Thursday, November 20th, 2008
Prosecution Witness:
#15 Adriano De Souza (Spector’s alternate driver on February 2nd, 2003; under redirect)
Accredited press in the courtroom: Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times
Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone. I had hoped to have this entry up before yesterday, but what is it about “the best laid plans” that seem to go awry? It’s always something. On Tuesday, we had to scrap all our grocery and fabric shopping plans because the four-day-old Pepboys rebuilt starter we had just installed Saturday developed a cerebral aneurysm. After testing it with his super deluxe meter, Mr. Sprocket determined it was not long for this world. We have to take it back. He then said, “If we cool it off, it will start again.” We accomplished that and called all around the city to find a Toyota dealer that had our model in stock. So much for trying to save some $$$ on a budget, after market starter. We realize we need to spend the bucks on the bigger, genuine Toyota part.
At 5:00 pm we hit the road for Toyota of Torrance. We took water and a roll of paper towels to cool down the starter just in case we had to stop someplace and turn off the engine, like for dinner. After we picked up the new starter, I found a fabric store in the area and Mr. Sprocket stayed in the car. We didn’t get home until almost 9:30 pm. Ever since then I’ve been sewing, sewing, sewing to get some orders ready to ship tomorrow. That’s my excuse. Tomorrow morning I will hit as many Jo-Ann Fabric Stores as I can to clean up on their annual flannel sale. I bet Kim of Darwin will be doing the exact same thing. Then, it will be back to sewing the next round of orders all weekend. Enough about that. Here is what happened in the Spector trial on Thursday before the holiday break.
When Spector walked down the hallway towards 106, there was someone noticeably absent. It was Rachelle. Now, I did not attend every day of the first trial, but I have to say I believe this is the first time I’ve been to court on this case and she has not been here. Later, someone tells me they think they heard Spector talking to his counsel that she wasn’t feeling well.
Truc is wearing a beautiful gray pant suit. The jacket has a fitted waist and a pronounced flair over the hips. I can’t say it enough. She’s got a great wardrobe. Spector is wearing a black and white kerchief in his jacket pocket; black suit, white shirt. At the moment, his hands are not shaking.
Adriano De Souza is wearing a light blue shirt and a green tie. For now, there is no press in the room. Only me, Jon and San Diego Linda. This makes two days in a row that Linda has taken the two hour train ride to court. She really wanted to see as much of De Souza’s testimony as possible, so this is true dedication.
9:37 am: Cross examination of De Souza continues by Weinberg.
Weinberg states he wants to clarify De Souza’s testimony of his interaction with Spector. Unfortunately, I’m not sure from my notes if Weinberg is verifying prior testimony or if he’s asking new questions. [Yes, I saw the door open ... And at that time, you saw the gun?]
DW: You just stood there when you saw the gun?
ADS: Yes.
DW: You didn’t do anything?
ADS: Not at that time.
Weinberg presents the transcript of his interview with Officers Pineda and Kennedy.
9:39 am: Harriet Ryan and one other public person enters 106.
Jon leans forward and tells me, “Weinberg is mumbling.” I’m not positive, but I’m tending to agree. Jon sits a row behind me but he has much better hearing. He’s heard things at the counsel table that I’ve completely missed. One of the DA’s clerks enters.
DW: Why did you take the Mercedes when your car was there [closer to where he ran down the drive]? [...] Why didn’t you take your own car? [...] Instead of going to your car, you ran back to the Mercedes.
ADS: I don’t know, sir.
DW: You called Michelle Blaine then 911. Is that what Mr. Spector wanted you to do?
I see Sherri slip into the back bench row.
AJ: Objection! Calls for speculation! Objection!
Fidler: Sustained!
Fidler then explains why this is also improper cross. This is the type of questioning we are hearing. Many times asking “why he did something when there might have been a more “reasonable” thing to do, or suggesting with the question he did something irrational.
Weinberg is now crossing De Souza in detail about the first interview with detectives at the scene before he was taken to the police station.
Juror #5 has an interesting shirt on today. It’s not a t-shirt, but a type of scenic shirt that looks almost to be airbrushed. It also looks brand new. There are stars and stripes across the chest and shoulder area and there are “chopper” motorcycles on the lower part of the shirt that hangs down below his hips. The first thing I think of is, I wonder if this is a commemorative type shirt for the movie Easy Rider. From where I’m sitting I can’t tell if there are the actors from the movie sitting on the choppers or not.
Again, Fidler tells Weinberg in open court that he can’t take prior testimony (Grand Jury; first trial) out of context. This is the second time today. Weinberg comes back to Fidler and says “This is correct cross examination!”. Fidler told him that if he’s going to ask about a particular area, he must read the whole are to present context. When Weinberg balked, Fidler said to him, “I have ruled!”
Weinberg asks a new question and AJ objects again! “I think that misstates the evidence. Doug Sortino clearly states that he was paraphrasing,” AJ says. AJ then reads from the Grand Jury testimony.
Weinberg is now going over again that statement De Souza made. “I think so, I’m not sure, it’s my English.” He’s confronting him with what he said at the first trial, when Bradley Brunon asked him the exact same question.
Weinberg has to be told again that this is improper to read the first trial testimony into the record of this trial. There is a proper way to do it and he’s not doing it.
AJ: Objection! Again. This is improper impeachment.
Fidler: If you want to approach I’ll clear this up.
There’s a bench conference.
Weinberg comes back and asks about the “I think so. I’m not sure, it’s my English” statement again. AJ objects again and AJ say something then Weinberg says something, accusing AJ of editorializing.
Fidler: Lets all sit back and relax and we’ll get through it.
Fidler agrees. Weinberg has to read the entire context. Weinberg must have made a face at that time because Fidler says to him, “I don’t need your facial expressions.”
Weinberg is now asking De Souza questions about his own legal situation and being an illegal immigrant.
10:34 am: Detective Tomlin arrives. He’s always carrying a big,expanding brown file folder. Weinberg presents a document that De Souza says he’s never seen. It’s a letter Doug Sortino wrote on De Souza’s behalf to the INS/ICE to defer De Souza’s deportation. De Souza says he doesn’t know about this. He paid a lawyer to deal with these issues.
Weinberg then presents a letter from Sortino to the ICE requesting permission for De Souza to work while waiting to testify in this trial. Next is a letter to grant permission for De Souza’s mother to come to the US on a non immigrant visa because he was a witness in this case. It was denied.
De Souza states that yes, he would like to remain in the US.
DW: do you believe that your help in this case will help you stay in the US?
ADS: No. My lawyer told me it wouldn’t.
Weinberg goes back over what he thinks Spector said again. There are more and more objections, stating the question misstates the evidence. Weinberg is back over the “it’s my English” statement once again.
10:43 am: The Spector supporter with the white hair arrives .
Weinberg goes over De Souza’s testimony at the last trial. Weinberg now is speaking very fast and lowering his voice! He then say something else but he’s turned his back on the witness as he’s asking the question and he’s clearly mumbling.
AJ: Objection! Mr. Weinberg’s mumbling your honor!
Fidler: I’m sorry sir. You appear to be mumbling and dropping your voice and turning your back on the witness.
Fidler then states something to the effect that even the court reporter can’t understand you. And when Fidler says that, she shake’s her head in agreement.
Weinberg defends his cross examination.
Fidler: I’ve stated what I believe you’re doing.
Weinberg then says he has nothing more for the witness.
AJ stands up to redirect and rehab his witness.
10:47 am: Harried Ryan leaves the courtroom and a moment later we take the morning break.
During the break, Weinberg addresses the judge about proper impeachment. His voice is high and you can tell he is quite irritated! He’s complaining about Fidler’s rulings and that his questions were all proper impeachment; what’s within context and what’s out of context. Oh my! Weinberg is totally pissed at Fidler!
DW: It’s unfair! It’s highly prejudicial in front of the jury!
He goes on to complain about Fidler making him read text that is “fifteen pages down the line” and when he says that I know he’s totally exaggerating because I know Fidler did not rule once on making him read stuff that far afield.
