Tama woman’s first-degree murder trial opens

A woman testified Tuesday that Ginger Jefferson came to her Tama home Sept. 25, 2013 and said she had stabbed her daughter-in-law, Kerry O'Clair-Jefferson, in the neck.

Amber Navarro, 34, of Tama, said Jefferson was upset and crying and had blood on her hands. Jefferson said she had 'gotten into it” with O'Clair-Jefferson and stabbed her twice in the neck, Navarro said, adding Jefferson said she thought her daughter-in-law was dead.

A Tama County jury was seated before noon and the prosecution started its case Tuesday afternoon. The trial is expected to wrap up early next week.

Navarro, who lived about a block from the home where the stabbing happened, said she was waiting outside her house for the school bus to drop her children off when she heard someone yelling her and her boyfriend's names. It was Ginger Jefferson, her boyfriend Daniel Jefferson's aunt, she testified.

Navarro said she went inside her house and found Ginger Jefferson in the dining room. She said that's when Ginger Jefferson told her about stabbing O'Clair-Jefferson.

Navarro said she didn't see the blood on Jefferson's hands at first. She said she could tell Jefferson had been drinking. At one point, she said Jefferson fell on the floor and when Navarro helped Jefferson up she saw blood on Jefferson's hands. There was more blood on her right hand than the left, Navarro said, but it was running down both Jefferson's arms. She said she helped Ginger Jefferson wash her hands.

Assistant Iowa Attorney General Laura Roan asked why Navarro helped Jefferson wash the blood off her hands.

Navarro said she didn't want her children to see the blood and she was expecting them to get home from school any minute.

Navarro said Jefferson talked about buying a bus ticket to leave and Jefferson wanted to get ahold of her other son, Garrick Davenport, to help.

Navarro said she called Laurie Davenport, Garrick's wife, and told her what was going on. Jefferson also talked to Laurie Davenport and confessed to the crime, Navarro said.

Navarro said she first called her boyfriend to tell him what happened and he told her to call the police. She said she then called the cell phones of a sergeant and the police chief of the Meskwaki Nation Police Department but they didn't answer. Navarro said she then called Tama County Sheriff's dispatch to report that Jefferson was at her home and said she had stabbed O'Clair-Jefferson.

Roan asked why she didn't call 911 and Navarro said because she didn't want Jefferson to hear the call. Navarro had a police scanner in her home.

Earlier Tuesday afternoon during opening statements, Roan said Ginger Jefferson, Dustin Jefferson and O'Clair-Jefferson had been drinking and the stabbing happened after they had gotten into a family quarrel. Dustin Jefferson was either at the house during the stabbing or nearby, Roan said.

Roan said the state doesn't have to prove a motive but motive is important in this case because the quarrel was over O'Clair-Jefferson 'blowing the whistle” on her husband and reporting to police his whereabouts that day. There was a warrant out for Dustin's arrest, involving a sexual abuse charge, she said.

O'Clair-Jefferson called the police that day and told them where they could find Dustin, Roan said. When police came to arrest Dustin at his cousin's house, they found O'Clair-Jefferson's body inside, she said.

Mike Jones, Ginger Jefferson's attorney, in his opening statement said the case came down to 10 minutes and those 10 minutes are unknown, in that O'Clair-Jefferson called police to report Dustin's whereabouts and 10 minutes later police arrived and found O'Clair-Jefferson already dead.

Jones said Dustin Jefferson was driving up as police arrived and he didn't get out of the car at first when asked. When he did get out, he had blood on his shorts and was intoxicated, Jones said. Dustin told police his wife might be dead, Jones said.

'There are too many questions, too many what ifs and speculation about what happened in those 10 minutes,” Jones said.

Jones said if those questions can't be answered then jurors have to find Ginger Jefferson not guilty.

l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@sourcemedia.net