CHARGED WITH MURDER Man Charged In Beating Death Appears In Court
Reported by: Darrah Wilcox
Web Producer: Bethany Simmons
Reported: May. 16, 2012 11:28 AM EDT
Updated: May. 17, 2012 8:42 PM EDT
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Huntington
, Cabell County
, West Virginia
The man charged in a beating death case in Huntington appears in Cabell County Court Wednesday.
Jesse Dreyfuse, 45, had malicious wounding charges upgraded to a murder charge a couple of weeks ago after the man he is accused of beating died.
It was a court date that was worth the wait for James Marcum, who walked several blocks to testify at a hearing that was rescheduled three times. He finally got to take the stand to tell his side of what happened April 9th beside his west Huntington home.
"It feels good," he said. He was alerted by another neighbor that his friend, Otis Clay Junior, was being violently attacked. "I liked him. He was a good man. I went to church with him."
The beating allegedly at the hands of Dreyfuse. HPD Detective Rob Stinnett says, "Taking a baseball bat to a mentally handicapped man who is physically handicapped is heinous in my book."
Marcum tried to help, but Clay had already suffered several broken bones, including a fractured skull. Stinnett testified, "Mr. Dreyfuse became extremely angry to the point of being irrational because he had not received what he thought he was going to receive, and he had lost money." Clay, who was comatose after the beating, died May 2nd after being taken off life support.
Dreyfuse didn't answer any questions on the way back to jail. The case was finally bound out of magistrate court over to circuit court. Dreyfuse is being held without bond.
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Darrah Wilcox
