Defense says killer is brother

On stand, sibling denies accusation

POTEAU, Okla. -- Killing Briana Ault was the fulfillment of a dream for Johnathen Thacker's sexual obsessions and his desire to be a serial killer, an attorney representing his brother in his LeFlore County District Court trial said Thursday.

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Gretchen Mosley, heading the defense team for Elvis Aaron Thacker, wasted no time presenting his defense to the six-man, six-woman jury that Johnathen Thacker, not Elvis, cut Ault's throat Sept. 13, 2010, and left her at an isolated pond in Pocola, Okla., just across the state line from Arkansas.

"The truth is you killed Briana yourself," Mosley posed as her first question of the day in her cross-examination of Johnathen Thacker.

The brothers were charged with first-degree murder and forcible sodomy of Ault, 22, of Fort Smith. Johnathen Thacker pleaded guilty to the charges in April 2014 to avoid the death penalty and in exchange for his truthful testimony against his brother. He told jurors Wednesday he expected to be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Oklahoma is seeking the death penalty against Elvis Thacker.

Mosley spent the morning's court session before LeFlore County District Court Judge Jonathan Sullivan confronting Johnathen Thacker with the defense's theory. Thacker denied each allegation as Mosley asked him to confirm it.

Mosley accused Johnathen Thacker, 27, of being obsessed with sex and, from an early age, wanting to become a serial killer.

Johnathen Thacker testified Wednesday killing Ault was Elvis Thacker's idea. He said his brother believed that Ault had won $1,600 at a casino and he was going to rob her.

Johnathen Thacker said he was unaware of his brother's intentions until they pulled up to the vehicle track that led to the pond. He said he tried to stop his brother as Elvis Thacker pulled a straight razor on Ault, cut off her top and bra and forced her to perform oral sex on him. He said his brother turned the knife on him.

Later, Elvis Thacker forced Ault and ordered Johnathen Thacker to the pond, where he forced her to perform oral sex on Johnathen Thacker while he raped Ault. After unsuccessfully trying to drown her, Elvis Thacker cut her throat, Johnathen Thacker testified.

Despite the scenario presented by Mosley, Johnathen Thacker said he told the truth in his testimony that his brother killed Ault.

Andrew Sibley, a forensic pathologist with the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's office, testified Thursday that Ault died from two cuts to her throat that left a 7-inch-long gash from which she bled to death.

He testified there were no injuries consistent with anal rape.

As part of the defense theory, Mosley said, Johnathen Thacker used his brother's cellphone to send a text message to Ault asking for a ride to Texas Road in south Fort Smith. The road leads to the pond where Ault's body was found by a fisherman.

She said Johnathen Thacker believed that Ault would answer the text to help Elvis Thacker, who was a friend and former boyfriend.

The defense contends that when Ault was murdered, Elvis Thacker was laid up in the Fort Smith apartment of a friend and his wife after fracturing two leg bones and tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in a car crash nearly a month earlier.

Mosley suggested in her questioning that Johnathen Thacker's motive was to rob Ault of enough money for a bus ticket to Indiana, where Elvis Thacker planned for the two to move in with his girlfriend who just moved to Indiana.

Once the two arrived at the isolated pond in the middle of the night, Mosley said, the dark fantasies became too much for Johnathen Thacker to resist.

"Your dream of dominating a woman sexually was about to come true," Mosley told Johnathen Thacker.

Mosley told Johnathen Thacker he was desperate to blame the crime on his brother because if investigators looked into his background, they would see his record of mental health problems, his dark fantasies and his penchant for violence.

"On Sept. 15 [2010, the day the Thacker brothers were arrested] when you realized the jig was up, you wanted the officers to believe you were Elvis' victim, too," Mosley said.

She questioned Johnathen Thacker about his early home life, that he and his other siblings had been raped, starved, beaten, hung on nails and tortured by the men in their mother's life and that their mother never did anything to stop it.

Johnathen Thacker, sitting on the witness stand, and his brother, sitting at the defense table, became emotional when Mosley reminded Johnathen Thacker that he used to hide under his desk at school because of the trauma and that the teachers would have to call in Elvis Thacker to coax him out.

"Come out, Pooky," Mosley said softly, recalling Elvis Thacker's name for his younger brother. "Come out, Pooky."

The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. today.

State Desk on 04/15/2016

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