Was accessory to murder suspect aware of the plan?

Erin Wilson at her weight of evidence hearing Wednesday on accessory to murder charges.

BENNINGTON — The woman charged as an accessory to murder in the shooting death of Ulysses Ivey of Bennington last October is asking the court to release her on conditions while she awaits trial because, according to her defense, she was unaware of the plan to murder Ivey ahead of time.

Erin Wilson, 30, of Hoosick Falls, N.Y., faces three charges — accessory to murder in the first degree, accessory to manslaughter, and accessory after the fact in the shooting death of Ivey outside the Green Mountain Power Substation on Route 9 in Bennington, allegedly by her jealous boyfriend, Elliot Russell.

According to court affidavits, Ivey was found barely alive after calling 911 from a cell phone to report he’d been shot. He reportedly identified the shooter as Russell before he died at the scene after rescue workers unsuccessfully attempted to administer life-saving aid.

Russell allegedly shot Ivey, then fled in a white car, which was caught on videotape. Wilson was Russell’s girlfriend at the time of the murder and was initially charged with a single count of accessory after the fact for her alleged role in covering up the crime. It was later revealed through updated court documents that police discovered Russell and Wilson were having difficulties with cheating and jealousy in their relationship at the time of the murder. That jealousy was given as a potential motive for the killing, with Ivey’s murder allegedly set up by Wilson.

A subpoena issued for Wilson’s Facebook account revealed that she wanted a sexual relationship that Russell had with another individual to stop. Text messages show Wilson allegedly lured Ivey to the substation and told Russell via text that she would have sex with Ivey unless Russell broke up with the other woman.

At Wednesday's weight of evidence hearing, defense lawyer Christopher Montgomery dismissed a surveillance video allegedly showing Wilson’s car at the scene, arguing it was speculative at best. Police allege in an affidavit that it was Wilson's car at the scene.

“The central key to their argument for aiding is that the vehicle in the video is Wilson's Honda Pilot and that Ms. Wilson is in that vehicle,” Montgomery said. “There is no way that Detective Briggs could identify the people in that vehicle or that vehicle was even Wilson's.”

He went on to say that the other part of the state's case, a series of text messages between Erin Wilson and Eliot Russell, where Wilson tells Russell to “bring everything you've got,” followed by “the hammer,” was unconnected to later messages claiming Wilson was trying to get Russell jealous were unrelated.

“There is no contextual connection, no nexus between that statement about bringing the hammer and ones four days later with regard to Mr. Ivey. It doesn't say anything about any plan to shoot Mr. Ivey or what it refers to,” Montgomery said. “The evidence is not there for a jury to find that she conspired or engaged in aiding in the commission of first-degree murder."

“She was coaxing him to the scene of his murder,” prosecutor Robert Plunkett countered. “That alone is enough to prove that she’s involved in the commission of this murder. She sent the person to the place where he died, and the reasonable inferences that she intended that to happen when she sent him there, sent Mr. Ivey to his slaughter.”

Plunkett went on to say, “It wasn't just 'Mr. Ivey, come meet me at the power plant.' It was fomenting this anger towards Mr. Russell in the hours leading up to that, of going there with him in her car. And, indeed, having gone to that place approximately 20 minutes previously, and then texting Mr. Ivey. So, to any degree that there's any question of whether or not Wilson was there, she admitted that same car came back. What we do know from the text messages is that there's Wilson. Mr. Russell had a gun. She attempts to emasculate him, which presumably, she would know would actually work on him. When you incite, you're encouraging. That's what happens with these text messages. Wilson is in the driver's seat of the car. She was helping at the moment by being the getaway driver.”

“It's not just the shooting of Mr. Ivey. It’s also leaving him there to die," he said. "... Wilson was driving past him, and he's there on the ground, following up by lying to the police about where she was and what she was doing.”

Plunkett asked the court to hold Wilson without bail until the trial.

Montgomery countered, “Clearly, that the death alone after the fact is not evidence of murder. It is speculative innuendo, nothing more. There needs to be some evidence that she knew the plan and was aware of it before it was engaged.”

Judge Howard Kalfus took the decision on whether to release Wilson or keep her in custody under advisement. Wilson currently remains at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. Elliot Russell is also being held without bail as his case winds its way forward. He is charged with murder in the first degree in Ivey’s death. Wilson gave birth to Russell’s baby less than a month ago.

Erin Wilson at her weight of evidence hearing Wednesday on accessory to murder charges.