Keyon Pittman Sure Did Leave a Mess
(“Textbook Murder,” Forensic Files)
Note: You can also listen to this post as a podcast
Carla Hughes’ charmed life hit a pothole one day and, a few years later, it took an unthinkable turn into a bloodbath.
Just a few years before she killed romantic rival Avis Banks, Carla was winning beauty pageants and hitting the kind of educational milestones parents like to write about in their Xeroxed holiday letters.
Innocence doubted. It was an affair with a promiscuous educator named Keyon Pittman — who lived with Avis Banks and was expecting a child with her — that spurred Carla to do what she did.
Keyon never faced any charges related to the murder, but many found it suspicious that he and Carla spoke on the phone just before and just after Avis died in the garage of the house she and Keyon shared in a suburb of Jackson, Mississippi.
For this week, I looked around to find out how Keyon Pittman has fared in the court of public opinion. I also searched for more background on Carla Hughes and the downfall of her storybook life.
Humble beginnings. But, because Avis Banks is the innocent victim in this tragedy, let’s start the recap of “Textbook Murder” with her story:
Avis Banks was the middle of three daughters born to Frederick Banks, a city street sweeper, and Debra Banks, who babysat part-time. The family lived in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The first in her family to enter college, she studied early childhood development and graduated cum laude from Alcorn State University. She snagged a position at a daycare center and began dating Keyon Pittman, who taught math and coached basketball at James G. Chastain Middle School in Jackson.
Young homeowners. Avis clearly came from a strict background. During his Forensic Files appearance, Frederick Banks said that Avis asked for forgiveness upon telling him that she and Keyon Pittman were having a child. But she intended to make things right by marrying Keyon.
The two of them got engaged and bought a house in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
But their future together ended on Nov. 30, 2006, when Keyon, 31, returned home from work to find Avis, 27, in a pool of blood on the garage floor.
Parents’ worst fears. He called 911 and also summoned Avis’ mother and father to come immediately, but wouldn’t say what was wrong.
The Bankses told Dateline Mystery that they thought Avis had lost the baby. But the news was much more grim. They arrived to the sight of police tape. The coroner told them their daughter had died a horrible death.
It looked as though someone had ambushed Avis, who was five months along in her pregnancy, after she stepped out of her car at around 6 p.m.
Staged scene. She had been shot four times with a .38-caliber pistol and stabbed repeatedly in the upper body. The assailant had slashed Avis’ throat. One of the bullet wounds had been fired at close range to the back of her head, police ascertained.
Investigators found shoe impressions where they believed the assailant kicked a door before breaking into the house and creeping into the attached garage.
The intruder had ransacked some rooms, leaving drawers open, but didn’t steal anything.
Resentful survivor. Lab-testing identified some gunshot residue on Keyon’s hands, and he had some bloodstains on his clothing. Police later concluded the forensic evidence came from his handling the body, not firing a gun.
But there were other indicators that didn’t look so good for Keyon. The video footage of him talking to his lawyer shortly after he discovered the slaughtered mother of his unborn child revealed a man utterly without grief or anguish. His only noticeable emotion was disgruntlement because police considered him a suspect.
Investigators found out that Keyon usually entered the house through the front door, but on the night of the murder, he went in through the garage. Maybe he knew he’d find a body there.
Not exactly Michelangelo’s David. There was also the question of why he ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911, when he had a cell phone with him. He also reportedly called Carla Hughes before summoning help for Avis.
And Keyon — who reporter Kathryn Kight described as “not a looker” but with “lots of confidence” — was clearly a serial cheater and liar.
Staff members at Chastain Middle School said that, in addition to the affair with Carla Hughes, he’d been getting close to the mother of one of the basketball players he coached. That woman denied a relationship, and she had a solid alibi anyway.
Pretty blatant. But so did Keyon. He was at school when the murder happened, and numerous witnesses could vouch for his whereabouts.
Police had a better suspect in cheerleading coach Carla Hughes, who had been enjoying a not-so-discreet relationship with Keyon. Colleagues saw them carrying on out in the open.
