11-03-2010, 01:50 PM
Nov. 3 Nashua Telegraph:
NASHUA – Steven Spader was a dim figure standing on the right side of Kimberly Cates’ bed. It was a full moon that night, and it sounded like a bat hitting the mattress when he used two hands to bring a machete down on the figures in the bed.
They begged. Someone said it was going to be OK. It wasn’t, according to William Marks, who was on the witness stand Tuesday in Spader’s first-degree murder trial.
Marks, 19, of Amherst, is the only person scheduled to testify who says he saw what happened inside the bedroom Oct. 4, 2009, when Cates was hacked to death and her daughter, Jaimie Cates, left for dead.
Marks said he turned on the lights once the attack was over and saw Kimberly Cates on the bed. She was moaning. A little girl was on the floor against a sliding glass door. She wasn’t moving.
“Steve Spader walked up to her and hit her in the head with a machete and kicked her in the chest,” Marks said. Jaimie Cates, who was 11 at the time, didn’t move. FILTHY BEAST
Jaimie was eventually able to crawl out of the bedroom, find a phone in the kitchen and call 911.
GREAT FATHER Afterward, Marks said he and his father, James Marks, talked about the value of his knowledge, and they schemed to sell the story to a national media outlet during jailhouse visits and on the phone. A national outlet would pay more for the information, Marks said under cross-examination by defense lawyer Jonathan Cohen.
He also admitted to a laundry list of lies he told police when he was first interviewed, the day after the murder was discovered.
Marks took the stand during the seventh day of testimony. Spader is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, witness tampering, and conspiracy to murder and burglary. He faces life in prison without the chance of parole.
Marks spoke quietly but clearly during his 2½ hours of testimony. The bright, jailhouse orange shirt looked too big on his 5-foot 3-inch, 97-pound frame.
Marks was a senior at Souhegan High School in Amherst last fall. He met Spader at a party about six months before. They hung out together a lot and sometimes talked about killing and hurting people, he said.
Marks said he had friends who lived near Trow Road and he knew the area.
A week or two before the attack, he and Spader were driving past the Cates home and the large house next door and talked about robbing them because they were isolated, he said.
Later, Christopher Gribble joined in on the plan, Marks said, and he learned Quinn Glover would be there the night of the attack, he said.
Throughout much of Saturday, Spader sent Marks increasingly demanding text messages, which were shown in court Tuesday, demanding he come and meet him. At one point, Marks text-messaged Spader that they should wait to rob the house until the family left for church, according to the texts.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeff Strelzin had Marks read one of the rules of the “Disciples of Destruction,” or D.O.D., which was a gang or brotherhood Spader formed around the time of the attack, according to prosecutors.
“If you get called, you come. No questions asked,” Marks read.
Eventually Marks said he told his girlfriend, Tenley Carmen, he was going home but met up with Spader and Gribble. They changed clothes, picked up Glover and drove to Mont Vernon, he said.
Gribble lowered Marks into the basement, because he was the smallest, but Marks thought he was locked in because he was trying to push open a door that opened toward him. Once inside, the men checked a number of rooms, turned off the electricity, and Spader and Gribble went into the master bedroom armed with a machete, knife and an iPod for light, Marks said.
“Spader shined the iPod on the people in the bed. They woke up. They started to talk, and at that point, Steve Spader started hitting them with a machete,” Marks said. “They were saying, ‘You don’t have to do this. Please stop. Everything is going to be OK.’”
Marks said he was in the doorway during the attack and was focused on Spader. He said he didn’t see what Gribble was doing.
Marks said he joked with the others after the attack. He testified that before the attack, he said he wanted to “plant” a hatchet he had in Gribble’s car into someone’s head. Earlier, he told Carmen he wanted to “kill a pig” with a knife he had just purchased at a Milford shop.
Marks said he was just going along with the crowd and trying to look tough in front of his girlfriend. The day after the attack, Marks told Carmen he was having flashbacks about what happened.
Strelzin repeatedly had Marks look at the jury and tell them exactly what he had and had not done in connection with the attack. Marks admitted he helped plan it, picking the house and even giving Gribble directions to it, but said he never touched Kimberly or Jaimie Cates and never took anything from the house.
