During the first day of the murder trial for Lawrence Crouch on Tuesday, key witnesses began filling in details about the day Mary McGrath was shot and killed last year at East of Sweden Saab repair shop in Broomfield, Colo.
Lawyers called seven witnesses to testify about the day McGrath, an employee of the repair shop, was fatally shot while sitting at her desk. Crouch is accused of killing her on Oct. 12.
Witness testimony painted a picture of Crouch as an avid outdoorsman who was getting ready to retire from his job as an electrician. Yet he suddenly cut ties with friends and family and stopped answering phone calls after his best friend, East of Sweden owner Bob Wisdom, asked him to move out of the Broomfield home where they were roommates until October 2011.
He was reclusive and gruff after moving into an extended-stay motel, witnesses said.
Crouch has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, even though an arrest affidavit indicates he told investigators that he killed McGrath for "stress relief."
Wisdom, a witness to the shooting, took the stand on Tuesday to describe the scene.
Wisdom, Crouch and McGrath had once been roommates in Wisdom's Broomfield home, but Wisdom asked both Crouch and McGrath to move out in October 2011. Crouch and McGrath were constantly arguing and had "gotten into a scuffle ... I'd had enough of it," Wisdom said in court.
Wisdom said he saw Crouch arrive at East of Sweden on Oct. 12 after not speaking with Wisdom for nearly a year. Crouch had stopped answering repeated phone calls from Wisdom and his other friends and family, he said.
Wisdom thought Crouch had showed up to patch up their 20-year friendship or at least get some work done on his Saab 9000.
Instead, Crouch pulled out a handgun and shot McGrath, who was working at the front desk of the building. Wisdom said he personally saw Crouch fire two of the five bullets that killed McGrath.
Crouch, a good marksman because he loved hunting and target shooting as a hobby, shot McGrath "slowly and deliberately" while standing just two feet away from the victim, Wisdom said.
Crouch also wore a big, smug smile on his face, Wisdom said.
"He told me she deserved it," Wisdom said.
Crouch then sat down and told Wisdom to call 911.
On a recording of a 911 tape played in court, Wisdom urged dispatch to send help as soon as possible. He said he had possession of the gun and that the shooter, Crouch, had surrendered.
On the 911 tape, Wisdom asked Crouch, "Why did you do that?"
Crouch's voice replied, "Stress relief."
In addition to murder charges, Crouch also has pleaded not guilty to other charges of attempting to murder motel clerk Amber Carr, as well as attempted arson, possession of explosives or an incendiary device and crimes of violence.
Carr, an employee at the extended-stay motel where Crouch lived at 7393 Jefferson Ave. in Lakewood, was another key witness who testified on Tuesday.
Crouch moved to the motel after Wisdom asked him to move out of the Broomfield home the friends shared.
According to his arrest affidavit, Crouch told police he planned to kill Carr, the motel employee, because her accounting practices were "horrible."
Crouch had been accidentally overcharged for his room and was angry about the mix-up, Carr told the court on Tuesday.
Carr said motel employees didn't have much contact with Crouch during the time he lived there, but said some employees called him "Mr Grouch," because he was always gruff and grumpy and seemed a little bit lonely.
From the witness stand, Carr said her interactions with Crouch were always tense, but he never threatened her or verbally abused her. Once Crouch's motel account was set straight, she thought his anger about the bill had been resolved.
"When I was informed I was a potential victim, I was stunned," she said. "I had no idea I was in his cross hairs."
According to police, Crouch had also planned to throw a homemade bomb behind the desk where Carr worked, but abandoned his plan when Carr was not at work on Oct. 12.
After Crouch was arrested, he told police the bomb was still in his car, which was by then parked outside of East of Sweden. The Adams County Bomb Squad detonated the homemade bomb, which was made of gin and soap.
During opening statements on Tuesday, the prosecution pointed to the bomb as an illustration of how much planning Crouch had done to carry out the murders.
Prosecutor Amy Beard said Crouch, who also had extra guns and ammunition in his car at the time of the murder, clearly planned the murder a year in advance and saw McGrath as a deliberate target.
Defense lawyers, however, have argued Crouch had hit rock bottom and had only meant to kill himself, not McGrath.
Kristin Johnson, one of Crouch's lawyers, told the jury that Crouch was suicidal on the day of the shooting. With less than $300 in his bank account and no close friends or family to turn to, Crouch had originally planned to walk into East of Sweden to kill himself in front of Wisdom. At the last minute, he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger in the presence of his formerly close friend, she said.
"Somehow, the gun is going off, and it wasn't shooting Lawrence, it was shooting Mary," Johnson said.
Crouch still wanted to die after shooting McGrath, but couldn't bring himself to do it in Wisdom's presence, his attorney said. Out of desperation and to further destroy himself, he told police he had always planned to kill McGrath and Carr, Johnson said.
The other five people called to testify on Tuesday were Broomfield police officers Larry Ottosen, Paul Lesh and Seth Allison, who responded to the shooting and described the chaos of trying to resuscitate McGrath just minutes before hearing there was a bomb threat near the building.
Other witnesses were motel manager David McDaniel and East of Sweden mechanic Harold Adams, who heard gunfire while working on a car outside the building.
The trial is expected to continue throughout the week in Broomfield district court.
Contact Enterprise Staff Writer Megan Quinn at 303-410-2649 or [email protected]
Copyright 2013 - Broomfield Enterprise, Colo.