Carla was a former beauty pageant winner and mother of a 3-year-old boy. At first, she told police that she had no dog in the race, that she and Keyon were just friends — but she lacked a convincing alibi.
Lethal loan. Phone records showed that Carla was near Avis and Keyon’s house around the time of the murder.
Soon enough, Carla Hughes reversed herself and admitted to the affair with Keyon but denied having anything to do with Avis Banks’ murder.
The big break in the case came when Patrick Nash, one of Carla Hughes’ cousins, told police that Carla had borrowed his folding hunting knife and Rossi .38-caliber gun, which was loaded with five bullets, on Nov. 26, 2006.
The ammo was gone when she returned the firearm to him on Dec. 1, 2006. She said she had gone target shooting.
Wrong feet forward. Although Carla would later deny it, Nash said that she was crying when she brought back the gun.
Investigators matched the bullets recovered from the victim’s body to Nash’s gun.
Police discovered that the footprints from the crime scene matched a pair of size 10 TredSafes found in Carla Hughes’ closet, and they had Avis Banks’ blood on them.
Carla Hughes was indicted on charges of capital murder.
Too many children. Still, those who knew Carla Hughes weren’t willing to connect the dots — she was too nice.
So, who was this woman and what made her stake her happiness on a long shot like Keyon Pittman?
Carla Hughes was born June 12, 1981, to a mother who already had more kids than she could support, according to Dateline Mystery.
Overachieving girl. Fortunately, her relatives Lynda and Carl Hughes, who were both schoolteachers, adopted her as an infant. She would be their only child.
Carla excelled at horseback riding as well as her regular schoolwork, according to information from Murderpedia, and she grew into a tall, pretty young woman with even features and high cheekbones. Friends described her as bubbly and fun-loving.
She belonged to student council and Key Club and was a majorette, a cheerleader, and a page in the Mississippi State Senate.
Things go askew. Carla Hughes’ beauty pageant wins included Washington County Junior Miss and Miss Greenville Teen.
She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and went on to earn a master’s degree in education at Belhaven College.
During her upward trajectory, she met the man of her dreams and got engaged, but he suddenly panicked the day before their scheduled wedding in 2004.
Suddenly alone. He left her single and two months pregnant. That was the first sign her fairy tale was not to be.
She gave birth to a son, and eventually took a job as a language arts teacher at Chastain Middle School, where she met Keyon Pittman.
As the internet meme says, “If you don’t like the end of your story, write yourself a new beginning.” In Keyon Pittman, Carla Hughes saw a fresh chance at Camelot.
Optimistic — or delusional. There’s no way of knowing what Keyon Pittman really told her about his intentions, but he would later testify that Carla Hughes knew that she was merely a secret side dish and he had made it clear to her that he intended to marry Avis Banks, according to court papers.
But Carla, 25, insisted upon referring to him as her “future husband,” he said.
Investigators believed Carla Hughes wanted to eliminate and basically replace Avis Banks. Carla longed for a home with a husband and probably imagined Keyon would adopt her son and help her replicate the life her baby’s father should have given her.
Claims no role. Prosecutors contended that Carla broke into Keyon and Avis’ house and ransacked drawers to make it look like a burglary. She lay in wait for Avis in the attached garage and shot her, stabbed her, and slashed her throat. Forensic Files didn’t mention it, but Avis Banks’ pants had been pulled down, perhaps in an effort to make the crime look like a burglary that turned into a rape-murder, according to Dateline Mystery.
When questioned by detectives, Carla didn’t implicate Keyon.
At the trial, however, Carla’s defense team pointed out that Keyon sometimes borrowed her shoes — their feet were the same size.
On the witness stand, Keyon denied having anything to do with the murder. (Although investigators strongly suspected otherwise, they never had enough evidence to charge him.)
Wages of sin. Carla Hughes sobbed in the courtroom when the jury returned with a guilty verdict after deliberating for eight hours. Although eligible for the death penalty, she received life without parole for capital murder, on Oct. 14, 2009.
The victim’s mother, Debra Banks, later told Snapped that she felt a huge burden lifted from her upon hearing the verdict.
