Transcription
She was strangled. And she was left for dead on her bedroom floor. Her bed was set on fire. A fire, ladies and gentlemen, that smoldered for a considerable amount of time before it finally erupted through the roof of the house that she shared with two friends at 160 Fawn Drive here in Athens, Clark County.
On that morning, Tara's life ended. And what started was a 2.5 decade long saga that has hung over the Baker family and hung over this entire Athens community like a specter. Ladies and gentlemen, this trial represents the final chapter in that tragic saga. The chapter where the state will prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Edric Faust, is guilty of extinguishing the bright light that was Tara Louise Baker, 25 years ago. Where the state will show that he is guilty as charged of the crimes in this indictment.
So, you've heard the indictment a few times, uh, by now. Judge Lott read it in its entirety, uh, at the beginning of jury selection. Uh, the judge also just went briefly over what the charges are again, uh, here this morning. I'm not gonna spend too much time going through the indictment itself right now. Uh, there will be a time and a place for that at the end of the trial. But again, ladies and gentlemen, you know now that the defendant, Mr. Faust, is charged with 12 counts. Count one, malice murder. Counts 2 through 5, felony murder. Count 6, burglary. Count 7, aggravated sodomy. Count 8, rape. Count 9, aggravated assault. Count 10, aggravated sodomy. Count 11, arson in the first degree. And count 12, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony. All those charges stem from the morning of January 19th, 2001. And I expect that that's going to become clear over the course of this trial.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are obviously heinous crimes. And in order to prove them, and to prove that the defendant is the person who committed them, the state is gonna have to present some very grisly evidence. And that's gonna come in the form of both testimony and photos. Ladies and gentlemen, some of this trial is going to be difficult. Um, but unfortunately, it's unfortunate, but it's necessary. I just wanted to give you a heads up.
On January 19th, 2001, at 11:22 a.m., Athens 911 started receiving telephone calls in the area of Deer Park regarding a fire at 160 Fawn Drive. Now, if you're not familiar with Deer Park, uh, just to give you a little bit of reference, uh, if we had, make sure I've got my orientation right, down uh Lexington Road, away from downtown, heading out towards Oglethorpe County. When you get past, uh, I guess, Gain School, um, Tuxton United Methodist Church is, uh, is there on the left, uh, right off Lexington, and the road immediately past Tuxton United Methodist Church before you get to the Walmart is Cooper Road. So again, heading that direction from downtown, left on Cooper Road, uh, past the church, and then actually Deer Park, which is where Fawn Drive is located, is just on the right. And so when they get this call at 11:22 in the morning, the fire department is immediately en route. Um, the firefighters actually kick in the door, the front door, uh, to Tara's house, um, because it was locked. And when they did so, they encountered smoke in the main living room area of the house. And I'm in just a few minutes, not yet, going to be able to show you what the inside of that house looked like.
So these firefighters kick in the door and the first thing that they notice apart from the smoke is back in the right corner, which is where the kitchen is located. Through the smoke, they can actually see the eyes of the stove. It's one of those old-school stoves that has the circular heating element. They can see those glowing red. And so through the smoke, they go over there to the uh to the um stove. They realized that the knobs that would turn on and off those eyes have actually been removed from the stove itself. And so the firefighters put those knobs back on and turned the stove off. They opened the back door to the house to ventilate, to help start getting the smoke out of the room. To this point, I don't think they've completely ascertained exactly where the fire was coming from. The back left bedroom of the house, and there's actually a, a bathroom door right next to it. It'll make sense in a few minutes, are closed. And so they go over there and they kick those doors in as well. And when they kick open that bedroom door, they are immediately met with flames rushing out over their heads.
Firefighters enter and extinguish that fire. And in that moment, ladies and gentlemen, they discovered Tara. She's naked. She's in between the mattress and the footboard to her bed. The footboard had been ripped away from the bed frame itself, so she's in that little V-shaped space in between. They noticed a computer cord, what appears to be a computer cord, is wrapped around her neck. And so realizing what they've seen, the firefighters back out and turn the scene over to the police. And law enforcement does arrive.
