Murder case goes to jury without defense witnesses

Pauline Bell

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A District Court jury continued deliberating the fate of Gregory Leonard as of the SUN's deadline at midday today.

During closing arguments Monday, Prosecutor Peggy Leen told the panel that three days worth of evidence pointed to Leonard as the killer of Tony Antee, whose body was found under Leonard's bed at his Twain Avenue apartment in January.

She asked for a guilty verdict on charges of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and robbery.

But the defense rested its case Monday without putting a single witness on the stand, and Leonard's attorney, David Schieck, argued that the state failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The facts of this case are not sufficient to prove Gregory Leonard is guilty of anything beyond a reasonable doubt. This case cries out for an acquittal," Schieck said, noting that in the hours before the body of Antee was discovered, Leonard was acting normally.

One of Leonard's girlfriends testified she spent the night with the defendant the night before the body was found. She said she was smoking in bed and accidentally dropped a cigarette to the floor. When she got down on the floor to get it, she said she looked under the bed and saw no body, Schieck recalled for the panel in the courtroom of District Judge Nancy Becker.

Leen, however, implied that the girlfriend had a drinking problem at the time and was less than credible because she couldn't even remember if she and Leonard had sex that night.

The evening the body was found, Schieck pointed out, Leonard invited another girlfriend into his apartment and the woman sat on the bed and ate pizza. Schieck said if the body had been dead for awhile, it should have begun to smell, but the second girlfriend mentioned nothing about a foul odor in the bedroom.

Leonard, 32, is charged in the Jan. 22 slaying of Antee, 24. Leonard was discovered with Antee's beeper following the killing.

According to the defense theory of the case, several people had access to Leonard's apartment and could have placed the body under the bed. Defense attorneys have also suggested Antee was a drug dealer who used Leonard's apartment to "ply his trade" and that the killing could have been the result of a deal gone sour.

During the prosecution's case, Leonard's friend, Jesus Cintron, testified that Leonard called him the night of the killing and asked for help in moving a body from under his bed.

Leonard also is charged in the strangulation death of Thomas Williams, 64, at the Twain Avenue apartment complex last November. Trial in that case is scheduled for Aug. 11 before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure. The prosecution has indicated it will seek the death penalty on both cases if Leonard is convicted of first-degree murder.