Tara Grinstead case: Ryan Duke testifies in his own murder trial

your honor the defense calls ryan dude all right all right good morning sir before you're seated please give your attention to mr gibbs he'll swear you in and direct your testimony mr duke you swear the testimony you're going to give today will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god i do thank you you would please state your full name for the record and for the jury ryan alexander duke mr duke did you murder terry grinstead i did not did you break into her home on october 22nd or 23rd 2005. no sir i did not have you ever been inside her home at any point in your life no sir i had did you ever have a sexual relationship with ms grinstead i did not did you ever strike ms greenstead no sure i did not did you ever choke miss grinstead no sir i've never choked anyone have you ever been inside mrs crinstedt's car no sir i have not did you ever take a pair of gloves or a glove to miss granstead's home no sure i did not did you see miss grinstead's body after she died i did where did you see it in the pecan orchard did somebody take you to the body they did who took you to the body spo dukes did boduks tell you that he killed tara grinstead he did do you know how ms grinstead died i do not were you asked to help dispose of her body i was who asked you to do that beau dukes did you help bo dukes move miss greenstead's body in the orchard i did were you afraid that he'd hurt you or your family if you told anyone about it i was is that why you didn't come forward prior to february of 2017. yes sir i'm going to take a step back i'm going to talk a little bit about your life leading up to october of 2005. yes sir so where were you born mr duke i was born from dormant medical center and what are your parents names karen o'neill and freddie and as your dad has he passed since passed away he has were your parents married divorced they divorced when i was two or three years old did you live with your mom or dad growing up thank you thank you uh did you live with your dad when you were growing up i lived with my grandparents up until i was 12 13 then i lived with my mom i split time between them and my dad and was that here in the area yes sir did your mom uh did she eventually get remarried yes sir and who she would you marry william o'neill you mentioned that you lived with your dad where was that where'd you green county georgia greensboro did you attend school up there at all i did i attended middle school did either of your parents have any substance abuse issues when you're growing up my mom did it goes to his state of mind his general upbringing just what his experiences were as a person growing up yes sir and who was that he's talking about things that occurred when he was younger it's irrelevant i'll move on where'd you go to high school mr dude i went to irwin county high school did you play sports in high school it's again just sort of filling out mr duke's character these are basic background questions i did some of my senior year i had worked as soon as i was able to work uh so do you have a job i did where'd you work uh harvey's the local grocery store here in ocelo yes sir did you have a girlfriend any point in high school i did and you have a good group of friends yes sir i did who were some of those friends they spent time with in high school here dion smith uh kristen daniels steven gidden robert upton what about bo dukes was he a friend of yours in high school we didn't start hanging out until my senior year tell me about buck i don't have much good to say what would you how would you um let me ask you this did bo have a good reputation among your group of friends i don't think so um what was his reputation among your group of friends he was he would call scenes he just show out just to kind of make anybody you know to make the scene and make other people uncomfortable was he considered a trustworthy person no did he ever say things that were weird or out of the ordinary that you know maybe dark things yes he did they do that with some frequency yes you know anything about bo's family is his family well known in their civil area yes sir i think everybody knows him did you know his grandfather i didn't personally uh do you know anything significant about his grandfather bo talked a lot about the things uh and i'll rephrase the question um were you aware of um were you aware of his grandpa's occupation yes he was a state senator for 20 plus years i think were you aware of any significant legislation or other political acts that he accomplished during his tenure he got funding to start the gbi he got funding for the tech school and other works in counties what year did you graduate high school 2002 did you go to college after high school it's been a year and how did you do in college way back not great did you how did you do your first semester i did okay the first semester the second i just wavered is there anything particular that i guess impacted you when you pay back anything well i'd rather party and go out and do what my school work did you so you said you stayed in college for about a year what did you what did you um how did you end your time in college i went through and that was a was that a voluntary decision it was and so if you stay there about a year i guess did you leave a back in about about spring summer 2003 yes sir where did you live when you were in college at abac i stayed at home with who did you live with it was my parents my mom and my stepdad and where did you live what part was it in ocilla tifton it was in pleasure lake in rural county urban county once you withdrew from college uh where did you work what'd you do i got a job at stewart finance it's a small loan company they had offices all over the state and what office did you work out of the valdosta office and what job did you have at stuart finance it was debt collection did you start that job i guess was it shortly after you left abac yes