And so, what we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a sketch made by uh Athens-Clark County Police as to the interior of 160 Fawn Drive. I won't spend but a couple of minutes going over it. Um, the front door here is at the bottom with the arrow pointing up. Again, you see the kitchen in the back right with the stove, which is what the firefighters reported seeing glowing red when they came in the door. And what I want to focus on is what's in the top left of that diagram, what is referred to as bedroom 3. That was Tara's room. And you can see bedroom 3 has a bathroom connected to it, and then there's a door leading both from the bathroom, a door leading to the living room and one leading into Tara's room. So that's the basic layout of 160 Fawn Drive. You can see there's a back door, which again has the arrow pointing down. And right next to that is a window, um, that is situated right above their dining room table. You're gonna see photos that will also help kind of explain the layout of 160 Fawn Drive. So that's the house as a whole. And this is Tara's room as the police encounter it, and again, I've tried to explain, but I think this does a better job showing exactly the orientation of her body inside that bedroom in the back left of 160 Fawn Drive. So, again, you can see the footboard having been ripped away from the frame and her body lying in between. Um
So upon arrival, Athens-Clark County Police starts processing the scene. I expect you're gonna hear from a number of witnesses that Tara's body, despite, you know, having obviously been in a room that was consumed by fire, uh, her hair was actually still intact. Uh, I expect you're gonna hear that several witnesses actually recall the smell of shampoo still coming from her hair. Again, there was a printer cord wrapped around her neck. I believe the printer itself was there in the room. And there's one thing that the police noticed that firefighters hadn't: was that Tara actually had a stab wound to the right side of her neck. And I think it was on the diagram, uh, the knife, uh, was right underneath her body with blood on it. Officers also noticed a clock on the wall in Tara's room. That clock had stopped at 9:32. In processing the scene, officers noted that it appeared as if the doors and windows had been wiped clean. There's a screen, uh, to the back, uh, that back window, the, the one that's right next to the back door, uh, that showed signs of having been tampered with. And I expect that there's probably gonna be some confusion about exactly where that screen was when the firefighters arrived and when law, law enforcement arrived, but you know, we'll get to that.
Ladies and gentlemen, at 160 Fawn Drive, I submit that the evidence is gonna show that any physical evidence that could have, could have conceivably been helpful was collected. As an example, I think you're gonna hear, they even took the drain assembly out of her bathtub. A little bit more about the fire. Uh, I expect you're gonna hear evidence that the bed, Tara's bed, was the source of that fire. And a little bit more, actually. I expect you're gonna hear that there was a blanket that had been in the, the living room on the on the back of a recliner. That blanket had been removed from the recliner, taken over to the stove, set on fire, and then thrown on Tara's bed. I expect you're gonna hear that actually still some remnants of that blanket on the stove itself.
In learning about the processing of the scene, I expect you're also going to hear that there were no fingerprints of any evidentiary value that were taken in the house or off of Tara's body. I expect you're gonna hear that hairs were collected from her body and from her room. And I also expect you're gonna hear that her laptop was missing.
The next thing I wanna talk a little bit about, ladies and gentlemen, is the canvas of the neighborhood. By canvas, I mean police getting out and knocking on doors and seeing what people, what if anything people had seen that morning. Uh, that was obviously done in this case, uh, to a, to a significant degree. I expect you'll hear one witness recalled seeing a white male running in the area, uh, open area behind Tara's house and near Tara's house around 7:45 that morning. Um, I expect you're gonna hear multiple witnesses talk about describing a black male with an orange shirt or sweatshirt at various places in Deer Park, uh, around 8:00 to 8:15 that morning. I expect you're gonna hear one witness who described smelling a faint odor of smoke as he was leaving for work around 8:40, 8:45 that morning. At the time, ladies and gentlemen, there's just not much to go on as it related to that canvas.
The next thing I'd like to talk about uh is the autopsy. Tara's body was taken over to Atlanta to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Department of Forensic Sciences, uh, the next day, Saturday the 20th, her birthday. And an autopsy was conducted by a medical examiner named Dr. Andrew Falzon. Here's where the evidence I submit made it get kind of difficult. There are photos that were taken at that autopsy. And you're gonna see some of those photos when Doctor Falzon testifies. It's gonna be hard. You're gonna see and hear about contusions surrounding Tara's vagina and anus. You're gonna hear that that stab wound that the officers noted when they got in her bedroom, uh, had actually severed her jugular vein. You're gonna hear about the ligature mark that was encircling her neck. And that her hyoid bone, which is a bone in your neck, had been broken. You'll hear about a subarachnoid hemorrhage to her head, uh, which is indicative of blunt force trauma. You're gonna hear about defensive wounds, defensive type wounds to her hands. Doctor Falzon, after conducting the autopsy of Tara Baker, listed her cause of death as ligature strangulation and a stab wound, with another significant condition being blunt force trauma to the head. He ruled the manner of death, obviously, a homicide.
