One Minute To Kill; Credibility of Key Witness Questioned

By Jorge Casuso

Thursday, July 1-- It took approximately a minute to strangle the life out of 14-year-old Shevawn Geoghegan, whose body showed no trace of drugs or alcohol, coroner Irwin Golden testified Wednesday in the murder trial of Glen Mason.

"Hemorrhages around the eyes indicates there has been pressure on the neck for a certain duration so that the blood vessels of the eyes rupture," Golden said. "It would take at least one minute of continuous pressure" before the victim died.

However, there were no signs that a taser had been used, although marks from the electric shock would not show through heavy clothing, Golden said. Nor were there any cuts on the body.

There is "no evidence of hand or fingernail marks," Golden said. "There were no knife cuts or knife wounds."

On Tuesday, Jason Yoakum, a close friend of the defendant, testified that Mason told him he had used a taser with new batteries on the victim before strangling her in the basement of an abandoned mental health facility at 1525 Euclid Street on Feb. 26, 1998. Yoakum said Mason also bragged that he had cut up Geoghegan, who had been strapped to a metal chair with duct tape before being strangled with a cloth belt.

The lack of cuts or bruises from electric shock was used by defense attorney Marc Lewinstein to discredit the testimony of Yoakum- who is in County Jail for allegedly carrying a concealed fire arm.

Under cross examination, Yoakum, who was offered immunity, admitted that he knew what the prosecutors were trying to get from him and said he failed to recall much of his testimony.

"I can't remember much," Yoakum said. "That happened a year and a half ago… I lived a hard life. A lot of stuff has affected my memory."

Yoakum said that in his testimony before the district attorney in November he was getting Mason mixed up with Jimmy "Linus" Turner, another suspect in the killing who is still at large.

"He did a lot of stuff to her," Yoakum said. "I remember he said he chopped her up. I remember he said he tased her."

Lewinstein also questioned Yoakum's taped testimony that Mason had clutched his hands around an imaginary neck to show how he had strangled Shevawn, noting that a belt and not the hands were used to kill the victim.

Yoakum testified that friends nicknamed him "Mad Dog" because he reminded them of a hit man who went by that name. Mad Dog, Yoakum said, "didn't care what the stakes were, what the consequences were."

The witness also provided an inside glimpse of the rules that govern life in the abandoned buildings where runaways retreat at night.

A list of things to do at the "Euclid Squat" included the following: "Clean up around windows and doors" to make it easy to escape; "secure entrances and exits;" "black out windows" so flashlights and candles aren't seen from the outside; "seal toilets," which had no running water.

Only those who knew a secret password were allowed entrance to the squat, where Yoakum said Mason practiced Satanic rituals. The password was pronounced Oah, a common punk expression.

After dismissing the jury, Judge Bernard J. Kamins admonished a member of the audience for speaking with a juror during a break. Kevin Smith said he spoke with the juror but did not discus the case.

"I may have to dismiss the juror," Kamins said. "This could jeopardize the whole trial."

The trail will resume Thursday at 10:15 a.m. in Department P.