Trial begins for second suspect in 2001 killing

Even before his first-degree murder trial could begin Wednesday, Theodore F. Stewart got a lecture from a corrections deputy about how he should not make any verbal outbursts in court.

But unlike jury selection where Stewart asked prospective jurors questions before his attorney could, the 25-year-old suspect remained silent as a prosecutor described a horrific list of injuries that killed 41-year-old Diana Dee Wideman in March 2001.

Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz told the jury of nine women and three men about how Stewart admitted to Spokane police detectives that he and Raymond Nelson III entered Wideman’s apartment at 123 N. Bernard St. and attacked her five years ago.

“The defendant told the detectives that when they went in, that Ms. Wideman was coming out of her bathroom,” Steinmetz said.

“She only got out a couple words before she was struck. He described the weapon Mr. Nelson used as a long metal pipe similar to the leg of a table.”

A later autopsy showed that Wideman, who suffered from mental illness and relied on others for her daily care, suffered several blows to the top of her head.

Steinmetz said Wideman’s nose was broken, her neck was slashed from ear to ear, her throat was crushed, black electrical tape was wrapped around her neck and she had been raped.

Assistant Public Defender Steve Reich asked the jury to keep an open mind about his client.

“This was a horrible end to this woman who did not deserve this under any circumstances,” Reich said. “A lot of it we have no dispute, but we do have a dispute over some of the elements and some of what (Steinmetz) indicates that the state will prove.”

A jury took 90 minutes on Dec. 14 to convict Nelson of first-degree murder. Investigators initially did not know Nelson was involved until a DNA test three years after the crime linked him to the rape.

Then in 2004, Detectives Minde Connelly and Brian Hamond questioned Nelson. During that interview, Nelson implicated Stewart, who had been a suspect from the beginning of the investigation, according to court records.

“We are not disputing that Mr. Nelson’s sperm was found inside her, and we are not disputing that intercourse occurred,” Reich said. “We are disputing that it was forcible, and we are disputing that Mr. Stewart was somehow responsible.”

The trial is expected to last well into next week.

“It’s so important that you keep an open mind and not prejudge (Stewart) until you’ve heard every word,” Reich told the jury.

“At that time, I’ll ask you to return a verdict of not guilty.”