As part of the autopsy, a sexual assault kit was taken. Based on the way Tara's body was found, based on Doctor Falzon's, uh, observations. So a sexual assault kit, uh, involved oral, vaginal, and rectal swabs of Tara, and smears that were created based on those swabs. And I expect over the course of this trial, there's going to be a great deal made about how one of those swabs was mislabeled. I expect that the state's going to be able to clear that up as this trial unfolds. As part of the autopsy, head hair and pubic hair was retained. And fingernail and toenail clippings were taken.
The next thing of significance that I'd like to talk about is some of the early forensics that were done in connection with this case. You're gonna hear from Jennifer Corsi. Uh, at the time, back in 2001, Ms. Corsi was a forensic biologist at the, at the GBI crime lab. She actually now works at the US Army's Criminal Investigation Laboratory, and she made a career, uh, out of this type of work. Uh, Ms. Corsi is the one who actually did chemical testing, uh, on that sexual assault kit, the one that we just talked about. You'll hear that her testing failed to reveal the presence of any seminal fluid and that she took microscopic examinations of the vaginal smears and observed no spermatozoa or partially intact spermatozoa. And so ladies and gentlemen, based on the existing technology and the existing protocols in existence back in 2001, there was nothing further that could be done with that sexual assault kit. I expect you'll hear that Ms. Corsi, Ben Fincher, so if I use both names, please forgive me, uh, did confirm that the blood on Tara's fingernails, uh, the only DNA in that, uh, on those fingernails belonged to Tara, that there was blood on the knife, and the DNA from that blood also only belonged to Tara. Uh, and there was no blood on the toenails that were taken. Not necessarily Ms. Corsi, but other forensics going on in the early days of the investigation. There were attempts to obtain fingerprints of any sort of evidentiary value, nothing to go on. I mention the hairs. Submit to you there was nothing that would help in the investigation at that time.
I'm gonna talk, shift gears a little bit and talk a little bit more about Tara. In January of 2001, uh, again, she's living at 160 Fawn Drive. She had two roommates: Ashley Peavey, now Ashley Hall; Valerie Lowe, now Valerie Lang. And I say that because again, I might refer to them as both. I just wanted to get out in front and explain why that might be the case. So the three of them, Tara, Ashley, and Valerie, had moved into 160 Fawn Drive uh in August of 2000. All three of them were in grad school at UGA but pursuing different programs. Uh, you know, Tara, obviously, was studying law. I expect you're gonna hear evidence about Tara's morning routine. Um, if she had a 9:30 class, which I expect you're gonna hear she did that Friday, property law class, uh, on the 19th, then she's a pretty early riser, up around 6:30 in the morning. First thing you should do is take a shower. Specter here, she'd come out and eat her breakfast every morning, same thing, cheese grits. And she'd come out and eat those cheese grits, her hair is still wet. And then she'd go back into her room and sit on the floor in front of her bed to blow dry her hair. And that took a while, ladies and gentlemen, because I expect you're gonna hear Tara had a lot of hair. I expect you're also gonna hear about uh how Tara was trying to buckle down in January of 2001. As that new semester at the law school had gotten underway, uh, she was spending less time at home and more time at the law library. But Saturday was her birthday. And on Friday night, she was gonna go out and have some fun with some friends. They were gonna go to the Winery, uh, which is a bar downtown, uh, on Broad Street. I don't know if it's still there, but it was in 2001.
Talk about Tara's last hours. Go through what we know about Tara on Thursday, January 18th. We know that both Ashley and Valerie were leaving for the weekend. They were both leaving that Thursday. Uh, Ashley left late that afternoon. She and Tara had been at home together before Ashley left. We know that from approximately 7:30 uh to approximately 9:30, Tara was at the law library here on North Campus, not too far from the Arch. She's there with a friend named Katie Lonstein. Around 9:30 that night, uh, Katie leaves, goes home. I think there was a discussion about, hey, call me when you get there and make sure you get home safe. And Katie indicated that she would do that. But she forgot. Why is that significant? Because Tara called her, Terry called her at 9:46 that night to make sure Katie had gotten home. And ladies and gentlemen, that is the last time that anyone has known to have spoken to Tara.