Oh my! I can tell. Fidler looks really pissed!
Fidler: First of all, it is out of context and it is my responsibility to make sure the jury is not misled! Mr. Jackson?
AJ: Nothing further!
Spector greets the white haired man and walks out of court with him.
Jon and I are blown away by that exchange! I catch AJ’s eye in the well after the Judge left the bench and I say to him, “That was amazing!” AJ responds something like, “And I didn’t have anything to do with it!”
The woman who handled all the prosecution’s exhibits in the first trial stops by the courtroom ~I think to drop off something~ and says hello to the Clarkson family. Almost as quickly she leaves and waves goodbye to familiar faces. Someone in the gallery said they had “Never seen anything like it,” referring to the mumbling by Weinberg.
I almost forgot. I’m not sure when this happened ~I’m just remembering it~ it could have been during the break or before court started. Fidler informed the court that one of the jurors indicated that they were unable to see the gun demonstration the defense did so Fidler asks AJ to have De Souza re-demonstrate how Spector was holding the gun.
11:10 am: Break is over and we are on redirect.
Under redirect, De Souza states that he still hasn’t seen his mother in over four years. It’s at this time that AJ has De Souza re-demonstrate how he saw Spector holding the gun when he emerged from the rear of the residence.
AJ is looking around for the bailiff because he’s not in his booth. Once the gun was brought out, the bailiff moved to the back corner beside the jurors near the jury room door. AJ sees him finally and says, “You’re hiding back there!” The bailiff responds, “I’m a little person.” The courtroom breaks out in laughter because the bailiff is a larger man.
Weinberg makes a big deal because at one point De Souza drops his arm and Weinberg wants that noted for the record. De Souza clarifies that he just dropped his arm at that moment, holding the weapon. It had nothing to do with how he saw Spector with the gun.
AJ is starting to read from a transcript and Weinberg objects. Fidler tells counsel to approach the bench. As the bench conference is going on, a tall black man enters and sits in the spot Linda Deutsch usually occupies. A woman with short brown hair enters and sits in the bench row behind me. I can tell she’s not a reporter; she’s general public. Out of the corner of my eye I see her take out a little notebook and start to write.
Bench conference over. AJ brings back the point that at the Grand Jury hearing, Dough Sortino asked him directly what he heard Spector say. “I think I killed somebody.” Jon points out to me that Spector is writing on a notepad again and all I can think about is the hysterical OJ Simpson notebook.
AJ brings up the point that 45 minutes after the incident when De Souza was talking to Officer Pineda, De Souza said the exact same words. “I think I killed somebody.” The tape of that interview, which occurred on the street outside the castle gates is played for the jury. You can hear automobile street noise in the background, and parts of the tape are hard to understand because of the sound of the tape and the background noise. Although the jurors have a copy of the transcript, a transcript is not up up on the ELMO for the rest of the courtroom. I can hear some of Officer Pineda’s questions, but not all. Officer Pineda is a woman.
On the tape, the officers are asking De Souza about where Lana was; questions about where Spector was [standing]. I can hear the officers ask him about calling Michelle Blaine. The jurors are reading along with the audio tape. You can clearly hear dogs barking in the background on the tape.
Spector is leaning away from the defense table and I can just barely see the note paper he’s been writing on. He appears to be reading it now. Then his pen hits the paper and it’s almost like he’s editing it. On Spector’s left wrist is see a blue band, that looks like it’s plastic or hard rubber. His hands appear quite small.
Now the tape is hard to understand. It finally ends.
De Souza states that they were outside the front gate when that conversation took place. AJ would now like to play a video tape of De Souza’s interview at the police station. It’s 11:52 am, and AJ want’s to get started on it because the length of the tape will come up right against when court will end for the day. Court is going to end early it appears. I think a juror has an appointment.
The tape starts and at one and a half minutes in, AJ stops the tape to clarify the surroundings on the video and that Detective Tomlin is just out of camera range. You can barely see his hands in the video. De Souza testifies as to who was sitting where that was outside the line of sight of the video camera. AJ states that since Weinberg asked numerous questions about the “it’s my English....” AJ points to Detective Tomlin in the gallery and asks De Souza:
AJ: Is that Detective Tomlin, the handsome one?
The tape is then started again. Ah, here it is in my notes. They want to play as much of the tape as they can now, because it will come right up against at time that a juror has to leave. A large group of journalism students that came in at the break all leave along with several other people in the room.
11:58 am: Spector intently writes notes on a pad or paper. It looks like he is correcting something. His pen is on the page for a few seconds, then it lifts up and pauses. Then it’s back on the page again for a few seconds. Each time the pen hits the page, it looks like its on a different area of the paper.
The lunch recess is called. Jon takes off for a family vacation and I eat my lunch I brought in the courtroom cafeteria with Sherri and San Diego Linda.
Back inside the courtroom after lunch, Rachelle has arrived. She is wearing something very light colored today; not dark and dreary. Maybe she read the blog where someone said to me she looked dowdy and decided to wear bright colors. It’s a nice outfit. At first I think it’s white and navy blue tiny stripes, seersucker like from where I’m sitting but her accessories are black and white so the suit must be black and white. It’s a very form fitting short sleeved jacket and matching slacks. She’s wearing black and white patent leather heels. It looks like there is a white and black thick bracelet on her left wrist. The jacket has a tight waisted matching fabric belt with white piping around the edge. The short sleeves have little, oh I don’t know what you’d call them, a little flip of white fabric on the lateral edge with a button. With the outfit so light colored and the short sleeve, to me, it looks more feminine than the dark colors she’s been wearing.
As we wait for court to start Spector is turned around in his chair and staring at the gallery again. It could be my imagination but I think he’s staring in my direction so I look away from him and concentrate on the prosecution’s table. A new group of students enter and are tightly packed in the fourth and third rows.
The woman with the short brown hair is back and she’s sitting almost directly behind me now. There’s another public gentleman I’ve never seen before who enters and takes a seat.
1:34 pm: The jury comes back in and De Souza is back on the stand. The prosecution is playing the rest of the interview with De Souza at the Alhambra Police Station. More students enter the courtroom and sit in the second row, surrounding me. One of the PIO staff is here.
AJ addresses the court on some housekeeping matters. The jurors have an uncorrected copy of the audio transcript. Sherri comes in and sits in her usual spot: the back row. AJ states there is a word “shot” on the tape. It was mistyped on the page. Once that’s corrected, the prosecution is going to play the entire interview with De Souza.
My notes are not clear here, but I have AJ redirecting De Souza, having him clarify again about the “I think I killed somebody” statement that he heard Spector say.
Spector turns and faces the ELMO now to watch De Souza’s interview. The courtroom is filled with young students.
1:57 pm: Sandi Gibbons comes in and the sheriff in the back row pulls out a chair for her to sit in near the door. Before they started playing the tape, AJ stated that it was about an hour and fifteen minutes long.
2:08 pm: The students leave the courtroom in masse. The tape is hard to hear. I look over and see Rachelle close her eyes. Fidler is intently focused on the large computer monitor at his desk. I believe the tape also appears on his computer screen. The very pretty ADA who assisted in the first trial comes in and sits in Linda Deutsch’s favorite seat. The jurors don’t watch the screen much. They read along with the transcript.
2:20 pm; A tall, slender man wearing a suit comes in and sits beside Rachelle. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him before. Certainly not at the retrial. During the playing of the tape, I close my eyes several times. My lack of sleep is really taking it’s toll.
Occasionally a juror looks up at the video but most are reading along with the written transcript. As I look at the time on the video now, about 1 hour in it says 10:38:22 AM, 2-03-03, I wonder when Lana’s family was finally notified. How long did it take to find her family and tell them the terrible news?
At this point on the tape, one of the detectives is telling De Souza, “It will be a high profile case. It will be in the news. His attorney will want to contact you.” Towards the end of the tape, when the detective is advising him, De Souza is asking for advice on what to do, I could swear I heard him sniffle, and see him rub his eyes, as if he might have ben crying...or he just could have been tired. By that time he had been up for over 28 hours.
