Von Stein Family Tragedy Part XII : Closing Arguments In The Von Stein Murder Trial

The most dangerous part of a murder trial isn’t always the crime scene, it’s the moment a courtroom decides which story feels true. We’re near the end of the Von Stein family case, and everything narrows to closing arguments, jury instructions, and the crushing pause before the verdict forms come back. Bart Upchurch’s side argues the state’s 117 exhibits don’t physically connect him to the murders, and that the entire case depends on Chris Pritchard and Neil Henderson, two confessed participants who cut plea deals to avoid death row. 

We walk through the defense’s final push for reasonable doubt, from timeline questions raised by medical testimony to attacks on credibility and motive. Then the district attorney answers with a blunt theme: greed, instant gratification, and a conspiracy that explains the violence. One of the most unsettling courtroom moments arrives when a burned map is turned into a symbol, held up like a mask, and used to argue what the evidence “really” shows. 

After the speeches end, procedure takes over: the judge’s charge to the jury, the tense signals from deliberations, a jailhouse letter that can’t safely change the record, and finally the verdicts read aloud. If you follow true crime trials, North Carolina criminal justice, or how juries weigh cooperating witnesses, this chapter hits hard. Subscribe for the next installment, share this with a friend who loves courtroom breakdowns, and leave a review with your take: how much should uncorroborated testimony decide?

Transcript

Welcome And Trial Nears End

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the murder book. I'm your host, Kara, and we will continue with another episode of the Von Stein family. We are close to to the end of this trial. Let's begin. Bart had been busy himself working on final arguments for his attorneys to present and he has written in a legal pat a statement that says and this is his document. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the state has introduced one hundred and seventeen pieces of evidence, all of which had been linked to Chris Pritchard and Neil Henderson, none of which had been linked to the defendant except through the testimony of Neil Henderson and Chris Pritchard. These two gentlemen develop and follow through on a plan to get rich by murdering an entire family, and now the state would ask you to believe then when they testify against a third party to avoid going to death row. Acting in their own self-interest, CP and NH have caused the death of one man. Don't let them succeed and do it to another. There is as much evidence that each of you committed this crime as did the de as did the defendant. The defendant gave an alias when questioned by a campus police officer. Is this strange? Is this a strange thing for college students to do? When the SBI came and told the defendant he was under arrest for murder,

Bart Upchurch Challenges The Evidence

SPEAKER_00 1:46

he ran. Damn right, he ran. If he had gotten away, maybe he wouldn't be here accused of murdering somebody he had never even met. The defendant did not run when questioned by campus police. He did not even run when brought to the station house. He ran when he was told he was being charged with murder. If the defendant was the brutal murderer the DA says him to be, why didn't he strike or fight against AJo when he was dragging him off balance for about ten feet? If you were charged with murder and knowing you're innocent, would you come along peacefully and be in the defendant's shoes right now? Neil's plea bargain was to testify against me and Chris. Chris's plea bargain was to testify against me, so now he changes to first person, right? Chris could have testified that I didn't have anything to do with it. But the DA would have said he was just covering for me. The DA thinks Neil's testimony is truthful, even though there's no evidence to support it. Chris made a bargain to save his life. Of course, he's going to yes man Neil. Do you have enough faith in the testimony of CP and NH to send Bart Upchurch to the gas chamber? All the facts, evidence, testimony, medical testimony says that CP and NH are lying. The judge decided there will not be time for final arguments this day, however, and recess court for the weekend. So Frank Johnston, who had announced before the trial that he was running against Mitch Mitchell Norton for the Office of District Attorney, argued first in Bart's behalf on Monday morning. He suggested that the case was so confusing as to fall into the realm of the supernatural. He said, I have listened to all the witnesses, looked at all the evidence, and I still don't know what happened. He went on to point out all the discrepancies in the testimony. Quote, inconsistencies, ladies and gentlemen, deficiencies, weaknesses. What's happening here? What's going on? What does your good common sense tell you? It's like a game of clue. That's what the state wants you to believe. Your cards, the ones you can't use, just throw them away, don't worry about them. Among the discrepancies that Johnston pointed to was the testimony of Dr. Paige Hudson, the medical examiner, about the food in Leah's stomach, which raised questions about the time of death. I think it tells us something about this case. We're not getting the truth. End quote. Hands in his pockets of his gray suit

