and I didn’t know what to do.”
“Technically it wasn’t an accident, but it wasn’t supposed to happen,” she read from a phone call Beckrich made to his parents. “It was never supposed to happen.”“This was a rash, indiscriminate act of a man who was in a place he was not supposed to be, who panicked,” said Funk.
In the first day of testimony, the prosecution called six witnesses and introduced 65 exhibits, including the alleged murder weapon.
In addition to Tom’s testimony, jurors heard from Tom’s neighbor Kathy Stinar; Carver County 9-1-1 Dispatcher Megan Roatch; Chaska Police Det. Jon Kehrberg; Carver County Deputy Brian Stranberg and Chaska Police Officer Rachel Nelson.Both sides agreed that the testimony of Beckrich would be key to their cases. Beckrich is expected to testify later in the trial.
Check www.chaskaherald.com [1] Tuesday afternoon for another court update.