sir so it was probably about the summer june july 2003 yesterday'd be about right and did you enjoy that job no sir not particularly um why didn't you like that job well it's it's hard to collect that uh anybody that's ever had to done it and you have to sometimes you have to repossess people's property how did you feel about doing that i wasn't very good at it i didn't enjoy it did you feel sorry for some of the people you had to repossess things from how could this possibly be relevant it's again just building character you're talking about his general character okay when you were working at stuart finance where did you live uh i started when i started i was commuting back and forth i was still at home then i moved to about austin and when you moved about oscar you had any roommates i did and who were those roommates uh hank mcmahan and beau dukes and did you guys party a lot when you were living about austin yes sir did you guys drink yes sir they both were either in school or i know hank was in school and that's all bo did was you know um did anyone do any drugs yes sir uh what drugs did folks do marijuana cocaine and when you're your job at stewart finance was that a full-time or part-time job it was full-time how long did you work in stuart finance when when did you finish stop working there just about a year that next summer so this would have been about summer 2004 yes sir and what'd you do after you ended your job at stewart finance that's when i went to the army and when did you join the army was that in the summer fall of 2012 it was i think i went and signed up in the summer and i started in the fall of that year of hopeful were you dating anyone at the time that you started well when you joined the army yes sir i was who was that lindsay ross mcmahon were you dating her while you were in basic training in the army yes sir did you communicate with each other during basic training yes sir phone calls when you got a break and letters mostly why did you join the army i thought it'd be good for me to be part of something bigger than myself you know i thought that would kind of give me direction when you joined the army did you have the opportunity to pick a job yes sir they uh you you pick your job before you go into basic and what job did you pick i picked the one with the biggest bonus the infantry you say biggest bonus i guess there was a like was it like a signing bonus yes sir how did basic training go for you oh the physical aspect i i've always enjoyed that other than that i had a hard time um what part about it did you or did you struggle i wasn't capable or i wouldn't be able to do what was necessary did you think you'd be able to kill somebody if it came down to it no sure did you ever hunt growing up no sure i didn't know did you ever own a gun no [ __ ] to this day have you ever killed an animal yourself so did you you make it through basic i did like a graduation ceremony there was yes sir and is your girlfriend after she came with my mom and my stepdad did you get a break or anything like that after the graduation yes sir it was uh right at christmas and new year's so we got a two-week break before i i'd signed up for additional training so i would go back report back in january and did you see any friends over the break 2004 i did uh what did where'd you see those friends at beau invited me to a party out at the orchard is this the same orchard that we talked about earlier that's been talked about in this case yes sir it is uh did anything out of the ordinary happen to that party uh yes sir i had asked bo if hank was gonna be there because that was lindsay's ex-boyfriend at the time i didn't want to cause a scene you know i wanted everybody to have a good time and when you what did bo tell you he told me he wouldn't be there or he didn't invite him when you got to the party uh was saint there he wasn't there when i arrived but it was right after i got there he he came and what happened when he got it did anything happen yeah he pulled me aside and confronted me about lindsay and what happened during that confrontation well he uh i told him i was sorry about how things had happened i didn't do anything to try to hurt him i told him if he felt like he needed to swing that was okay you know i wouldn't retaliate and did he hit you or anything like that he did not and once you finish this break in christmas 2004 did you return to the army yes sir i did and what did you do did you have any more training when you got back or yes sir after reporting back i reported for jump school and this was your airborne training yes sir did you make it through that training i did not what happened why why didn't you finish that training there was a girl in the unit before me that had jumped out of a plane and her sheet didn't open and she panicked and didn't open reserve just a 18 year old girl died how did that impact you it shook me up real bad did you stay in airborne school after that incident yes sir for about a week well no sir i asked to be taken out of training and i told them i needed to talk to somebody i didn't feel like i could i could do that anymore that i either needed retraining or or something i needed to talk to somebody and what happened once you told them that you wanted out of airborne school what happened they put me on a holding pattern or you're basically just waiting for another assignment and where were you at when this occurred this is at fort benning in columbus and so they place you in what you call sort of a holding pattern how long did you stay at fort benning in this holding pattern it was four or five days and i finished when i left and i went awoke and you said you went awol how did you um how did you leave fort benning i walked in my car got in it and drove and left no one tried to stop you or anything no where did you go once you left fort benning i went to augusta where my dad and my brother were living and once you got there with your dad and your brother how long