Kirby evidence presented
Stonington Police Sgt. David Knowles put a fresh battery in the stun gun that Russell E. Kirby allegedly used in the May 2002 kidnapping of Leslie Buck and pulled the trigger Wednesday in a Norwich courtroom.
The electronic “zap” sound that emitted from the Thunder Power 120,000-volt stun gun startled some of the court spectators. So did the blue electrical “arc” that appeared between the two contact points at the top of the device.
The stun gun, which Kirby allegedly held to the back of Buck’s neck when he accosted her in the garage of her Mystic home on May 2, 2002, was one of dozens of items that prosecutor Paul J. Narducci introduced into evidence on the second day of Kirby’s trial.
The evidence containers held everything from white cloth gloves to a Colt 1911 .45-caliber pistol. The packages had been torn open and discussed at Kirby’s first trial in 2004. The second time around, the physical evidence could be more important than ever , since the state is attempting to make its case without the victim’s testimony Satellite M100 , Satellite M105.
The 72-year-old handyman’s first conviction, in 2004, was overturned by the state Supreme Court. The justices ruled that Buck’s statements and a 911 call she made following her kidnapping were not admissible because Kirby was unable to confront her at trial. Leslie Buck escaped from Kirby only to die two days later under suspicious circumstances. Stonington police charged her husband, Charles Buck, with her murder last year, and he is in prison, awaiting trial.
On Wednesday, Narducci asked witnesses to tell the jury how the evidence in the Kirby case was collected and preserved. The panel heard from the operator of the wrecker that towed Buck’s white Buick Park Avenue car, which she said Kirby used in the kidnapping, from her garage to the Stonington Police Department. Knowles, Satellite M40 , Satellite M45 the detective sergeant, said he processed the car at the police station and found a duffel bag on the back-seat floor containing two stun guns, the Colt pistol, a hickory log, lengths of rope and other items. He held each of them up for the jury to see, including the stun gun. Knowles also described finding related items, including the box for the Colt pistol, when the department executed a search warrant at Kirby’s home on Long Pond Road.
The jury also heard from Mystic optician Clayton Cobb, who confirmed that a pair of eye glasses with bifocal lenses and bent frames that was found in the duffle bag belonged to Mrs. Buck. Molly Cichon, the emergency room nurse that treated Buck at Lawrence & Memorial, described her injuries as the prosecutor introduced her report into evidence. Later, Detective Cody Floyd showed the jury photographs he had taken of Leslie Buck’s injuries the day after the kidnapping.