Carla Hughes went off to prison.
She lost a 2012 appeal based on the defense’s claim that the judge hadn’t made it adequately clear to jury members that Carla’s refusal to testify in her own defense was not an indicator of guilt.
Lots of blame to go around? Carla’s mother, Lynda Hughes, maintained that Keyon Pittman wanted to get rid of Avis Banks — and that he framed Carla for the murder. She set up a GoGetFunding page to finance a new investigation, the Clarion Ledger reported in 2016.
Carla’s supporters also lay blame on forensic pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne, a witness for the prosecution. They noted that he was doing 1,500 autopsies a year — bagging more than $1 million annually, according to the Innocence Project — and that some evidence from Hayne in other cases didn’t hold up in court. The state of Mississippi had voided some convictions from trials where Hayne testified for the prosecution.
And the pro-Carla Hughes Justice4Carla blog said that her own lawyer was at fault, too. His specialty was tobacco litigation — not defending clients against murder charges.
Fit behind razor wire. Right or wrong, the Justice4Carla website seems to have some integrity — dissenting opinions are allowed in its comments section. For example:
“She killed my cousin over a guy that didn’t want her the way she wanted him. I hope you raise millions because you will need it for representation that will allow a jury to ignore facts.” Shannon Royal
Today, Carla Hughes is serving her life sentence in the Central Mississippi Correctional Institution. At a trim 140 pounds, the 5-foot-7-inch Carla has apparently resisted the siren song of heavy prison food.
Her son is being raised by his maternal grandparents.
Bounced right back. So where is Keyon Pittman — the cause of so much heartache?
According to a number of media accounts, he got married and moved out of Mississippi.
“And look at Keyon Pittman now,” the No Single Mama Drama website notes. “He’s cuddled up with his new wife, while [Carla’s] off to prison, where she can’t be a mother to her son for the rest of her life.”
There’s no telling whether Keyon is making his wife’s existence into a fairy tale, but it’s sure to have a better ending than what Avis Banks and Carla Hughes got.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
Thanks, Rebecca – one I’ve seen a couple of times. Hughes is the classic ‘bunny-boiler’. What gets me about women apparently desperate for men who are cheating on their spouses with them is that they seem to assume he wouldn’t cheat on *them* too – despite showing capacity for it. At best these men are a significant risk. We can all understand jealousy – but in this case Pittman seems to’ve been content to continue the affair – so why would she want to marry him when he’d be so second-rate as a husband? And for that matter, if his current wife knows his background, what on earth is SHE doing? At best he’s a serial womaniser and adulterer; at worst, party to murder. What a fool she is is she knew… If not, and discovered after marriage, she’s surely a worried lady…
As FF presents it this was pretty conclusive. I’m sure Hughes is the murderer. And while correct that inference of guilt should not be made of defendants who don’t testify, such inference is reasonable in this rare case where the accused is (or should be) articulate and has no criminal past (unlike many defendants). I doubt very much she would take the blame if Pittman were the murderer, so that can be rejected, leaving the question of whether he knew. Of course, if she claimed that, she has to admit her part. If he knew and she was ‘loyal’, his disconnection from her and marriage surely puts paid to that…
This was a terrible crime: two died, borne out of her vicious jealousy. She deserves her sentence.
Exactly, he’s ugly anyway. I don’t see what these women saw in his short ugly self. I also wonder what pageant Carla won too? Thats all I say, read between the lines.
You’re right, it must have been how he carried himself, charisma? Because it sure as heck wasn’t his looks, and he sure is short and ugly.
The husband was definitely in on this. Hard to believe he wasnt.
I don’t think he was too broken up about it after watching his police interview. Also, he had his cellphone and did not call 911, but called Carla. Then, he races to the neighbors, and back to the the garage, where he gets down on the floor, cradles Avis, and gets blood all over him. He then attends the funeral, where he is ejected and physically attacked by Avis’ older sister. Bizarre. One thing that stood out to me was the utter class and compassion of both sets of parents. Avis’ father held Carla’s inconsolable father in the courtroom. It reminds me of the grace of Armaud Aubrey’s mother throughout the last two years since her son’s brutal murder. People can be truly remarkable and courageous. Inspirational.