did you stay in augusta it wasn't long less than a month before they moved back here once they left augusta where did where did they move in particular was it osilo in pitcher across from the hospital and is that the trailer that we've heard about in this case the trailer yes sure it is and when they moved into the trailer do you did you follow them as you move with them into the trailer yes sir i did and during this particular time period you considered yourself a wall from the military yes sir i was were you working at all during this time period i did odd jobs of mowing the grass i did some roofing with my uncle whatever you know so i could contribute paid bills during this time period did you forge any checks i did i took some checks from my brother it was three checks okay how many yo so you said three checks how much money was each one of those checks for around 50 and you forged those checks did you cash those checks i did and did that cause your brother's account to overdraft it did did you ever pay any of that money back to your brother i did did you pay the overdraft fees and the initial amounts of the checks i did so you were awol from the army did you eventually follow up with the army or they contact you i called and i was told to report the fort seal and report myself aw and where is fort still it's in oklahoma and did you comply with that did you go what happened to you at fort sill i was arrested and did they put you in jail it was yes sir but it wasn't a lock up top it was i was placed under guard but it wasn't a jail type placement it was just so they it was worried i guess that people would run i'm not sure but i was uh placed in a another holding pattern to be out processed while i was doing my break time how long did you stay a fort sill it was two or three weeks and were you eventually discharged from the army yes sir i was and what type of discharge did you receive it was other than honorable did you have the ability to appeal that decision yes sir they told me after six months i could appeal and received a general discharge did you ever in fact appeal the discharge no sir i felt i got the discharge i deserved when did you officially leave the army it was in august of 2005. where did you go after you left fort still after you were discharged from the army where'd you go i came back to fixture and who did you live with my dad and my brother were they still living in the trailer across from the hospital yes sir when you moved back in with your dad and your brother and the trailer did you did you work yes sir i got a job at mdi and fitzger once you were back living in the trailer with your dad and brother did you did you start hanging out with bo dukes at all not much my my dad hated bo stephen wasn't very fond of him so he wouldn't come around he'd come by and pick me up we'd hang out sometimes when your dad was living in the trailer uh did beau ever stay the night but you recall no sir and approximately when did you start working at mdi in fitzgerald it had been september of that year 2005 yes sir what was your job at mbi i worked in blending and explain just briefly what that what kind of job that was you take a raw material sometimes it's like chopped up wine corks and you mix it with a sand based petroleum and make plastic pellets and they use those pellets to make molds for cell phones for laptops that type of stuff did you get any promotions while you're at mdi yes sir i was promoted to blend informant did you supervise any other employees i did yes sir what was your typical schedule when you were at mdi uh it's mostly 12 hour shifts from 7 pm to 7 00 am 5 days a week was it monday through friday yes sir what'd you think about that job did you like your job at nbi i did and while you're working at mdi did you continue living with your dad and your brother my dad moved some point in this time frame i'm not sure the exact date he moved to eufaula alabama once your dad moved out um did you did you still hang out with bo son yeah it increased how much he'd come by how often would you say you were seeing beau during this time period it started out just the weekends then he just kind of progressively moved in did he start staying the night at your trailer yes sir how often would you say that he slept over it i mean did you say it became ultimately every night he was staying over yes sir it became it started as we'd hang out we'd be drinking or whatever and he'd stay the night till you know he just kind of never left did bo panty rent he did not they painted utilities no [ __ ] did beau ever buy groceries for the trailer no sure did beau have a job that you're aware of no sir did beau ever have any money no how many bedrooms did this trailer have two it was just a single wide or double watt trailer it was a single it was a pretty small trailer yes sir did your brother have a room in the trailer he did did beau have a room in the trailer he did did you have a room in the trailer i slept on the couch mostly why did bo have a room although he paid no bills no rent no utilities why did he have a room but you were sleeping on the sofa i just it's just where i slept did you feel like beau was using you during this time period yes sir i did did beau ever leave out any kind of reading materials in the trailer he did he'd leave pornographic material out and i had to repeatedly ask him not to do that were they were these materials of a particular nature i found them offensive it was bondage i don't know how to put it did the magazines that you saw today depict violent sex acts yes sir how'd you feel when you saw those magazines it was gross you know offensive did you ask bo to stop leaving the magazines out i did during this time period while you're working at mdi how much money were you bringing home every week on average it was anywhere between 500 and 600 a week and so you have plenty of money during this time period yes did you have enough did you have what you would have considered enough