2004-09-20

Trial Begins with Tale of Drug Deal Gone Bad

Sometime--perhaps years-- before she died, Julie Armstrong had a tattoo of a rose and a dagger dripping blood inked on her leg.

On Tuesday, a forensic pathologist testified her came across the tattoo when he autopsied Armstrong, who died of a single stab wound to her chest.

Both sides presented opening arguments Tuesday in the murder trial of William Tyrone Cornelius, 29, accused of stabbing Armstrong to death and dumping her body on an Amarillo street.

Assistant 47th District Attorney Jim Yontz told jurors the case cropped up after an Amarillo woman driving in west Amarillo spotted a woman's bod lying on the road in the 800 block of South Parker Street.

Yontz said an Amarillo man reported his pickup as stolen the night before the slaying, but later told authorities he hadn't told them the full story. The man, Yontz said, loaned the truck to Cornelius, but Cornelius told the man his truck had been stolen while it was in his possession, a story the man deemed suspicious.

Meanwhile, authorities identified the victim by her fingerprints and other details about the crime began to surface, Yontz told the jury.

Once she was identified, the pieces began to fall into place for the officers, Yontz said.

Crime scene investigators later processed the pickup and investigators later received a tip that led them to a hunting knife, believed to be the murder weapon, discovered in a back yard in 400 block of South Georgia Street.

Information about the truck later led police to Cornelius, who was questioned by homicide investigators. In his third statement to police, Cornelius confessed to killing Armstrong, Yontz said.

Defense attorney Mike Warner told jurors the case was about a drug deal gone bad. Cornelius, he said. Had been smoking crack cocaine the night before the slaying and went from place to place with different people, looking for more.

Cornelius and another man later began arguing with the victim over a rock of crack cocaine they wanted to buy from her, Warner said. The victim yanked the keys out of the truck's ignition, Warner said, and Armstrong began honking the horn in the midst of a neighborhood known for drug-dealing.

"They began fighting for the keys. She was causing a scene." Warner said

The victim spotted a knife on the truck's dashboard and reached for it, Warner said.

As Armstrong, Cornelius and another man struggled for the knife, it plunged into the woman's chest, he said.

Warner told jurors they must decide whether the stabbing was intentional or on accident

On Tuesday, the defendant's cousin, James Tinnin reluctantly testified for the prosecution and said Cornelius called him after the slaying to get a ride. Tinnin said Cornelius told him he'd done something bad that night and had stabbed a man.

Joy Bowen, who discovered the body, said she spotted Armstrong lying in the road and ran house-to-house until a passerby drove up and called 911.

"I knew that she was dead," Bowen told jurors. "Her eyes were fixed."