From a Virginia Newspaper:
VIRGINIA -- Roy Olson took the stand again to testify about Darryl Kokochak's murder -- but on Friday, it was at Michael Staunton's trial.
Olson testified for the prosecution this time about what his role was and how events occurred, as he recalled it, up to and on Nov. 23, 1999, when Kokochak was slain in his Mountain Iron home.
Much of his recounting had been given in his own trial in December, when he had taken the stand then.
Olson, 27, formerly of Virginia, told the court Friday about his first contacts with Staunton, and the growing number of times the two got together in November 1999 up until Kokochak's murder.
The contacts included a few tows, several visits by Staunton to Olson at his part-time bouncer's job at a Virginia bar, requests by Olson to Staunton to look for a new job for him if he needed it, meetings at bars for several drinks and increasing socializing between the two in the fall, at a Duluth supper club and a pay-per-view TV boxing match at a facility.
The relationship led even to a shared billing. "Staunton gave me a cell phone to use,'' Olson related, through questioning by St. Louis County Assistant County Attorney Gordon Coldagelli.
Staunton, 41, of Cotton, faces four first-degree murder charges in Kokochak's death: with premeditation, and while attempting to commit burglary, kidnapping and tampering with a witness. He has pleaded not guilty. Olson, a former co-defendant, was convicted in December of one count of first-degree manslaughter, but was acquitted of three murder charges. He will be sentenced Jan. 29.
Olson described buying a handgun from a co-worker in late July 1999 and Staunton allegedly taking it the same afternoon when he stopped by Staunton's place. The next time he saw the gun, kept in a red bag, was Nov. 23, 1999, by trash cans inside his apartment when he found Staunton there, he said.
He went to a Mountain Iron bar-restaurant with the gun in the truck, as he was going to ask Staunton about why he got it back, Olson told the court. At the bar, he had several beers while Staunton and a friend he did not know, later identified as Brian McClure, played pool.
The three left, as Staunton got into Olson's truck, with nothing in his hands that he saw, Olson testified. The gun in the bag was on the passenger side by the transmission hump. He was expecting to go help the two on what he was told was a repossession, and expected to drop the two off there, he added.
Instead, he parked his truck and walked down the driveway to a house, later identified as Kokochak's. McClure knocked on the door, Kokochak answered, Staunton allegedly grabbed Kokochak and the gun, in Staunton's right hand, went off, Olson testified. Staunton was tussling with Kokochak. "He was calling him a snitch,'' Olson said of Staunton.
Previous testimony by investigators had set that Kokochak, an occasional cocaine user, had given a statement to police on Staunton's alleged drug sales.
Olson separated the two, but later Kokochak was being slammed against a wall, he said. At one point he ran down the driveway and heard a bullet whizzing past his ear. Staunton allegedly was pointing the gun at him and "telling me to get back or else he was going to kill me,'' Olson told the court.
Staunton was "out of control'' and was "ranting and raving,'' with Kokochak, he said. At one point he told him to hold down Kokochak on the ground, he added.
After allegedly tying Kokochak's hands with a "zip strip,'' Staunton opened the basement door, "grabbed Darryl Kokochak and (whipped) him down the stairs,'' Olson said. He drew a diagram of the porch of Kokochak's house on a large easel, at one point standing about five feet from Staunton, who watched the diagramming.
Kokochak was grabbed and pulled by Staunton, who still had the gun in his hand, Olson related. He did not try and run, as "I honestly thought he would kill me,'' he said.
The two moved to the right in the basement, then the next time he saw them, he saw Kokochak fall. He did not see the gun then, but "I saw (Michael) Staunton had a knife in his right hand,'' Olson said, becoming emotional. He tried running upstairs, but Staunton knocked him down, standing over him with the knife, with blood on it, near his face. Staunton called him "stupid,'' and allegedly threatened his family, he said.
They left the residence, got in the truck and McClure was dropped off. Staunton was let off at the Mountain Iron bar, and he drove home, with Staunton following. Once home, he locked the doors, he told the court. In the days following he talked with Staunton a number of times, but did not call police.
He was pulled over for a drunken driving test when coming home early Nov. 27, 1999, and later that day was arrested and charged in Kokochak's murder. He told some of the truth, but also was lying then, he said.
In a March 28, 2000, statement to investigators, he told the truth about what happened from then on, he said in court.
Coldagelli asked, as his final question, who killed Kokochak. "Michael Staunton,'' Olson replied.
Staunton's defense attorney, Daniel Mohs, cross-examined Olson, starting with how Olson had given some of the truth, but had lied, in his early statements. After going over some of his testimony, Mohs remarked that he seemed to remember clearly specific details of the different times he was with Staunton.
"I had a lot of time to think about it,'' Olson, held in jail for more than 13 months now, replied.
Mohs went back over some of the statements about the handgun Olson had made, as well how the console in his truck operated when up or down. Olson was questioned by him about the time he spent going home from work at 3 p.m. in Virginia, dropping a snowmobile off at his grandparents' place, giving some money for kids' clothing to his family, going back home and out to the Mountain Iron bar by 4:30 p.m.
At another point Mohs made a comment doubting some of Olson's testimony, which Judge James Florey ordered stricken from the record after Coldagelli objected.
Florey told jurors that testimony was expected to wind up next Wednesday, and the case go to them for deliberations by Thursday.
Testimony resumes at 9 a.m. Monday.