money to meet all your needs at this time yes sir did both steal from you during this time period he did what did he steal from me of anything that was left out you know you just you learned not to leave anything out you didn't want gone did you ever accuse him of stealing it didn't have to be you know it was me and my brother and him you know he's the only one that would have stole at this point were you buying food for him to eat i was yes sir i was buying food for the whole house were you putting gas in bo's truck i was you were paying the rent yes utilities yes were you basically fully supporting both financially at this point yes sir he told me his family wouldn't help him but they didn't want nothing to do with him did you at least sometimes get to use bo's truck uh he would the reason i put gas in his truck so he could take me to work i didn't have a vehicle at the time i want to talk now about saturday october 22nd 2005. do you remember that day mr duke yes sir i do did you work the friday night before yes sure i did and that was your typical monday through friday yeah i got or got off work about since 7 30. i might have got home around 8 30 that morning and excuse me where did you sleep when you got home in the couch what time did you wake up on saturday morning it was late afternoon five maybe six o'clock it was my i kept a normal schedule you know to just kind of so i wouldn't have to flip back and forth from day and night and at this point in your life did you ever drink alcohol yes sir how often how much did you drink and how often did you drink it was usually just on the weekends you know to kind of just wind down you know drinking hanging out with friends yes sir did you smoke pot at all during this time period yes sir i did how often would you say that you were smoking pot during this time period that was probably every day how how much pot would you smoke in a on just an average day maybe a joint or two did you have to have drugs or alcohol to function at this point in your life no sir i didn't were you addicted to drugs or alcohol at this point no sure i was not you woke up around five to six p.m saturday evening who was at your house when you woke up it was my brother steven duke bo dukes and ben mcmahon what were they doing when you woke up i think they had started drinking they was all kind of having a little get together there was football on the tv you know what were they drinking uh tequila did you like tequila no sir i do not how does tequila affect you personally usually makes me sick would you have ever driven after drinking tequila no [ __ ] did you and i think you mentioned this but did you have a car at this time no sure i did not did you have a cell phone no sir did you have any credit cards no did you even have a bank account no sir so you recall that did you did you drink tequila with the rest of them i did they kind of you know come on let's take some shots you know first time i'd seen ben in a long time did you also drink some beer while you're drinking tequila yes sir you recall anybody else come on over to the trailer that evening no sure how did you handle the tequila and the beer that night i got sick did you throw up yes sir what is the last thing that you remember happening on saturday october 22nd 2005. i just remember us taking tequila shots and next day i know i'm you know i'm out do you know approximately what time that night that you passed out it'd been 9 10 o'clock where did you pass out at if you remember uh in the bathroom hugging the toilet do you remember anything else whatsoever about the night of saturday october 22nd 2005 that you haven't already told the jury no sure i do not let's talk about the next day sunday october 23rd 2005. yes sir do you have a clear memory of waking up that morning i was woke up uh bo woke me up where were you when bo woke you up i was still in the bathroom what were you doing in the bathroom i was asleep on the floor do you know what time of day it was it was maybe 8 00 8 30 in the morning it was daylight so you could see the sunlight from where you were yes sir bo you said woke you up what what did he look like when you opened your eyes and saw a bow what do you recall what how did he look he looked panicked uh freaked out you know he was pale which is you know he was already pale and did he how did his eyes work uh he was look like he'd been up all night uh his eyes bloodshot bloodshot he was sunken so did he did he generally look different than he normally did yes sir he did you mentioned he was panic i guess is how would you describe just his overall demeanor when he woke you up he was upset uh shaking almost just you know until something was wrong what was he wearing when he woke you up blue jeans a t-shirt maybe a sweater what did he say to you when he woke you up and your honor this particular this next statement is a statement against interest and um it is i guess if you want to go through the analysis so uh the declarance unavailable uh beau is unavailable to testify he said we know he's gonna take his fifth amendment against the um this particular statement is speaking objection now which is what defense counsel not to do so i'd ask that we've discussed it i'm going to sustain that objection at this point bo woke you up and what happened next uh he woke me up it's hard to explain without saying what he said but he said something that freaked me out and they went into the living room and what was your initial reaction to what what it was he said to you i disbelieved him you know bo didn't have a he'd say [ __ ] just to kind of push your buttons or you know try to make you uncomfortable and what was your reaction did you say anything to bob i i didn't believe him i asked him what you know what he said or who he was talking about and what your i think can we approach for a moment sure

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Id: hRB767a6zxQ

Length: 34min 8sec (2048 seconds)

Published: Tue May 17 2022