Defense Closings Attack Witness Credibility

SPEAKER_00 4:30

coat, pacing in front of the bench. He described the evidence taken from the Vanstein House. He says, quote, there is not one shred of physical evidence that ties anything that happened to the defendant James Upchurch. End quote. He then spoke scathingly of Chris, calling him cold, callous, bloodthirsty. In his descriptions, Chris slithered into meetings and slithered back out. But the person Chris had hired to kill his parents wasn't Bard. Johnston indicated it was Neil. And he says, quote, You got to remember of Neil is the crucial, oh Neil is the crucial figure in all of this. Have you ever seen anybody testify who looked more like a robot? End quote. And then Johnston recalled the the black hair, the negroid, right, according to forensic anthropology terms, found in the tennis shoe. And he said, quote, Neil Henderson roomed with Butch Mitchell, black male. What does your common sense tell you? End quote. He reminded the jurist that Bonnie had fled the courtroom in fear after first seeing Neil, and he used the baseball bat to take yet another verbal swing at Neil. Who is the only person who has indicated that this bat was at the Von Stein residence near Henderson? Even after the jurors made their decision, Johnston reminded them before closing his hour and a half argument they still couldn't know for certain what had happened in this case. And he says, quote, I don't know what the truth is, but we haven't heard it in this courtroom. There's got to be reasonable doubt. Will in Sermons, wealthy elderly father, a former legislator, came to court this day to hear his son argue his first capital murder case. And he sat beside reporters and occasionally he was nodding in agreement as his son made an impassion an impassioned plea. And this is what Sermons says. Quote, Lith Ron Stein suffer horrible death. There's no question about that. As horrible as that death was, equally as horrible is the thought that an innocent man may be found guilty upon the uncorroborated testimony of two confessed murderers. End quote. Referring to Neo Snirley as the genius, Sermons noted that it was Neo who ended up with all the money taking at the Von Stein house. Neo who took the car keys back to Chris's room despite Bart living only two floors above Chris. Sermons reminded the jurors of Chris's description of the effects of LSD. He said, quote, you see colors. It makes you feel invisible. It gives you incredible energy. End quote. And he pointed out that Neil had told Kenyatta that he had taken LSD so that she would throw him out and give him an excuse to go on the murder mission. And he said, quote, I contend to you that Mr. Henderson was telling you the truth when he said I took LSD. And he was telling Kenyatta the truth. And after taking LSD, he went and did this murder. End quote. He said he never formed a conspiracy with Upchurch. He formed a conspiracy with Neil Henderson and fingered Upchurch because one, he knew he lived alone, and number two, he knew he was an easy mark, a good guy. Chris and Neil was simply lying to protect one another's stories and to save their lives. What other than them saying it's so do you have? What other than their testimony? If you throw out all the evidence by somebody who has an interest in the case, you will come to the conclusion that the state has failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. I contend the evidence show Mrs. Von Stein's woman's intuition was correct that day in court when she became so frightened of Neil Henderson that she had to leave the courtroom and go to her attorney's office. And then in closing sermons, he quoted John Locke, the 17th century English philosophy philosopher, and said, one on one erring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the truth it is built upon will warrant. And then he says, that's a fancy way of saying don't believe anything that doesn't have proof that establishes it. I think that's what this case is about. Not letting the state's 117 exhibits and 27 witnesses make you think that the guilt that the guilt of board up church should be embraced with any greater assurance than what it actually proves. Mr. Noughton had been the district attorney for the second judicial district for five years, an assistant district attorney for 10 years before that. He was of somebody that it became clear during the trial that more than the normal courtroom tensions separated him from the defense attorneys. They did not move in in the same social circles as lawyers so often did in small towns. Despite having spent 15 years in Washington, Norton still was not accepted by the old families of the establishment. Although a native of eastern North Carolina from Samsung County, he had not attended prestigious universities and has sermons in Johnston. He was graduated from East Carolina and nearby Greenville, which had a widespread image as the redneck branch of the state's university system. His law degree was from a little known university in Birmingham, Alabama. Norton had a slow, methodical, almost country manner about him, and he played to great effort before the juries of his district, often saying ain't, using sentences that were not quite grammatical now and then, employing the Eastern North Carolina colloquialism, like won't for instead of saying wasn't.

