Scotland E. Williams, accused in the shooting deaths of two Washington lawyers in their weekend home in Winchester on the Severn, may be a thief, but he is no killer, Craig M. Gendler told an Anne Arundel County jury yesterday.
Mr. Gendler, Mr. Williams' defense lawyer, said the prosecution's evidence may show that Mr. Williams drove one of the lawyer's cars, used her bank card and was wearing her watch when he was arrested, but it can't place him inside the house where she was killed.
Mr. Williams, 31, of Arnold went on trial on first-degree murder charges yesterday in the deaths of Jose Trias, 49, and Julie Gilbert, 48. The lawyers died of single bullet wounds to the backs of their heads. Their bodies were found naked in their bed about noon May 16. They had been dead for two days.
Mr. Gendler, who referred to his client as "Scotty" during his opening statement, told jurors that Mr. Williams could have purchased the bank cards from a thief or the murderer. He also said the DNA evidence, shoe print, hair and cotton glove fibers on which prosecutors are relying would not conclusively place his client at the scene.
"Stealing money is light years away from murder," Mr. Gendler told jurors. "Absolutely nothing puts Mr. Williams in that house."
Frank R. Weathersbee, the Anne Arundel state's attorney, said the evidence would be "overwhelming."
Mr. Williams left his DNA on a drinking glass in the victims' kitchen, a print of his size-7 tennis shoes on their kitchen floor, his hair in their bathroom sink and some cotton fibers from his gloves in their house, Mr. Weathersbee said.
The defendant was videotaped leaning out the window of Ms. Gilbert's Acura Legend to use her bank card at two bank machines in the county, Mr. Weathersbee said.
In his opening statement, Mr. Weathersbee described the couple as a perfect match, still "truly in love with each other" after nine years of marriage. They were killed "while they lay helpless and naked in their beds," he said.
Mr. Weathersbee described Mr. Trias as a gourmet cook who dabbled in computers and played Mozart and Bach on the piano. He was vice president and general counsel to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the largest philanthropic organization in the United States.
Ms. Gilbert was a tax lawyer and a partner in a prominent Washington law firm. She loved art and often did legal work and tax work for charitable groups without charge, Mr. Weathersbee said.
He was quiet and genteel, and "she was outgoing, vivacious and giving," Mr. Weathersbee said as relatives of both victims listened from benches a few feet behind him.
In testimony yesterday, the victims' co-workers described how they became concerned when neither lawyer showed up for work Monday, May 16.
When her boss failed to show by 10:30 a.m., Dena Smith, Ms. Gilbert's secretary, asked Rickey A. Cole, an Annapolis-area carpenter who occasionally worked on the couple's home, to check the house.
Mr. Cole testified that he used his key to get inside, where he found the bodies covered by a top sheet. He said he tried to call police but that the telephone was dead so he rushed out to nearby Winchester Road to stop a passing truck.
"I just thought he was a nut," said James V. Morgan, the truck driver, who testified that he locked his doors because Mr. Cole was in such a frenzy.
Mr. Morgan said he asked a neighbor to make the 911 call, then drove to the edge of the victims' driveway to wait with Mr. Cole for the police to arrive.
The case, being heard before Judge Eugene M. Lerner, is expected to go to the jury at the end of next week.