Stewart defense wants phone map out

CENTREVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) - A late start, a series of objections, a nearly two-hour recess and a continued fight over what is and isn't admissible punctuated the Doug Stewart murder trial Wednesday in St. Joseph County.

On Tuesday, defense attorneys Jeffrey Schroder and Kymberly Schroder objected to the introduction of a map prepared by Michigan State Police investigators that purported to plot the cell phone calls of Doug Stewart and his alleged accomplice, Ricky Spencer.

In early courtroom action, the prosecution asked to admit the map, offering to change some of the labels that the defense objected to during testimony. The defense and prosecution talked about what changes need to be made to the potentially inflammatory GPS map.

The defense said points reading "abduction" and "heading to Michigan" need to be removed from the map. Schroder said that even if potentially inflammatory labels are removed from the map, different color labels are inappropriate.

Judge Paul Stutesman said he is happy that potentially inflammatory label markers, like "abduction point," will be removed from the map.

After the labels were revised, MSP Detective Sherie Martens once again took the stand just before the lunch recess to explain what the map meant and how it was put together.

MSP investigator Shane Criger was recalled to the stand in the afternoon to testify about the phone records of Doug and Ricky Spencer. He spoke about the locations of phone calls Spencer and Stewart allegedly made showing the phone calls were made heading north from Newport News, Virginia.

He then showed a series of phone calls from Ricky Spencer's phone leaving Delaware and heading down to Virginia.

That prompted a nearly two-hour recess, and when court re-convened, Kymberly Schroder asked the GPS maps be stricken entirely from the record. The defense, she said, did not get parts of the phone record shown on the map.

The issue arose when defense attorneys realized they did not have full copies of double-sided phone records, only the front side of several pages.

Prosecutor John McDonough apologized that he "didn't work the copy machine properly," but said the phone records and map are important and should be allowed into evidence.

Stutesman said they would adjourn for the day to give the defense more time to prepare

Early Testimony

Though court convened at 9 a.m., the jury did not enter the courtroom until 10:30 a.m.

Michigan State Police trooper Jason Sylvester testified briefly, followed by a recall to the stand of trooper Aaron Steensma.

He testified about a search of Doug's parents' house and about the many places MSP searched for the body of Venus. Steensma also said they searched for some of Venus' items, but never found anything.

Then MSP Detective Chuck Christensen was recalled to the stand to answer more questions about when he spoke with Doug's alleged accomplice, Ricky Spencer, and searches for Venus.

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