Victims' family testifies in Rebert penalty phase

Friday, January 27, 2012

Jefferson County District Attorney Jeff Burkett thanked the jury in the Steven Rebert trial Thursday but told the eight women and four men that their job is not finished.
"I thank you for rendering a just verdict," Burkett told the panel that found Rebert guilty Tuesday of murdering Wayne and Vicky Shugar on April 10, 2010. "You showed you could do the right thing. I strongly suspected when we began this trial that this day would come and that day is here. I will ask you to impose the ultimate penalty on Steven P. Rebert, death.
"But this day is not about Steven Rebert," Burkett said. "This day we can talk about what kind of people Wayne and Vicky Shugar were. We will hear today what kind and loving parents and grandparents they were. We will hear what has been lost as a result of this crime and what has happened to the Shugar family."
Attorney Mike Marshall stepped in as the defense counsel for the penalty phase and asked the jurors to keep an open mind before deciding if Rebert lives or dies.
Lori Shugar
Lori Shugar, the wife of Wayne and Vicky Shugar's son Jeff, said Wayne and Vicky Shugar were "extremely loving and dedicated to their sons and family."
"They would do anything for you," she said.
Lori said the effect on her husband has been severe. "He used to work 12 hours a day and afterward he couldn't work. He became very protective of our family," she said. "He is a strong man who didn't show emotion and now he crumples and cries."
She said their five children have also suffered. Several of them had undergone grief therapy for a six-week period where they could be with other children who had suffered trauma. "None of them had to deal with something like this," she said.
"For months we all slept in the same bedroom on pillows and blow-up mattresses," she said.
Lori recounted how Wayne would drive to her son's baseball games and the last text message she had sent Wayne was to arrange to meet so they could attend a ball game.
"In March Vicky took off a half day from work to attend a school play," she said. "I didn't know at the time how special that was."
"They were looking forward to seeing their grandchildren's marriages and graduations and now they will never be able to share in them," she said. "We can never replace that loss."
Jeff Shugar
Jeff Shugar, the oldest of the four Shugar boys, struggled to keep his emotions in check during his testimony. "It is not the same and never will be," he said. "They gave us guidance. They taught us right from wrong. I can't describe the emptiness.
"I ask myself why did this happen? It never made sense to me and it still doesn't make sense," he said. "They delivered flowers to others, they made people happy."
He said it has been "very hard to go back" to the house on Coal Tipple Road where he grew up. He said one of his brothers still has not returned to the house where their parents were shot to death.
He said his whole family is fearful. "I have spent more time sleeping with my 8-year-old son than with my wife." he said.
Asked about his work, Jeff said, "It all seems so unimportant now. Our lives are totally changed. Different things seem more important. No one died of an illness or a heart attack. One minute they were here and the next they were gone."
Brian Shugar
Brian L. Shugar was a paramedic in Pittsburgh when he learned of the deaths of his parents. He had to tell his brother Chad what had happened. Brian said he went to RIDC Drive in Pittsburgh where he met Chad at his work. "What do you say to your brother when your parents are dead?" he asked.
He said to this day the family takes precautions before entering the building. "We do a perimeter check outside before we go in. Then we search the inside for an intruder. We have a recognition signal between so we know who is in the house," he said.
"I live a fearful life. I don't trust anyone anymore," he said.
"The biggest impact for me came at the funeral home. I walked in and there were two closed caskets. All I had were pictures," he said. "It has been a long, tough, road."
He said the Brockway community had been "awesome" to the family. "We stood for seven straight hours at the funeral home meeting with people with tears in their eyes," he said. He estimated 1,000 people came through the funeral home.
Brian said his 20 years as a paramedic prepared him for what the family would face, including questions from the police. He was not prepared for what he found inside his parents house.
"You can't be prepared for cleaning up your own parent's blood. That's the bottom line," he said. "No one should ever go through that." He said this has impacted his career and may end his career as a paramedic.
Jason Shugar
Jason Shugar discovered his parents bodies in the basement of their home April 12, 2010. He described his parents as "soulmates" who met in high school where he was a wrestler and she was a cheerleader. "He put her on the highest pedestal," he said.
"My dad was my rock," he said. 'He always helped me out. He always had some sort of solution for my problems."
He said after his parents had worked so hard and given so much, they were planning on cutting back and relaxing. "Now they won't get to," he said.
He said he and his wife are expecting a daughter next month, a baby that will never meet her grandparents. "I am very angry about that," he said. "It is a terrible loss."
Chad Shugar
Chad Shugar, the couple's youngest son, recalled the days when his mother was a cheerleading advisor and volunteer soccer coach. "She would give, give and give," he said. "She always seemed to have limitless energy for others."
He simply called his father "Superman."
"He would work for hours and hours, come home and still find the energy to work around the house," Chad said. "May dad was the person I respected most in the world. I was always in awe of him. I try to set my life by his example."
He said when he came home from Pittsburgh, he would walk in the door and there would be his dad's smile. "All my troubles would go away," he said.