The DA Argues Greed And Conspiracy

SPEAKER_00 11:38

He would say, for example, it won't something they sent invitations to. He would say in explaining why Neil and Chris didn't have other witnesses to verify their nefarious activities with Bart. And he told the jury, the question you have to face is who done it. But Norton left no reason for doubt about why it was done. He says in quote, the motive in this case is not strange. It's not supernatural. It's not Dungeons and Dragons gone crazy. The reason for this is age old. The motive in this case is greed, fast money, fast cars, easy living. Chris was caught in a world of pizza and beer and drugs and dungeons and dragons with no responsibility whatsoever. A world centered around me and self-gratification. His answer to his problems? Kill him and get the money. Yes, it's cold. Yes, it's heartless, yes, it's cruel, instant gratification. These cases do not come tied in nice little neat packages. They come turned and twisted, sometimes by time and faulty memories. But when tested and sifted by the rules of reason and common sense, the evidence in this case does point on nearly to the fact. He walked to the defense table and pointed out Bart that the man who accompanied Neil Henderson to Washington, North Carolina, sits right here at the table. End quote. Norton suggested that the stress caused by the death of Lee's parents, his inheritance, his problems with Chris was the cause of the disruption in digestion. And he says, quote, if you believe, as they contend that the rice had to be gone in two hours, if he was not under enough stress, then Leith Van Steen was dead at 11 o'clock. And if Leith was dead at 11, Bonnie had to know about it. She had to be part of it. Neil Henderson and Chris Pritchard had admitted their part in this, but after an investigation of over a year and a half, there is not one shred of evidence, not one statement anywhere that it didn't happen just like she said. And if he was dead at 11 o'clock, this is what they would have you believe. Create a case out of air, not recent. If he was dead at 11 o'clock, what in the world was Neil Henderson doing? Coming from here from Raleigh for five and a half hours with the body lying in the bed and him sitting there and wait until 4 30 to go out and dispose of the clothes. End quote. Why say something about James Upchurch that isn't so? It was Bart and Chris who were close friends. Norton reminded the jurors. Neil only played Dungeons and Dragons with Chris and had nothing else to do with him socially. Socially, Neil Henderson was a non-entity. Wouldn't it follow, Norton asked, that if Chris wanted help in killing his parents, he would turn to his good friend Bart, who had gone on trips with him and used drugs with him, not to Neil. And if they wanted to make up something to frame Bart, don't you know they could have made it fit a lot better than they do? And he said that the that the defense was grabbing at straws. As he near the conclusion of his argument, which had gone in for more than two hours, Norton picked up the burn map that had confirmed Chris's role in the murder. He said, I don't know what saved it from the fire. Something kept it. Was it luck? Was it fate? Or was it some other power that kept it from being consumed by the fire and being chopped up by the bush hog? If they want to talk to you about supernatural things, supernatural things have nothing to do in this courthouse. But look at the map closely. Look at the burn marks on the map. And he held it up to his face. The two holes burned near the center of the paper became eye holes, creating a mask. And he said, Are you looking at the face of death? So he paused, he slowly turned the map upside down. And then he said, Oh, when you reverse it, are you looking at something more sinister? Now the mask seemed to have horns, a face of evil. He said, I submit to you when you look at the evidence to this case, it points to the fact that James Barlett Upchurch III was a part and parcel of the conspiracy to commit murder and ended. And in fact, they carry it out. We'll be right back. Ford had basically placed himself with so much hope before the trial that he could not see the damage that he had been that had been inflicted by Chris's and Neil's testimony. Although some of his family had become increasingly dismayed after hearing Chris's and Neil's stories, Bart had grown more hopeful, despite his disappointment in the cross-examination of Neil. He thought that Chris had seemed loopy on the stand and Neil robotic and coached. He looked at the differences in the testimony, not at the similarities, and persuaded himself that the jurors would see that both were lying, trying, as Bart later put it, to cleanse their soul cleanse, I should say, to cleanse their souls with deception. He was especially encouraged that Bonnie had admitted being frightened by her at first sight of Neon, not by seeing him. He thought that the medical examiner's testimony would raise questions, serious questions, in the jurors' minds about the whole scenario of the murder. Now, on Tuesday, January 23rd, as Bart paced the floor of it for secure room on the east side of the courthouse,

