Naumann Trial Resumes; Jailhouse Snitch Says Naumann Told Him He Helped Kill The Former Prosecutor:

The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on David Masters says that the former prosecutor of Macon County died of lethal cocaine intoxication.

Dr. Keith Norton (a.) was the first witness on the stand today in the first-degree murder trial of Thomas Naumann. He testified that Masters had 2 to 42 times the lethal amount of cocaine in his system when he died. Norton told jurors that Masters had needle marks on his arms and hands, in addition to having bruises and abrasions on his knees, legs and head.

A man who Naumann met in prison and did a stint in rehab with was also called to the stand today. Christopher Hill (a.) testified that the night of March 2nd, 2005, he was at the home he, Naumann, Crystal Broyles and David Masters shared in Nixa when Naumann and Masters began arguing over rent money.

Hill and Bryoles (a.) had been lovers off and on during the winter of 2004-2005.

Hill told jurors that he met Masters while the former attorney was staying at the Extended Stay Hotel in Springfield and that Masters supplied cocaine to himself and several of his friends.

Hill said that about two weeks after he met Masters the payment on his room was due to be paid. It was then that Naumann asked him to move into his house in Nixa.

Everything seemed to be copacetic as long as Masters funded the round the clock drug use that was going on in the house on N. Main Street, however, things suddenly spiraled out of control once paranoid delusions set into the group from the constant partying.

Hill testified that Masters (b.) and Naumann during the fight over the money Masters told Naumann that he was moving out, but Naumann told Masters that he wasn't leaving until he got his money.

When the fight escalated, Hill said he left the house but returned later for more cocaine. Hill told jurors that when he returned Naumann asked him if he knew where Masters kept his pot, and he headed for the closet in Masters room.

Hill testified that when he opened the closet door in Masters room he saw Masters laying on his back, his arms bound in front of him, eyes fluttering.

Knowing that Masters was a Buddhist, Hill at first thought Masters might be meditating....but the sight startled him and he jumped back, at which point Crystal Broyles and her sister Brandy Storment started laughing at him.

“I said this ain’t right,” Hill testified. "I said I’m outta here. "

Hill said he left and returned several days later when Naumann called him to ask him to reconnect the power to the house because the electricity had been turned off. “We were back in the house and he said, 'well Dave’s gone,' Hill said. “I said, 'yeah, I imagine he is.' He said, "no, he’s gone.”

Brandy Storment, 27, who was charged with murder in Masters death was the states 11th witness. Storment has been in and out of jail several times in recent years, and had charges in Masters death dropped against her in exchange for her testimony in this case and the one against her sister.

Storment told jurors that when the fight between her sister, Naumann and Masters got heated Naumann told her he thought she should leave. She said she went to her mothers house in Springfield to get some cigarettes and when she returned Masters was sitting in a chair in Naumann's bedroom, his arms bound with black zip ties.

Masters got up from the chair at some point walked forward then backed up, knocking over a glass of Kool-Aid. She told the jury that act enraged Thomas Naumann who said, "I'm going to kill him."

Storment says after a bit she and her sister went into the bathroom to shoot up cocaine and that she did not see Masters again until Christopher Hill opened the closet door.

Masters body was found dumped along the James River northwest of Nixa in March of 2005 with a black zip tie wrapped around his left wrist.

A jailhouse snitch who shared a Christian County jail cell with Naumann for three months in 2006 told jurors that Naumann was mad that Masters was going to fund a methamphetamine manufacturing operation for Broyles and Hill.

David Craig (a.) told jurors, "he asked me why I was locked up, and then I asked what he was in for," Craig said. "He told me he was in for the murder of a prosecutin' attorney." He told me this girl, Crystal, injected him with a lethal dose of cocaine, and he was holding his arm down.”

Naumann’s attorney, Dean Price, painted Craig as career criminal who was always looking for a, “better deal” and repeatedly worked for county and federal law enforcers in search of the best deal.

"In your deposition on March 5, 2008, you said, ‘I asked for some leniency,’ didn’t you?" Price asked. "Yes, sir," Craig answered. "That’s what I asked for."

Price asked Craig, "Isn’t it taboo to snitch?”......."You bet," Craig answered. "But, I did what I thought was right."

In 2006, Crystal Broyles pleaded out to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case tomorrow.

***Craig image Christian County Headliner