A jury is out for deliberation to determine whether two young men are guilty of murdering a 57-year-old Lexington man in 2019.
Attorneys made their final remarks to jurors Thursday in the trial for Anthony Asay, 20, and Dillon Stewart, 22. The two are charged with abuse of a corpse, murder, and tampering with physical evidence following the fatal assault of Don Foster. They are accused of killing him in an apartment they shared on Augusta Drive, and taking his body to a wooded area in Washington County. The trial began Monday.
During closing statements, the prosecution again asked the jury find both men guilty of the crimes they were charged with and reviewed the evidence presented.
But the attorneys for Asay, Ben Church and J. Parker Mincy, pushed the blame for the killing on Stewart. Likewise, Stewart’s attorney Brent Cox pivoted the guilt toward Asay. Both parties also attempted to discredit the credibility of the prosecutors’ key witness, Haley Wagner.
Wagner, Stewart’s former girlfriend, testified for the prosecution on Tuesday and said that she saw both men go into a room with Foster and then saw the aftermath when they told her to “come and see.” She was 16 at the time of the incident and after telling her family what happened, went with them to the police.
She recounted to the court what she saw after Foster died, the cleanup and the work to move Foster’s body to another area — all of which she was present for. She said she rode along to move the body because she was scared for her life after witnessing two grown men kill another.
Before she testified with this version of events, defense teams were quick to call out that her story had changed compared to what she told police previously. At the time of the investigation, she told police that Stewart was outside of the room when the fatal assault took place. She said she “thought she was in love” and she was trying to protect him.
The defense teams honed in on this in their closing arguments, attacking Wagner’s character and accusing her of lying.
“Ms. Wagner concocts a story that protects her, protects Dillon, and points to Anthony,” said Church, Asay’s attorney. “It protects the person that Haley Wagner cares to protect more than anybody, which is probably Haley Wagner. … She lied, she cares about herself.”
Stewart’s attorneys made similar accusations.
“Haley as you know gave two stories, and we don’t know which is true from her,” said Cox, Stewart’s attorney. “She admitted that she moved on and doesn’t care about Dillon anymore, so she implicated him to get him out of her life, and get him out of the way. … Haley is a liar, and I wouldn’t take anything she said to heart.”
Both defense teams questioned why Wagner herself was not charged in the crimes. They both mentioned that no DNA evidence matching the defendants was found on items believed to be connected to the murder, including a tire iron, yellow concrete pole and carpet cleaner. They inquired why no DNA was taken from Wagner to compare to evidence found.
On Wednesday, Stewart himself testified against Asay, and said he was not in the room at the time of the murder. He said during his testimony that he still loved Wagner, and would do anything to protect her.
While speaking in court, Church used Stewart’s testimony to theorize that Stewart was angry at Foster for putting Wagner in potential danger due to connections with drugs, and because he stole Stewart’s laptop. Church focused on the toxicity and volatility of young love, and how one “can see only red.”
He said Foster had “demons” and Dillon’s life had been difficult, and “he would’ve done anything to protect (Wagner).”
“This was not premeditated, that was the act of someone who snapped, and struck him again and again and again,” Church said.
Church asked that the jury find Asay not guilty of murder and other homicide charges, but lightly conceded to the charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Cox asked that his client be acquitted on all counts against him.