The tape ends almost exactly at 2:45 pm. The jurors are excused until December 1st at 9:30 am. As the jurors exit the courtroom I see Juror #5’s shirt completely. It IS an Easy Rider shirt! It’s a photo of the two bikes on the road and that is Jack Nicholson on the back of one of the choppers, wearing a football helmet.
Spector greets the man who sat down beside Rachelle. In the courthouse hallway, he poses for a photo with Spector; Rachelle snaps the photo.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Case Against Casey Anthony, Judge to rule on gag order tomorrow, Defense motions heard
UPDATE!
Judge Strickland has denied the gag order. Well, it seems the circus will continue on unabated until the trial.
More news today:
Someone using the Anthonys' home computer used Google to search for "neck breaking," "how to make chloraform [sic]" and "household weapons" in March, court documents show.
The search terms appear in documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel from the State Attorney's Office. More than 700 pages of documents related to the Casey Anthony case were released. Excerpts from these documents are coming soon.
Orlando Sentinel 11/26/08
Today, Judge Stan Strickland heard motions in the Casey Anthony case. I'm no legal whiz, nor am I a court stenographer. I'll just give you the highlights of the session and how they appeared to me.
Before the proceedings began, Casey's attorney, Jose Baez presented the judge with a document of about 150 pages concerning the gag order. State's Attorney Jeffrey Ashton commented that he had just received them from Baez and Baez shot back, "like he just gave me papers." Ashton pointed out that he had handed Baez three pages.
The judge was surprised to hear that Baez had served subpoenas on four members of the press the night before. Baez pointed out that he was not calling them to reveal sources. He wanted them to possibly rebut what may be mentioned by the state. There were two attorneys present to ask that the subpoenas be quashed. Judge Strickland decided to hear arguments before moving on the motions to quash.
Ashton stated that extra-judicial comments made by Mr. Baez were meant to influence the jury pool. He cited the Florida Bar Association's rule that an attorney should not create a detrimental effect on court proceedings or taint the jury pool. He also sites defense experts who have commented in the media about the case.
He went on to cite examples for the judge.
8/18/08 Baez answered questions from callers on a CNN program. Among other things, he was asked about Casey and the use of drugs. He also expressed his personal belief that Caylee Anthony is ABSOLUTELY alive. He also made negative comments concerning LE and their arrest of Casey.
8/21/08 On The Verdict with Dan Abrams, Baez revealed information covered by attorney-client privilege. He said, "Casey has told me she doesn't know where Caylee is. On the same program, he stated that there was a reason for the five-week delay in reporting Caylee missing. He also admitted on the program that his client had lied to the police.
8/23 He made comments on Nancy Grace concerning the accuracy of police reports. He discussed the credibility of sightings of Caylee on the Atlanta Flight.
10/15 Nancy Grace spoke with defense witness Dr. Lawrence Kobelinski. She called him a liar for changing his opinion once he was hired on by the defense.
Ashton went on to excoriate the infamous press releases by the mysterious Todd Black.
There are other examples he gave. But you get the gist. He felt that this was an overt attempt to taint the jury pool.
Ashton's last point concerned the defense's request to provide additional facts to dissuade the prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. He stated that he had agreed to delay the decision pending this information. He received three copies of a 30 page document which he stated was full arguments, not the additional facts expected. Ashton stated that he was called by the Orlando Sentinel, to alert him to the fact that the documents had been leaked to them.
In defense of the prosecution, Ashton stated that the only time the prosecution spoke publicly about the case was when Lawson Lamar made a brief statement to the press shortly after the indictment. He asked the judge to impose the rules he has set for his side to apply to the defense side.
To begin his turn at bat, Jose Baez stated that, while he expected to be on the 11:00 news, he never expected that the case would be so big. He then went on to state that the State's Attorney's argument was "a whole lot of hot air and not a whole lot of law." He then went on to discuss Florida Supreme Court decisions he believed bolstered his case. The main idea I got from this was that an attorney could "use the court of public opinion to show why a person should not be tried."
He stated that Ashton had fallen short of proving his comments would affect potential jurors. He went on to say that his comments wouldn't sway a jury to believe his client is innocent.
Baez went on to point out that Orlando is a large place with many people who don't follow the news. He stated that through voir dire, change of venue, or sequestration of the jury would all be remedies for the situation.
To wrap up his argument, Baez asked the judge that if there were to be a gag order, it should be narrowly tailored and not as broad as the prosecution would like.
He also enumerated examples of how the prosecution has leaked evidence. He specifically mentioned the chloroform in the car, the computer searches for chloroform, the release of the evidence about the hair with the death banding, and the air tests done at the Body Farm.
He ended up by saying that LE has put the case out in the media and now wanted to gag the defense. I must say that Mr. Baez not only dismisses the Grand Jury as meaningless, he also ignores the fact that his state has some of the most open Sunshine Laws in the country.
Finally, a Mr. McGuire, representing the Sentinel argued the media case against the gag order. Following him, an attorney for Channel 6 also speaks on behalf of the media.
Apparently, Mr. Baez chose not to use his witnesses and Judge Strickland quashed their subpoenas.
At that point, Mr. Ashton asked the judge if George and Cindy Anthony should speak, even though they don't have counsel. The judge asked if they want to speak and they declined. Cindy did raise her hand later to ask a question. She was apparently not allowed to speak at that time since the judge stated that it wasn't necessary for them to speak since if there were a gag order, it would probably not extend to the Anthony's.
Jeffrey Ashton rebutted Mr. Baez and summarized his case for the gag order by pointing out that the judge has the right to impose a gag order at his discretion for good cause. He then closed by saying that he was only asking the judge to impose on the defense the same restrictions that they have imposed on themselves.
Judge Strickland told the lawyers to submit any more documents to him tomorrow and that he would rule on the gag motion then.
The motions were dealt with next. First up was the application for subpoena duces tecum (com and bring evidence, essentially) for Amscot. The prosecution did not object but pointed out that they weren't aware if they were served. The issue is settled and the session moves on to the motion to compel forensic evidence and future testing.
This issue was problematic since it had already been addressed at the hearing on October 10. While the motion had been granted (under the child neglect charges), it had been pointed out to the defense that the FBI, since it's a Federal organization and not subject to Florida courts. Today, it was pointed out to Baez that he hadn't "noticed" the FBI to the hearing. Mr. Ashton pointed out he can't control the FBI Lab rules concerning the observation of testing.
Next up was the order to compel K9 information. Again, this had been addressed before. Baez had requested a copy of the training manual and veterinary records. Apparently, the question seems to be if there even is such a manual! Baez made a comment that he was being charged $900 for a 46 page document. An attorney from Orange County got up to address these and other issues. She explained that there isn't really a manual, just a 46 page "guide" for training the trainers. She was more than willing to supply that to Mr. Baez for a charge of 10 cents a page, a bargain from the usual 15 cents! She explained that the $900 amount was in reference to a balance due for the tips that were previously provided. Apparently, he can't get more information until he pays up!
She also said that Orange County did not have the other information he requested (manners of alert, specifics of each type of alert, and the chemical composition of the training scents).
As for the veterinary records,Baez requested a note from the court. Baez was told to subpoena them and then depose the veterinarian.
Next came the motion to compel tips collected by law enforcement. This was quite the fun spot in the proceedings! Baez began by lambasting those who provided him with the first CD with tips. He claimed that the prosecution was playing games with him and only gave him the tips for psychics, not the tips that dealt with the sightings of Caylee Marie Anthony.
Well, the attorney from Orange County got up again to explain the situation. She stated that she had had her staff working feverishly 8 hours a day to put the tips together and copy them and reduce them to a CD. She explained that it is a very expensive proposition. She claimed she had not intentionally given Mr. Baez just psychic tips, but just the first disc that had been completed. She also stated that Mr. Baez had told her to stop. She said she had brought two more discs for Mr. Baez. All he would have to do is clear up his outstanding bill of $980.
