Behl, a 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University freshman from Fairfax County, disappeared after leaving her dorm room the evening of Sept. 5, 2005. Her sparse remains were found a month later in a ravine along a dirt road near the Mathews public beach, about 75 miles east of Richmond. While being held on unrelated charges, Fawley told police that Behl died accidentally during a consensual sexual encounter in her car during which he restricted her breathing.
Fawley was in the courtroom for yesterday's hearing, shackled at the ankles and wearing a rumpled white shirt. The judge's ruling to proceed with the trial next month triggered strong objections by Fawley's attorneys. They argued they could not adequately prepare a defense without first receiving a copy of the autopsy report. "It's absolutely crucial in this case," said lawyer Chris Collins. "His life is in the balance, and the integrity of the system is in the balance."
Mathews Commonwealth's Attorney Jack Gill told the court that it was "unlikely that the report is going to provide much of any- thing in the way of offense or defense in this case." But Collins said knowing exactly what was in the report was critical to Fawley's defense. "At trial, any trial, you have to have a defense strategy that is consistent with the facts -- of innocence or of guilt in a lesser offense," Collins said. "We can't determine that without the facts."
Shaw asked Gill whether he knew why the report was not ready nearly 10 months after Behl's body was found. Gill said he was reluctant to speak for the medical examiner but said he was told the report should be available the first week of August, less than three weeks before the trial is scheduled to begin.
Collins told the judge he was told that the medical examiner was waiting for more information from the police. "That gives me pause," he said.
Shaw nevertheless denied the motion but authorized $5,000 for Fawley's defense team to hire its own expert to review the autopsy report after it is completed. "I think it's just asking for problems," said Collins, referring to the delay of the report until shortly before the trial. But the judge clearly disagreed. "It seems to me it hurts everybody not to have a report," Shaw said. "We're set," the judge said. "We've been ready. We're going to go to trial."
After the 10-minute midafternoon hearing, Collins spoke to reporters outside the courtroom. He said Fawley appeared to be the only person satisfied with the judge's ruling. "He wants to go to trial," Collins said. "He's the only one who's happy with what happened today."
MATHEWS -- Even if "Law & Order" goes on hiatus this summer, there's a good chance television viewers will get to see a real-life crime drama ripped from the headlines -- the Taylor Behl murder trial Judge William H. Shaw III of Mathews County Circuit Court ruled yesterday that cameras will be allowed inside the courtroom to cover the trial of Ben Fawley.
While prosecutors argued against cameras, defense lawyers did not object to print and broadcast media lenses during the proceedings, which are expected to last up to two weeks. "We are only concerned with Ben getting as fair a trial as possible," said Fawley attorney Chris Collins, co-counsel with Mathews lawyer William E. Johnson. "Having cameras in the courtroom tends to promote a fair trial, rather than limit it."
Shaw granted the use of one still camera for print media and one broadcast camera for TV. Fawley's legal team is more concerned about the impact of publicity before the trial begins. Only 9,300 people live in Mathews, which has had three homicides in the past 10 years. Behl's case is the talk of the county, and some residents fear prime-time exposure will intrude on their quiet way of life.
On Friday, Johnson and Collins filed a motion requesting that potential jurors fill out a questionnaire to help ferret out possible conflicts or bias. "Many residents in Mathews have expressed feelings, positive and negative, about the trial of the case," Johnson and Collins write in their motion, filed Friday.
Included in the sample questionnaire submitted to the court was a checklist of the prime-time cable-news talk-show hosts Greta Van Sustern, Nancy Grace, Catherine Crier, among them -- who have devoted air time to Behl's story.
"Which of the following, if any, do you watch?" the questionnaire asks. One question asks if jurors watch shows such as "Law & Order" and "CSI." And another question asks: "Do you have any opinion as to how the trial of this case here might affect Mathews County?"
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