Prosecutor: Socialite killed for "the almighty dollar"

<p>A prosecutor placed a doorbell in front of jurors Thursday to show how easy he said it was for a hit man hired by the victim's millionaire husband to get the attention of an Atlanta socialite whom he fatally shot 19 years ago "for no other reason than the almighty dollar."</p><p>Clint Rucker rang the doorbell twice, then told jurors in his closing argument the evidence is overwhelming that James Sullivan paid triggerman Phillip Harwood $25,000 to kill Lita Sullivan to avoid losing money and a Florida mansion in the couple's divorce.</p><p>"The doorbell rings loud," Rucker said. "It rings clearly. In this case, it rings true." As he gestured toward Sullivan in the courtroom, Rucker added, "This man right here. He is responsible for the assassination of Lita."</p><p>Sullivan, 64, a Boston native, was captured in Thailand in 2002. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted in the killing of his 35-year-old second wife. She was fatally shot on the doorstep of her upscale town house on Jan. 16, 1987, by a man carrying a dozen long-stemmed pink roses.</p><p>Harwood, of Albemarle, N.C., is serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter and admitting he killed Mrs. Sullivan. But Harwood, who goes by the name Tony, denied on the stand Monday that he committed the murder.</p><p>Defense lawyer Ed Garland said in his closing argument that Harwood's testimony was a mockery.</p><p>"His oath should have been, 'I Tony Harwood swear to lie,'" Garland told jurors. He added, "I say you should reject Tony Harwood 100 percent. Throw him out. He ain't worth nothing."</p><p>Rucker acknowledged in his closing argument that there are doubts about some of Harwood's story, but he urged jurors to focus on the pieces of truth that point to Sullivan's guilt.</p><p>"It really doesn't matter what Tony Harwood says," Rucker told jurors. "It's just the mere existence of Tony Harwood that proves the state's case beyond a reasonable doubt."</p><p>Though he denied on the stand that he was the triggerman, Harwood testified that Sullivan paid him money to kill his wife. Harwood also testified he was in a car nearby when he said the real hit man _ a bartender he identified only as "John" _ committed the killing. There also are phone records showing calls between Sullivan and Harwood before and after the murder, and Harwood's former girlfriend testified about Harwood paying Sullivan cash at a restaurant, Rucker said.</p><p>The prosecutor said no one other than Sullivan had a motive to kill his wife.</p><p>"This defendant is guilty, guilty, guilty," Rucker said.</p><p>But defense lawyer Don Samuel said in his closing argument prosecutors have only circumstantial evidence. He asked jurors to use their common sense and find Sullivan not guilty.</p><p>He noted several inconsistent statements by the state's two key witnesses, Harwood and his former girlfriend, Belinda Trahan. For example, Trahan told an investigator in 1998 when she first came forward that Harwood never carried a gun, Samuel said. On the stand, Trahan said Harwood regularly carried a gun in his truck. She even said it was the same model and caliber as the murder weapon, which has never been found.</p><p>Samuel also had harsh words for Harwood.</p><p>"I don't know that it's ever happened before that the state calls its star witness and obliterates him, to the point where the defense has nothing left to say but, 'You stole our script,'" Samuel told jurors.</p><p>Related charges against Sullivan were thrown out at a federal trial in 1992, but the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that double jeopardy does not prevent Sullivan from being tried again in state court.</p><p>Sullivan lived in luxury as he eluded authorities on an intercontinental run that included stops in Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, and then Thailand, where he married a local woman, his fourth wife. He was extradited to the United States in 2004.</p><p>Sullivan is charged with malice murder, felony murder, burglary and two counts of aggravated assault. If he is convicted on the murder charges, jurors will be given the option at a separate proceeding to sentence him to death, life in prison without parole or life in prison with parole.</p><p>"The liberty and life of a fellow citizen is now in your hands," Garland told jurors.</p><p>Jurors had been expected to start deliberations Thursday afternoon, but adjourned after they informed the judge that they would begin considering the case Friday morning.</p>

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