BRADENTON — Bruce Fast told a jury Thursday he immediately “suspected” his son Thomas Fast had something to do with the disappearance of his wife, Thomas’ stepmother.
During his testimony of nearly four hours, Bruce Fast told his son’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Franklin Roberts, during cross examination of his suspicions.
Roberts has tried to raise reasonable doubt that his client killed and dismembered Susan Fast in June 2007 by implying that Bruce Fast instead is behind her death.
During opening arguments, Roberts questioned Bruce Fast’s immediate claim to deputies on the night Susan Fast disappeared that his son had something to do with it before anyone knew what happened to her.
“I said he was suspected,” Bruce Fast told Roberts.
Roberts during cross examination also keyed in on a conversation Bruce Fast had with his son in the Manatee County jail shortly after he was arrested on a gun charge, and before authorities found Susan Fast’s body part stuffed in garbage bags and dumped in a Lakewood Ranch storm drain.
Bruce Fast can be heard saying to his son, “this is the ring Susan was wearing,” showing his son a picture of his wife wearing the ring, Roberts told the jury.
In an argument that did not take place in front of the jury between Roberts and Assistant State Attorney Art Brown, Roberts divulged for the first time he is trying to put doubt in the jury’s mind on his client’s guilt by implying Bruce Fast, not his client, was involved in his wife’s disappearance.
Bruce Fast’s comment in the jail also raised doubt because he made the statement well before his wife’s body had been found, Roberts said. Brown argued that Bruce Fast had gone to the jail and showed the picture to try to get information from his son as to the whereabouts of his wife.
“Is the defense trying to establish with this statement that somehow he is involved?” Brown asked, refering to Bruce Fast.
“Yes,” Roberts answered.
After a judge ruled the statement would be heard in front of the jury, Bruce Fast, obviously angered by Roberts’ inference, later told the panel he did make the statement in the jail, and Roberts ended his cross examination. Fast declined comment after his testimony.
Assistant State Attorney Art Brown did not question Bruce Fast at all about the circumstances surrounding Susan Fast’s disappearance and killing.
Bruce Fast only testified about items he found missing from his home and blood he found in his house when he returned from a business trip to the Bahamas on June 30, 2007.
Brown also made a passing reference to Thomas Fast’s erratic behavior in the years prior to the killing. Bruce Fast testified at times his son would randomly interject comments about work done for the CIA and his knowledge of drug cartels.
Doctors have testified Thomas Fast suffers from mental illness. Thomas Fast’s attorney, Assistant State Attorney Franklin Roberts, picked up on the references to his client’s behavior in the past during cross examination of Bruce Fast. Bruce Fast told Roberts when his son would speak of the CIA or drug cartels he would cut him off.
Email Story
Printer Friendly 
Quick Job Search
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@