At this point, Mr. Baez stated that this was a SCAM! That, needless to say, didn't please the judge. Baez went on to say that he had a staff of 40 ready to go through the tips and had been waiting. The attorney went on to say that all the tips were in the public record and he could feel free to come down and view and copy them for himself. She again pointed out that she had just gone by the court order, and didn't know that he wanted them to cull the results.
Judge Strickland intervened at that point to tell Mr. Baez that "these are sightings."
Jose then said that the CD he received was "nonconforming goods" and that it was nonsense. He also indicated that his client didn't have that kind of money to spend.
The county attorney then said that they "weren't playing games." They were just doing what the court order told them to do. The judge looked at the original motion and noted that the type of tips wasn't specified.
As I recall from the hearing on October 10, the judge ordered the county to turn over tips that had been closed out already. Seems that they were the psychic tips that closed out first. It seems to be the case of "be careful what you ask for."
The end result of all of this was that Baez decided he'd rather do it himself! Perhaps his staff of 40 could help him.
Next up was the motion to compel crime scene investigation reports and photos. At this point, the lady State's Attorney spoke for the prosecution. I didn't catch her name at this point. She told Baez that at this point she didn't have any of the reports in writing, they are still being prepared. She also said that Mr. Baez could provide a disc and they would give him the photos that they have.
At this time, Baez said that the discovery procedures were having a "slow dragging effect" on the defendant's right to a speedy trial.
Judge Strickland pointed out that "we have a lot to do." He referred to the large number of cases that the courts have to deal with.
The State's Attorney pointed out that this wasn't the pace that Baez is accustomed to in the "smaller" cases he is used to. She also pointed out the thousands of pages of discovery already provided to him.
There was a reference here to the fact that there are dozens of other homicides, this isn't the only one.
The judge ruled that all reports would be sent on to the defense withing 10 days of receipt.
Next is the motion to compel the time lines and calendar. This situation was explained to the judge. When the investigator interviewed Anthony Lazzaro and other friends of Casey, he kept a desk calendar where he kept notes. He used the calendar to write a 150 page report. Baez wanted to have the calendar xeroxed so he could have a copy. The judge ruled that the detective would preserve the calendar and bring it to the deposition so the dates could be corroborated.
The motion to compel notes, reports, photos, slides, inspection of hair raised issues that were addressed at the last hearing. The state has already turned over all reports they had received and will deliver future reports within 10 days of receipt.
As far as bench notes were concerned, they are considered work product and not discoverable. Mr. Baez could request them from the FBI and if the FBI were willing to send them to him, he could have them.
The chain of custody documents are with the sheriff's office and keep changing. Mr. Baez was told he should feel free to request a copy from the sheriff's office.
The slides and the hair are currently in the possession of the FBI and not under the jurisdiction of the Florida courts.
The famous hair is also in question. It is still in Quantico in the possession of the FBI. If the defense wishes to have an expert there, he will have to make arrangements with the FBI. It was pointed out that it would be risky to ship it back and forth between Virginia and Orlando. Eventually, this evidence will be returned to Orange County and provided to the defense within 10 days.
Finally, the Oakridge Lab reports were brought up. It seems the lab is part of the Department of Energy and is a Federal entity. Baez wants access to documents including all reports and communications between Oakridge and the prosecution. The judge ordered all statements which were not work product to be turned over to the defense.
As the hearing finished, Ashton asked for a temporary gag order fearing a press conference on the courthouse steps. The judge refused to do so. Then, Ashton asked that both sides agree to be quiet until the judge ruled. I don't recall any response from Baez.
I'm sure I missed a bit, but I hope this is helpful to those who couldn't watch the hearing.
WKMG
WFTV
Orlando Sentinel
CNN Find Caylee Blog
Phil Spector Retrial Updates III
My detailed notes covering the ninth day of trial testimony, November 19th, 2008 are up on the blog entry for that day, here. Just scroll down until you see the update. I should have day two (November 20th) of Adriano De Souza's testimony up sometime late tomorrow.
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Case Against Casey Anthony: Motions Hearing Update, KidFinders Controversy
The motions hearing is on for tomorrow afternoon in the Casey Anthony case. Let's hope Jose Baez has his calendar straight this time! There's good news for Jose. According to Eyewitness News, the jail has had a sudden change of policy and he will be allowed to bring his laptop to jail.
There will be the usual motions for discovery as well.
The biggest issue in the hearing will be the gag order requested by the State's Attorney. The order would apply to both the prosecution and defense team. However, the gag order is aimed directly at the Anthony family and Jose Baez.
An attorney for Casey Anthony will fight a gag order in his client's case, saying it's in his client's best interest to be able to fight "false leads" being issued by the state and the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Jose Baez said he will fight the gag order at a hearing on Tuesday, and he issued subpoenas to several media members, including Local 6 News reporter Adam Longo, to testify about the publicity in the case.
Casey Anthony, 22, remains jailed on first-degree murder charges in the disappearance of her 3-year-old daughter Caylee, who was last seen in mid-June. Baez said it it his right to respond to any leak.
If we're not able to respond to false, misleading leads that are thrown out there, it would hurt our client's case," Baez said. "That's, quite frankly, the reason."
Baez has repeatedly stated that there have been leaks from the OCSO and the State's Attorney's office. I've followed this case since day 32 and the only information I have learned about the case has come from official reports from the OCSO, mainly from their spokesman, Carlos Padilla. All the rest has come from documents released to the press under the rather expansive Florida Sunshine Law. I have yet to read an article that quotes unnamed sources within any official organization. I have to wonder if Baez feels that this legally disseminated information qualifies as leaks.
I'm still trying to figure out what the misleading leads are. Quite frankly, it sounds as though Mr. Baez has spent too much time hanging out with the Anthony clan. If anyone who reads this can give me ONE example of a "misleading lead" in this case that was "leaked" to the press, please let me know!
Kid Finders???
It's been well known that George and Cindy Anthony have aligned themselves with Kid Finders Network. George has traveled around Orlando with a huge billboard featuring Caylee's picture and contact information donated by the organization. They have also sold T-shirts and bracelets in a tent. The Anthony's are very close to the founders of the organization, Dennis and Sherri Milstead.
According to George Anthony, "It's unconditional love I have for them,” Anthony said. “They know it I have said it publicly at vigils. I have said it anyway I can. I can't stress enough they have done for me."
However, things have turned ugly between the press and Kid Finders. On November 17th, intrepid WFTV reporter Kathy Belich confronted the Milsteads at their headquarters in Orlando.
When Eyewitness News confronted Milstead about his criminal past, he got very quiet and then he grabbed WFTV reporter Kathi Belich's microphone and pushed the camera while WFTV photographer Adam Liberatore was holding on to it
Watch the video HERE.
On the 19th, WPBF TV, the local Palm Beach station which covers the area where the Milsteads reside had the following article on their site.
Dennis Milstead, president of the Kid Finders Network, has dropped out of sight after reports surfaced that he was arrested on charges of impersonating a police officer and that his organization has never found a missing child. Milstead, who was spearheading the search to find missing Orlando toddler Caylee Anthony, has been taking donations for his Kid Finders Network, but his method of getting donations and what he does with the money has been in question for some time.
According to court documents, the president of the board of the local Crime Stoppers got a restraining order against Milstead after he said Milstead began showing up at his home, blocking him in the driveway, following him and acting generally threatening. He said Milstead was trying to collect money that Crime Stoppers believed Milstead had obtained through questionable procedures.
A source close to the investigation told WPBF News 25 that Milstead got donors to his Kid Finders Network to make checks out to Crime Stoppers and then demanded 90 percent of the money.
WPBF News 25's Terri Parker spoke exclusively Wednesday to the victim in his 2002 police impersonation arrest. "I noticed that his car said video surveillance, and then when he pulled me over with the flashing lights, I had a bad feeling it was not a policeman and I called 911," Kristi Posvar said in a telephone interview. "But it still shook me up, and he followed me into my gated community and really, you know, it was frightening."
