BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- As she talked on the phone with her 27-year-old son, Lucy Colwell heard his girlfriend angrily hollering, "Hang up the phone!" Next, Ms. Colwell heard what sounded like pots and pans falling on the floor -- but it actually was the sound of the shotgun blast that killed her son, Herman Colwell Jr., on Dec. 21.
Ms. Colwell's emotional testimony Wednesday, the third day in the murder trial of Mr. Colwell's girlfriend, Sherry A. Mariana, moved many spectators to tears in the Butler County courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Matthew Crehan.
Ms. Mariana's lawyer, Clayton Napier, says his client was a battered woman in fear for her life. He is trying to convince the jury that she was subjected to hours of forced sex and abuse at the hands of a drug-crazed Mr. Colwell.
But under questioning by Pat Moeller, a Butler County assistant prosecutor, at least three witnesses -- including Ms. Mariana's 19-year-old son, David -- said they knew the couple but never saw any bruises or signs of physical abuse on Ms. Mariana.
Tests did show four types of drugs in Mr. Colwell's body at the time of his death: cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines and alcohol. The levels of cocaine and amphetamines were high enough to have possibly killed him -- but the gunshot wound was the cause of his death, testified Dr. Richard Burkhardt, county coroner.
Further, Dr. Burkhardt said, it would be impossible to tell which of the four drugs -- two of which are depressants and two of which are stimulants -- would have most affected Mr. Colwell's behavior. Witnesses have so far described his demeanor as calm and normal, interspersed with arguments with Ms. Mariana, in the hours before his death.
Defense witnesses were expected to begin testifying today and finish Friday.
