A bar patron
testified Friday that Christopher Dillard said, “Those bitches will get
theirs,” in reference to the Upper Deck bartenders as Dillard was leaving
Flannery’s Tavern hours before Upper Deck bartender Nicole Gland was
murdered.
Justin Boothe, who
used to frequent the Upper Deck Lounge, said he was down the street at
Flannery’s Tavern at approximately 6 p.m. on April 18, 2017. Boothe
testified that around 7 p.m., Dillard, who he knew as a bouncer at Upper
Deck, walked into Flannery’s and seemed upset.
Dillard is on
trial, accused of murdering Gland in the early hours of April 19, 2017,
behind the Upper Deck after closing time.
“He was aggravated
due to a situation he had at work,” Boothe said. Boothe added that Dillard
seemed very agitated because of his tone of voice, and he seemed “shifty.”
According to Boothe,
Dillard said he had gotten into trouble at Upper Deck, though he didn’t name
a specific person who got him in trouble, and he said the situation was
eroding a long-time friendship Dillard had with Upper Deck owner Jason
Budzevski.
Boothe said Dillard
wasn’t at Flannery’s long, and as Dillard was leaving, Boothe said he hoped
things worked out, to which Dillard responded, “Yeah, those bitches will get
theirs.”
The jury saw
security footage from April 18 at Upper Deck. Boothe identified himself on
the video and testified that he went to Upper Deck for about two hours after
spending two to three hours at Flannery’s. There, he said he had about five
drinks and talked to Gland, who he knew from several places where she had
bartended. The video shows him taking out a bag of garbage for Gland as he
left, which he testified he often did.
On cross
examination, Dillard’s defense attorney Russell W. Brown asked Boothe if he
had in fact met Gland though her father, Matthew Gland, and stayed in
contact with the family since her death. Boothe said he had. Brown also
asked if Boothe recalled what he said in his interview with Chesterton
Police on April 21, 2017--specifically if it was true that Boothe never told
CPD about the “get theirs” comment in that initial interview. Boothe said,
“I don’t believe that’s correct.”
Boothe further said
he’d be “really surprised” to watch the video of that interview and find
that he hadn’t reported the comment to police at the time, so Brown
requested a recess for Boothe to watch the interview tape.
When Boothe retuned
to the witness stand, he said he had been shown the entirety of the tape of
that interview, and he hadn’t reported the comment to CPD on April 21,
though he did report it to a Portage Police detective who interviewed him in
February 2019.
Brown asked Boothe,
“Would you agree with me that your memory of that conversation was better
three days after it happened?” Boothe responded that he hadn’t been totally
honest with the detectives in the first interview. For one, he told them he
didn’t know Dillard’s first name and only knew him as “Taco” the bouncer,
though he testified Friday that he always called Dillard by his first name.
Brown asked if it
was true Dillard had thrown Boothe out of Upper Deck multiple times. Boothe
said, “Absolutely not. I’ve never once been removed from that bar.”
A juror, in a
question submitted to Judge Jeffrey Clymer, asked Boothe if he told any of
the bartenders what Dillard had said when he went to Upper Deck later that
night. Boothe said no, but he asked Gland if she knew what was going on, and
she didn’t. A juror also asked if, in the video, Gland could be seen handing
Boothe his phone with something else on top of it before he left. Boothe
said she just handed him his phone.
Testimony Friday
focused on what happened at Upper Deck during Gland’s shift the night of her
murder. The jury saw more footage from that night and heard from two more
witnesses.
Linsdey Janiga,
former Upper Deck bartender, testified she was at the bar with a date on
Tuesday, April 18, one of her off days, from about 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. She
identified herself on security footage that showed her sitting at the bar
when Dillard walked in at 11:23 p.m.
Janiga said Dillard
tried to order a drink from Gland, then Dillard and Gland stepped outside
onto the back deck of the bar for a few minutes. After they spoke, Dillard
left. Gland never served him a drink. It was odd for Dillard to come in on
days he didn’t work, Janiga said, and he wasn’t scheduled to work April 18.
Janiga said she
wasn’t concerned when Dillard and Gland stepped out of the bar, out of
sight, but she did think it was strange Dillard was there when he wasn’t
working. Janiga said she saw Gland’s car parked where the bartenders
normally parked, in front of the bar’s dumpster, as she was leaving.
On cross
examination, Brown asked Janiga if she observed a confrontation or argument
between Dillard and Gland. Janiga said she hadn’t. Brown also asked if
Dillard would typically greet the bartenders with hugs, to which the
Prosecution objected. Judge Clymer upheld the objection on the grounds that
the question wasn’t relevant.
Janiga also
answered questions from the Prosecution about working at Upper Deck. She
testified that the bartenders would park in front of the Upper Deck’s
dumpster, close enough to it that they needed to back out to leave, and
Janiga said she usually left the bar with about $200 in tips on a weekday
and $300 on a weekend. Only one bartender worked on weeknights, she said,
and Dillard never worked on weeknights--he would mainly check IDs on
weekends.
The jury asked
Janiga if she felt uncomfortable when Dillard came in that night. Janiga
said she just “cowered down” because she knew things were about to get
awkward when Dillard ordered a drink. She said knew Dillard was not to be
served. The jury also asked Janiga why she thought it was odd for Dillard to
be in on an off day when she was doing the same; she answered that she
understood that Dillard was sober and was taking Antabuse, a medication
meant to curb drinking dependence.
Later, Donald York
testified he arrived at Upper Deck around 1:40 a.m. that night, left at
closing time, and made small talk with Gland in between. He was the only
patron in the bar in that time. He said he knew Gland because he drank at
Upper Deck two or three times a week.
The Prosecution
asked York what he saw as he left. York said there was a sports car and a
two-door pick-up truck parked near him on Calumet Road. He was parked on the
street slightly south of the Upper Deck entrance, he said. York described
the truck as relatively new and green with at least a six-foot long bed with
a built-in toolbox. He also said there was a shovel in the back of the
truck.
York said Gland
seemed like her normal self when he left, and he didn’t hear anything
suspicious as he drove away.
York, an EMT, was
the last patron to leave the bar. Security footage shows him still in work
clothes leaving Upper Deck around 2:50 a.m. and Gland locking the door
behind him before she headed out the back door to leave.