Witness: Richmond Hill suspect had nothing to lose by killing him

South Bend – Mark Duckworth and Mark Leonard used to drink beers and ride motorcycles together. For more than 20 years, they were close friends.

When Leonard got critically ill about three years ago, Duckworth asked a church pastor to say a prayer for Leonard. He said he visited him at the hospital almost every day. He sat at his bedside, talked to him even when he was in a coma.

Even so, police say, Leonard tried to hire a hit man to kill Duckworth, who knew too much about an arson and insurance fraud scheme that Leonard allegedly masterminded.

When Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson asked Duckworth if he and Leonard were friends, he said: "I thought we were."

He recalled telling his father, a retired police officer, that Leonard didn't have anything to lose by killing him.

Leonard, 46, is on trial on 53 charges, including felony murder, arson and conspiracy to commit arson. He also is facing life imprisonment without parole. Prosecutors say he conspired to blow up his ex-girlfriend's home to collect about $300,000 in insurance claims. Two people were killed in the 2012 explosion in the Richmond Hill subdivision on the Southeastside.

As Duckworth testified against Leonard Monday in St. Joseph Superior Court — where the trial was moved due to heavy pre-trial publicity in Marion County — he looked at his former friend only once. The prosecutor asked him to point at Leonard and describe what he was wearing.

Duckworth testified that Leonard talked to him about possibly buying a Ferrari on Craigslist. Leonard told him he was getting a $300,000 insurance settlement because "the tsunami winds blew up the fireplace," causing his house to blow up, Duckworth said in court. Leonard was living with his then-girlfriend, Monserrate Shirley.

That conversation, however, happened a few days before the house actually exploded, and Leonard later said he made it all up, according to Duckworth. Investigators believe that conversation indicated a failed attempt to set Shirley's house on fire. They allege that Leonard and his co-conspirators tried and failed twice to blow up the house before they succeeded on Nov. 10, 2012.

After the explosion, Duckworth told police what he knew. In March 2013, a few months after Leonard was arrested and charged, Duckworth said he found out from a detective that Leonard was plotting to have him killed.

A jailhouse informant, Robert Smith, who shared the same cell block with Leonard at Marion County Jail, testified last week about what prosecutors say was Leonard's plot to kill Duckworth and his willingness to pay $15,000 for the job.

The hit man, prosecutors say, would receive another $5,000 if he could force Duckworth to call 911 and make him say he framed Leonard and Shirley. The hit man also was supposed to make the death look like a suicide.

A recording of two phone conversations between Leonard and the hit man, who was an undercover officer, was played in court last week.

Before Duckworth testified, public defender Diane Black asked that certain evidence not be mentioned in court, including details about Leonard's relationship with Shirley, and allegations that he had a history of scamming women and once committed fraud involving a motorcycle. St. Joseph Superior Judge John Marnocha granted the request.

Shirley, 49, testified last week that she was in love with Leonard and wanted to make him happy, so she went along with his "crazy" plot to start a fire in her house to collect insurance money. She said Leonard, whom she dated for about a year, convinced her that the fire would only be a small one.

Prosecutors allege that natural gas was released into Shirley's house at 8349 Fieldfare Way and was ignited with a timing device on a microwave.

Shirley's next door neighbors, John Dion and Jennifer Longworth, were killed in the Nov. 10, 2012 blast.

As he has done during much of the trial, Leonard listened stoically, often with his fingers pressed into his left cheek. Among his co-defendants are Shirley; his half-brother, Bob Leonard; his former employee, Gary Thompson; and friend Glenn Hults.

Bob Leonard's son, Justin Leonard, testified that some personal belongings from Shirley's home were transferred to his house shortly after the blast. He and his then-girlfriend, Jessica Goodwin, said they went to Bob Leonard's trailer and picked up the items, which included a few cardboard boxes, totes, golf clubs and pictures.

Police say Mark Leonard and Shirley removed personal items from the house, including photographs, before the explosion.

Before testimony began, Black said the defense team is drafting proposed jury instructions that would give jurors the option of convicting him of two lesser charges of reckless homicide. Marnocha ultimately will decide on the instructions that jurors will use.

Leonard's lengthy trial enters its fifth week Monday. Prosecutors likely will rest their case on Wednesday. If that happens, the defense team likely will finish taking testimony by Thursday.

After the jurors left the courtroom, Marnocha addressed Leonard directly.

"I just want you to understand that no one can make you testify and no one can prevent you from testifying," Marnocha told Leonard. "In the end, that has to be your decision and your decision only."

Call Star reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter: @kristine_guerra.