GUILTY FL - Susan Fast, 60, Bradenton, 29 June 2007

[Paintr]

http://www.bradenton.com/news/breaking_news/story/1564282.html

Bruce Fast said he is willing to tell jurors he believes his son Thomas Fast killed and dismembered his wife.

But that did not happen, as Assistant State Attorney Art Brown did not question Bruce Fast at all about the circumstance surrounding surrounding Susan Fast's disappearance. Bruce Fast only testified about items he found missing from his home and blood he found in his house when he returned from a business trip to the Bahamas on June 30, 2007. On Wednesday, Bruce Fast told the Bradenton Herald he had been prepared to tell jurors he believes Thomas Fast killed his wife, stuffed her body parts in garbage bags and dumped the bags in a storm drain at Lakewood Ranch Publix shopping center. Brown also made a passing reference to Thomas Fast's erratic behavior in the years prior to the killing.


Clever move by the prosecution. Now maybe the defense can't question Bruce with the intention of blaming him. Doesn't cross examination have to stick to those things brought up by the prosecution?

 

[Paintr]

Just a quick question for someone who knows more about these things than I do.

The prosecution is headed by Assistant State Attorney Art Brown.

Later in the above article it states that the stepson's attorny is Assistant State Attorney Franklin Roberts.

Why does the accused have an assistant state attorny for his defense? Anyone know?

 

[dgfred]

Why was the dad coming back a day later than the wife, never really heard of
a couple doing that?
The son did make a perfect suspect... whether he did it or not :waitasec: .

 

[Paintr]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090709/BREAKING/907099925/2055/NEWS?Title=Father-blames-Fast-for-murder

Cross-examination by defense attorney Franklin Roberts is under way this afternoon and his questioning tried to raise doubts about the state's case by implying that Bruce Fast was involved in the death of Susan Fast, 60.

In Roberts’ opening statement Wednesday, he hinted that Bruce Fast might have been involved in Susan Fast's death, or had tried to frame his son in the killing, or had at the very least tainted the sheriff's investigation into her murder.

 

[Paintr]

Susan Fast

http://www.mysuncoast.com/Global/story.asp?S=10663517&nav=menu577_2

The first witness called was the crime scene technician who took photos of the fast residence, along with swabs of blood found in the home after Susan was reported missing

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090709/ARTICLE/907091069/2055/NEWS?Title=Prosecution-says-DNA-links-defendant-to-slaying

In opening statements in the murder trial Wednesday, prosecutor Art Brown said Fast's blood was found in the victim's house and the driver's side of her vehicle.

And that SUV, Brown said, had GPS tracking that showed it was driven near the Lakewood Ranch retention pond where Susan Fast's body parts were discovered in garbage bags weeks after her disappearance.

 

[Paintr]

The accused at trial.

 

[athy]

it was asked how the body could still be in the condition it was after all that time before it was found. the stepson did work as an embalmer for a while. perhaps that explains it.

 

[Paintr]

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jul/09/father-testifies-against-son-murder-trial/news-breaking/

During testimony Bruce Fast held up his wedding ring to show that it matches the one worn by Susan, which deputies said they later found in a hidden compartment of a deodorant can in Thomas Fast's duffle bag.

Emotions heated up when Public Defender Franklin Roberts questioned Bruce Fast about his own actions in the days surrounding Susan's disappearance.

Judge Gilbert Smith sent jurors out of the courtroom as the prosecution and defense debated the relevance of a 2007 jailhouse visit between Bruce and Thomas Fast

 

[Paintr]

Bruce Fast, father of the accused.

 

[Jesikah1]

Thank you for the updates Paintr!

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Just a quick question for someone who knows more about these things than I do.

The prosecution is headed by Assistant State Attorney Art Brown.

Later in the above article it states that the stepson's attorny is Assistant State Attorney Franklin Roberts.

Why does the accused have an assistant state attorny for his defense? Anyone know?

He is a public defender. When you have a person who cannot afford an attorney, they are appointed one by the State. This usually goes in some type of rotation.

 

[Paintr]

Thank you for the updates Paintr!

You are very welcome, Jesikah.

 

[Paintr]

He is a public defender. When you have a person who cannot afford an attorney, they are appointed one by the State. This usually goes in some type of rotation.

Thank you kindly, SeriouslySearching. I did not realize that State Attornies were in the rotation to be PD. I guess I thought there was a separate list of defense attornies to act as PDs.

 

[Paintr]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090710/ARTICLE/907101033/2055/NEWS?Title=Defense-casts-suspicions-on-father-in-wife-s-killing

Fast, 76, was on the stand for nearly four hours, explaining how he realized his wife, Susan, was missing and also defending himself.


'''''


The trial is expected to last through today and may spill over into next week.

 

[Paintr]

http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/story/1565597-p2.html

Brown also questioned the taxi driver who picked up Thomas Fast and drove him to his truck. Former taxi driver Michael Rosati said Fast told him his name was “Frank” and he claimed to be from North Carolina. Rosati pointed to Thomas Fast in the courtroom and identified him as the person he picked up.

Rosati told the jury when he picked up Fast, he did not have on shoes or socks and he asked him why. Rosati said Thomas Fast claimed a woman robbed him at knife point for his shoes and socks.

Attorneys estimated the trial would be complete by the end of the week, but the state has not yet rested its case

 

[Paintr]

http://www.bradenton.com/news/breaking_news/story/1566648.html

Thomas Fast’s jailhouse roommate told a jury this morning Fast asked him to create an alibi for him in the disappearance of his stepmother Susan Fast.

Gilbert Pierola, an 11-time felon, testified that he shared a cell with Thomas Fast after authorities arrested him on a gun charge shortly after Susan Fast’s husband reported her missing.

“He said ‘a confession is the only thread keeping me from certain conviction,’” Pierola said of one conversation he had in jail with Fast.

 

[Paintr]

http://www.mysuncoast.com/Global/story.asp?S=10706571&nav=menu577_2_1

On the witness stand as well, a crime scene technician for the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. He was there when investigators found multiple items related to the case off Lorraine Road. Those items included a conch shell from the Fast's bathroom, a hacksaw and a bottle used to train their dog, referred to as a "pee pee bottle

 

[Paintr]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090710/BREAKING/907109929/2055/NEWS?Title=Fast-asked-cellmate-for-alibi

The cell mate, Gilbert Pierola, told the court that Fast wrote out several pages of personal information to supply Pierola’s sister with enough knowledge to pose as the woman he was with at the time of Susan Fast’s disappearance.

Pierola said Fast harbored a “bitterness” toward his stepmother and called her a “drug addict, crack and *****.”

“He said she was involved in several different organizations that were involved in framing him,” he said.

 

[Paintr]

http://www.bradenton.com/news/breaking_news/story/1566760.html

On a lunch break, a juror got into a traffic accident which has temporarily stalled the murder trial of Thomas Fast.

Circuit Judge Gilbert Smith Jr. stopped the trial and announced the juror had been in a crash. It is unknown if the juror is injured, but Smith said the juror is trying to return so the trial can commence.

 

[kittenish]

http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/story/1565597-p2.html
Rosati told the jury when he picked up Fast, he did not have on shoes or socks and he asked him why. Rosati said Thomas Fast claimed a woman robbed him at knife point for his shoes and socks.

But left him with enough money for a cab? Riiiiight.