Opinion ID: 1713477
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The State's Refutation of Armstrong's Whereabouts

Text: ¶ 29. The State presented testimony that the distances between May's, Kamps' and Goodman's apartments were too great for Armstrong's version of events to be plausible. Madison Police Detective Theodore Mell testified that he drove the routes between the various apartments at five to ten miles per hour faster than the speed limit and stated that the time between Armstrong's apartment at 5572 Guilford and May's apartment at 519 State Street was ten minutes and 27 seconds. He further testified that the driving time between May's apartment and Goodman's, located at 153 Harding Street, was ten minutes and 22 seconds. ¶ 30. As noted above, Emmerich testified that she visited Armstrong in his apartment a few minutes after 9:00 p.m. Goodman testified that Kamps and Armstrong stopped by at about 9:30 p.m. Goodman did not note the precise time but estimated that Armstrong and Kamps left his home between 9:35 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Armstrong and Kamps returned to May's apartment at about 10:00 p.m. The State argued that given the driving times, Armstrong could not have visited Kamps' apartment at the time Armstrong stated  around 9:30 p.m.because Goodman placed Armstrong and Kamps at his house ten minutes away, at the same moment. [5] ¶ 31. To refute Armstrong's story that he returned to May's apartment at about 1:00 a.m., the State presented two residents of May's building who the State argued would have seen or heard Armstrong if he had entered at that hour. Terry Fink testified that the musician Jackson Browne was making a promotional film on State Street, including filming outside the Pipefitter. Fink stated that from five or ten minutes before 1:00 a.m. until 1:45 a.m., she was on the sidewalk within ten feet of the front apartment door, observing the film crew and chatting with friends. Fink testified that she never saw Armstrong in the area or enter the apartments during that time. ¶ 32. Jeff Zuba was the resident manager for the apartments directly above the Pipefitter. Zuba testified he was in his apartment at 9:00 p.m., waiting for the film crew to contact him about turning on the store's lights, and remained in his apartment with the door open throughout the evening. The front door of the apartment building had a security lock but was propped open with a brick that night for the benefit of the film crew. Zuba testified that his apartment door was opposite the door at the top of the front staircase and that he could hear anyone entering or leaving the building. ¶ 33. Zuba stated that between 10:00 and 10:15 p.m., Kamps poked her head in to say hello. Zuba also heard Armstrong's voice in the stairway but did not see him. ¶ 34. Zuba said he went downstairs to the sidewalk in front of the Pipefitter three times that evening to check on the crew's progress, but he claimed he did not wander far from the apartment's entrance. Zuba returned to his apartment for the last time about 12:45 a.m. and kept his apartment door open until he went to bed at about 1:15 a.m. He did not see or hear Armstrong leave or return to the building. ¶ 35. With regard to Armstrong's testimony that he returned to May's apartment at about 1:00 a.m. through the fire escape at the back of the building, Zuba admitted that he would not have heard someone entering or leaving by the back stairway. ¶ 36. A Madison Police Officer, Vivian Beckwith, testified on behalf of the State during rebuttal. She issued a ticket for Armstrong's vehicle shortly before 11:00 a.m. on June 24 for parking in the private lot adjacent to the Pipefitter. The State argued that the ticket was concrete evidence that contradicted Armstrong's testimony that he parked in the lot behind the building that made his entry through the back door much less likely.