Fort Morgan – Prosecution witness Larry Ellis greeted his former brother-in-law and murder suspect Allen Bergerud with a half-smile and a polite nod.
After exchanging pleasantries – “Hello, Mr. Ellis.” “Hey, Allen” – Bergerud began his cross-examination.
“Have I ever been violent?” asked the 51-year-old Bergerud, a former supervisor at a Kersey fertilizer business.
“Not around me, you weren’t,” answered Ellis.
With that, Bergerud started another sometimes halting and often surreal questioning of a witness in his double-murder trial that could end with him serving life in prison.
A defendant acting as his own attorney is not that unusual, especially in misdemeanor cases, lawyers say. But a defendant arguing his murder case is rare.
Bergerud is accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend, Linda Cooper, and her friend, Lon Yeaman, just west of Interstate 25 and Colorado 56, near Berthoud, on April 7, 2002.
Cooper, 39, was shot while on the phone to a 911 dispatcher, and the 46-year-old Yeaman was shot in the driver’s seat of his pickup.
Prosecutors told jurors that a jealous Bergerud ambushed Cooper and Yeaman after luring them to a field. Bergerud, according to published reports, says he shot Yeaman in self-defense and deputies then shot Cooper.
Bergerud – maybe stung by his attorney’s assertion that he has a low IQ – fired his attorneys after his trial on the murder charges had barely began last week. The short, slightly built Bergerud then took over the responsibility for calling and cross-examining witnesses, questioning evidence and imploring jurors.
Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck – who is prosecuting Bergerud – said he’s faced 10 defendants acting as their own lawyer in lesser cases in his 16 years as a prosecutor.
But a man defending himself against murder charges is full of pitfalls for both sides, said John Sadwith, executive director of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association.
“This is a pretty dangerous thing for him to do,” he said.
Bergerud won’t know when to object and will leave himself vulnerable to attacks from Buck because he won’t know how to properly show his own case, he said. On the other hand, Buck can’t object too much because that may get sympathy from jurors.
“It may look like it’s so one- sided that people will feel sorry” for Bergerud, Sadwith said.
A gag order has been issued in the case, preventing prosecutors and Bergerud’s former attorneys from commenting.
Bergerud’s first trial ended in a mistrial last year when a juror did his own research on the case. The case was later moved to Fort Morgan from Greeley because of pretrial publicity.
While the prosecution presented its case last week, Bergerud sat hunched over trial transcripts and scribbled on a legal pad. He has at times referred to witnesses – many former co-workers and friends – by their first names. He had to stop his cross-examination at least once when he teared up.
Another time he felt the ire of Cooper’s best friend – Robin Bracy – when he hinted that Cooper was laid off from her job because she skipped too many workdays.
“She missed some dates because you two were fighting so much,” Bracy shot back.
The trial is expected to end early this week.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