. Very well said.
The opening shot is the Old Well at UNC-Chapel Hill, my alma mater, which was confusing to me at first when everything else referenced Mississippi.
Favorite quote: “I don’t know if a love triangle can go good, but this one went really bad.”
Loved that line, too.
BTW, one of my BFFs is a big UNC basketball fan — sorry to hear about all the injured players.
As such, they’re always bad, generally connoting an arrangement unsuitable to one or more of the people involved. One person typically ends up feeling betrayed at some point (eg, person A is jealous of person C who is having a relationship with person B who, in person A’s eyes, is ‘his/her’ person.”). A similar arrangement that is agreed upon by all parties is sometimes called a triad, which is a type of polyamory, even though polyamory usually implies sexual relations. Within the context of monogamy, love triangles are inherently unstable, with unrequited love and jealousy as common themes, occasionally leading to murder.
So, per se, never good; but the above person B (Pittman) may come out the least scathed, for, paradoxically, B is the cause of A and C’s ‘loss’ in playing them both, but A blames C, not B…
This is one of the sadder cases on FF. Not just for the fact Avis Banks died but because it’s so obvious Keyon Pittman had a part in it and appears to have gotten away with it. We all know OJ is guilty and so is the slimeball Pittman. And this clown is a teacher and coach and (supposed) good example for kids today? Good Lord not the person you want leading the flock. His lack of emotion at the police station when he was being questioned right after the murder is appalling.
I can’t recall the case but there was one where investigators couldn’t get the goods on a murderer. They waited a few years till he broke up with his wife-went to talk to her-and she spilled the beans and they convicted the rat. You don’t need to call Miss Cleo at the Psychic Hotline to know good ol’ Keyon is still out tomcattin’ around town sleeping with all and sundry behind his wife’s back. Let’s hope the police keep an eye on him and when-not if-his marriage breaks up the ex will tell what she knows. A dog like Keyon will no doubt be bragging about getting away with murder to someone. I’m still surprised Carla Hughes-with all her smarts-went to these lengths. She could have contributed so much to society it seemed. Yep sad story.
I agree, it seems impossible that Keyon Pittman is 100 percent innocent of the murder. At the very least, he played a passive role — knowing what Carla Hughes had in mind and doing nothing to stop it.
If it weren’t for his oddly unconcerned behaviour post-deed, I suppose he could plausibly claim no knowledge, or that if Hughes had said anything to the effect he thought she was joking. It might be said that as he didn’t even feign grief or trauma, that might suggest he wasn’t expecting the death (since FF shows so much false emotion by the actual perp). Yet equally the question why he seemed so indifferent remains. Did he not think his indifference might look odd?
If I were the would-be or actual current wife and watched the ep, if it didn’t have me out the door I’d have some pressing questions about his seemingly detached, callous behaviour (that I find it hard to attribute to ‘shock’). However, regardless of a partner’s known track-record of cheating/dishonesty, some deceive themselves that they’re different from their predecessors and can change that partner – part of the ‘we’re meant to be together’ thing.
When they showed Keyon at the police station calling his lawyer all upset because the cops were questioning him it really showed his true colors in my opinion. Imagine how Avis Banks’ family felt seeing the way he acted just hours after the mother of his unborn child was murdered. My prayers go out to them. They said Keyon and Carla talked just before and after the murder. Not a coincidence. He knew what was up. I’m just surprised Carla hasn’t rolled over on him but I guess at this point it wouldn’t do her any good. She’s stuck in prison for the rest of her life one way or another. Keyon acted as if he couldn’t care less about Carla or Avis. Reminds me of that Joshua Comacho in the Rachel Wade/Sarah Ludemann case. Another prize act.
