By Joyce Hensley

Staff writer

PENDLETON A gruesome video of the bullet-riddled, bloody bodies of the victims of a double homicide was shown to jurors Monday during the first day of the trial of Rashan Sarad Brown.

Brown was arrested and charged with the December 1999 drug-related killings of Victor Torres, 19, and Julie Wilde, 28.

The victims were found by Hermiston Police Officer Paul Wolverton around midnight, shot to death in a 1998 Ford Escort (registered to Becky Carlson, Torres’ finance) parked near the intersection of S. 10th Street and E. Columbia Blvd.

Torres’ body was found laying across the front seat with the doorclosed, riddled with bullet holes.

Wilde’s body was found on the ground near the back seat of the passenger side with the door open.

Umatilla County Deputy District Attorney Dean Gushwa told the jury during his opening arguments, “You will find that Rashan Sarad Brown rode his bicycle to a place where he was supposed to meet the victims, Victor Torres and Julie Wilde. He had a .40 caliber Glock pistol. You’ll find that he shot Julie Wilde twice in the head. He shot Victor Torres again, and again, and again. He shot him 11 time.”

Gushwa said that Brown hid the bicycle in a dumpster, then went to a friend’s house offering him $20 to say that Brown had been with him all night.

Gushwa said that when they first interviewed Brown, they spotted blood on his underwear.

Brown’s underwear was a little higher on his waist than his pants.

“He tried to rip off the blood, then he tried to flush it down the toilet,” Gushwa said. “The DNA evidence showed that it was the blood of Victor Torres. That’s the same as having the victim here in the courtroom telling you who killed him.”

Defense attorney Duane McCabe explained to the jury that it was up to the state of Oregon to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Rashan Sarad Brown moved to Hermiston to live with his father, or stepfather. He raised him like a son,” said McCabe. “I will reveal to you life in the underworld the drug world. People will do anything to get drugs.”

McCabe told the jury how Brown met Travis Powell, that they became friends, that the defendant went along with Powell in many ways.

Powell, although not at the scene of the crime, admitted to law enforcement officers that he had helped plan the murder. In November 2000 he was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for his role in the double homicide. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance.

“Yes, there was a double murder,” McCabe said. “This community of drug dealers decided to place the blame on Rashan Sarad Brown. Rumors went out that Travis Powell and Rashan Brown were involved. Those rumors were started by those with the most to lose and to hide. The police focused on Mr. Powell and Mr. Brown to the exclusion of all other evidence.”

McCabe said the bicycle tracks found in the area did not match Brown’s bicycle tires and that a foot print found on Wilde’s clothing did not match Brown’s shoe print.

“Those facts suggest that others may be involved,” McCabe said.

Becky Carlson, Torres’ finance, testified that she saw her boyfriend for the last time at 9 p.m. the night before the murder.

She confirmed that he had started selling drugs when they bought a home together.

“He had known people who sold drugs to make money,” Carlson said. “He saw how much money they made. We had just bought the house, we needed furniture.”

Torres was working two jobs. He worked at Wal-Mart Distribution Center and UPS.

Carlson was told of Torres’ death at four in the morning when the police were checking on the owner of the Ford.

Valerie Nelson, a convicted methamphetamine dealer, testified that Powell and Don Weems, who sold drugs for Nelson, had been trying to set up a drug buy with a black guy.

She recounted a “buy,” set up two days before the 10th street killing, behind the Hermiston Christian School with Powell, Weems and Brown at the scene.

She said Brown had something in his sweat pants that looked like a gun.

“They wanted to see the drugs, I wanted to see the money,” Nelson said. “Travis kept saying, ?Are we going to do it? Are we going to do it?’ “

She said the black man kept saying, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“I had a bad feeling about it. I wanted out of it,” Nelson said. “I went back to my car.”

She was escorted, with Gushwa and McCabe, to the grand jury room where Brown was part of the proceeding via video.

Nelson identified Brown as the black man who was going through Weems and Powell to buy drugs.

“When I heard what happened, I was shocked,” she said. “It (her brush with Brown) was embedded in my brain. It was not a small thing.”