San Bernardino murder case of scorned lover goes to jury
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/28/2010 06:43:18 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO - After listening to almost three weeks of testimony, a San Bernardino jury must now decide if a local man is responsible for the grisly slaying of an estranged girlfriend and her 18-month-old daughter more than a decade ago.
The case was presented to the jury Thursday afternoon in San Bernardino Superior Court after lawyers on each side presented their closing arguments.
Prosecutors described the now 34-year-old Gregory Whiteside Jr. as a scorned lover who hungered for control of Shawana Andrews, a hot-tempered woman who manipulated and disrespected the defendant while seeing other men.
But the defense says Whiteside worked hard for the unemployed Andrews and doted over her daughter, Brittany, despite the woman's illicit activities, such as "boosting," and her mistreatment of the little girl.
Lawyer Dale Atherton admits that Whiteside killed Andrews on June 13, 1999, but it was only after she nearly decapitated Brittany during an argument and then came at Whiteside with a kitchen knife.
The couple's 11-month relationship was doomed from the start and had started to wind down, said Deputy District Attorney Robert Bulloch. Just days before the deaths, Whiteside was physically threatened by Andrews' new boyfriend William "Loonatic" Moore, who she was living with.
But Whiteside still cared for Andrews and couldn't give up. Fueled by months of disrespect and disloyalty from his now estranged girlfriend, Whiteside sought control.
"We have a tinderbox here waiting to be ignited," Bulloch told jurors. "The trouble is, who brings the matches."
Prosecutors point to a crime scene in the garage of a San Bernardino apartment, where the bodies of Andrews and Brittany were laid on a makeshift bed of blankets. Whiteside also laid with the bodies, after attempting to commit suicide.
Whiteside even left a page-long suicide note that began with him asking the Lord for forgiveness. A neighbor testified he heard a woman scream, "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" and then a baby crying.
Andrews 12 times in the area at the back of her neck. She was also stabbed once in the back, five times on the front of her body and in her left eye.
Andrews' eyelids were also sliced. The little girl was also stabbed several times, and her throat was slashed.
The defense told the jury that death of Andrews by Whiteside was not first-degree murder, which requires premeditation or deliberation.
"We contend the prosecution has not proven he went through this weighing factor," Atherton said. Whiteside testified that Andrews killed her daughter, after she threw her daughter against a bathroom heater and he threatened to report it.
Atherton also said prosecutors had not produced any evidence of domestic violence where Whiteside was the aggressor, only Andrews.
mike.cruz@inlandnewspapers.com
909-386-3880
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