DA: Murders Remarkably Similar
Judge admits Castor's previous conviction; state rests case

BY JOHN PATTERSON
SALISBURY POST

For the jurors selected to hear the case of J.C. Castor, this is the first murder trial for most - if not all - of them.

But, as the panel learned Thursday afternoon, the same is not true for Castor.

Jurors Thursday heard for the first time that Castor, on trial for the Jan. 9, 1998, murder of Golden Billings, occupied a similar seat at the defense table when he was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1971 shooting death of an 81-year-old Cabarrus County woman. And, as District Attorney Bill Kenerly attempted to show through witnesses, the two murders, though separated by close to 30 years, were remarkably similar.

Giles Berrier, a retired State Bureau of Investigation agent that handled the investigation of the 1971 murder of Pearl Walker, testified Thursday about the killing and the eventual conviction of Castor.

Walker, Berrier testified, was killed at close range with a shotgun loaded with ''birdshot'' after Castor and two other acquaintances decided to rob Walker at her house. Berrier, along with the medical examiner who removed Walker's body, found ''wadding'' from the spent shotgun shell on her, indicating the blast came from close range.

Earlier testimony revealed that investigators found wadding on Billings after he'd been shot. Also, tests found that he'd been shot with a similar type of ''birdshot.''

Among other similarities Kenerly attempted to show the jury:

-In both cases, Castor fled the state after the killings. After killing Walker, Castor fled to Florida and was eventually picked up in a bus station in Jacksonville, Fla. After allegedly killing Billings, Castor fled with his girlfriend, Tia Barringer, to Gaffney, S.C.

-In both cases, Castor was ''remarkably'' with a member of the Scercy family at the time of the murder. In 1971, Philip Scercy was with Castor when they decided to drive to Walker's house and rob her. Scercy, who testified Thursday that he remembered very little about Walker's murder, plead guilty to common law robbery and was paroled from prison for his testimony in the 1971 case.

In Billings' murder, Castor was with Barringer, who's father is Elec Scercy. Elec Scercy and Philip Scercy are cousins.

-In both cases, Castor was alone with the victim when the fatal shots were fired, even though other people were with him.

-In both cases, Castor took precautions to avoid leaving fingerprints at the scene. In the 1971 murder, Berrier testified that Castor put cellophane tape over his fingers to avoid leaving prints. Earlier testimony in the current case revealed that Castor wiped down the murder weapon and the spent shotgun shells.

-In both cases, the victim died from a shotgun blast to the upper torso. Walker died from shots to her neck and upper right chest; Billings died from two shots to his chest.

-Finally, in both cases the murder weapon was never recovered.

In allowing the jury to hear evidence of the 1971 murder, Judge Thomas Ross said the similarities of the two cases ''far outweighed the prejudice that could be caused by its admission.''

Ross added: ''The evidence tends to show that Castor knew what he was doing at the time of the deaths.''

Jurors also heard for the first time Thursday a statement taken from Castor's nephew, Kenneth Gabriel, in the days following Billings' murder. Gabriel, who apparently skipped the state with his girlfriend and could not be located to testify, told Rowan County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Terry Agner that he saw a shotgun on Castor the night Billings was shot.

''He told me that he saw a shotgun under his (Castor) coat when he opened his coat to get his cigarettes,'' Agner said. ''It was a sawed-off shotgun ... with a pistol grip, black and with a pump. He (also) said he saw him dropping shotgun shells out of his pocket. He (Castor) reached down and picked them up and put them back in his pocket.''

Gabriel also told Agner that Castor ''appeared to be messed up on pills at the time.''

Kenerly rested the state's case Thursday afternoon. Attorneys Marshall Bickett and Bays Shoaf started their defense of Castor by showing a 50-minute videotape taken the night Castor and Barringer were arrested in South Carolina.

The video, taken from S.C. Highway Patrol trooper Johnny Godfrey's patrol vehicle, depicted an intoxicated and sluggish Barringer, who was charged with driving while impaired. Castor, a passenger in the car, was later taken into custody on the murder charge.

Bickett and Shoaf told Ross Thursday they still haven't decided if Castor will take the witness stand. Defense testimony, which will resume Monday at 9:30 a.m., could take one to two days.