Waiting For The Jury To Decide

SPEAKER_00 18:24

smoking one cigarette after another, a habit that he had picked up in jail, he was certain that it would be only a matter of hours, if not minutes, before his innocence would be proclaimed, and he would walk out of the courthouse to his congratulations of family and friends and go on about his life. Mr. Norton had concluded his final argument so late the day before that the judge had put off final instructions to the jury until Tuesday morning. Before sending the jurors out to deliberate at 10 a.m., Judge Watts had one more thing to say. Quote, these are not my words. I can't claim credit for them. I wish I could. Someone far wiser than I first put these words on paper. I think that you probably summarize in about three sentences your duties and responsibility. The highest aim of every legal contest is the ascertainment of the truth. Somewhere, somewhere within the facts of every single case, the truth abides. And then he could tell he says, You are sworn jurors with the duty to perform. That duty is to take the evidence as it came to you from the witness stand, to take the law as it has been given to you by the court. Sift through the evidence and determine the true facts of the case. Apply the law which I have given you to those facts, and thereby render a verdict which will speak the everlasting and abiding truth about these alleged incidents on the morning of July 25th, 1988. You twelve ladies and gentlemen may retire, deliberate, and see how you find in these matters. Bart had not been impressed by the judge's words and did not believe them. He said later that justice is a pretty great concept. The truth didn't matter one damn bit. They didn't care for the truth. What they wanted was facts. Seemed to me it was like one big game of who was going to paint the best picture. But the game had a pretty large pot. Now, as Bard waited to see who had painted the best picture, who would claim the pot, his life, he kept trying to figure out what the jury was thinking. His father, who had asked his attorneys what they thought about the evidence what was complete, sum it up succinctly for him. He says, Bart, if they believe those two boys, they're going to find you guilty. This is his dad saying that. And then his mother, Joan, gave him a hard look and she said, Don't be so pessimistic. The trial had brought Jim and Joan together in a public display of harmony and support for their son. But the situation had been strange and strange for both. And as the jury deliberated, the differences between them surfaced. Because Jim was saying, somebody's got to point out the facts. And Joan, on the other hand, she was encouraging Bart's hopefulness, but Jim thought it wow wishful thinking. He said later, quote, he was fantasizing, grabbing at straws. I wanted to bring him back down to earth so that he could face the reality of this thing. End quote. Meant dissension within the jury. That was hopeful in and it meant that at least somebody thought him innocent, discouraging in that it also meant that somebody must think him guilty. His optimism flagged only to the extent that he began talking of a hung jury, which surely would mean the ordeal of another trial. At five, Bart, his parents, and attorneys were summoned back to the courtroom. The judge had decided to call a halt to deliberations for the day. The agony of waiting would continue until Wednesday. Before leaving for the day, the foreman asked the judge if he would start the next day's session by instructing the jury again in the law on the changes of conspiracy and first degree burglary. If they were still struggling with conspiracy and burglary, acts which had to occur before the murder, then perhaps there still was hope for acquittal. After receiving those instructions the next morning, the jury began deliberated again in 937. And Bart and his parents continued to strain an anxious wait. At 1225, they would go back to court again for the second lunch break since deliberations had begun. This time, the judge had questions for the jury. Had they reached an unanimous verdict on any of the charges? They had, said the foreman. On the charges that have not been decided, was the numerical division the same on all the charges? It was different from the day before, the foreman said. So the judge asked, Do you feel that you're making some progress? And the foreman said, Yes. This could not be good, Bart's attorneys realized, because if the jury had reached a verdict of not guilty on any of the charges, they likely would have quickly voted not guilty on the other as well. But they did not convey this gloomy prospect to Bart. During his lunch break at the jail, Bart was handed a letter, Mark Urdent, addressed to him. Bart recognized the name on the return address. A young man he had met in the Buford County jail who claimed that he had gone to high school with Chris, now an inmate at a youthful offenders institution and rally. The young man wrote that he had been in the same cell with Chris at the Buford County Jail, and Chris had told him that Bart knew nothing about the plot to kill his parents, but he might have to place the blame on Bart if things got tough for him. Bart gave the letter to Sermons, who knew the young man who had sent it, he was a chronic liar. He had had dealings with him in other cases. Sermons checked with Keith Mason and discovered that the state would easily be able to refute the letter. If he tried to reopen the case with it, he would end up looking foolish. Sermons told the judge about the letter but offered no motion with it. The letter was accepted as a court's exhibit, order sealed by the judge not to be open. At 4 or 5 p.m., Bart and his parents were again summoned to the courtroom. The jury was coming back. And the judge said, I don't even know that they have a verdict. They may simply be coming to ask some question, but assuming that they do have a verdict, let me say this: that I would not tolerate

