History of the Brooks Case
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del.icio.usOct. 7, 2006: Pair sent to trial in teen's slaying
BY RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle
After some shaky moments during cross-examination Friday, Everett Gentry proved to be all the state needed to proceed with its capital murder case in the death of Chelsea Brooks.
Sedgwick County District Judge Ben Burgess ordered Elgin "Ray Ray" Robinson , 20, and Ted Burnett, 49, to stand trial. Burgess' decision did not determine guilt; he found there was enough evidence take the case to a jury.
"The testimony by Mr. Gentry alone is sufficient to make a probable cause finding," Burgess said in rendering his ruling.
Robinson and Burnett will be asked to enter a plea at their arraignment - the next step in the process - in three weeks.
Although Gentry, 18, had given a graphic description Thursday of how the 14-year-old girl was strangled, his memory was muddled on cross examination Friday.
Gentry's plea deal
Gary Owens, Burnett's lawyer, asked Gentry about his plea deal. Gentry, 17 at the time of his arrest, agreed in July to testify and the state allowed him to plead guilty to capital murder as a juvenile. That protected Gentry from being charged as an adult.
Although Gentry couldn't face the death penalty because of his age, he could have received a mandatory 50 years in prison on a adult conviction. As a juvenile, Gentry still is looking at a life sentence, but he'll be eligible for parole in 25 years. The state also agreed to drop an aggravated-kidnapping charge, which could have added 13 years.
Owens also wanted to clarify a few points about Gentry's testimony.
On Thursday, Gentry testified that Robinson, the father of Chelsea's baby, wanted her killed to elude imprisonment for her statutory rape. Gentry said Robinson hired Burnett to kill Chelsea for $500. Gentry claimed he drove the car while Burnett strangled the eighth-grader.
Gentry also testified that Robinson had talked for weeks about "getting rid" of Chelsea. Then, a day before her disappearance, Gentry said he heard Robinson actually say she should be killed.
Owens asked on Friday:
"Now, you thought it was wrong for Ray to be having sex with Chelsea, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Gentry said.
"Because she was too young?"
"Yeah."
"Did you ever tell him that you think killing somebody is wrong?"
"Yeah."
"Did you go to police at that time?" Owens asked.
"No," Gentry said.
Owens reminded Gentry that he'd said he considered Robinson like a brother. They'd known each other since Gentry was in middle school.
"Were you also friends with Ted?" Owens asked.
"No," Gentry said. They just smoked marijuana together.
"How long had you known Ted?"
"A couple of months," Gentry said.
Night of the killing
Robinson and Burnett had never met each other in person, Gentry told Owens. But on June 9, the three forged a pact that within an hour fell together like a strategic mission.
Gentry said he picked up Chelsea at Skate South around 8 p.m., as Robinson had arranged. Gentry took Chelsea to his sister's apartment near the skating rink. He said he then left the girl, nine months pregnant, alone while he went to buy drugs.
"Did you make a habit of leaving people in your sister's apartment that she did not know?" Owens asked.
"No," Gentry said.
Gentry went to Burnett's apartment to meet the drug dealer - a man called "D." Gentry didn't know "D's" name, specific address or phone number. But Gentry said he bought pot from "D" weekly.
At Burnett's, Gentry received a call from Robinson. Robinson and Burnett talked on the speaker phone. Although they'd never met, Robinson offered Burnett $500 to kill Chelsea, Gentry said; Burnett, a drug addict, accepted.
Gentry said Burnett grabbed an electronics cord and a pair of latex gloves.
But Gentry swore he didn't expect any harm to Chelsea.
"So," Owens said, "you've got this guy, who you've just heard make this contract to kill this girl... . He grabs a cord and some latex gloves... . You just chose to ignore all that?"
"Yeah," Gentry said.
Gentry testified he also thought nothing about Burnett asking for a shovel. Gentry took a shovel from his sister's yard and put it in the trunk of his car.
Still, Gentry said, he expressed shock when Burnett began to strangle Chelsea in the car.
"Did you tell him to stop?" Owens asked.
"No," Gentry said. "I just yelled his name."
After the killing, Gentry said he helped dig a shallow grave in rural Butler County, where Chelsea's body turned up six days later.
Gentry first said he didn't talk to Robinson again until the next day. But in a question from Robinson's lawyer, Tim Frieden, Gentry said he took a call that same night from Robinson, who was using the cell phone "of his other girl."
Frieden also asked Gentry about some details of what he told police in interviews, which were inconsistent with what he said in the courtroom this week.
"I just don't remember," Gentry said repeatedly.
Reach Ron Sylvester at 316-268-6514 or rsylvester@wichitaeagle.com.