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NASHUA – Steven Spader was a dim figure standing on the right side of Kimberly Cates’ bed. It was a full moon that night, and it sounded like a bat hitting the mattress when he used two hands to bring a machete down on the figures in the bed.
They begged. Someone said it was going to be OK. It wasn’t, according to William Marks, who was on the witness stand Tuesday in Spader’s first-degree murder trial.
Marks, 19, of Amherst, is the only person scheduled to testify who says he saw what happened inside the bedroom Oct. 4, 2009, when Cates was hacked to death and her daughter, Jaimie Cates, left for dead.
Marks said he turned on the lights once the attack was over and saw Kimberly Cates on the bed. She was moaning. A little girl was on the floor against a sliding glass door. She wasn’t moving.
“Steve Spader walked up to her and hit her in the head with a machete and kicked her in the chest,” Marks said. Jaimie Cates, who was 11 at the time, didn’t move. FILTHY BEAST
Jaimie was eventually able to crawl out of the bedroom, find a phone in the kitchen and call 911.
GREAT FATHER Afterward, Marks said he and his father, James Marks, talked about the value of his knowledge, and they schemed to sell the story to a national media outlet during jailhouse visits and on the phone. A national outlet would pay more for the information, Marks said under cross-examination by defense lawyer Jonathan Cohen.
He also admitted to a laundry list of lies he told police when he was first interviewed, the day after the murder was discovered.
Marks took the stand during the seventh day of testimony. Spader is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, witness tampering, and conspiracy to murder and burglary. He faces life in prison without the chance of parole.
Marks spoke quietly but clearly during his 2½ hours of testimony. The bright, jailhouse orange shirt looked too big on his 5-foot 3-inch, 97-pound frame.
Marks was a senior at Souhegan High School in Amherst last fall. He met Spader at a party about six months before. They hung out together a lot and sometimes talked about killing and hurting people, he said.
Marks said he had friends who lived near Trow Road and he knew the area.
A week or two before the attack, he and Spader were driving past the Cates home and the large house next door and talked about robbing them because they were isolated, he said.
Later, Christopher Gribble joined in on the plan, Marks said, and he learned Quinn Glover would be there the night of the attack, he said.
Throughout much of Saturday, Spader sent Marks increasingly demanding text messages, which were shown in court Tuesday, demanding he come and meet him. At one point, Marks text-messaged Spader that they should wait to rob the house until the family left for church, according to the texts.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeff Strelzin had Marks read one of the rules of the “Disciples of Destruction,” or D.O.D., which was a gang or brotherhood Spader formed around the time of the attack, according to prosecutors.
“If you get called, you come. No questions asked,” Marks read.
Eventually Marks said he told his girlfriend, Tenley Carmen, he was going home but met up with Spader and Gribble. They changed clothes, picked up Glover and drove to Mont Vernon, he said.
Gribble lowered Marks into the basement, because he was the smallest, but Marks thought he was locked in because he was trying to push open a door that opened toward him. Once inside, the men checked a number of rooms, turned off the electricity, and Spader and Gribble went into the master bedroom armed with a machete, knife and an iPod for light, Marks said.
“Spader shined the iPod on the people in the bed. They woke up. They started to talk, and at that point, Steve Spader started hitting them with a machete,” Marks said. “They were saying, ‘You don’t have to do this. Please stop. Everything is going to be OK.’”
Marks said he was in the doorway during the attack and was focused on Spader. He said he didn’t see what Gribble was doing.
Marks said he joked with the others after the attack. He testified that before the attack, he said he wanted to “plant” a hatchet he had in Gribble’s car into someone’s head. Earlier, he told Carmen he wanted to “kill a pig” with a knife he had just purchased at a Milford shop.
Marks said he was just going along with the crowd and trying to look tough in front of his girlfriend. The day after the attack, Marks told Carmen he was having flashbacks about what happened.
Strelzin repeatedly had Marks look at the jury and tell them exactly what he had and had not done in connection with the attack. Marks admitted he helped plan it, picking the house and even giving Gribble directions to it, but said he never touched Kimberly or Jaimie Cates and never took anything from the house.
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