Yes, I’ve seen something about the case you mention. He was appalling too…
I’m sure you’re right that it would do Hughes no good to ‘fess up on Pittman, as per joint enterprise, she’s in for life as the murderer, even if he planned it with her. Still, if I were him I’d be worried that the police could come knocking… I guess he’d simply deny it, and that if there was some proof he conspired, police would already have used that. If, though, he wrote anything down for her reflecting homicidal plan, she withheld it but still has it, that could be used… However, as I say earlier, it would mean she had to admit her part – and she may still be hoping that somehow continued denial might get her out. After all, plenty of lifer perps persist in denial. Why, other than the hope they get some break?
Yep she killed her DOESN’T take rocket science to know that.
Circumstantial and forensic evidence made this a slam-dunk. She’d’ve had to be framed to have what told on her otherwise – a suggestion I don’t think was ever made. I also have a notion – intuitional – that it would be easier for a woman knowingly to kill a pregnant woman than a man…
Perhaps I’m naive but I find it hard to believe that Pittman would want his unborn son killed, even if indifferent to Avis. I’m not persuaded that he had any part in the murder because of this.
However, I suspect his odd behaviour was because he had a very good idea who’d done it; indeed, Hughes may well have expressed such intention (which he dismissed as trivial). He may also have felt guilty that his affairs had proved so reckless (and perhaps that he hadn’t taken Hughes’ expressed intention seriously). Had he not been ‘messing’ with Hughes, the murder would likely not have occurred – and in this sense guilt is understandable. In this light, then, his behaviour post-mortem was excessively defensive because he considered that to some degree he was indeed responsible. Certainly, if he knew Hughes had acquired the gun he becomes more responsible, for inaction – but there’s no evidence of that.
Yes good point. I thought of the unborn child also but his flippant attitude right after the murder shows he couldn’t have cared less. Any normal person would be consumed with grief. He called his lawyer complaining that the police were asking him questions? Come on! The man didn’t display any emotion other than aggravation. That tells me all I need to know.
Yes, his behaviour was certainly disturbing. But his expecting the crime – as in knowing it was going to happen because he was part of it – isn’t the same as his not being entirely surprised at it because he had a very good idea who it was.
I hope you’re wrong in implying that he knew this was to happen as it makes a flawed man a monster… I’m reminding myself that there HAVE been fathers who killed their wives and unborn children – Scott Peterson comes to mind – but it’s thankfully rare. I would ask: if he really was that indifferent to Avis and his unborn son, such that it had a hand in the murder, why not just leave her? Why murder two people, and risk detection, instead? That would make it about money (maintenance). I’m therefore still minded to think that his callous behaviour wasn’t probative of guilt, that he didn’t conspire to kill, but that he knew it was Hughes and felt both guilty and defensive.
All good points. Let’s hope you’re right and I’m wrong in my assumptions. Just a sad case all the way around for all the families involved. Seems like they were all doing so well and then this happened. So sad. This story has always stuck with me.
Joe: Sure – terribly sad. I’m normally posting in favour of existing convictions, so this is a change for me! One of the shows about this case ends with the police stating that if Hughes ever implicates Pittman, they may come knocking…
Goodness knows what all these women see in him… Hughes is a psycho to have gone to this length – which makes me wonder whether the man who left her at the altar had concern about her behaviour. It takes something to cause one to pull out at that stage… Perhaps, per Pittman, she’d pressed him into a marriage he didn’t (or didn’t seem to) want… Whatever, he must surely feel vindicated given what she went on to do!
The guy who got cold feet dodged a bullet (figuratively and maybe literally)
I never really thought about Carla’s ex but he must have thanked his guardian angel for keeping him away from her! Must be scary to hear your ex murdered a love rival.
Indeed. Maybe the ex saw some Fatal Attraction-esque behaviour and got out. As Rebecca indicates, if anything would rile Hughes to homicidal rage, leaving her at the altar would… I presume he didn’t leave her with his forwarding address…
I was watching a true crime show last night – something similar to FF – on an infamous ex-cop named Stephanie Lazarus, now doing life for murder of her former boyfriend’s fiancee (or wife). Strong parallel: Lazarus wanted to marry him but he wanted another, while still having an occasional on-off sexual liaison with her. She was caught only years later.