Although the Milsteads have recently been spotted at their tent in Orlando selling T-shirts and collecting donations, one has to wonder if the Anthony's have ever heard of the old saying,
"You are known by the company you keep."
Local 6.com
WFTV
MyFoxOrlando
CNN Find Caylee Blog
There will be the usual motions for discovery as well.
The biggest issue in the hearing will be the gag order requested by the State's Attorney. The order would apply to both the prosecution and defense team. However, the gag order is aimed directly at the Anthony family and Jose Baez.
An attorney for Casey Anthony will fight a gag order in his client's case, saying it's in his client's best interest to be able to fight "false leads" being issued by the state and the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Jose Baez said he will fight the gag order at a hearing on Tuesday, and he issued subpoenas to several media members, including Local 6 News reporter Adam Longo, to testify about the publicity in the case.
Casey Anthony, 22, remains jailed on first-degree murder charges in the disappearance of her 3-year-old daughter Caylee, who was last seen in mid-June. Baez said it it his right to respond to any leak.
If we're not able to respond to false, misleading leads that are thrown out there, it would hurt our client's case," Baez said. "That's, quite frankly, the reason."
Baez has repeatedly stated that there have been leaks from the OCSO and the State's Attorney's office. I've followed this case since day 32 and the only information I have learned about the case has come from official reports from the OCSO, mainly from their spokesman, Carlos Padilla. All the rest has come from documents released to the press under the rather expansive Florida Sunshine Law. I have yet to read an article that quotes unnamed sources within any official organization. I have to wonder if Baez feels that this legally disseminated information qualifies as leaks.
I'm still trying to figure out what the misleading leads are. Quite frankly, it sounds as though Mr. Baez has spent too much time hanging out with the Anthony clan. If anyone who reads this can give me ONE example of a "misleading lead" in this case that was "leaked" to the press, please let me know!
Kid Finders???
It's been well known that George and Cindy Anthony have aligned themselves with Kid Finders Network. George has traveled around Orlando with a huge billboard featuring Caylee's picture and contact information donated by the organization. They have also sold T-shirts and bracelets in a tent. The Anthony's are very close to the founders of the organization, Dennis and Sherri Milstead.
According to George Anthony, "It's unconditional love I have for them,” Anthony said. “They know it I have said it publicly at vigils. I have said it anyway I can. I can't stress enough they have done for me."
However, things have turned ugly between the press and Kid Finders. On November 17th, intrepid WFTV reporter Kathy Belich confronted the Milsteads at their headquarters in Orlando.
When Eyewitness News confronted Milstead about his criminal past, he got very quiet and then he grabbed WFTV reporter Kathi Belich's microphone and pushed the camera while WFTV photographer Adam Liberatore was holding on to it
Watch the video HERE.
On the 19th, WPBF TV, the local Palm Beach station which covers the area where the Milsteads reside had the following article on their site.
Dennis Milstead, president of the Kid Finders Network, has dropped out of sight after reports surfaced that he was arrested on charges of impersonating a police officer and that his organization has never found a missing child. Milstead, who was spearheading the search to find missing Orlando toddler Caylee Anthony, has been taking donations for his Kid Finders Network, but his method of getting donations and what he does with the money has been in question for some time.
According to court documents, the president of the board of the local Crime Stoppers got a restraining order against Milstead after he said Milstead began showing up at his home, blocking him in the driveway, following him and acting generally threatening. He said Milstead was trying to collect money that Crime Stoppers believed Milstead had obtained through questionable procedures.
A source close to the investigation told WPBF News 25 that Milstead got donors to his Kid Finders Network to make checks out to Crime Stoppers and then demanded 90 percent of the money.
WPBF News 25's Terri Parker spoke exclusively Wednesday to the victim in his 2002 police impersonation arrest. "I noticed that his car said video surveillance, and then when he pulled me over with the flashing lights, I had a bad feeling it was not a policeman and I called 911," Kristi Posvar said in a telephone interview. "But it still shook me up, and he followed me into my gated community and really, you know, it was frightening."
Although the Milsteads have recently been spotted at their tent in Orlando selling T-shirts and collecting donations, one has to wonder if the Anthony's have ever heard of the old saying,
"You are known by the company you keep."
Local 6.com
WFTV
MyFoxOrlando
CNN Find Caylee Blog
Free Frankie!
This is not a joke. I've known this family for over 15 years. The institutional treatment of Frankie has been horrendous. He was sweet as child and has been locked away for far too long.
Kindly take a minute and sign the petition. :
Thanks and lets get Frankie home for the holidays!
After loosing all hope, Janette Vance wrote and set up the enclosed petition.
The miracle we are asking for is that Governor Corzine approve the Proposed Community placement and allow Frankie to have a home and receive humane treatment.
If you find it in your heart to do so, we are asking that you… sign your name and add a comment of your choice even if the comment is just "Governor Corzine Free Frankie".
Help Frankie achieve his dream and express your feelings.
Please forward the petition to all of your family, friends and associates, please ask them to send it to all of their family, friends and associates.
Please help save Frankie—you can make a difference.
Click here: Governor Corzine, Free Frankie Now!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/FreeFrankie/index.html
Thank you,
Kathy-- Frankie's Mom
Links:
The statement from the NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities' Olmstead Plan "Path to Progress."
This Special Project describes conditions at New Lisbon at the time the U.S. Department of Justice was conducting its investigation.
Department of Justice reported the results of its investigation into conditions at the New Lisbon Developmental Center. By then, Frankie had been at New Lisbon for 9 years.
Kindly take a minute and sign the petition. :
Thanks and lets get Frankie home for the holidays!
After loosing all hope, Janette Vance wrote and set up the enclosed petition.
The miracle we are asking for is that Governor Corzine approve the Proposed Community placement and allow Frankie to have a home and receive humane treatment.
If you find it in your heart to do so, we are asking that you… sign your name and add a comment of your choice even if the comment is just "Governor Corzine Free Frankie".
Help Frankie achieve his dream and express your feelings.
Please forward the petition to all of your family, friends and associates, please ask them to send it to all of their family, friends and associates.
Please help save Frankie—you can make a difference.
Click here: Governor Corzine, Free Frankie Now!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/FreeFrankie/index.html
Thank you,
Kathy-- Frankie's Mom
Links:
The statement from the NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities' Olmstead Plan "Path to Progress."
This Special Project describes conditions at New Lisbon at the time the U.S. Department of Justice was conducting its investigation.
Department of Justice reported the results of its investigation into conditions at the New Lisbon Developmental Center. By then, Frankie had been at New Lisbon for 9 years.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The Case Against Casey Anthony: Motions Hearing Tuesday and the Circus Continues
The case against Casey Anthony will return to court Tuesday, November 25. The State's Attorney will argue for a gag motion for all those involved. This motion will be opposed by defense attorney Jose Baez, the Orlando Sentinel, and WFTV.
Yet another motion requests "all bench notes, reports, and photographs concerning any forensic evidence the FBI has received and processed in this case," documentation of the chain of evidence for the evidence, as well as the microscopic slides, including the hair studies. The defense wants all the records from the "Body Farm" studies and all communications about the result. The defense is also asking for all tips received as well as K9 information including the training manual and veterinary records.
It should be a fascinating hearing.
With their new spokesperson, Michelle Bart, George and Cindy Anthony have continued to state that Caylee is alive. On Sunday, November 16, Ms. Bart announced that she planned to hold a press conference to show evidence that Caylee is still alive. She indicated that leads placed the toddler had been seen at the Orlando airport during a three day period.
"I believe that the singular person out of the 6 billion people in the world who holds the key to finding Caylee is her mother, Casey Anthony. Although I was quite successful in resolving a multitude of matters, I am unable to go further to help George and Cindy find Caylee in my current role. I can only provide my best advice and must respect any client's prerogative to do what they deem is best, whether they choose to follow my guidance or not. However, there is little value or use I can provide to any client if they choose to act and comment at will.
