Defense Attorney Says He'll Appeal
Jury Says Tribble Is GuiltyPOSTED: 10:56 am CDT July 6, 2007
UPDATED: 5:17 pm CDT July 6, 2007
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- The jury told a judge Friday afternoon that a Council Bluffs man is guilty of first-degree murder, and the defense attorney said he plans to appeal.
Stan Tribble was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Tracy Gostomski-Tribble, who was last seen alive on May 2, 2006. Her body was found along the banks of the Missouri River two weeks later.
The jury returned at 2:37 p.m. Friday to read the verdict after about five hours of deliberation. The Gostomski family hugged when they heard it. Tribble stood mostly without emotion.
Tribble attorney James Burger said there will be an appeal, but said he will wait to comment about the outcome of the trial.
Minutes after the verdict, Burger was outside the Pottawattamie County Courthouse, trying to comfort members of Tibble's family.
"I want to make sure the family knows everything. Nobody has all the information yet, so I want to talk to them first," Burger told the media.
Mary and John Gostomski, Gostomski-Tribble's parents, praised the attorneys and investigators. Mary Gostomski said she was glad Iowa is not a death penalty state, because she believes it allowed the jury to convict her son-in-law of first-degree murder. John Gostomski said he wished Iowa did have the option to put Tribble to death.
"I woke up at 3:30 a.m. (and) thought it would be the defendant's last night in jail, or the first for the rest of his life," said John Gostomski.
"I went to bed early, thought about all we'd been through -- but it's not about us. It's about Tracy," said Mary Gostomski.
Tribble's family arrived late to the courthouse and was visibly upset by the verdict. Joan Marion, Tribble's sister, said later that the verdict was unfair.
The Tribbles' upstairs neighbor, Andrew Cox, testified that he heard the two fight numerous times when they lived below him. He told KETV NewsWatch 7 that he was happy with the verdict.
"She's in a great place now. We'll just have to go on with our lives. I don't know what to do now," Cox said.
Prosecutor Matt Wilber said his case, based on circumstantial evidence, may have been dry for the jury to listen to, but they followed his presentation and returned the verdict he expected. Wilber said he felt that his presentation of phone records probably swayed the jury. Wilber said the Tribbles made 54 phone calls to each other. On the next day, no phone calls were made.
"I'm grateful that we had an extremely attentive jury," Wilber said.
Wilber said the jury asked for a DVD player to watch some evidence retrieval during their deliberations.
Wilber said he thought, "Thank the Lord," when the jury confirmed the first-degree murder verdict instead of a second-degree conviction.
Wilber said the defense did a good job of poking holes in his case but could not escape phone and bank records that told a story about the Tribbles.
Tribble faces mandatory life without parole at sentencing and will be held in the Pottawattamie County Jail until he hears the sentence.
Friday would have been the Tribbles' fourth wedding anniversary.
Wilber, who has never lost a jury case as county attorney, said the trial took an emotional toll on him.
Jury Heard Evidence
An autopsy showed that the cause of death was asphyxiation but did not show whether Gostomski-Tribble drowned, was strangled or was smothered. A coroner said the condition of the body when found limited the examination.
The autopsy also showed that acute alcohol intoxication levels at three times the legal driving limit for intoxication contributed to the death.
Gostomski-Tribble suffered broken bones and severe fractures to her face that likely would have required reconstructive surgery had she survived, the autopsy showed. Medical experts testified at trial that the woman's head injuries had to occur while she was alive and could not have been caused by hitting a rock in the river or by falling.
Case Opened June 27
In opening statements last week, the prosecution said Gostomski-Tribble's family was panicked by her unexplained disappearance. They said Tribble had no emotional reaction to her disappearance or news that she had been found dead.
Prosecutors said that just before she disappeared, Gostomski-Tribble had said that marrying Tribble was the worst mistake she ever made. Prosecutors called that a "seed of hate" in Tribble's heart.
Prosecutors asked jurors to piece together stories from witnesses who would build a picture of the relationship between the Tribbles.
Tribble's attorneys, P.J. Eppler and James Burger, said in their opening that there was no physical evidence that connects Tribble to the death. They asked the jury not to assume that because the Tribbles fought that Tribble killed his wife.
