Wednesday Part 3 of 3: Click to return to beginning
Fulbright communicated little remorse for her involvement and said she was never concerned for Conway during the assault.
“I think it would have been handled better through the proper authorities,” she said. “Of course I regret what happened, there’s innocent people in jail.”
She refused to elaborate on what she meant by “innocent people” but maintained Conway stole her jewelry.
“I feel like stealing from a woman is lower than stealing from a man,” she said on the stand. “I told him he should have his balls cut off.”
Fulbright seemed to take every possible opportunity to shock jurors with audacious comments.
“It ended December 8,” Fulbright snapped when Jette asked her why she broke up with Conway. “I felt bamboozled and conned because I considered (Conway) to be someone who was educationally inferior to me and pulled the wool over my eyes.”
Fulbright found a book in the defendant’s car during the kidnapping entitled How to Win Friends and Influence People.
She said she felt betrayed by passages he highlighted in the book.
Conway testified he sold about $3000 worth of Fulbright’s jewelry at her request, and gave her the cash.
A Mesa, Ariz. pawn broker testified the sale was legal and he overheard the victim’s cell conversation the day he sold the jewelry.
“It seemed he was talking to his girl,” Aaron Ellertson of Eazy Pickin Pawn told jurors.
Fulbright never reported the missing jewelry to her insurance or police.
She confirmed several passages Jette read to the jury as from her diary.
“I went from (dating) a millionare to a 24-year-old who is adorably clueless about life,” she wrote in reference to Conway who graduated the University of Arizona with a business finance degree. ‘I’m a stone cold bitch with ice water in my veins.”
She complained to jurors Conway presented himself as someone with money.
“Money (was) not an issue in the sense that there wasn’t enough just that I didn’t want to spend it on him,” she explained to Jette. “I was going through a lot of developmental growth at the time.”
Fulbright said she used pageant winnings and worked as a model for an unspecified car company to put herself through law school.
She also accepted extravagant gifts from the defendant, Ergonis, including the jewelry she accused Conway of stealing and the sport utility vehicle they used to transport him from crime scene to crime scene.
The state rested its case in chief as soon as Fulbright was done testifying.
Defense attorney Paul Gattone told Judge Michael Miller he did not plan to call any defense witnesses but said he would motion for a dismissal tomorrow.
“I think she was trying to save (Ergonis) but it didn’t really help,” said second-year University of Arizona law student Sylvia Semper who watched Wednesday's proceedings. “She avoided a lot of questions.”
Semper said she thought Fulbright came across as very intelligent but defensive with Jette.
“She wouldn’t say what she saw, just what she didn’t see,” Semper said.
Click to read accomplice testimonies
Click to read Part 2: beauty queen's performace on the stand
Comments
Misprint: The book "How to win friends and influence people" was found by Kumari Fulbright in the VICTIM's Car, NOT the defendant's. My ability to access the story to edit this has expired.
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