The parents of the teens charged in the murders of professors Half and Susanne Zantop are negotiating with prosecutors to avoid testifying about their sons to a grand jury convening tomorrow.
Attorney George Ostler, who is representing the Tullochs, seemed hopeful that some kind of a deal could be worked out with the authorities, with whom he is meeting today.
"We're talking with prosecutors about different alternatives," Ostler said. "I think things can be worked out so that [the Tullochs] don't have to be in front of the grand jury."
According to Ostler, he hopes to negotiate some other arrangement that is "less threatening" to his clients, the Tullochs, who have so far been "cooperative" with the authorities.
"We're trying to work something out informally," lawyer Doug Brown, who is representing the Parkers, told The Associated Press about his ongoing negotiations with the prosecutors. "Basically we're just trying to make this [happen] with as less trauma as possible, just where everybody kind of cooperates and everyone gets what they want."
Brown said the intent is to help the parents avoid travel and lost work time and the glare of the media attention.
One of the issues being worked out is whether the parents would have to give sworn testimony if they meet informally with prosecutors, Brown said.
Ostler said that grand jury hearings generally do not allow lawyers to be present with their client; however, a witness can request a recess to consult with his or her attorney.
Gaelen McKee, Christian Usenza, Tim Courts and his son Zach Courts " four close friends of the two suspects Robert Tulloch and James Parker " have also been summoned to the Grafton grand jury in North Haverhill, N.H.
However, Tulloch's girlfriend, Usenza, 18, will not appear before the grand jury that convenes tomorrow.
"She has been formally excused by Senior Assistant Attorney General Kelly Ayotte," because of her longstanding out-of-country family vacation plans, Bob Sherman, Usenza's family friend, said.
Usenza, who is traveling with her mother to Mexico, has been rescheduled to appear before the grand jury on April 20, Sherman added.
Tim Courts, who has hired Attorney Lawrence Myer of Barre Vt., to represent him, said he has no specific idea of what information the prosecutors want from him.
Courts said he has spoken to the police once before and has answered all the questions he was asked, although he suspects the authorities will ask him and his son some new ones.
As a part of the formal subpoena process, Courts and his son will take part in a local district court hearing this afternoon, in which a judge from the local jurisdiction is likely to formally order the father and son to appear before the grand jury in another state " in this case, New Hampshire.
The Grafton County Superior Court grand jury convenes tomorrow, but is not expected to take up the Zantop case until Monday.
Courts said that the entire experience of having two close friends being charged with first-degree murder and the ongoing investigation has been "most upsetting" and "very difficult" for him and his son, Zach.
"So far there have been no redeeming virtues. I just hope justice is served," Courts added.
Computer Link
According to The Union Leader, searches of computers seized during the investigation remains part of the intensive quest to find a possible cause or motive for the couple's murder.
"We are looking at any possible role any electronic communication may have had in the death of the Zantops," New Hampshire State Police Maj. Barry Hunter told The Union Leader yesterday.
"We are continuing to look at any and all possible motives which may apply in this case," Hunter added.
Ayotte and Hunter could not be reached to elaborate on this aspect of the investigation.
