The jury trial for a woman who is charged with killing her aunt more than 13 years ago kicked off Tuesday morning in a Johnson County courtroom, and is expected to last through the week.
Stephanie Ann Bryant, 58, was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial after the crime on or around Christmas Eve 2006, and spent more than a decade at a psychiatric hospital in Indianapolis. She was released 14 months ago.
Bryant is accused of killing Stella Morgan, the woman prosecutors say raised Bryant, on either Dec. 23 or Dec. 24 at Morgan’s home in downtown Greenwood, according to court documents. She was 83 years old.
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Bryant was charged with Morgan’s murder on Dec. 29, 2006.
<strong>Mental health </strong><strong>questioned</strong>
On Tuesday, more than 13 years later, Bryant was transported to the Johnson County courthouse, where she was held in the basement until the trial started. Dressed in dark clothes from head to toe, multiple sheriff’s deputies escorted her up the elevator and into the courtroom on the second floor, her handcuffs hidden by a coat.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors selected a jury, and by the afternoon, opening statements were heard and three witnesses from the Greenwood Police Department testified.
The witnesses laid out the crime scene, as well as Bryant’s demeanor and answers to questions during an initial interview at a bus station in downtown Indianapolis on Christmas Day 2006, as well as what family members had said about the defendant and victim’s relationship.
Johnson County Prosecutor Joe Villanueva kicked off the trial with the prosecution’s opening statements. Deputy prosecutor Megan Smither is also working the case for the prosecutor’s office.
Villanueva rehashed the details of the crime, and told jurors they would hear from multiple witnesses, including police officers, family members, a neighbor and mental health experts who would testify that Bryant was sane at the time of the crime and that she knew killing her aunt was wrong.
He also told the jury they would see graphic photos of the crime scene and evidence, including the pants and shoes worn by Bryant at the bus station which prosecutors and police officers say were covered in blood.
The way prosecutors see it, jurors have four options: not guilty; guilty with mental illness; not responsible for reasons of insanity; and one other option.
“Last one, she did it, she straight up did it,” Villanueva said.
Jennifer Wilson Reagan and John P. Wilson, of the Wilson and Wilson law firm in Whiteland, are defending Bryant.
John P. Wilson delivered the defense’s opening statements. He said they would prove Bryant struggled for years with mental illness and lacked medical treatment for it.
“The evidence is going to show that Stephanie Bryant has a long history with mental problems,” Wilson said.
Wilson told jurors Bryant’s mental illnesses caused her to laugh uncontrollably, curse at grass and she had a history of auditory hallucinations.
He said Bryant had been considered homeless, had psychotic episodes and would talk to herself in different voices, and set up that the mental health experts who are slated to testify later this week are wrong about Bryant because they would likely disregard her hallucinations.
<strong>Competency restored</strong>
In early 2007, a mental health evaluation was ordered to determine if Bryant was competent to stand trial. Then Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Mark Loyd ordered the examination after observing that Bryant had difficulty answering fairly simple questions, Loyd said in newspaper archives.
In March 2007, she was found incompetent to stand trial. She was transported to Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital, a psychiatric hospital on the west side of Indianapolis, court documents said.
Bryant was treated at the hospital beginning in April 2007 until late October 2018, when hospital officials sent a letter to the court saying, “competency has been restored.” Within a day, she was transported to the Johnson County jail, where she has been for more than a year. Jail workers are instructed to distribute medication to retain Bryant’s competency, according to court documents.
Her trial started Tuesday morning at the Circuit Court, with Judge Andrew S. Roesener presiding.
<strong>Christmas Eve murder</strong>
On Dec. 24, 2006, Greenwood police conducted a welfare check on Morgan at her home at 1 E. Main St. Officers saw blood on the back stairs of the home and marks on the ground that gave the appearance something had been dragged through the yard, court documents said.
Officers investigated further, looking into a shed on the property. They found Morgan dead inside, according to court documents.
An autopsy was performed by Dr. Joye Carter, with police officers and then Johnson County Coroner David Lutz present. There were multiple bruises and dried blood on Morgan. Morgan died of blunt force trauma, which caused multiple open skull fractures and total destruction of the frontal lobes of her brain, court documents said.
Witnesses, including relatives, neighbors and friends of Morgan, told police that Bryant, who had been staying with Morgan, was constantly asking her aunt for money, according to court documents.
Morgan told friends her utility and food bills were going up with Bryant staying there. A relative told police Morgan was planning to ask Bryant to find a new place to stay, court documents said.
Police found Bryant early Christmas morning at the bus station in downtown Indianapolis. Bryant told police after her arrest she wanted to attend her mother’s funeral and they needed to find who killed her, court documents said.
<strong>Trail of blood</strong>
At the trial Tuesday, the responding officer who found Morgan dead detailed for the jury what he saw the night of Dec. 24, 2006.
The officer testified that he conducted a welfare check around 7:15 p.m. Christmas Eve that year, and searched the property for Morgan. He told jurors he saw Morgan face down in a shed wearing only underwear, and he saw blood on a metal plate near the home’s back steps, in the carpet near a desk inside and on the outside of the home itself.
He told jurors a bed in an upstairs bedroom was in disarray, with the mattress pulled away from the box spring. When officers found her at the bus station, she had a large amount of blood on her clothing. The cleanliness of her hands caught his attention, since her clothes had so much blood on them, he said.
“It looked like she had a substantial amount of blood on her pants, jeans,” the officer said.
Doug Roller, now deputy chief for the Greenwood Police Department, told the jury that he asked Bryant questions at the bus station and she answered the questions in a way that made him believe that she was coherent. For example, he asked her when the last time she saw her "mom" was and she said it had been a few days, Roller testified.
Roller also told the jury he asked her how she got the blood on her clothes and she told him she picked up something in the street. Roller said he didn’t believe her and she lost eye contact, looked down and mumbled.
He also said she was subdued and gave short answers to his questions.
A third officer who is now retired from the department told the jury she was the lead detective on the case and she had assigned some tasks to other officers, which was typical.
She told jurors she spoke to some family members who told her Morgan is Bryant’s biological aunt, but Morgan had essentially raised her and their relationship could be tumultuous.
The trial is scheduled to continue today.
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Stephanie Bryant is accused of killing her mother, Stella Morgan, in December 2006.
<strong>Dec. 23-24, 2006:</strong> Morgan is beat to death at her home in downtown Greenwood.
<strong>Dec. 24, 2006:</strong> Greenwood police respond to a welfare check at 1 E. Main Street, and find Morgan dead in a shed on the property.
<strong>Dec. 25, 2006:</strong> Police find Bryant covered in blood at Union Station in downtown Indianapolis.
<strong>Dec. 29, 2006:</strong> Prosecutors charge Bryant with murder.
<strong>March 19, 2007:</strong> Court issues an order deeming Bryant incompetent to stand trial.
<strong>April 2007:</strong> Bryant begins treatment at Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital on the westside of Indianapolis.
<strong>Oct. 30, 2018:</strong> Hospital officials notify the court that Bryant’s competency has been restored.
<strong>Tuesday:</strong> Bryant’s jury trial for murder begins at the Johnson County Circuit Court, with Judge Andrew Roesener presiding.
Source: Johnson County court records
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