In the end, the Anthonys publisized a picture of a little girl they thought may be Caylee. The family PI is investigating the lead.
In his letter, NeJame stated that he respected the Anthonys' right to believe that Caylee is alive, and with that I would agree. However, I do believe that the family needs to remember the rights of others to their own privacy. I certainly hope that they leave the leads to the PI and not subject other families to not have their children's pictures spread throughout the press and the internet.
There is so much more that happened this week. The OCSO announced they will no longer follow tips on live searches. WESH reported that
Sheriff's Office spokesman Carlos Padilla said they are confident that FBI lab tests on evidence found in Casey Anthony's car prove Caylee is dead. He said that is backed up by the grand jury's murder indictment of Casey Anthony. "We cannot continue to look when we have no evidence whatsover that she's alive," he said.
The battle will continue. The OCSO will move on to other cases while the State's Attorney and his staff prepare for trial. George and Cindy will continue in their own search with the help of the KidFinders Network, which has now come under scrutiny by the press.
Part of the circus this week has been the accusations made against Dennis Milstead, a co-founder of the organization along with his wife Sherri. WFTV's Kathy Belich confronted the couple in Orlando with mug shots of him and his criminal record.
Then, Dr. Henry Lee joined the defense team and inspected Casey's car.
Leonard Padilla has been offered $200,000 for the video rights to the dive search. That money would sure hire a good amount of dive time!
The FBI videos of interviews with George and Cindy Anthony were released. For those who viewed them all, we learned more about Casey, Cindy and George. If you are following the case, most of them will provide new information.
I'm sure there is more, I do hope some of you will add to my collection.
For Caylee's sake, I wish that the events leading up to the trial of her mother Casey for murder would be more dignified. It almost seems as though people forget sometimes that in this entire situation, this little girl's memory needs to be treated with utmost dignity.
Return of Subpoena Hearing in Nicholas Sheley Trial
Guest Entry by katfish!
Yesterday, November 19, I attended another return of subpoena hearing in the Nicholas Sheley case. Sheley 29, is accused of killing eight people in a two-state killing spree last June. Knox County, IL gets the first crack at trying Sheley in connection to the killing spree. Sheley is facing 17 counts for the death of Ronald Randall, 65, in Galesburg, IL. If convicted Sheley will face the death penalty.
I waited to post this entry until I could get copies of the motions and orders that were entered yesterday. Unfortunately, when I went to the courthouse this morning I was told the court reporter still had the paperwork, so I wouldn't be able to get copies. I was told to check tomorrow. I was a little lost taking notes yesterday because there was a lot of back and forth between the attorneys and the judge referencing the motions. I will do the best I can without them for now. If I'm able to go to town tomorrow, I will try again. I will post them on DocStock or another one of those document holding sites and post a link if I'm able to get them.
It's 9:45 a.m. when I arrive at the Knox County courthouse for the 10 a.m. hearing. When I get to the door of the courthouse I notice a Sheriff's patrol car pulling up with two unmarked cars behind it. This looks like it might be Sheley. I'm a little surprised because he didn't attend the last return of subpoena hearing(it took about 5 minutes). Perhaps there will be more to the hearing today than just return of subpoenas. I go through security and make my way up the steps to the second floor courtroom.
When I reach the top of the stairway I'm stopped by security and told I have to wait a moment. They must be transferring prisoners. This is a very old building (built in 1882-1884) and there is only one elevator and the stairway winds around the elevator shaft. It takes just a moment before I hear the doors to the elevator open and out comes Nicholas Sheley with his normal entourage of Sheriff's personnel. Once Sheley was taken into a room off of the courtroom I was allowed to pass.
Continue reading at katfish ponders...
Yesterday, November 19, I attended another return of subpoena hearing in the Nicholas Sheley case. Sheley 29, is accused of killing eight people in a two-state killing spree last June. Knox County, IL gets the first crack at trying Sheley in connection to the killing spree. Sheley is facing 17 counts for the death of Ronald Randall, 65, in Galesburg, IL. If convicted Sheley will face the death penalty.
I waited to post this entry until I could get copies of the motions and orders that were entered yesterday. Unfortunately, when I went to the courthouse this morning I was told the court reporter still had the paperwork, so I wouldn't be able to get copies. I was told to check tomorrow. I was a little lost taking notes yesterday because there was a lot of back and forth between the attorneys and the judge referencing the motions. I will do the best I can without them for now. If I'm able to go to town tomorrow, I will try again. I will post them on DocStock or another one of those document holding sites and post a link if I'm able to get them.
It's 9:45 a.m. when I arrive at the Knox County courthouse for the 10 a.m. hearing. When I get to the door of the courthouse I notice a Sheriff's patrol car pulling up with two unmarked cars behind it. This looks like it might be Sheley. I'm a little surprised because he didn't attend the last return of subpoena hearing(it took about 5 minutes). Perhaps there will be more to the hearing today than just return of subpoenas. I go through security and make my way up the steps to the second floor courtroom.
When I reach the top of the stairway I'm stopped by security and told I have to wait a moment. They must be transferring prisoners. This is a very old building (built in 1882-1884) and there is only one elevator and the stairway winds around the elevator shaft. It takes just a moment before I hear the doors to the elevator open and out comes Nicholas Sheley with his normal entourage of Sheriff's personnel. Once Sheley was taken into a room off of the courtroom I was allowed to pass.
Continue reading at katfish ponders...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Markers & Goals, II
Just a few moments ago, T&T surpassed 400,000 page loads and over 288,000 unique visitors. We think that's pretty good for only being on the Internet since early June, 2007. Thank you everyone for continuing to stop by.
Sprocket, donchais, ritanita
Sprocket, donchais, ritanita
Phil Spector Retrial: Day Nine of Testimony
Updated!
November 19th, 2008
Adriano De Souza testifies!
Prosecution Witnesses:
#13: Gamaliel Catalan* (Communications Supervisor of Alhambra Police Dept.; testimony completed) *Possible misspelling of first name.
#14: Sandra Hill (Public Safety Dispatch Supervisor for the California Highway Patrol; testimony completed)
#15: Adriano De Souza (substitute personal driver for Spector the night of February 2, 2003; currently under first cross by Weinberg)
Accredited Press in the courtroom:
Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times
Beth Karas of TruTv's In Sessions, morning session (unofficial capacity)
It was a very exciting day today. After two quick witnesses to present De Souza's 911 call, Adriano De Souza took the witness stand today and told the jury the words he heard Spector say just outside the rear entrance of his Alhambra home and holding a gun in his right hand, "I think I killed somebody."
The jurors appeared transfixed every since the playing of the 911 call. Court started a bit late this morning, a little after 10 am. De Souza's direct testimony was finished around 2:18 pm. After a very short break, Weinberg started cross examination. Weinberg methodically began to chip away at De Souza's memory. He also confronted De Souza on the different versions he gave to investigators of the statement he claims Spector said. Weinberg did something that I don't believe the defense did in the first trial. Wearing a latex glove, Weinberg had De Souza pick up the gun that killed Lana Clarkson and demonstrate to the jury how he saw Spector holding the weapon when he stood at the back door. De Souza testifies that he could see the color of the gun handle.
AJ: Let the record reflect that I'm approximately twelve to fifteen feet away and I can clearly see the [medallion? on the gun during the] demonstration."
While he is demonstrating for the jury, Weinberg asks De Souza, "Is it your testimony that at five o'clock in the morning you could see the handle?" "Sure," De Souza replies. "My hand is bigger than Mr. Spector's."
I'm very tired today and I will write up detailed notes over the holiday break. However, I wanted to mention some people who were in the courtroom today. Two middle age gentlemen came in and sat behind Rachelle. At the lunch break, Spector greeted them and they left the courtroom together. Beth Karas of In Sessions was in court during the morning session and we both commented that we did not recognize the men having attended the first trial. Louis Spector and his companion, Frieda were in court today. Remember Ricardo Ocampo, the former Deputy District Attorney who was appointed to the L.A. County Superior Court last Friday? His mother was in the gallery today. She was warmly greeted by AJ before court began. At the afternoon break, she was introduced to Mrs. Clarkson, who congratulated her on her son's recent appointment. Also in the courtroom was Onalee Hunter from NBC. In the afternoon, DA spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons introduced her to Harriet Ryan and myself. She is working on a fictional pilot/series for a show about L.A. prosecutors. AJ and Truc are both very attractive and with AJ's charisma, they could easily play themselves!