Prosecution Calls Witnesses
In testimony, witnesses talked about fights they had heard or seen between Tribble and Gostomski-Tribble. One neighbor said it sometimes sounded like things were being thrown. One witness said Gostomski-Tribble called her sounding "hysterical" the day before she disappeared.
The Iowa state medical examiner said Gostomski-Tribble's death was ruled a homicide because other options were ruled out, including suicide. He said that Gostomski-Tribble's head injury could not have occurred from a fall.
Mary Gostomski, Gostomski-Tribble's mother, recounted from the stand one night in 2006 when her daughter showed up at her home with pizza in her hair and on her face. Gostomski said Tribble had chewed it up, and spit it on Gostomski-Tribble during an angry fight. Gostomski said Tribble held his wife down while he spit at her. That night, Gostomski testified, she and Gostomski-Tribble were afraid the Tribble would come to the house, so they sat in the dark.
Gostomski testified that she called her son-in-law after her daughter disappeared, wondering why he wasn't doing more to help find her.
Joan Marion, Tribble's sister, was a reluctant prosecution witness who told jurors that she had told her brother before he needed to "chill out on alcohol." Marion said Tribble complained that Gostomski-Tribble drank too much and was difficult to live with. Marion advised him to move out -- at least for a while.
Marion said her brother had been drinking in 2003 when he was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence against Gostomski-Tribble. She said she tried to keep the peace between the two.
Melissa Harkin, Gostomski-Tribble's co-worker, is thought to have been the last person to talk to Gostomski-Tribble. They spoke on May 2, 2006, and Harkin said she later gave Gostomski-Tribble a key to her apartment so she'd have a safe place to go where her husband couldn't find her. She said Gostomski-Tribble never showed up for a planned get-together at a nail salon the next morning.
John Gostomski, Gostomski-Tribble's father, said he spoke on the phone to his son-in-law two days after his daughter's disappearance. John Gostomski quoted Tribble as saying that he and Gostomski-Tribble had a tiff, then Tribble said he had pushed her.
John Gostomski said he disapproved of the marriage and told his daughter that before she married.
Isiah Grace, a friend of Tribble, said on the stand that his friend didn't participate in searches for Gostomski-Tribble because he was not well liked by her family. Grace said Tribble was not worried because Gostomski-Tribble often left after their fights, but she usually came back a day or so later.
Council Bluffs detectives described Tribble as cooperative and calm days after his wife's disappearance.
Pottawattamie County inmates testified, and the prosecution said that Tribble offered what amounted to a confession to his fellow inmates. One inmate testified that in jail, Tribble said "none of this would have happened if she would have kept her mouth shut," then quoted Tribble as saying "after the first blow, there was no turning back." The inmate said Tribble described a "crunching sound" he heard every time he hit his wife.
Another inmate said he last saw Gostomski-Tribble at about 1:30 or 2 a.m. on May 3, and when the inmate asked Tribble if she had left, the inmate quoted Tribble as saying, "No, I took care of her."
Defense Says Reasonable Doubt Exists
The defense called no witnesses.
In closing arguments on Thursday, defense attorney Burger said, "They want you to assume that because Stan and Tracy had a volatile relationship, he killed her. That's not true. You can't assume that."
Burger also questioned whether some of the reported domestic violence incidents between the Tribbles actually occurred, because police reports were incomplete.
Burger said that his client's lack of emotion at news of his wife's disappearance were consistent with those of an innocent man -- not one who murdered his wife.
Burger said there is reasonable doubt throughout the case, even in the medical examiner's inability to precisely say how Gostomski-Tribble died.
Wilber said the couple fought often and both used alcohol to "tolerate each other."
Wilber said that during one argument, Gostomski-Tribble told her husband that he was the "worst mistake of her life," and Tribble became obsessed with that, mentioning it to family, friends and referencing it in e-mails.
Jury Gets Case
The jury got the case at about 3:20 p.m. Thursday and adjourned for the day at about 5:30 p.m. They reconvened at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
The jury had the option of finding Tribble guilty of about a dozen lesser charges, including second-degree murder and attempted murder.
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