Not only was Lazarus scary – she looked it too: mad eyes…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sherri_Rasmussen
I’ve just posted an update on Viktor Gunnarsson’s killer cop. At one point it seemed that FF was top-heavy on killer doctors – but killer cops are well up there too!
Yes, it reminds me of the Denita Smith and Shannon Crawley case. Two smart, educated, pretty, talented, creative women who were caught up with the same man. Tragic.
That was not his ex.
It is so interesting to get a man’s take on this. Enjoyed your thoughtful comments.
“Carla Hughes was born June 12, 1981, to a mother who already had more kids than she could support, according to Dateline Mystery.
Overachieving girl. Fortunately, her relatives Lynda and Carl Banks, who were both schoolteachers, adopted her as an infant, and she would be their only child.”
Seems interesting to me that Carla’s adopted parents last name is also Banks, same as Avis. I know Banks is a pretty common name, but it makes me wonder if there is or was any relation between the families.
Thanks again for a great read, RR!
Yikes, Tim, that was a mistake — thanks for catching it! The last name of Carla’s adoptive parents is Hughes, and I just went in and corrected it.
Ahh..OK got it! Mystery solved. 🙂
Earlier today, was watching movie “Laura,” in which the villain (Clifton Webb) writes that love is the biggest motivator in history. This episode affirms that.
Just watched that movie in November for the first time. Keyon Pittman was definitely doing a lot of motivating.
If abstracted love is what’s meant, who’d disagree? FF shows us that love of self, of money, of possession (including others) is what motivates crime. Whether real love is selfless is debatable. In Hughes’ case, was it authentic love for Pittman or the love of her own equilibrium in having the object of the person who generated her jealousy and, perhaps, sense of rejection, that drove her? She’d think and claim it was love for him, but some would aver that she was, in fact, driven by her own demons and if she’d got what she wanted it wouldn’t have satisfied her. On this account, Pittman, then Avis, were catalysts of a disturbed psyche. Having turned on Avis, how long would it’ve been before she turned on Pittman…?
A dangerous, deluded woman rather than a ‘lover’, I suggest…
Court doc: “The autopsy performed on Banks revealed that she was shot four times, stabbed three times, and slashed once. Three of the four gunshot wounds were fatal. The stab wounds were not fatal, and may have occurred postmortem.”
Particularly vicious, then, consistent with what one might expect of a jealous, angry love rival (and so rather foolish in the circumstances).
Anyone who’s particularly interested in this case can get another examination of it in the next episode of “The Killer Truth” on HLN on Sunday, May 24 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. For anyone unfamiliar with this one-hour show, it interviews five different people (typically some combination of family, cop, prosecutor, judge, reporter, killer, victim’s friend, etc.) and gets their different perspectives on the crime. I think it attempts to use the framework established in the Japanese fictional b/w movie “Rashomon,” where different people see a crime differently, but I’m not sure that really works in a true crime setting. Anyway, having seen “Textbook Murder” a few times, and not really having a lot of experience in other true crime than FF, I’m eager to check out this new show to see the different treatment.
The ep:
S1, Ep6
24 May 2020 ‘Homicide at Home’
A love triangle gone awry leaves Mississippi investigators searching for who was holding the gun that killed Avis Banks and her unborn child.
“Carla’s refusal to testify in her own defense was not an indicator of guilt.”
Should be, though. England has it right: you can be silent, but that can be considered against you.
At first blush, the innocent testifying in their own defence seems obvious. If one has nothing to hide there’s nothing to fear – right? Here in UK that’s the principle, as you say. But it’s not obvious. Insofar as the evidence, not the person, is being tried, there’s a case against. And like it or not it IS the evidence, as mediated by argument of prosecution and defence, that is and ought to be weighed by the jury, not the person themselves. Why? Prosecutors often can hardly contain themselves at the thought of getting a shot at the defendant. Even when innocent, so much can go wrong: pressure-induced nervousness, bad body language, poor demeanor, inability succinctly to respond to questions, the flash of anger, etc, can lead a jury to disbelieve the defendant. Can they make allowance for the relatively poorly-educated defendant who is intimidated and so shifty and nervous? The prosecution has a vested interest in making him so… Equally and oppositely, the relatively well-educated professional? How often in FF cases does it appear that the white, educated, middle-class professional does better per verdict and sentencing than might’ve been expected? Did he have the money for a costly, better, defence, or was he better able to acquit himself than others in giving testimony [leaving the toxic question of ‘racism’ aside]?
