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Page A12 Lake Oconee News Friday, November 10,2017 Lynn Hobbs/Staff Putnam County Assistant District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale shows a picture of Lydia Ivanditti's house while making his opening statements Monday in Putnam County Superior Court. Trial Continued from A1 Opinions differ on evidence In his opening statements, Putnam County Assistant District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale told jurors the state would be presenting evidence - such as phone records, toxicology reports, DNA, including blood found atthescene, expert witnesses, video footage and statements that only the killer would know - as well as testimony from another woman he had strangled. He described in detail the evidence, all of which would show, “That man sitting right there strangled a 62-year-old woman in her house on Dec. 2,” Barksdale said, pointing his finger at Causey. “This is not evidence,” defense attorney Keri Thompson, of Milledgeville, said in her opening state ments of Barksdale’s presen tation. “This is just what Mr. Barksdalethinkstheevidence is going to show. I believe you willhear things so farthatyou have never heard before. I’ve had a hard time wrapping my brain around this case,” she added. One hundred and twenty jurors were subpoenaed for the trial, authorities said, and the final selection consisted of 10 women and two men. They entered thejurors’box a few minutes before 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, and the trial started immediately. Opinions differ on character Although Barksdale had shown photos of the crime scene and copies of reports during his opening state ments, Thompson did not use such visuals. Instead, she created a picture with words. She described Ivanditti as “a debutante of Putnam County” and a “socialite.” “However, Ms. Ivanditti was not the socialite in the term you and I know it stands for,” she said to the jurors. “She led a double life, and I believe you are going to see that here. Her life reminds me of a painting. At a distance, it was really pretty, but when you look at it closely, there are a lot of cracks. These are the cracks that open the door for any number of people to have been the (perpetrator) of this crime.” Ivanditti had been head of the Atlanta Gallery Association, the former direc tor of the Plaza Arts Center, operated a small antique shop “This ‘n That” in Eatonton, and owned Cashmere Lake Oconee, a restaurant and lounge in HarmonyCrossing. Barksdale noted Ivanditti, “Was a social butterfly and friend of the rich and poor, all social classes, was a giving person, immaculate and clean, would help anybody. She also enjoyed a good stiff drink and occasional smoke, not necessarily talking about tobacco,” he added. Thompson said she had problems with alcohol, drugs and men, and had been fired fromherPlazajobfor stealing money. “She was an individual who could have had it all - a perfect Southern life - but she chose to throw it all away,” Thompson said. Of Causey, the defense attorney said he has four children and held a job at Horton Haulers. “Hewasnotthetypeofindi- vidual they say is a murderer,” she said. First witness: the victim's mother The first witness called to the stand Monday was Ivanditti’s mother, Maurine Huggins, who said Lydia was the eldest of her five children. Huggins, a widow, said she and Ivanditti had a very good relationship, and Ivanditti always looked after her and accompanied Huggins to her doctor visits. Huggins was the person who found Ivanditti dead in Ivanditti’s home on West Walnut Street in Eatonton. In court, she was questioned about and gave a description of her and her daughter’s activities the day before Ivanditti’s death and the cir cumstances of how she found her body. Ivanditti had just gotten her hair done at the beauty salon that day, she said. When Ivanditti’s daughter, Julia, called and expressed concern because she couldn’t reachher mother, Huggins went over to Ivanditti’s house, which was only five blocks away, to check on her. When no one answered Huggins’ knock on the door, she went back home but returned shortly there after, this time with a key to get in, she said. However, the key was not needed because she discovered the front door was unlocked. She walked through the house, calling out Lydia’s name until she saw her daughter’s lifeless body in the garden tub of the master bathroom. “I stood there for a few minutes trying to absorb what my eyes were seeing,” she told District Attorney Stephen A. Bradley, who was questioning her. Huggins then went out to her car to get her cell phone and called 911, she said, her voice choking with emotion when she described how she told Eatonton Police Chief Kent Lawrence that was her daughter in the tub. Thompson didn’t ask Huggins about Dec. 2 but instead quickly fired questions about Ivanditti’s acquaintances, friends, busi ness partners and others she had a relationship with, naming numerous specific people. Some Huggins knew of because Ivanditti had talked aboutthem; others she knew because they had been in Huggins’ home, too. Huggins told Bradley, in his re-direct questions, that Ivanditti was unemployed at the time of her death, was struggling financially and was in the process of being reconciled with her ex-hus band, Steve Scruggs. In her answers to Thompson’s fol low-up questions, she said the defendant, Causey, had been to her home to do yard work. About a dozen of Ivanditti’s family members attended the trial both Monday and Tuesday, moving to different locations in the courtroom to see all the evidence as it was presented. None of Causey’s family was there either day. As Monday’s session ended, Judge Burleson reminded jurors