Friday again, January 19th. I think it was kind of a cold, overcast, rainy day, uh, kind of day that seems like we've been having a lot of those lately. Again, expect you're gonna hear evidence that the neighbor across the street smelled fire or smelled smoke, excuse me, um, around 8:45, 8:40, 8:45 as he was going to work. Point out once again, Tara misses property class. It started at 9:30 that morning. The clock on the wall stopped at 9:32. And then again, ladies and gentlemen, 11:22 is when the fire is reported at 160 Fawn Drive.
We're gonna talk a little bit now about Chris Melton. Some of you have heard his name already, uh, in jury selection. Chris Melton was Tara's boyfriend. You're gonna hear a lot about the relationship between Terry and Chris leading up to January 19th of 2001. What I expect that you're gonna hear is this was a relatively typical relationship between two very busy people in their early twenties. Terry and Chris met when they both attended college, uh, at Georgia College in Milledgeville, it's now Georgia College and State University, in the late 1990s. Terry and Chris were introduced through mutual acquaintances and hit it off. And they began to date. When Tara graduated from Georgia College, she went home, back home to the Lovejoy area. And for those of you who don't know, Lovejoy is on, off of I-75 south of Atlanta, and she got a job at a law firm there. Chris didn't finish school. He also moved back home, uh, in with his parents as well. That's in Covington. And Chris moved home, his mom told him he had to get a job, and so he got one. Chris became a plumber. And so at this time, Terry and Chris are in a long-distance relationship because Covington, Lovejoy about an hour and a half hours apart, maybe a little bit less.
Tara moved to Athens, I believe in 1999, uh, when she got a job at a law firm here in town. So at that time, Terry's in Athens. Chris is still in Covington, and so they're still kind of doing the long-distance thing, right? Maybe not quite as long, uh, but certainly not in the same time, same town, and they found it hard to find time to get together. And so Chris moved to Athens. He got an apartment with a roommate at a place off Milledge Avenue. And he was commuting back and forth to work. Most of his work was in the Loganville, Gwinnett County area. Um, but I expect what you're gonna hear is that Chris and Tara were trying to figure out how to have an adult relationship when they both had a work life and other things going on that they had to manage.
As I mentioned before, Tara started law school in August of 2000. I expect you're gonna hear that during that fall semester, that first semester, uh, Ashley and Valerie are gonna mention to you that Tara was spending a lot of time at Chris's apartment. Uh, now, that doesn't mean Chris wouldn't come over to her house too. He did. Uh, maybe just not as often. But when they did, they'd spend the night at each other's house, both at Milledge Avenue and at Fawn Drive. It's normal relationship stuff. Moving into the spring seme spring semester, January 2001. Now remember, Tara was trying to buckle down, more time in the library. Well, at that time, Chris also had good things going on. I mentioned that he had taken up plumbing. He was working for a company, but around this time he started maybe thinking about going out and doing work on his own. You know, his business was mainly in the Loganville, Gwinnett area, and so at this time, you know, he's using his truck, not a company one. It's his gas, his time spent commuting, and if he's traveling back and forth from Athens to Loganville every day, he's not making money. And the reason why I point all that out, ladies and gentlemen, because I expect the evidence is gonna show that at that time, Chris moved back in with his parents in Covington. So he could spend more time working, uh, and less time traveling to and from.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen, I expect, uh, that others might have thought that the relationship between Chris and Tara was starting to fizzle. Again, I think the evidence is going to show that this is just a relationship between two young people whose presents and whose futures were still being figured out. With some highs and some lows, but nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, I expect you're gonna hear that Chris had gotten Tara a very sentimental Christmas present, uh, just a few weeks prior to her death, and it made her really happy. He was gonna come to Athens Saturday to celebrate Terry's birthday with her. Chris saw the potential for a future between them. Others may have made assumptions otherwise. But the bottom line, ladies and gentlemen, is the evidence will show you that there is nothing to suggest their relationship was in a bad place.