I almost forgot! Juror #5 is wearing the black, Sun Records t-shirt again. I believe this is the fourth time Juror #5 has worn a music related t-shirt in 9 days of testimony. When the jurors exited the courtroom passing the defendant, Spector smiled as he noticed the shirt. He then spoke to Weinberg's paralegal, Susan. I'm not positive on what Spector said. It could have been, "Did you see that?"
Update! Detailed Trial Notes for Wednesday, November 19th, 2008.
I’m a bit late. I make the 8:39 am train. As the train takes off from North Hollywood, I watch the walls of the tunnel speed by. My mind drifts off to a familiar topic and that’s an earthquake while I’m in the tunnel. The train is making an unusual stop in the middle of the tunnel. Over the speaker we’re told it’s to “drop off personnel." This is at a spot somewhere between the Universal City Station and the Hollywood and Highland Station. I try to peer out the window but I’m on the wrong side of the train to see anything. Yesterday, Mr. Sprocket and I had a “disagreement” about what an earthquake will and will not do. I want him to strap down all the electronic equipment ~ DVDR’s, receivers, the TV ~ in the living room armoire. Mr. Sprocket (who has never been through anything more than a 4.5) keeps telling me that the “cable” attached to the TV and other stuff will keep it in the armoire during an earthquake. I have to remind him that the last earthquake flattened an apartment building in Northridge and destroyed freeways.
9:29 am: I’m inside the courtroom. San Diego Linda and her friend Paula have taken the Metrolink to be here today. There is a possibility that De Souza will take the stand and Linda said she didn’t want to miss it. This is true dedication to watch this trial. The Metrolink ride is two hours one way.
9:45 am: Court still hasn’t started yet so something must be up. 9:53 am, Louis Spector and Frieda arrive. It isn’t until 10 am that Truc enters the courtroom. I’ve never seen anyone unpack a laptop and get it set up faster than Truc. There are a few public people in the courtroom today.
10:02 am: AJ strolls in with the cart carrying the prosecution's case binders that they need for today. A friend of AJ’s is in court and he greets her with a hug and a kiss. Later, I find out that this is the mother of Ricardo Ocampo, who was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court on November 14th. A gentleman enters the courtroom and asks AJ if he can sit in the first row on the end. I suspect this is the prosecution’s next witness. 10:05 am: One of the prosecution’s clerks arrives with AJ’s laptop. I note that Mrs. Ocampo is very nicely dressed in a dark skirt and white jacket with a thick black belt.
Spector is wearing his usual Edwardian type suit jacket. From where I’m sitting it has a bit of a satiny sheen to it. Rachelle is wearing a black pinstripe jacket.
10:07 am: Harriet Ryan and the Clarkson’s enter. Beth Karas arrives and greets Louis and Frieda. Both counsel approach the bench for a conference before testimony starts.
The next witness is called, #13 Gamaliel Catalan, a communications supervisor for the Alhambra Police Department. I remember when he testified at the first trial. He supervises the 911 system for the City of Alhambra. At the time of the shooting, land line 911 calls would go directly to the 911 emergency system. However, calls from cell phones went directly to the California Highway Patrol, (CHP) who would take the information and direct the call to the appropriate municipality.
The 911 system is audio voice recorded and a paper trail is generated and that’s called a “dispatch incident.” Under subpoena, he did a search of record systems and found a single 911 call from 1700 Grand View and provided the information to the DA’s office.
Truc plays for the jury De Souza’s 911 call. What’s interesting is, this is the “second” half of the 911 call. The text of the call is put up on the screen as the audio is played. The document shows the call came in at 5:02:20 am. When the paper document, the “dispatch incident” is introduced, Weinberg objects to the record as hearsay. His argument is that it’s not verified as to who said what words, that are on the document.
Judge Fidler questions the witness about the record and how it’s generated. Afterwards, he overrules the objection. I have here in my notes “the audio of the 911” but I’m not sure if it’s played again, (I think so) or if they are going over the dispatch incident.
The 911 call clearly states that De Souza saw Spector with the gun. This is moments after the shooting. The jurors have a transcript of the call and the text is also up on the ELMO as the audio plays.
TD: Other than this one call, were there others?
GC: No.
Direct is finished and cross begins.
Weinberg crosses the witness on the dispatch incident report. “Can you tell who created or spoke what [from this report]? Weinberg asks. “It’s the dispatcher’s abbreviation,” Catalan responds. Weinberg then brings up the fact that we have not heard the portion related to the CHP, who first took the call. That’s it. Cross is finished and the next witness is called.
#14 Sandra Hill, Public Safety Dispatch Supervisor for the California Highway Patrol. She has been in this position for 12 years. She is a custodian of records for the CHP. Their records are stored on audio tape for 180 days and a paper trail is also generated. Their incident report is up on the screen. What’s interesting is, the record shows the time as 5:04:52 am. The clocks must have been off somewhere, because this call actually happened before the call that was just introduced into evidence with an earlier time stamp on it’s paper document.
The audio tape is played for the jury and the text of the call scrolls down the screen. I copy what I can.
I think, my boss killed somebody.
He has a lady on the floor and a gun in, in his hand.
I think he, he killed her.
Direct is finished and cross begins.
Weinberg establishes that she had nothing to do with the call. Dispatcher Rick Vollmer handled the call. “Did CHP make that transcript? (exhibit 143)” Weinberg asks. Hill replies, “We did not prepare the transcript. We only prepare logs. [...] The CHP did not prepare it.”
Weinberg crosses her on line 19 of the transcript which has quotation marks around one of the statements. (I am trying to get a copy of the transcript so I can clarify this for everyone.) “There was nothing on the tape about quoting someone was there?” Weinberg asks her.
OBJECTION! Sustained.
DW: Has the CHP tried to enhance the quality of the tape?
OBJECTION! (I believe it’s AJ who makes the objection.) Your honor, there is some confusion because we had to take witnesses out of order.
There’s a bench conference.
DW: These 911 calls come in extemporaneously, correct?
Weinberg is challenging the interpretation of the call.
DW: Do you know if Mr. Vollmer had any other information on how he determined that his [De Souza's] boss killed someone?
Objection!
Fidler asks the witness, “If you know?”
SH: No, I do not.
Fidler then addresses the court. “Because of the confusion of witnesses out of order, we will play the complete 911 call from start to finish.”
The jurors watch the screen, as the audio is played but the text on the screen stops. Fidler points it out to Truc and she responds that the jurors have a transcript of the calls.
We are finally finished and the next witness is called. #15 is Adriano De Souza!
De Souza is wearing a white shirt and a green tie. AJ stands up to present De Souza’s testimony.
In 2003, De Souza was a limo driver. He worked as a private driver and also worked part time at the Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills. He did not own his own limousine but drove the car of whomever hired him. He knew Kathy Sullivan who worked at the restaurant. Dillon Keane was Spector’s “official” driver. He met Keane at the restaurant and he was the one who recommended him to Spector to fill in when Keane was unavailable. De Souza testifies that he drove Mr. Spector in Spector’s own car. Michelle Blaine would call and set up the appointments. He states that he thinks he drove for Spector about 15 times.
When I take a look over at Rachelle, she has a pair of glasses on. It’s 11:03 am and one of the juror’s raises their hand and asks for a restroom break. I had forgotten how tiny Beth Karas is in person. She is wearing a beautiful deep blue skirt with a matching short, form fitting jacket top. Underneath the jacket she has on a stretchy long sleeve black top. She’s also wearing a striking necklace. It appears to be made of solid silver. It’s a large, open pedal rose on a black cord. I have never seen Beth look unprofessional when she's at court. Another woman who might be press is in the back row directly behind me. Spector is wearing black and brown two-toned shoes.
