From the beginning, Stewart acknowledged that he had had shot Father Leo. But that, Dennehy maintained, was only one part of the story. From the moment he accepted the case, Dennehy planned to mount an aggressive defense based on the idea that the hulking priest had threatened Stewart, and that Stewart had fired the fatal shot in self-defense.
To bolster his case, Dennehy demanded that the Diocese of Allentown turn over all the records of Heineman's service in the church. He was certain that the files would show that Heineman had a history of alcohol abuse and erratic behavior. The diocese balked, however, citing various protections of its confidentiality, and it took six and a half years and a ruling from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court before those documents were finally released. When they were, there was virtually nothing in them. A few cryptic pages, with only passing references to Heineman's time in a church-sanctioned alcohol-rehabilitation program, and one letter of complaint from a parishioner citing Heineman's inappropriate behavior.
When Stewart's trial at long last began in May of 1998, it was clear that the most crucial element of Stewart's defense would be his own testimony.
His story was very different from the one Eames had told.
There is no disagreement about the early part of the day. Both Stewart and Eames agree that she had spent the early part of the afternoon in Heineman's company and at the rectory, where they counted the cash from the collection and slugged bourbon.
Nor do they differ on the general details of the early part of the evening.
According to Dennehy's notes on the case, Eames had left the priest's residence and headed home sometime shortly before 5 p.m. She decided to make a stop at the Frackville Mall on the way home. While she was on her way, Dennehy said, "Heineman called and said he was coming up to the house...to say, 'Hey, is Mardell there yet?'"
"What do you mean, 'Is she there yet?'" Stewart asked.
"Well, I'm coming over and I want to make sure she's there," the priest told Stewart. "I don't feel like visiting with you."
It was between 5 and 5:30 p.m. when Mardell Eames pulled into the driveway, Dennehy said. "David was sort of hot by then." He got even hotter some 20 minutes later when Father Leo sauntered into the house. As was his custom, Dennehy said, the priest didn't bother to knock.
"He just walked in the door and sat down at the table," Dennehy said. "David told him to get the hell out." But the priest refused, and Stewart summoned the police. As the police testified, they could do little to ease the tense situation. One of the troopers told Stewart, "Look, I can't force him to leave because you and your wife both have the right to live in this house, and if she had him here as an invited guest...we can't throw him out."
Still, the troopers offered some friendly advice to Heineman, Dennehy said. "The two troopers talked to the priest and said, "Look, man, the guy doesn't want you here, you know? Maybe you just ought to leave."
That, Dennehy said, had little impact on the priest. He just coldly pointed toward Mardell Eames and replied, "She wants me here."
Eames had insisted in her testimony that she and the priest had decided to move on after their conversation with the troopers. But Stewart maintains that the incident only fueled Heineman's contempt for him, and that as soon as the troopers pulled out of the driveway, the priest began to unload a barrage of insults at him.
"Heineman was laughing it off," Dennehy said. At one point, Dennehy said, the priest derided Stewart, saying, "I can't believe this simpering wimp here."
"Yeah, you called the cops and they can't help you," the priest allegedly said. "You can't defend yourself. You've got to ask someone else to help you. You're such a wimp."
email
print
default
increase
decrease
