Wednesday, April 19, 2000
Suspect can't recall shooting
He says he was too drunk to plan murder
BY Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Relaxed, with his right arm resting on the judge's bench, James Roark eased back in the witness chair and told a jury Tuesday that he didn't remember killing his friend, Jacqueline “Sue” Burns, last October.
“The last thing I remember is dancing with Sue,” Mr. Roark testified as his Warren County trial on charges of aggravated murder and felonious assault continued before Judge P. Daniel Fedders.
“The next thing I remember I was standing on the porch and a thousand cops' lights were flashing.”
Mr. Roark's lack of memory is the basis of his defense. Prosecutors say he planned the killing and should be convicted of aggravated murder. That charge could put the 61-year-old unemployed contractor in prison for 25 years to life.
But, Mr. Roark's lawyers dispute the claim that the killing was premeditated. They have portrayed Mr. Roark as an inebriated man who wasn't in control of his actions and would never kill the friend who had cooked dinner for him just the night before her Oct. 16 death.
They want jurors to consider less-serious charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide. The case is expected to go to the jury today.
Mr. Roark testified Tuesday that he consumed at least 22 beers and several Valiums and painkillers in the nine hours before he shot Mrs. Burns. Mr. Roark had nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood two hours after the shooting, according to evidence introduced Tuesday.
Assistant Prosecutor James Beaton contends the 11 p.m. shooting occurred at Mrs. Burns apartment after she lost $200 to Mr. Roark in a card game, then couldn't pay him immediately.
Witnesses told jurors Monday that the gun misfired once, and Mr. Roark fired a second time.
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