FORT WORTH — In the fall of 2009, Dr. Ray Ford, discovered someone had been getting into his locked office at night and using his computer to look at pornographic images.
At first, Ford, whose office was on the fifth floor of a Cleburne hospital, tried to set up a camera and catch the culprit himself.When that didn't work, he testified, he brought the problem to the attention of the hospital administration, who concluded that the security guard was accessing the doctor's computer.And porn wasn't the only thing the security guard, John "Johnny" Hummel, was viewing late at night and early in the morning on his shift, according to court testimony.He was also researching the effects rat poison had on humans, said district attorney investigator Kyle Gibson, a computer forensic examiner who analyzed the computer and testified on Friday during Hummel’s capital murder trial. Gibson testified that, during the first week of December 2009 -- about two weeks before Hummel killed his family and burned down their house -- someone had accessed websites and articles on the doctor’s computer titled, "The Effects of Rat Poison on Humans" and "Rat Poison Symptoms in Humans," among others. Gibson also testifed that he found 2,338 pornographic images on the computer, which was also used to access a website called a pornographic website on which Hummel had set up a profile with his picture and sexually explicit information.Ford and Gibson were among several prosecution witnesses who have testified during the past two days during the punishment phase of Hummel's capital murder trial. Earlier in the week, Hummel was convicted of capital murder for fatally stabbing and beating his pregnant wife, Joy, 34, on Dec. 17, 2009, and then fatally beating his father-in-law, Clyde "Eddie" Bedford, 57, with a baseball bat. The jury has also heard that he fatally beat his 5-year-old daughter, Jodi, to death with the baseball bat.After he was arrested and confessed to the killings, Hummel told investigators he had first tried to poison his family with rat poison by putting it in turkey meat, but it didn't work because it turned the meat green and his family noticed.Prosecutors Miles Brissette and Bob Gill are presenting evidence to try and convince jurors to sentence Hummel to death.The defense team of Larry Moore, Fred Cumming and Pam Fernandez are working to spare Hummel's life with a sentence of life in prison without parole. Because of some scheduling issues with some out-of-state witnesses, the defense was allowed to call witnesses out of order on Friday, even though prosecutors had not rested their case.They began presenting their case by calling teachers and administrators from the Union County school district in South Carolina, who testified that Hummel, who attended classes at Jonesville and Union high schools, had a learning disability, was held back in the fourth grade and had to take the exit exams numerous times before finally passing and graduating. "He had a learning disability," said Haila Scoggins, Hummel's former high school special education teacher. "He was severely dyslexic and wrote phonetically -- a horrible speller."Later, the jury got more of a glimpse into Hummel's upbringing from his childhood friend, Mark Pack.Pack testified that Hummel grew up in a small house on a farm in Jonesville, S.C., with strict parents who worked the farm for the dentist who owned it.Pack said his mother and Hummel's mother were best friends and after church on Sundays they always went to the Hummel's house. While the rest of the family visited and played cards, Hummel mainly stayed in his room, playing video games."He was an isolated person," Pack said. "He would rather be by himself than anywhere else."Pack also characterized Hummel as "slow.""It was like he didn't grasp things like everyone else."Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
