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Wilkes incoming freshmen help set up bazaar at St. Nicholas

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Beyond the Byline: My encounter with L.A. Tarone

<p>SCRANTON &#8212; Brian Evans broke down.</p><p>Taking the stand in defense of childhood friend Jessie Con-ui on Monday, Evans wept as the thought of his best friend and &#8220;brother&#8221; being executed for murder appeared to be too much for him to bear.</p><p>Despite Con-ui&#8217;s violent past, including a conviction earlier this month for the 2013 murder of prison guard Eric Williams, Evans told the jury he would miss his friend if prosecutors are successful in convincing the panel Con-ui deserves to die.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s my brother,&#8221; a tearful Evans said. &#8220;Do you ever stop caring about your family? No.&#8221;</p><p>Evans, who grew up in upstate New York but now lives in Georgia, was among the witnesses called to testify Monday as Con-ui&#8217;s defense team resumed its attempt to humanize the twice-convicted killer in the penalty phase of the inmate&#8217;s capital murder trial.</p><p>Con-ui, 40, beat and stabbed Williams, 34, of Nanticoke, to death in an ambush-style attack inside U.S. Penitentiary Canaan in Wayne County, the jury found. At the time of Williams&#8217; murder, Con-ui was set to serve life in prison for a 2002 murder in Arizona following an 11-year sentence for drug trafficking.</p><p>Evans excitedly recalled meeting Con-ui in third grade in Rome, New York. Despite being outcasts among their classmates due to Evans&#8217; burly appearance and Con-ui&#8217;s shyness, the two became fast friends, Evans said. Their friendship thrived until Con-ui moved out of the area.</p><p>&#8220;For the first time in my life, I had a brother. I had a best friend,&#8221; Evans said. &#8220;That remains the same today.&#8221;</p><p>Con-ui&#8217;s grade-school lacrosse teammate Eric Decharo told the jury Con-ui was a quiet kid who liked to joke around but never bullied or became physically aggressive with others. Con-ui, Decharo said, once intervened in a conflict between Decharo&#8217;s group of friends and another group.</p><p>&#8220;He came over and said, &#8216;No one&#8217;s going to mess with you,&#8217;&#8221; recalled Decharo.</p><p>Joseph Martin said his late son, Derek, was also good friends with Con-ui. Joseph Martin regarded Con-ui as quiet and well-mannered. Derek died at 28, and Martin testified on Con-ui&#8217;s behalf because it was something he thought his son would want, Martin said.</p><p>Virginia Moore, who befriended Con-ui when he moved to Arizona in his teens, blew Con-ui a kiss during a sidebar before her testimony. Tearing up even before she was questioned, Moore described at length how she, Con-ui, and their group of friends descended into drugs and alcohol as an escape from their poverty-stricken daily lives.</p><p>Con-ui sometimes slept in the playground of their housing complex or on the roof of a nearby church because his stepfather would lock him out, Moore remembered.</p><p>&#8220;It seemed like (Con-ui&#8217;s stepfather) didn&#8217;t like any of the kids (in the complex), even the kids that were inside his own house,&#8221; said Moore.</p><p>Though Moore told the jury she still cares for Con-ui and would be impacted if he was executed, prosecutors noted she hadn&#8217;t attempted to contact him in years and only learned of his murder convictions in 2013 when contacted by the defense&#8217;s mitigation specialist.</p><p>Each witness who took the stand in support of Con-ui also acknowledged having not spoken to him in several years.</p><p>Expected to continue Tuesday is the testimony of Dr. Craig Haney, a psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.</p><p>A defense expert witness in the field of social psychology, Haney gained notoriety in the 1970s as the principal researcher for a study on the psychological effect of prisons on prisoners that became known as the Stanford prison experiment. The experience motivated him to study prisons further, he said.</p><p>In preparation for his testimony and report on Con-ui&#8217;s life, Haney viewed Con-ui&#8217;s school, prison, and medical records and conducted more than three dozen direct interviews with Con-ui, Con-ui&#8217;s family, and Con-ui&#8217;s neighbors in his native Manila, Philippines.</p><p>Haney testified generally about the risk factors that could lead a child toward criminal behavior, including neglect, abandonment, maltreatment and abuse. Aggressive behavior typically increases as more risk factors are present, Haney said.</p><p>Jurors previously heard testimony about Con-ui&#8217;s early life, including how he was subjected to an impoverished upbringing and an abusive father who beat and verbally assaulted his mother.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Con-ui-cmyk-14.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Con-ui </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Con-ui-cmyk-14.jpg</photo0><caption0>Con-ui </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Eric-Williams-11.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Williams </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_Eric-Williams-11.jpg</photo1><caption1>Williams </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Con-ui trial: Killer’s childhood friend breaks down on stand