The state was ready to rest, but there was one more voice prosecutors wanted the jury to hear first -- defendant Ryan Patterson.

In a darkened courtroom Tuesday, jurors watched an hourlong video of Patterson's interview with police from the night following the 2009 murders of Jamie Lynn Orman and her teenage son, Derrick. In the video, Patterson told investigators that he had gone to the Cape Girardeau residence where the murders took place, had been in possession of a gun and had even taken a container of gas to the house with arson on his mind.

But Patterson insisted to police that he never killed anyone. Not for his then-girlfriend, Michelle Lawrence. Not for insurance money. Not for anything.

"I'm not going to kill anybody for Michelle. No," he told police that night. "I didn't kill nobody and, no, I did not plan to kill nobody."

In the video, Patterson offered his attempts to explain: He admitted he had a gun, but said that he sold it the night before the murders to a man he only identified as "Dee." Yes, he said, he had taken a gas can to John Lawrence's home where the Ormans were killed. But Patterson claimed he left it there after he abandoned a plan to "torch" John Lawrence's truck in retaliation for Lawrence calling him the N-word.

Morley Swingle, Cape Girardeau County's prosecuting attorney, obviously isn't buying any of it. Swingle is seeking the death penalty in the case, where Patterson faces three first-degree murder charges, including one for the fetus Jamie Orman was carrying.

Swingle called witnesses for two days before the prosecution rested at about 5:30 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson. Swingle has attempted to build the case that Patterson killed Jamie and Derrick Orman in a botched plan to kill John Lawrence and burn down the house for as much as $400,000 in life and homeowner's insurance.

Swingle's high-profile witnesses Tuesday were two who sat before jurors in jail uniforms and testified in exchange for lesser charges -- Michelle Lawrence and Samuel "Ray Ray" Hughes. Lawrence faces 15 years for murder-conspiracy charges and Hughes has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for acting as the lookout.

Michelle Lawrence testified that she and Patterson had talked for weeks before the killing about how they would get insurance money if her soon-to-be ex-husband John was no longer in the picture. She said they talked about how the money would elevate them to the "high life."

With her husband gone, she wouldn't have to worry about him fighting for custody of her children and she and Patterson wouldn't be struggling financially. Michelle Lawrence said she told Patterson how he could get into the house on North Missouri Avenue. She said she bought bullets from the Walmart in Jackson at the request of Patterson, who told her what kind to buy.

But she testified that the two never talked about killing John Lawrence and that that was never her intent. She said she assumed Patterson would use the bullets for target practice. She said she believed the talk about her husband disappearing was a joke.

During cross examination, one of Patterson's lawyers attempted to taint Lawrence's testimony by pointing out inconsistencies in several statements she made to police immediately following the murder.

"You told an awful lot of lies during those interrogations," said lawyer David Kenyon. "You were not upfront with police."

The day of the murders, Michelle Lawrence first told officers that Patterson had been home the whole night and was with her at the time the killings occurred. She later changed her story.

The defense team also noted Lawrence's plea deal. Kenyon asked Lawrence if she was hoping to "do a good job for the judge" with her testimony Tuesday in the hopes of getting a shorter sentence. She acknowledged that she was.

After a lunch recess, Hughes was brought into the courtroom with his hands and feet shackled. Patterson's lawyers have suggested throughout the trial's first two days that it's possible Hughes was the one who committed the murders. Hughes testified that he was acting as a lookout as part of what he thought was a burglary at the house on North Missouri Avenue.

After an initial failed attempt to get into the home together, Hughes said, Patterson told him to go wait in the car and to watch for cops. While waiting, Hughes said he heard what sounded like thunder, raced to the back of the house and saw Patterson standing inside the home through a busted-in door.

"I seen Mr. Patterson standing over Derrick Orman with a gun in his hand," Hughes said.

Under cross examination, Patterson's other lawyer, Robert Steele, brought to the jury's attention that Hughes has admitted to committing more than 40 burglaries in Arkansas, is a convicted sex offender and had fled to Missouri because he was wanted for failure to register as one.

Steele also questioned a portion of Hughes' story in which he claims Patterson, who weighs more than 300 pounds, climbed on a plastic trash can to crawl into the house during their first attempt to get in.

"You're telling me he did not smash the plastic can?" Steele asked.

"I don't know cause I was drunk," Hughes said.

The defense is expected to make its case today and tomorrow, though it is still not publicly known whether Patterson will testify. The trial resumes at 9 a.m.

Bumpy start

Tuesday got off to a bumpy start. Kenyon made a motion for a mistrial after one of the jurors complained her image had been shown as part of KFVS12's trial coverage. The juror said she had spoken with her husband on the phone Monday night and he said he saw her on television, though her head was down. Showing pictures of jurors is prohibited.

Judge William Syler, who is presiding over the trial, denied the mistrial motion. Syler said that he did not think the juror's image was shown, though he did ultimately subpoena KFVS12 for raw video footage from its coverage. The court had only granted one still photographer and one video photographer access in the courtroom for a short time Monday during opening statements.

Syler received the raw footage Tuesday and was expected to review that images at some point. Syler did decide that no cameras of any kind would be allowed in the courtroom for the trial's duration.

Several others testified throughout the day, including a firearms expert, Michelle Lawrence's father and employees of Rhodes 101 and Walmart.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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