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Defendant to witness: 'I'll meet you in hell'

By Bo Rosser
Court TV

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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Court TV) -- A millionaire on trial for plotting his ex-wife's murder interrupted the proceedings Tuesday by loudly threatening the prosecution's star witness and calling him "despicable scum of the earth."

The outburst came on the second day of testimony in the murder trial of Ronald Samuels, 58, who is accused of hiring four men to kill Heather Grossman on October 14, 1997.

"I'll meet you in hell, you son of a bitch," Samuels yelled at the witness, who is the admitted gunman. "I'll find you one way or another."

The witness Roger Runyon admitted firing a high-powered rifle at the defendant's ex-wife and her second husband, John Grossman, and was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony.

He responded to Samuels just as the jury was entering the courtroom.

"You're right," Runyon said. "I will go to hell, and you will see me there."

After the outburst, Judge Lucy Chernow Brown threatened to remove Samuels from the courtroom or to gag him in front of the jury. She also admonished Runyon for addressing the defendant.

As the prosecution's seventh witness, Runyon testified that a friend nicknamed Slim, whose real name is Eddie Lee Stafford, enlisted him to kill Heather Grossman.

Stafford told Runyon that the defendant had taken out a million-dollar insurance policy while married to Grossman, and Samuels could still collect if she died.

Runyon, a former marksman in the National Guard, and Stafford staked out the victims' workplace with Stafford before following them to a busy intersection. There, Runyon fired two shots. The main target was Heather Grossman, he said.

"I aimed for the headrest in the passenger seat," Runyon told jurors. "I pulled the trigger and she like disappeared, like she jumped down to the floorboard or something."

The bullet lodged in Heather Grossman's spine, leaving her a quadriplegic. She breathes through a ventilator and requires 24-hour care. The second shot grazed the driver John Grossman, who survived with only a minor injury.

From the stand, Runyon blamed his crack-cocaine addiction for his actions. The Indiana native testified that, at the time of the shooting, he was smoking the drug every day that "he wasn't asleep or in jail."

He had been living on the streets before Stafford allowed him to move in. In return, Runyon acted as a "do boy," helping Stafford, a fellow addict, with minor drug deals.

The marksman turned himself in after detectives contacted his mother in Indiana, where he was living. Runyon, who said he no longer smokes crack, declined legal counsel when he spoke to police.

"I don't need a lawyer," Runyon said. "I was ready to die for what I had done."

Stafford, who drove the car during the drive-by shooting, echoed Runyon's testimony Tuesday, blaming his involvement in the murder plot on his crack addiction.

Stafford was also reportedly given immunity for his testimony.

The self-described pimp and drug dealer said he met twice with Samuels, who was using the alias Tony Black. They met once at a Denny's restaurant and again at a Boca Raton food court to discuss the murder of Heather Grossman.

Like Runyon, Stafford said he never received payment for the hit and had been promised a car and $5,000 in cash.

"I was on drugs and the fact is that I knew I was going to get another little package of drugs," Stafford said.

Stafford is expected to return to the stand Wednesday.

Also Tuesday, jurors saw photos of the black Lincoln the Grossmans were driving when they were attacked. Crime lab supervisor, Cara Lee Daugherty, showed jurors the bloodstained seats covered with shards of glass. The rifle shots shattered the driver's-side and passenger-side windows, as well as the front windshield.

Samuels faces life in prison without parole if convicted of attempted first-degree murder

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