On tape, Morris denies shooting

Faced with arrest for third-degree murder, Alvin Lee “Butch” Morris expressed guilt for the life he had led all the while protesting his innocence, according to audio tapes made during his arrest and played in Albemarle County Circuit Court on Thursday.

Morris is heard on the tapes expressing regret at the way he treated his ex-wife and sons as they grew up, noting that he drank heavily and “ran around.” But he insisted he did not shoot acquaintance Roger Lee Shifflett in 1988.

“I’ve never pointed a gun at anything and I’ve never pointed a gun at anybody,” Morris told Det. Phil Giles as Giles presented him with charges and arrested him at the county police department in May 2008. “You’re not going to be satisfied until I tell you that I did it. I’m sorry but I have no knowledge of [what happened in the store.]”

Morris, 68, is accused of killing Shifflett, a Scottsville shopkeeper, 21 years ago. Shifflett was 38 when he was shot to death in his Route 20 convenience store on June 20, 1988.

The father of five was found on the floor near an open cash register that displayed a recent sale of $1.25. About $135 was missing from the store.

Prosecutors claim that a new start with a new wife and family may have been enough motive for Morris to kill Shifflett and take over the slain man’s family.

Morris admitted to a close friendship with Shifflett’s wife, Barbara, and to hanging around the store. Earlier testimony indicated he had discussed divorce with his wife just weeks prior to Shifflett’s slaying and left the marriage shortly afterward. He was seen shortly after the shooting driving Shifflett’s truck, which started many in the community wondering about a possible connection to the death.

He then married Shifflett’s widow a little more than a year after Shifflett’s death, raising two of the victim’s children as his own.

Morris was interviewed at least three times by police in 1988, during which he made statements that later proved false or of which he recanted, including claims that an employee confessed to the shooting.

No one had been arrested in the Shifflett case and Albemarle County police reopened the case two years ago, interviewing Morris in February 2008 and conducting DNA tests on items found at the crime scene. DNA testing was not an option in 1988.

DNA tests conducted on cigarette butts found at the shooting site matched DNA supplied by Morris. Forensics expert Wendy Cohn testified that the match excluded all but one person in an estimated 6.5 billion.

“Essentially, he is the only person in the entire human population who could match that [DNA profile],” she said.

In a Valentine’s Day 2008 interview, Giles told Morris that DNA tests of bullets found in Shifflett’s body were being matched for his DNA. Morris expressed relief, saying the DNA tests would clear him after 20 years of suspicion.

The bullets were never tested for DNA, Giles testified, adding that he used the statement as a “ruse” to elicit comment from Morris. It worked.

“I know everybody thinks I’m guilty and my only hope is that something will come and prove I didn’t do it and DNA is my only hope for that,” Morris told Giles in the recording. “DNA is going to be my salvation. Me and my maker are the only two people who know I didn’t pull the trigger.”

As investigators pressed Morris for details on the shooting, insisting that he had more information and was involved, Morris described how he left his own family because he believed he had “harmed” them enough. He said his relationship with Shifflett’s wife was a second chance.

“I prayed I would not make the same mistakes with them that I made with my own boys and wife and God gave me a second chance,” he said.

When police arrested him in May, they again pressed him for more information on the slaying. Morris said he had no information to add and that he did not and could not “pull the trigger” on Shifflett or anyone else.

“I’m not a good speaker and I’m not a good thinker, but I know that I’m a good person,” Morris said. “It seems to me that people have their minds made up.”

Morris’ trial began on Monday and has run 10 to 12 hours a day since. Attorneys estimated that Thursday’s testimony would continue nigh unto 11 p.m. They expect the trial to continue into next week, as well.