R E G I O N A L N E W S Tue, November 5, 2002 Jordan trial begins Girlfriend Soto refuses to testify , John Ingle, , , Times Record News FORT WORTH - Testimony began Monday morning in the Charles William Jordan capital murder trial, but possibly the most compelling statements won't be heard. Crystal Soto, longtime girlfriend of Jordan, exercised her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a pre-trial hearing Monday morning, refusing to testify against Jordan. Jordan is accused of shooting James Christmas, 76, and beating 79-year-old Ullaine Christmas, Soto's grandmother, to death in November 2001. Their bodies were found buried in a shallow grave about two miles south of Bowie on FM 101 on Nov. 27. If convicted of capital murder, Jordan faces life imprisonment or death by lethal injection. The trial was moved to Tarrant County because of the media attention the deaths had received in the small county of Montague. Testimony will continue at 9 a.m. today at the Criminal Courts building in Tarrant County. Otto "Sonny" Lunday, Ullaine's son, was the first witness Montague County District Attorney Tim Cole called to the stand before an eight-woman, five-man jury. Lunday painted a picture of his mother and stepfather as two people who followed a weekly routine. "Those people (the Christmases), you could almost set your watch to what they did," he said. The last time he saw his mother and stepfather was during a Thanksgiving meal, the day before their deaths. Their failure to follow their routine activities alerted him that something might have happened to the couple, he testified. On Fridays, the couple played dominoes. Saturday, they usually went dancing and on Sundays they went to church. After speaking with several people who knew the Christmases, he said he learned that they never attended any of their usual activities over that weekend. Lunday testified he went to his mother's home in Bowie and then to James Christmas' home south of the town, but no one was home. When James and Ullaine married, they both owned homes and chose to keep both of them, he said. The couple was staying at Ullaine's home while Jordan, Soto and Willie Christmas, James Christmas' grandson, lived in James' home. When things seemed out of place, Lunday said he contacted the Bowie Police Department and filed a missing persons report. Lunday knew that James Christmas had let the three live in a trailer house on the property in exchange for repairing the home. But none of the three were around that Monday when he went looking for his mother, he said. Bowie Police officer Mike Pilato testified that when he went to Ullaine's home in Bowie, the front door was open and dog feces were in the house. He said he accompanied Lunday and his sister, Norma Pruitt of Bowie, to James' house as an observer. He said James' home was out of his jurisdiction, but he could observe the surroundings. The officer testified that no one was at the county residence and that Christmases' Dodge Dakota pickup was missing. Pilato said he then called the Montague County Sheriff's Office for assistance. Virginia Tate, a next-door neighbor of James Christmas, might have been the last one to see the Christmases alive. The Friday following Thanksgiving, she said she saw James Christmas at the mobile home. "Mr. Christmas was taking some stuff into the mobile home," she said. Later that evening about 5:45 p.m., she testified that she saw a large fire on the Christmases' side of the fence that split the two properties. She also said she saw someone - she couldn't tell who it was - driving the Dodge pick up at a high rate of speed from the fire up to Christmases' house. During cross-examination by defense attorney Bruce Martin of Wichita Falls, Tate testified that she heard a "sharp noise" at about 2:30 p.m. coming from the Christmases' home. "It sounded like a metal door had been slammed," she said. She thought it might have been her husband in his workshop and didn't get up to see what the noise was, she said. During opening comments, Cole portrayed Jordan as someone who liked to be in control. That was exemplified during the jailbreak in which Soto, Jordan, Curtis Gambill and Josh Bagwell ran from law enforcement officers for 10 days before being recaptured in Oklahoma, he said. "He ran away to avoid responsibility of this act (the Christmas murders)," he said. "I submit you'll be convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that he is guilty." Co-defense attorney Ron Poole of Wichita Falls said there was a struggle between Jordan and James Christmas over a sawed-off shotgun. During the scuffle, the weapon fired, killing Christmas. He said the Bowie man's death was accidental, but "in panic, (Jordan) clubbed her (Ullaine Christmas) on the head...at least two times." During a taped confession in Washington state, Jordan told officers he didn't know how many times he had hit Ullaine Christmas, Poole said. Regional and military reporter John Ingle can be contacted at (940) 763-7532, (800) 627-1646 Ext. 532 or by e-mail at inglej@wtr.com.