Sunday, June 22, 2008

Neil Entwistle Trial: Recap for Day 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11.

Trial Recap for Day Seven: Prosecution Witnesses

Deanna Dygan is back on the stand under direct. She introduces more evidence exhibits such as a pillow case taken from the bedroom, swabs from the bedroom walls and Rachael, Rachael's clothing, Lillian's clothing, etc.

30. John Drugan: A chemist for the State Police crime lab. His area of expertise is explosives; gunshot residue (GSR). He testifies about the properties of GSR.

31.
Sgt. Stephen Walsh: He is a MA trooper in the firearms identification unit. He explains how each firearm has unique internal marks and they are imparted to the projectile when fired. He tested all the guns collected and compared the bullet retrieved from Rachael's breast to test firings.

Trial Recap for Day Eight: Prosecution Witnesses

32. Laura Bryant: Bryant is the DNA expert. At the state crime lab she compares DNA evidence to known DNA. She is also a supervisor of the lab. She testifies to various items collected from the scene that she tested for DNA. She testifies that a swab from the gun’s trigger lock shows DNA from Entlwistle as the major contributor and two minor contributors.

33.
Debra Egan. She owns a florist shop in Plymouth. Her daughter Kelly works there also. She testifies that she took an order from a younger British male. The person asked for orange roses or lilies. He wanted a single rose and lily in a bud vase. She also took an order for a funeral spray.

34.
Kelly Egan: Debra’s Egan's daughter. She testifies she took the info from Entwistle for what was to be written on the card. She also took a second order from Entwistle, and then a third on the 31st.

35.
Benjamin Prior: He is from London. He knows Neil from University, since 1998. They were on the rowing team. He, Dash Munding, Neil and Rachel were all good friends. He testifies to calling Entwistle and Prior in February to ask how they were. He testifies as to what Entwistle told him about finding Rachael and Lillian's bodies after coming back from shopping. He also testifies that Entwistle told him that he BOUGHT the Hopkinton house with a 100% mortgage. He also told them they bought the BMW. Prior testifies that Entwistle said Rachel wanted all the money for the new house and the baby and they were struggling and living by credit cards mostly.

36.
Dashiel Munding: This is another friend of Neil and Rachel. He testifies that he's known them since 1998 from University. He testifies that Neil called him in February, and he picked up Entwistle and met Entwistle with Prior. He testifies that Entwistle told him he drove to Priscilla’s office and called the police from there (after finding the bodies). Munding testifies that Entwistle said he left the office and drove for a while and then went to Logan so he could fly home to be comforted by his parents.

37.
Urooje Sheikh: Det. Constable from London. He’s in computer forensics. He testifies that EnCase is a forensic tool used to image a computer. The forensic image takes a copy of the data on the computer. No changes are made to the original hard drive. He testifies that he took forensic images from 3 computers. RJP 3 and RJP4 were imaged and then he write blocked the drives so they couldn’t be altered.

38.
Lawrence James: He is employed as a police office with the city of Medford. He works the computer crime unit and does data forensic examinations. He testifies that he examined three computers as well as three other computers sent over from the UK. He testifies to the Internet history (16,000 pages) on the hard drive from a laptop hard drive, submitted into evidence. He identifies a Google search by a user "ENT" with the words "How to kill with a knife."

Trial Recap for Day Nine: Prosecution Witnesses

A witness is brought in out of order, #39.

39:
Michael Fee, Esq.: Attorney who advised the Puig's, owners of the house at 6 Cubs' path. He testifies that he helped the Puig's recover some property. Fee identifies a CD that has a recording of a conversation he had with Entwistle. The CD is entered into evidence and played. On the CD we can hear Neil saying he has no interest in anything in the house anymore. He wants any money returned and the possessions in the house should be taken care of by Rachel’s family.

38. Lawrence James is recalled to the stand. He testifies to more of the Internet searches that were performed by "ENT" on the laptop specifically the "How to kill with a knife" search, "search for "knife in neck kill," search for "quick suicide method," several local escort services, a graphic image from adult friend finder, Entwistle's Paypal account, a genealogy site, hosting web sites as well as searches for purchasing a flight online. James testifies that some of these searches occurred after Rachael and Lillian were killed.


Trial Recap for Day Ten: Prosecution Witnesses

38. Lawrence James returns to the stand. James testifies to more Internet activity on the laptop. There was activity on "Adult Friend Finder," with a free trial membership and a paid membership.

40. Dr. William Zane: Medical Examiner. He specializes in forensic pathology. He’s performed 6,000 or more autopsies. 500-600 homicide victims and gunshot wounds. Zane testifies that Rachael had two bullet wounds. One to her left breast (this is the bullet that went through Lillian first) and one through the skull back in the hairline. The head wound showed no stippling; it was a non contact wound, as was the wound to her chest. Zane testifies that Lillian was moved. There was lividity on the front of her body and she was found on her back with a pillow over her.

In cross examination of Dr. Zane, defense attorney Page brings up suicide, parent/child suicide specifically and quotes from Vincent Di Maio's book, Gunshot Wounds.

It's like a nightmare deja vu with Di Maio's book being brought in as "expert" opinion.

Page gets Dr. Zane to admit he did not know that Rachael's hands had GSR on them.

While this is going on, the T&T trial watching gang becomes hopping mad at Page's cross of the ME. It was back during the Robert Blake criminal trial that I first learned how unreliable GSR testing can be. It basically will only tell you that an individual was in the vicinity of a weapon that was fired. Heck, it could mean that someone was just in the same room as another individual who was carrying a weapon.


41.
Sgt. Gary Flood: UK subject, he works for the extradition Unit with Scotland Yard. The unit seeks out fugitives from countries they have extradition agreements with. He testifies that he received information about Entwistle. His unit contacted British Airways to see if Entwistle arrived in the UK. Entwistle was located on a train. The train was stopped and Entwistle was taken into custody in the UK. Sgt. Flood testifies that on February 16th, Entwistle was taken to Gatewick airport and transferred to the custody of US Marshals.

42.
DC Ron Hay: He works in the extradition unit and assisted Flood in arresting Entwistle. Hay describes how Entwistle was located and arrested.

43.
DC Richard Potter. Employed by the Metropolitan Police Extradition Unit. He works with Flood and Hay. Potter testifies to searching Entwistle's parent's home and the evidence collected from their home, including two computers.

Trial Recap for Day Eleven: Prosecution Witnesses

44. Trooper Michael Banks: Works for the homicide unit. Banks testifies that on January 22, 2006 he was sent to Hopkinton, 6 Cubs Path at 8pm and then returned to the station. He then returned to the house with crime scene investigators. He testifies to any procedures he was involved with in photographing the house and removing items as outlined in the search warrant. Banks also testifies to the execution of the search warrant on the BMW as well as search warrants for financial records.

45.
Sgt. Robert Manning: With MA State Police assigned to the DA’s office in homicide. He testifies to interviewing Entwistle over the phone. The interview is entered into evidence and played for the jury.

This is the first time that we hear Entwistle tell his story as to how he discovered Rachael and Lillian's bodies, what he felt and what he did afterwards.


I'd like to give a shout out to a blogger in the UK who is doing an excellent job covering the Entwistle case. She's an aspiring writer and quite good. Check out her blog, 'thecrimewriter,' here.

CNN.Crime

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