The prosecution in the Brian Watkins murder trial hopes to show that the man accused of killing Watkins is a liar by using telephone records to show how soon after his arrest he called a lawyer.
Yull Gary Morales, 19, says he called his former attorney, Jerrold Kreppel, right after his arrest on Sept. 3, 1990 - the day after Watkins, 22, was slain in a subway station while a pack of youths robbed his family.A telephone official's testimony is important for the prosecution because Morales' trial lawyer, Joel Lutwin, says it was illegal for police to question the youth if they knew he had retained Kreppel and wanted him present. The official was to testify when the trial resumed Monday.
Lutwin said that it was improper for police to question Morales without the lawyer present and that police illegally obtained Morales' statement that he stabbed Watkins. Kreppel testified in support of Morales.
Morales is on trial with Anthony Anderson 20, and Ricardo Lopez, 19, in connection with the attack on the Watkinses in the subway station at Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street.
The five members of the Watkins family, here from Provo, Utah, to attend the U.S. Open tennis tournament, were going to dinner when they were jumped.
Watkins' father, Sherwin, 47, was slashed across the buttocks and robbed of $200. Brian Watkins was stuck in the heart when he tried to defend his mother, Karen, also 47, after one of the gang kicked her in the face.
Morales admits he stabbed Watkins, but he says he did it accidentally while trying to protect his buddies who were being beaten by the Watkins family.