Prosecution calls key witness on day one of the Darren Englert trial

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - The family of a murdered Lafayette man packed Superior Court One at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse for day one of the trial of one of the accused.

Darren Englert is on trial for a number of felonies including criminal confinement and conspiracy to commit murder.

Wednesday the prosecution called Carolann Clear to the witness stand. Clear said she was with Englert and Antonio Williams when 26-year-old Jeremy Gibson was murdered on July 6, 2011.

It was an emotional day in the courtroom as the Gibson, Englert and Clear families listened to Clear recall what happened the night Gibson died. At one point it was so emotional, Gibson's brother, Joe Gibson, was kicked out of the courtroom.

Clear spent about three hours on the stand being questioned by the prosecution and defense. Clear said before the murder she was dating Gibson, but in the last days leading up to the murder she started dating Englert.

Clear described how Englert and Williams started beating Gibson up at his home on North Eighth Street in the early morning of July 6. She said then all four of them got into a car. Williams drove to a field in Tippecanoe County.

Once there, Clear said she saw Englert and Williams striking Gibson. After Gibson was killed Clear admitted seeing a pickaxe and hatchet. She also admitted to getting a shovel out of the car and giving it to Williams who dug a grave, and put Gibson's body in it.

Clear cried during most of her testimony. She screamed loudly when she was shown pictures of a dead Gibson. Just moments before those pictures were shown, Joe Gibson was kicked out of the courtroom after the judge said he was talking inappropriately about the case to defense attorneys and Clear's mother.

Joe Gibson is not allowed to return to the courtroom for the remainder of the trial. If he does he will be arrested for contempt of court.

"I just can't keep my mouth shut every time the defense says something about Antonio [Williams]," Joe Gibson said. "Then, sitting next to Darren [Englert] just bothers me."

The reason the fight on July 6 started in the first place wasn't given during testimony. But prosecutors referred back to Clear's interviews with police soon after the murder. She said Williams thought she and Clear's mother, who lived at the home, were being disrespected by Gibson.

Englert already pleaded guilty to murder in March. Clear pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit murder and fraud in exchange that seven felonies including murder were dropped. She is set to be sentenced Nov. 29. Williams died earlier this year in prison.

Englert's family expects the trial to last until Friday.