Opinion ID: 2382114
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence Directly Connecting Malloy to the Murder

Text: William Smith first reported finding the body of Diana Butler to the police. At the post-conviction hearing, he testified that just before he discovered the victim's body, he had noticed a dark colored car coming from the area of the body. The car was moving slowly. The car was dirty, dark and raggedlooking and could have been maroon. The car was American made and had a long hood and trunk. Smith saw the car at roughly 5:10 or 5:15 p.m. He never saw a light blue car. Smith described the occupants of the dark colored car as two white males in their late twenties or thirties. The driver had long hair. Smith's description of the driver of the dark car matched that of Malloy. Malloy was a white male in his twenties, and had messy, shoulder or medium length, light brown hair. He drove a maroon Chevrolet Impala or Chevelle. It was long and dark in color. Malloy's employer, Carlos Lopez, and Lopez's wife testified at the postconviction hearing that, a few days after the murder, Sean Malloy attempted to sell them a ring similar to the ring that was taken from the victim's body at the time of the murder. The Lopezes described the ring that Malloy tried to sell them as having a medium gold band, with a large stone in the center and other little stones around the center stone. In her deposition, Diana's daughter, Melanie Harvey, described her mother's ring as having one diamond set up I believe on four prongs with little chips underneath the diamond. At trial, she stated the ring had a round diamond, and I think there were four prongs. It was silver. The insurance claim for the victim's ring, filed May 10, 1997, by Butler, described the ring's band as gold. Although the descriptions of the rings are not identical, they are substantially similar. Malloy wanted $300 to $400 for the ring. The Lopezes knew it was stolen or bogus because they believed it must have been worth at least $5,000 if it were real. Malloy insisted that the diamond was genuine and cut the window of a car to prove it. Mrs. Lopez asked Malloy where he got the ring. She testified that Malloy said he got it from his aunt's inheritance and that she had given it to him. The person with Malloy kind of laughed and said, `yeah, she was only too happy to give it to you.'