Let's talk about what Chris was doing on January 19th of 2001. As I just got done explaining, he spent the night before Thursday night into Friday, uh, at his parents' house in Covington. And from 7:15 that morning, until long after Tara's body is discovered, his whereabouts are accounted for. At 7:15 or thereabouts, a co-worker named Josh McCurdy came over to Chris's house, or Chris's parents' house, to be clear. Um, and Josh was with Chris all day. There's a brief period of time, uh, for at around lunch, 1:30 to 2:30-ish, where they were not together. 1:30 obviously after the fire, uh, at Fawn Drive. But other than that, they were together all day. Made numerous stops throughout the day. You're gonna hear a little bit about some of those stops. Uh, what I expect the evidence is gonna show, um, is that at 9:08 that morning, Chris went into a Wachovia, uh, in Loganville. Wachovia, for those of you who don't know, now Wells Fargo. And at 9:12 that morning, he withdrew $480 from the teller. I expect you're gonna hear about some visits that he made to a place called Truck Customs. Remember, Chris is starting, you know, to do his own thing. He's got a truck. He's in the plumbing business. He needs a pipe rack. He needs a ladder rack. So we've gone to this place called Truck Customs. First time, I think maybe around 10 o'clock. Uh, second time later in the afternoon. And it's at that second trip to Truck Customs, ladies and gentlemen, where Chris gets a call from Tara's mother. Something's happened in Athens. You need to come over.
Ladies and gentlemen, all those facts were established fairly early in the investigation. Now you're gonna hear about Chris's reaction when he got the call from Tara's mom about something happening in Athens, how Josh actually had to drive him in his own truck, uh, to Athens. And even with all of this, ladies and gentlemen, uh, with those facts being established early in the investigation, Chris was always under the microscope as it related to Tara's murder. He was asked to give blood. He was asked to give a sample of his head hair. He was asked to give a sample of his pubic hair. Chris was subjected to repeated interviews by law enforcement. Every time anything's ever been asked of him, his answer's always been the same: Whatever you need. The evidence will show that Chris has been fully cooperative for over 25 years.
I'm gonna try and move a little bit quicker now cause I think I'm taking longer than I intended, um, but there is a lot of other investigation going on in this case, ladies and gentlemen. This is a 20-plus year old case. The state is not going to present to you everything that was done over the course of this 23-year investigation. From a period of time, several months after Tara's death in 2001 until 2024, we're gonna talk more about that soon. There was a lot of work being done on this case. But there was nothing that would point the police in the direction of Tara's killer. There are tens of thousands of pages of police reports, records. There are hundreds of hours of interviews. It would take months to present all that in court, and we're not gonna do it. And in so doing, we're not trying to hide anything. We're being mindful that it is an absolute impossibility to show you every lead that was chased down and every lead that became a dead end. About the dozens of persons of interest who were identified but ultimately ruled out. Hard work, frankly, just didn't result in any relevant evidence.
One example, in 2010, uh, the ligature, the printer cord, and the knife were retested for DNA. Not just the blood, to see if there was any touch DNA on those items. And once again, only Tara's DNA was found. I expect over the course of this trial, you're gonna hear about some missteps and some unanswered questions. Remember that window frame I talked about earlier? Well, the window frame was obviously taken into evidence back in 2001. But now, 25 years later, it's missing. That's unfortunate. Uh, but what is fortunate is that you're still gonna hear about the processing of that window frame that was done back in 2001 and how again, there were no prints recovered. You'll hear that Tara's laptop, the one that I mentioned had been taken from her room, has never been found. And lastly, uh, as far as unanswered questions go, I submit to you the evidence can show that no one investigating this case has been able to quite figure out exactly how the defendant got in and out of 160 Fawn Drive. Was it the kitchen window with the frame that it showed signs of tampering? Was it the back door? To this day, ladies and gentlemen, there's no definitive answer, and the state's not gonna be able to show you the answer to that in this trial either. That fact is not necessary to prove the defendant's guilt.
And so again, with all this investigation going on and no leads being developed, the case goes cold. Um, something happened that changed all of that in 2023. Something called the Coleman-Baker Act was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp. In case you hadn't figured out, the Baker part of that act is named after Tara. This is a law designed to address cases exactly like this one where all leads have been exhausted, uh, and no likely perpetrator has been identified. What the law does is it directs new eyes to be placed on the file. See if all appropriate forensic testing, uh, and analysis was done in the first instance or if additional testing might produce evidence, uh, or information relevant to the investigation. And so at this point, enter into our story, Agents Liz Bigham and Jeremy Howell with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Uh, uh, Agent Bigham, Agent Howell, are longtime agents with the GBI. And they joined that cold case unit after the law was enacted. In December of '23, they started looking at this case. And one of the first things they did was a dogged re-examination of all the physical evidence in Tara's case, including the sexual assault kit that had been taken at her autopsy. That kit was resubmitted for testing in February of 2024.
