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A psychologist who evaluated Christoval Dimas said the accused murderer is "mildly depressed," "emotionally empty" and appears "suspicious" and "resentful" of others, and a polygraph examiner said Dimas was telling the truth when he said he didn't kill Crystal Gayle Homister.
Closing arguments in the case against Dimas were under way late this morning, with the jury in the case expected to begin deliberations by lunchtime.
Dr. Brian Ciula of Bowen Center conducted a psychological evaluation of Dimas Aug. 20 at the request of then-defense attorney R. Steven Hearn and said Dimas "appeared compelled to make inappropriate statements to Bowen Center staff ... to draw attention to himself."
A portion of the testing was done in take-home fashion - Dimas was allowed to complete the test by taking the papers with him to the Kosciusko County Jail and returning them later, a practice Ciula admitted in cross-examination was not common for such testing.
This morning, Leonard West, a forensic polygraph examiner from Gregory, Mich., said a test he conducted on Dimas Oct. 26 indicates that Dimas was telling the truth when he answered, "No," to questions such as, "Did you assist or participate in the death of Crystal Homister?" "Did you have anything to do with harming Crystal Homister?" and "Did you burn Crystal Homister's body?"
The exam was entered into evidence by the defense by stipulation, meaning that both sides agreed to admission of the test results in court regardless of its outcome.
"In my opinion, he's telling the truth," West said.
The overall accuracy of the polygraph examination is 90 percent and West said there was a 98 percent to 99 percent chance that the findings in the test he conducted were correct.
Other defense witnesses testifying Thursday afternoon included Dimas' pastor, who considers him untruthful, and a cousin, who described him as arrogant and rude.
Dimas, 26, of Ligonier, is on trial in Kosciusko Circuit Court in the death of Homister, 22, of Elkhart.
Homister's burned remains were found in April 2000 in a wooded area off CR 1050N on the east side of Lake Wawasee. She was reported missing Jan. 7, 2000, by family members.
Dimas was indicted by a grand jury in September 2000 and is being tried on charges of murder and abuse of a corpse.
Ken Johnson of Goshen, who is pastor of Joy Fellowship Pentecostal Church in Ligonier, said he has known Dimas for about eight years and considers him to be a "fun-lovin' kind of person ... (who's) always eager to converse with you."
Johnson said Dimas has a tendency to exaggerate and he warned him not to say some of the things he said "because he could get himself into trouble someday." Johnson said Dimas is a good guy but wants people to think he is a bad guy.
Margarita Magon said she is Dimas' cousin but he is more like a brother to her because he has lived with her all of his life. Dimas' girlfriend, Stacey Wieand, and their three children now live with Magon, her own children and her mother.
When asked to characterize Dimas, Magon said Dimas not only is "arrogant" but he also "can be very rude to people and can say some pretty nasty things about people when he doesn't even know them."
Wieand testified as a witness for the prosecution, but had trouble remembering much about the events that led to Dimas' indictment and arrest.
Wieand said Dimas was "bragging about" Homister being dead while they were at a cookout sometime after the remains were found. However, prior testimony from Dena Kreger, a co-host of the cookout, revealed the event took place in February. Misty Utterback, Kreger's roommate, testified Thursday that she thought the comments Dimas made to them came after police found Homister's remains because Dimas talked about where the body was.
"He asked us if we read the newspapers about it and said he had done it or that he and his buddies did it," Utterback said. "He bragged about it and told us that it could happen to us if we said anything."
Also testifying for the prosecution was Tammy Johnson, who is serving a prison term for conspiracy to commit murder in an unrelated case.
Johnson was the manager of the Dollar General Store in Ligonier in May 2000 when Dimas sought employment there. Johnson's husband is a Ligonier police officer and she said Dimas told her he was being investigated for Homister's murder and he thought it would look good for him to be working for a police officer's wife.
Johnson said Dimas came back to the store several times and sometimes talked to her about what happened to Homister. "He said she deserved what she got," Johnson said, "that she was a whore and a bad person ... (and) she deserved to die." Johnson said Dimas told her the reason he killed Homister was that she "snitched" on him, that she didn't treat her children well, was a "bad person" and did drugs.
At one point when Dimas followed up the status of his possible employment at the store, Johnson said Dimas told her that she would hire him. Johnson said Dimas then threatened to kill her, her children, Ligonier police and Tom Brindle, the lead investigator in the case for the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, if she didn't give him a job. Johnson said she contacted police about the threats.
In cross-examination, Johnson said Dimas never said he actually did the things that resulted in Homister's death, but that it had happened to her.