A Jailhouse Letter And A Risky Choice

SPEAKER_00 25:15

any outburst. The jury filed in to take seats at 409. Jim Upchurch noticed that none would look at Bart, who sat impasively in his brown tweed sport coat and brown pastly tie. That Jim thought was a very bad sign. And so the judge says, All right, ladies and gentlemen, and Mr. Foreman in particular, let me ask you this question and please answer if was just a simple yes or no, sir. First of all, have you agreed upon your verdicts in this case, sir? The answer, yes. Had they filled out the verdict forms they had? The judge asked the bailiff to hand him the forms. He says, Members of the jury, I don't know what your verdict forms are. In just a moment, I'm going to read them aloud. Following the reading of each, I would ask you a question. Is this your verdict to say you all? And if you agree, you should answer yes. If you did not agree, then you would have a chance to hold your hand up. Everyone understand

The Jury Returns As Tension Peaks

SPEAKER_00 26:24

that. You must answer one way or the other. Members of the jury with regard to file number eight nine dash CRS-3448, which was a charge relating to the offense alleged to be conspiracy to commit murder, your foreman has returned a verdict which reads as follows We the jury unanimously find the defendant James Barlett Up Church III to be guilty of philon felonious conspiracy as charged. Was this your verdict? So say you all. Bart's right hand went to his mouth as the word guilty was said. He paled noticeably. His head dropped. Behind him his mother began sobbing and reached to touch him. Tears tears welled in Bart's eyes and the judge drawn on, charge to charge, each time saying the dreaded word guilty. And each time it was said, Bart's head dropped lower, lower until it almost rested on his chest. He braced himself and sat upright as his mother reached to hug him. He patted the back of her head with his hand. When the last charge had been read, that of first degree murder, Frank Johnston requested that the jury be put on that charge. Each answered, yes, that was the verdict, each still unwilling to look toward

Guilty Verdicts And A Family Breaks

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Bart. As Joanne cried softly and Bard fought back his own tears to regain his composure, the business of the court was briskly carried forth. The attorneys were summoned to the bench for a brief conference. Afterward, the judge explained that the jurors under North Carolina law must next ascertain Bard's punishment, life in prison, or death in the gas chamber. Another hearing would be held before the jurors decided punishment, and a problem had arisen or arisen that would prevent them from considering the matter the following day. A psychologist who had examined Bard was on vacation in the Caribbean and could not get back to testify until sometime Thursday. The hearing would have to be put off until Friday, an extra day for Bart and his family to wonder if the jurors would allow him live. Two extra guards had been assigned to the courtroom this day, and they came close around Bart as he was led from the courtroom to the holding cell, trailed by his family and reporters. His grandmother Carolyn made her way to the room and hug him. She told him that I love you. And a reporter crowded in to tell Bart's family that she was sorry about the outcome. Later, Jordan or Joan would say that this was the most horrible day of her life. She said, It's the most helpless I have ever been in my whole life. I will do anything I can for my kids. I don't care what it is. You always respond to your children's needs, but there was nothing I could do for him. It was the most helpless, uncontrolled feeling.

Punishment Phase Delayed And Aftermath

SPEAKER_00 29:27

I wanted to hold him, I wanted to hug him, I wanted to see his face. I didn't want him to cry. The officers allow her to hug him for a few minutes, and she clung to him, unwilling to let go. Sorry. Trying not to try not to cry. But she star she was crying uncontrollably, and he he kept saying, Mom, please don't cry, everything will be alright. But it wouldn't be alright, not ever again, and she knew it. Finally, the officer stepped in and led Bart away, leaving his family huddled, helpless, watching him go. Joan wouldn't leave until she had the clothes that Bart was wearing the day, some little piece of him to hold on to. Jim and Carolyn went with her to the jail to get the clothes, and afterward they walked her to their car, Joan crying all the way. She and Carolyn holding to one another to support in support. Carolyn was worried about Joan facing that long drive home to Virginia alone. But Joan insisted that she would be alright, that she would compose herself before she got home to the children. This was Joan's birthday, but she had put it out of mind. She arrived home to find that Emory, Carrie, and Alex had picked a cake, bought her presents, and inflated balloons. And she said that she broke down. Jim and his mother drove back to Caswell County that night. Along the way she stopped at a McDonald's for hamburgers and coffee. While they ate, Carolyn had the strange feeling that everybody was looking at them. Could they have been on the TV news that night? She wondered, or was it just that she felt that everybody who came into contact with them now could sense the shame that have been visited upon her family? We'll be right back. Thank you for listening to the murder book. We'll be right back. Next week.