Published: May 21, 2009 11:07 pm      

Berry trial, day four

Rodney Jason Berry took the witness stand Thursday, testifying in his own defense on charges that he shot and killed his former girlfriend and her fiancé.

Berry, charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of use of a firearm, confessed to police within hours of the Dec. 2, 2006, deaths of Martha Mills, 25, and Zack Worthington, 30.

Jurors listened as Berry recounted the events leading up to the shootings, which occurred in the parking lot of Mills’ Bradley apartment.

Berry said he received a voice-mail message from Mills during the afternoon of Dec. 1 informing him that she had gone to “some sort of comedy club” in Charleston with her brother.

Sometime around 11:30 p.m., Berry said, she called back and told him she was at her apartment.

When he asked her if she wanted him to come over, he said, she told him, “Not really. She (said) she was going to sleep.”

Berry said he tried to call Mills back at least one and maybe two times after that but got no answer.

It was at that time, he said, he decided to pay her a visit.

“Just honestly, out of boredom, I decided to drive over there and see her,” he said, explaining the power had been out at his home for most of the day.

Although Berry said Mills’ porch light and television were still on, she did not come to the door when he rang the doorbell.

At that point, Berry testified, he took a drive through Beckley, and upon ending up back on Sandbranch Road, where her apartment was located, he decided to stop again.

Mills still did not respond and Berry said he was turning to leave when he heard what he thought was her truck.

Berry said he was standing on the sidewalk in front of Mills’ apartment when she pulled up and turned the engine and lights off.

“I noticed there was a guy (Worthington) sitting in the passenger side,” Berry recalled, adding Mills then exited the truck to talk to him. “I pointed at the guy in the passenger side and I said, ‘Who’s that?’

“She said, ‘A friend.’”

Berry continued, shaking his head, “Something about the way she said, ‘A friend.’ I pulled out my gun. I remember pointing at the windshield of her truck. I remember firing. After that, I remember going around to the passenger side of the truck. I remember opening (the door) and I remember firing a few more times inside of the truck.

“Martha either rushed up and grabbed my shoulder or grabbed the door and was trying to get me out of the truck when I spun around and shot her.”

Berry told co-defense counsel Gary Frasher he then got into his father’s yellow Toyota SUV and drove home.

“It felt like a dream,” he said, explaining the events were sort of a blur.

When he arrived at his parents’ home, where he also lived, Berry said he woke his mother and told her what he had done.

“I told her I caught Martha with another guy and I shot them both,” he said, in a shaky voice.

Berry said he then called Fayette County 911 and told dispatchers he wanted to confess.

Although he told Frasher he knew he gave a confession at the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department, he said he really did not remember doing so.

“The only thing I can tell you is I was in shock that night,” he said. “After I left my house, I don’t remember much until I got to regional jail. A couple weeks later it started to sink in what had happened.”

Berry told Frasher he felt terrible about the shootings and thought about them every day.

“Everything would have been different about that night,” he said, explaining he would change things if he could.

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Although Berry said he believed he and Mills were in a relationship, in her cross-examination, prosecutor Kristen Keller made reference to an e-mail Mills sent him just two days before her death.

“She was telling you she needed space and didn’t love you the way she used to,” Keller said.

“’There is love for you here, but I’m not ready to go back,’” Keller said, quoting Mills’ e-mail. “‘I’m sorry if this hurts you.’”

Berry told Keller he understood Mills was asking for space but said she continued to call him.

Berry said he and Mills were in a “quasi-relationship,” explaining they had been dating on and off since 2000 and were working on their relationship at the time of the shootings.

When asked by Keller if “quasi” meant they were free to see other people, Berry said, “Yes.”

Berry’s mother, Brenda, testified earlier Thursday, telling the court her son had told her he caught Mills having sex with another man.

When questioned about that statement, however, Berry said he didn’t recall saying that and said he believed he told his mother he had simply “caught” Mills with another man.

“How exactly did you ‘catch’ her with another guy?” Keller asked. “What exactly did you ‘catch’ her doing?

“Nothing,” Berry answered.

“Coming home,” Keller stated. “Yes,” Berry agreed.

Berry’s cousin, Richard Plum, who said he was a close friend of the defendant, testified his cousin and Mills had a normal boyfriend-girlfriend relationship and said he had been at Mills’ apartment a few weeks before her death to help install a pool table Berry had purchased for her.

Plum testified Berry had told him he sensed Mills was seeing someone else because she was becoming “reclusive.”

Berry, however, told Keller he had never told Plum that and did not suspect Mills was seeing or engaged to another man.

Berry also said neither Mills nor Worthington deserved to die, adding he didn’t recall any specific “look” on either of their faces that would have indicated any wrongdoing.

“Her being with another man is the only thing I can tell you,” he said, explaining that he “snapped” when he saw the couple together.

“Just seeing her with another male that was a friend caused this snap and you killed them both,” Keller said, adding Worthington would have been shot even if he had been a “friend, long-lost cousin” or any other male.

“That’s true,” Berry agreed.

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The defense rested its case Thursday and the trial resumes at 11 a.m. today with jury instructions and a possible state rebuttal.

Closing arguments are expected to begin this afternoon.

— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com