And so ladies and gentlemen, a lot's changed uh about DNA and the way DNA is tested. Uh, from back in 2001. I expect you're gonna hear that the sensitivity of that testing has improved greatly. And so, in February of '24, this uh crime lab was able to find first, male DNA. And then obtain a DNA profile from item 2I. It's gonna get confusing. We can clear all this up later about the names of those items. 2I is labeled oral swab B. It's pretty confusing. And so upon further testing of 2I, uh, what they do is they separate the DNA into what's called fractions. I'm not gonna get too much into the details of it now, but the idea is you're trying to separate the female DNA from the male DNA. Um, 2I, the oral swab, uh, B, the first fraction, is a match to Tara Baker. In the second fraction, there's a partial major profile of male DNA. And that DNA is not Tara Baker and is not Chris Melton. In case I haven't been clear, when I, when I refer to a profile, what I'm, for lack of a better term, talking about is a DNA fingerprint. So when I talk about profiles, that's what I mean. Uh, but that profile, that partial major profile from item 2I, was eligible to be submitted into something called CODIS. C O D I S. That stands for the Combined DNA Index System. CODIS is a national database of known DNA profiles. I think that as of November last year, there are about 26 million known profiles in CODIS. And once that profile from item 2I was uploaded into Da CODIS, the way it works is it is routinely compared against the 26 million known profiles to see if any leads could be developed.
On April 30th, 2024, there was a hit. And it was that DNA again, matched from item 2I. And that hit was to the defendant, Edric Faust. Ladies and gentlemen, uh, that is the first time in 23 years and tens of thousands of pages of this law enforcement file that Mr. Faust's name shows up. So what do we know about Mr. Faust? He lived at 350 Cooper Road. And we talked about Cooper Road earlier. You can see it there. It's actually at the top of this picture. The star represents 160 Fawn Drive. I'll get more into that in just a minute. Cooper Road, again, at the very top, going, uh, horizontally, uh, in the picture. If you were to go left, uh, on Cooper Road, that's where you're gonna run into Lexington, uh, Road, just to give you some orientation. Mr. Faust is living at 350 Cooper Road. You didn't. 350 Cooper Road, ladies and gentlemen, is literally 585 ft from 160 Fawn Drive. So
Next, what happens? Uh, Agents Bigham and Howell obtain a warrant to get Mr. Swab, uh, Mr. Faust's buckle swabs, cheek swabs, and the purpose of that is to get a known sample of his DNA. Um, Curtis, only a lead. You got to confirm it. And again, um, the first fraction from oral swab B, Tara's profile, it's always Tara's profile, vaginal, oral. Oral A, oral B, we'll clear that up later. Always, always Tara's DNA in that first fraction. And in that second fraction, you're gonna hear about there being 22 profiles, uh, but the major profile, the partial major profile, uh, from uh item 2I was a match to Edric Faust. And that match, I might mess up the wording of it, was 1 in 800 quadrillion. I have an objection, Your Honor. And I have a motion, and I have a motion. Outside of the
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to have you go back into the jury room. Don't discuss the case. Thank you. And you're gonna see frankly, you know, during the, this interview that I think the evidence is going to show that this is pretty conversational, uh, nature between the defendant and Agents Bigham and Howell. And then at the end, uh, they tell him what the charges were for, for. Agent Howell actually says, and he's referring to Tara here, "Don't you remember? It's kind of a big deal." Agent Howell offers, "If you can help us understand why your DNA is in that house, help us. I'm here to exonerate, just as much as I am to hunt." And you'll hear the defendant's reaction.
Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning of my opening remarks, I talked about how this trial represents the final chapter in a long, sad saga for both the Baker family and for the Athens community. For decades, everyone who loved Tara wanted to know: Who killed Tara Baker? Ladies and gentlemen, Edric Faust killed Tara Baker. Edric Faust sexually assaulted Tara Baker. Edric Faust set her house on fire. And now, the final chapter begins today. But the last few pages of this story haven't been written. At the end of the trial, we're going to hand you the pen, and you, the jury, will write those last few pages. And when you do, you'll have the evidence to write the correct ending to this horrible saga. Ladies and gentlemen, I didn't say the happy ending. That's not possible. The correct one. You'll have everything you need to know to write the ending that the facts support. And that justice demands. An ending that finds, beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant, Edric Faust, is guilty as charged. Thank you. Council.