Chad said his parents had reached a point where it is was like they were "in love again."
"All that has been taken away needlessly, selfishly," he said.
His career with Giant Eagle's advertising department suffered after his parents murders. He resigned when he felt he was hurting the effort of his team. "Nothing was important until this (trial) could come to a conclusion," he said. "I don't know if that will bring any solace."
Haunted
He said he is haunted by images of his parents' last moments.
"I imagine their last moments. They were bruised and battered, in pain and scared," he said. "They were shot more than once. It just didn't have to happen like that. Imagine anyone you know going through that. I will never forget it nor do I want to."
The Shugars weren't the only ones giving testimony Thursday.
Marilyn Rebert
Marilyn Rebert, the mother of Steven, told the jury about her son's early life as the youngest of her six children. With a video slide show playing on the courtroom monitors, she talked of his boyhood experiences playing soccer and delivering newspapers and how they had watched scary movies together.
She said her son was a "normal child" who did "quite well" in school. She said it was a "nice family life" but a "busy life."
She divorced her husband, Larry, when Steven was 15 or 16. She said after the divorce she rented an apartment and Steven lived with her until he went to Erie County, N.Y., Community College and later Buffalo State University. Mrs. Rebert met a man she called "George" who she lives with. She said Steven and George did not have difficulties and went golfing together a few times.
Mrs. Rebert moved to Florida but stayed in contact with Steven through telephone calls. He would visit her when his work brought him to Florida. Mrs. Rebert moved back to New York in 2010, a planned move, that coincided with Steven's arrest.
Asked if she was aware of any marijuana use while Steven was living at home, she said it may have been one of the older boys. "I was naive about certain things," she said,.
She said the trial has been "very difficult for our whole family."
Before leaving the witness stand, Mrs. Rebert made a plea for Steven.
"I don't want his life taken away," she said. As she passed by her son on her way back to her seat, she said, "I love you."
Rebert did not raise his gaze to her.
Lawrence Rebert
Lawrence Rebert told the jury about taking his son hunting, camping and fishing. "He did fine in school," he said. "If there any problems, I didn't hear about them."
He said his father owned a small farm and often his sons would help at the family's roadside vegetable stand.
He said when the family lived in Clarence, N.Y., he once found a marijuana plant drying in his garage but he was unable to ever find out who it belonged to.
He said he hunted with Steven after the divorce and "he seemed fine." He even picked up Steven in Chicago where he was working to take him on an elk hunting trip in the western states.
Lawrence Rebert said he lost contact with Steven after his son started to work for an independent cable company. About six years ago Steven came to live with his father in New York.
"He said he had some problems with his employer," Lawrence Rebert said. "He was a completely different person. I suspected he was using drugs and he told me he had been but was in treatment and it was under control."
Lawrence Rebert said he came home one day and found his medicine, which he received through the mail, on the porch of his home.
"The box had been opened," he said. "Steven was looking for something. I ended up throwing them away." Steven stayed with his father for about two years before moving to Pennsylvania.
Asked about alcohol abuse in his family, Lawrence Rebert said he had voluntarily checked himself in treatment twice. He said his father was a drinker that eventually led to health problems.
Former girlfriend
Kathleen Higgins, a former girlfriend of Steven Rebert, testified that she met Rebert in the Buffalo area through her ex-husband, Charles. She said she and Rebert became involved after her ex-husband had "kicked Steve" out of his apartment in 1997 and she rented him a room.
They developed an "intimate" relationship and moved to Fayetteville, N.C., and Columbus, Ga., where she makes her home today. During their three years together, she said Steve was very good to her daughter, who had birth defects. They eventually parted when Rebert's job with the cable company required another move.
Employer
Alan Hurd, 48, was Steve Rebert's employer with the cable company. He said Rebert was the first employee they hired for the new company in 1997 or 1998. "Steve knew the business, so it was a no-brainer," he said.
He said as an independent operator, his crew would take down and upgrade old systems for fiber optics. He said the crews worked long hours and often stayed in motels together. "It was like a frat house," he said. "Marijuana and beer were part of the culture."
Hurd got out of the cable business in 2003 and became a free lance photographer in St. Petersburg, Florida.
He described Rebert as "my roommate and my friend."
Ronald "Joe" Dunkle, 45, of Emporium, said he had worked in the cable TV industry for 25 years and, during that time, had employed Steven Rebert as a subcontractor. "We became friends and got along quite well with him," he said.
He recalled that when the work was winding down and less work was available, he had helped Rebert financially. "He was down on his luck and I gave him some cash," Dunkle said.
Questioned about a relationship between Michelle Bright, an employee at the Shugars' Brockway flower shop, and Rebert, Dunkle said "Steve was looking for romance and none was there. He was smitten with her. He wasn't seeing a clear picture."
During most of the testimony, Rebert sat with his head resting on his clasped hands, looking down into his reflection in the glass-topped table.
Testimony was to resume at 9 a.m. today.
q q q
By Randy Bartley, Jeffersonian Democrat editor. E-mail: rbartley@thecourierexpress.com.