not to discuss the case with anyone or allow anyone to discuss it in their presence. Second and third witnesses: officials first on the scene Tuesday, Putnam County EMT and Deputy Coroner Brian Hicks and former EPD Officer Michael Eldredgepro- vided testimony describing how Ivanditti’s house, body and the crime scene looked when they responded to the call there Dec. 2. Hicks said rigor mortis had set in, and Eldredge noted there was bruising on her neck and forehead. Thompson ques tioned the timing of calls and members of public safety’s arrivals, trying to get both of them to establish a time of death, but neither did. Expert witness: CSI Next was expert wit ness, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Brian Hargrove, a veteran crime scene specialist. Hargrove described in detail howcrime scene investigators process ascene and described what he saw and found at Ivanditti’s home Dec. 2. There was no evidence of break-in, and nothing was out of place in the house, he said. “Everything was in order. It was cleaner than my house, and I keep a pretty clean house,” he described. “The bathroom, in my opinion, appeared to be the only room in disarray. It was not ransacked, but I could tell this was where the crime took place.” Hargrove described - and the D.A. provided pictures of - different items found in the bathroom, including a glass pipe on the floor, broken into three pieces with residue inside it that smelled like burnt marijuana; a cellphone screen protector on the floor near the toilet that had shat tered glass stuck to the sticky side of the protector; a towel at the base of the tub, under which was a battery case of the cell phone, with blood splatter on it; the cell phone with the shattered screen was on top of the towel and blood stains were on the phone; a candle was burning on the side of the garden tub; a pair of women’s underwear and cotton pants were on the floor; awineglass with brown liquor in it was on the side of the tub, alongwith aMichelob Ultra beer bottle; a liquor bottle was lying on its side; a foot massager was partially submerged in the tub on top oflvanditti’sfeetwiththecord outside of the tub, not plugged in an outlet; a bathrobe sub merged in the water of the tub under Ivanditti’s body with a cigarette lighter in the pocket; and blood stains on the door leading into the master bedroom. When asked, Hargrove said, when he first got to the scene, he did consider that it could have been an accident, but then he found evidence thatthe scene hadbeen staged and manipulated. Ivanditti was lying in the tub on her left side, and her head was under the faucet. “It doesn’t make sense that her head was under the spigot; most people put their feet under the spigot,” he said, adding that it didn’t make sense that the mas sager would be on top of her feet, and that part of it was completely dry, “So we know she was in the tub first.” The cord was stretched out on the side of the tub with the plug lying on the floor. The outlets around the tub were GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter) outlets, and none of them had been tripped, Hargrove said. Nothing else in the room was disturbed, he said, and the room was very clean. On cross-examination, Thompson questioned if someone could have cleaned the room up after the fact, or if her death could have been an accident because Ivanditti was intoxicated, or that it had been her will to die? Hargrove said he had no way of knowing if, or to what degree, Ivanditti was intoxicated. “There is absolutely no evi dence she died as a result of an accident,” Hargrove said. “She was strangled and she had a swollen, bruised spot on her head. I wouldassumethat being strangled was against her will.” When Thompson repeated the questions several times, wording them slightly differ- enteachtime, Hargrove stuck to his original testimony. “Again, all evidence taken in the totality of this inves tigation shows this was a result of a violent act and not a drunken stupor,” he said. Tuesday's final witnesses Other witnesses, including some who briefly had lived in the spare room of Ivanditti’s house, had owed her money, worked for her and/or lived nearby also testified for the prosecution Tuesday after noon. Thompsonbroughtinto question the character of two of those witnesses, pointing out they recently had been arrested on drug charges. A local business owner whose security video revealed Causey’s presence in the area the night of the murder and the HR director of Causey’s girlfriend’s workplace also testified regardinghis alibies. The trial continues throughouttheweek,but will not take place on Friday due to the Veterans Day holiday. Just My Opinion. Kathi Russell andidate for Mayor A great big THANK YOU to all of those who ran as City Council and Mayoral candidates for this years Election. Thank you to the candidates, the Citizens, the news media and the supporters who gave their level best to help get their candidate elected. Good luck to the winners. When good peo ple doing good thing run for office there are no losers. Thank you all. For more information for Better Government in Madison call Kathi Russell at 706-342-6779 The support you need to find quality SENIOR LIVING SOLUTIONS A Place for Mom has helped over one million families find senior living solutions that meet their unique needs. There’s no cost to you! CALL(855)508-8043 ! We’re paid by our partner communities a Place/or Mom. YES YOU CAN! Bring in 5 canned goods to get 10% OFF any one item!* Bring in 10 canned goods to get 20% OFF any one item!* * Excluding new furniture Greene County m Restore fy _r *-i ' X P *OCEEDsX * BENEFIT * central ' food bank 1373 Willow Run Rd., Greensboro • Wed.-Fri. 10-5; Sat. 10-4 706.453.1718 • www.HabitatGreene.org
