In his opening statements Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Chris Ross claimed statements made by Katherine Rutan Pollard in 2002 after the disappearance of her then 6-year-old son Logan Tucker were “not the words of an innocent woman.”
Ross was referring to statements Pollard made to an undercover police officer in August 2002, where he quoted her as saying “I f----- up. I hung myself. I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
He said these and other statements she made, including comments about fleeing to Canada, were recorded on audio/video tapes which will be presented as evidence for the jurors to consider as the trial progresses.
Ross also noted how the prosecution will present a number of witnesses who will testify that Pollard made several other comments about her desire to be rid of her children prior to Tucker’s disappearance.
He talked about how this and other evidence will go to show that Pollard murdered Tucker.
However, Defense Attorney Larry Jordan, who chose to proceed with his opening statements as well, argued that the evidence will only show that Tucker has disappeared and not that he has died. He stated that there are many children each year who are considered missing but are not presumed dead.
Jordan also noted there are times in every parent’s life when he or she expresses desires to be distanced from their children, but that doesn’t mean they would actually harm their children.
He asked the jurors to carefully listen to testimony of each witness so they “not only hear what the evidence is, but hear what the evidence isn’t.”
He noted that what is not there is just as important as what is.
For example, Jordan told the jurors that the state will present physical evidence in the form of a piece of tape with hair and blood on it that had been discovered in the basement of the home where Pollard and her children were staying at the time of the disappearance. He noted while DNA evidence will show that the hair and blood is Tucker’s, the evidence will not show when or how the piece of tape got there.
It took almost two hours for both the prosecution and the defense to complete their opening statements, making for a short day in court since District Judge Ray Dean Linder then recessed the case around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Four alternate jurors, two men and two women, were selected Wednesday morning before opening statements were heard.
The 12 jurors and four alternates will receive their first pieces of evidence today at 9 a.m. as the state is scheduled to call its first witnesses.
Pollard was arrested and charged with his murder in February 2006 and has been in jail ever since. She is being held in the Woods County Jail for the duration of the trial.