The defendant here is regarded as a Daniel in the Den, exposed to danger not because of guilt but of the mechanics of the court, including his inability – as we say in England – to ‘make a good fist of’ of his defence as innocent. The prosecution is – or should be – adept a inducing query or doubt as to the honesty of the honest, innocent defendant. Whereas, facing another professional in the defence, the ground is generally significant more even – defence standing up for his client’s constitutional rights, demanding that the State prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Of course, this isn’t an either/or situation: both defence and defendant would be deployed against prosecution. Nonetheless, fatal damage could be inflicted upon an innocent defendant per the aforementioned, unmitigatable by the defence.
The innocent defendant arguably has more to lose in self-testimony than the guilty, as the latter will have evidence against him. The former, in virtue of innocence, is – other things being equal – likely to have less evidence against him and has less need to expose himself to the risk of doubt that a skilled prosecution could sow.
Juries would almost certainly wish the defendant to testify, so they could ‘gauge their innocence or guilt’, because they think they’d be doing that. But no – that’s only mediated to them by the agenda-led examination of the prosecution and defence. The jury is, and should be according to law, adjudging the argument, not the person. Insofar as this is so, the defendant is irrelevant.
Would more findings be correct if the defendant testified? Who knows? It would be interesting to ask criminal lawyers whether they view defendants they thought innocent but who were found guilty were so because of self-testimony (perhaps appeals having been upheld as a good indicator of wrongful outcome).
In Hughes’ case, given the proper lack of adverse inference from non-testimony, it would of course only have harmed her case to testify, and given the evidence against her such adverse inference would be entirely reasonable – but we can only conclude that because of the evidence. Were she innocent, and particularly if regarded as likely to present poorly, it would be wrong to make any negative inference of her non-testimony.
I heard a rumour that Carla was so set on marrying this guy, that even when she was on trial for murdering his pregnant fiance, she was seen in court writing in a notepad, planning her wedding to him!
Sounds like my favorite Orange Is the New Black character — Lorna Morello.
It seems like this man was juggling multiple women. I don’t understand how no other women were looked into as suspects. I also am having a hard time thinking this one woman could have done all this within the timeframe. Pittman was at her home until almost 5:30 p.m. She drives to this woman’s house, busts through the back door, ransacks the place and setup to greet the woman with a gun and knife by 6:00 p.m. I can see ransacking some closet studio but she’d have to rush out her door, speed to Pittman and Banks home, run through their house like a toddler high on sugar ransacking the place and be ready to ambush Pittman in a very short amount of time. Something is either off with this timeline, this crime started before 5:15 p.m. (I’m not talking about starting at 5:12 p.m.) with the death of Banks being the final step, or it is possible this was a two-person crime. After reading multiple articles, reading about the trial and the appeal filings, the timeline doesn’t add up. It doesn’t make sense. Something is off with this timeline by as much as possibly up to one hour or a little more, some other person committed this crime other than Pittman or Hughes, or this was a two-person crime. It would have been nice if the prosecution would have looked into other women. If this man is such a ladies man, maybe he talked another woman into doing the crime, assisting, or it may just be possible his short-term relationship with Hughes was built around so many lies and fairy tale dreams that she snapped. It’s hard to really know which is the case when it doesn’t sound like the police explored other possibilities after Hughes cousin’s turned on her. Hughes might be guilty but something is missing regarding this case and Pittman’s credibility is not reliable to obtain a complete picture of truth.
Interesting. the timeline is odd. However the gun was proven to be the murder weapon and the size 10 athletic shoes had Avis Banks’ blood on them. It seems like it was a frantically committed crime involving postmortem slashing and stabbing.