ROCKVILLE, Md. — Jurors in the upcoming trial of the man charged with killing his pregnant girlfriend will likely not be transported to the remote site where Montgomery County prosecutors say Laura Wallen was buried.
Tyler Tessier is charged with killing Wallen, a Howard County teacher who disappeared Sept. 4, 2017. Her body was found more than a week later in a shallow grave in a Damascus field, near where Tessier was staying.
Prosecutor John McCarthy told Circuit Court Judge Michael Mason this was the first time he had asked for a site visit in his 38-year career.
Holding a cardboard blowup of a Google Earth image of the burial site, McCarthy said it did not do justice to the remoteness of the location, which is only accessible by 4-wheel-drive vehicles.
In the motions hearing, prosecutors showed the judge a photo Wallen had snapped on her phone, the day before she was murdered. In charging documents, prosecutors allege Tessier took Wallen to the spot with a ruse that they would someday build a home on the spot.
McCarthy said the photo was taken in the exact location where Wallen’s body was eventually found.
“If you stood in Laura’s grave, you’re standing exactly where this picture was taken,” McCarthy said.
Jury visits, although allowable, are very rare.
Judge Mason called the idea of loading jurors, Tessier and members of the public into SUVs and transporting them to the site “a logistical nightmare.”
“Nobody can communicate to the jury. Everyone would just stand around, look, not say anything. And what if a juror asked a question,” Mason mused.
Mason all but closed the door on the possibility of a visit.
“It’s very unlikely, but I’ll reserve my final ruling until I see some of the state’s presentation,” at trial, Mason said. “Make no reference to a visit in opening statements,” he warned.
As first reported Thursday by WTOP, prosecutors said they believed a .22-caliber rifle, located on a shelf in a wild game processing facility, KS Kuts, owned by a friend of Tessier’s, was the murder weapon.
During Friday’s hearing, prosecutors elaborated, saying a total of four .22-caliber rifles were located on the premises — three in a safe, and one in the area where animals were killed.
McCarthy told the judge prosecutors were not able to forensically prove which weapon fired the bullet recovered from Wallen’s head.
“The bullet was misformed, but it was consistent with a .22,” McCarthy told the judge.
In response to a defense motion to exclude certain evidence, prosecutors told the judge they would not show sonogram photos of Wallen’s fetus, or Wallen’s medical records.
Tessier’s public defender Allen Wolf had also argued that presenting DNA paternity testing would be inflammatory but was willing to stipulate that testing determined Tessier was the father of Wallen’s unborn child.
Trial begins Sept. 4, and is expected to last 10 days.
McCarthy has said he intends to seek life with no possibility of parole.
