02-16-05 – Carman Hayes, the former girlfriend of Andre Thomas, spoke of Thomas’ thoughts in the days leading up to the murders in day two of testimony of one of Sherman’s biggest murder trials.

The conversations between Hayes and Thomas were the focus for most of the morning. Hayes testified the Thomas exhibited some bizarre behavior, often duct taping his mouth shut and responding in writing whenever spoken to for several hours a day. His said the reason for the strange behavior was that the “devil was in him.”

The defense is trying to show that this is not the behavior of a sane person, but prosecutors say that drugs and alcohol, voluntarily taken, were the reasons for such actions.

Medical examiners who performed the autopsies on Laura Thomas and her two children also spoke. They told jurors the victims bled to death, and that all three were alive for some time after they were stabbed.

Thomas also listened closely as his father, called to the stand by the prosecution, talked about Andre’s childhood. His father called him gifted, bright, and well-behaved and saw no signs of mental illness in his son until three or four months before the murders.

Medical professionals, dispatchers, and officers all testified that Thomas was “calm” after the murders and asked for forgiveness.