Before the break, AJ asked De Souza what branch of the military he served in. “Army,” he replies. “So a grunt?” AJ asked. De Souza didn’t get the reference and AJ replied, “Bad joke.”
De Souza’s education was reviewed in detail. He’s no slouch. He studied English from a very young age, his early teens. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in computer science. He wrote programming languages in English.
Two elderly looking gentlemen came in during the break or earlier and sit behind Rachelle. At the end of the break, they chat with Rachelle.
11:20 am: Break is over. In the Brazilian Army, De Souza reached the rank of First Lieutenant, which is an officer rank. I think De Souza’s English is a tiny better than the first trial. De Souza states that when he was in Brazil, he had private instruction to learn English.
Up on the ELMO now is an arial view of the front of Spector’s home, the “Castle.” Then two more photos are added that are outside, back of the house views. Next up is a city map of the area and De Souza identifies all the locations relevant to the night of the shooting. De Souza then is asked to identify Spector’s first “date” of the evening and describe her. He describes Rommie Davis.
I take a glance at Rachelle and her eyes are closed.
De Souza testifies about taking Rommie Davis home and going back to pick up Kathy Sullivan at The Grill on the Alley. He details the places that he drove Spector and testifies that he did not enter any establishment. He stayed in the car. When Spector wanted Kathy Sullivan to go with him to Dan Tanas from Trader Vic's, De Souza testifies that Kathy Sullivan told Spector that she was tired.
Spector then decides to go to the House of Blues. De Souza describes how he drove into the wrong entrance area at the House of Blues. He dropped them off, they got out of the car, discovered their mistake and they got back into the car and he drove them down around to the lower, Olive Street entrance.
De Souza then describes when Sullivan came back to the car. She was with someone else and he didn’t know who the other person was. The individual introduced herself to him as Lana. The video surveillance video of Lana coming out is played for De Souza. (Three other videos are also played.)
In each video, AJ asks De Souza to identify the “shorter person” he points to with the laser pointer. Each time, De Souza states that the person is Phil Spector.
It’s now that I get a clear view of Juror #5’s clothing. He’s wearing the SUN STUDIO t-shirt again. Alan Parachini from the PIO and one of his staff members have been in the courtroom most of the morning.
De Souza tells the jury what type of car Lana drove: a black Mercury Cougar.
I look on over at the two gentlemen behind Rachelle. One of them is dressed as if he “might” be in the music or entertainment industry. I think I might have seen that one at the first trial, but I’m not sure. He has slightly curly, almost frizzy salt and pepper hair.
It’s 12 noon and the lunch recess is called. Since I brought my lunch today, Linda, Paula, Sherri and I all have lunch in the courthouse cafeteria.
1:29 pm: We’re back inside the courtroom. The prosecution isn’t here yet. The defense is here with Spector and Rachelle. The friends from the morning session are not here, which leads me to believe they might not have eaten lunch with Spector. There are three students from Pepperdine University who are in a journalism law class, taking notes on the trial. They are sitting in the third row off to my left. A minute later AJ, Truc and one of their clerks arrive.
One of the trial watchers commented to me that Truc has a great wardrobe and I agree. I have been impressed with every suit I have seen her wear. You would think that with all my attention to fashion I would know something about clothes and high couture. I don’t. I couldn’t tell you anything about who the latest designers are. I’ve been a tomboy since my early teen years and my clothing of choice is a pair of comfy jeans with a white t-shirt. I do find it fascinating though, how several of the players are presented and what message that sends to the press as well as the jury. Before I forget, Truc is wearing a chocolate brown skirt and jacket suit. It’s perfectly tailored and the skirt has a nice design of five 10” pleats in the back.
One of Spector’s friends from the morning session returns. It’s the man with the salt and pepper hair. Beth Karas does not return to court for the afternoon session, but Harriet Ryan from the Los Angeles Times is here.
1:34 pm: Court is about to start. The jury files in. The second DA clerk is here and Mrs. Ocampo sits with him. 1:36 pm, Judge Fidler takes the bench. De Souza is back on the witness stand.
De Souza is now going over the testimony where Lana is already in the limo. She speaks to De Souza and De Souza tells the jury that Spector yelled at her not to talk to the driver. After they were driving for a while, De Souza testifies that he started to smell alcohol coming from the back seat of the Mercedes.
PIO staff enter the courtroom and sit in the plastic seats against the wall by the door.
De Souza testifies that for the first time ever, Spector instructed him to stop at the front entrance to the house where there is a huge staircase. If I’m remembering correctly from the first trial, there are over 80 steps to reach the front entrance. De Souza then drove around to the back gate and parked directly beside the rear entrance to the house. This was the first time that De Souza drove Spector and a woman to the Castle.
AJ pantomimes the handling of the briefcase and how far De Souza went into the house to drop it off. I then see AJ lean over the railing to Mrs. Clarkson to prepare her for gruesome photographs of her daughter. De Souza states that at around 5 am he heard a noise. He goes onto describe how he got out of the car and walked around the fountain looking for the source of the noise. He then got back into the car.
Right after he got back into the car, Spector emerged from the rear entrance of the house. AJ goes over to the bailiff and retrieves an evidence bag. A mug shot of Spector is put up on the ELMO, and De Souza identifies that this is how Spector looked, on the night of the shooting. De Souza stands and using his hand as a substitute for the gun, demonstrates how he saw Spector was holding the weapon. With his knowledge of guns from 9 years in the Brazilian Army, De Souza testifies that Spector was holding a revolver. He identifies the gun from the evidence bag as the one Spector was holding.
De Souza testifies what he heard Spector say after he emerged from the house. “I think I killed someone.” AJ goes over this several times with De Souza, making sure the jury hears that there is “no question in his mind” as to what he heard Spector say.
De Souza testifies that he saw blood on Spector’s right forefinger. “He had a stupid look on his face.” De Souza says. De Souza testifies that he leaned to the right to look around Spector who is standing in the rear entrance doorway and sees Lana. “What happened, sir?” De Souza says to Spector. Spector’s response to that question is to shrug his shoulders. The shrugging movement is demonstrated to the jury. Spector had no expression on his face. “Like a blank stare?” AJ asks. “Yes,” De Souza answers.
De Souza then tells the jury how frightened he was. He started to run down the driveway away from the house and then remembered the car. He ran back, got into the Mercedes and drove to the front gate where he knew there was a sign with the address on it. He had testified earlier that he knew how to get to the Castle but he didn’t know the exact address to tell the 911 operator.
De Souza states he first called Michelle Blaine. He didn’t reach her; he left a message on her answering machine. That tape is played for the jury and the text is put up on the ELMO.
2:16 pm: The white haired man from the first trial enters the courtroom and sits down beside Rachelle in the first row.
(I don’t have it i my notes but if I’m remembering correctly, I think the 911 call De Souza made is also played. I may be wrong, and it could have been played as part of the redirect.)
Direct is finished and cross begins.
Weinberg verifies that De Souza was interviewed by Alhambra Police Officer’s Kennedy and Pineda, as well as two from the Sheriff’s Department, Tomlin and Fortier. De Souza will continually state that he is not sure about all the officer’s names. He testifies that he was interviewed by many officers. He does remember being interviewed by Officer Pineda. Weinberg asks him if he was interviewed by the prosecutor’s since the last trial and De Souza says no. Weinberg then asks the question again, almost with a disbelief tone in his voice. De Souza states that he hasn’t talked to anyone since the last trial about the facts of the case except his wife and that was only to detail the times he would have to go to court.
Weinberg asks De Souza if he speaks Portuguese at home with his wife and De Souza says, “That’s right.” Weinberg acknowledges his education and English and that’s it. There are not hundreds of questions about his English like Bradley Brunon did at the first trial. But what Weinberg does for the rest of his cross examination for the day, is cross him on his testimony at the grand jury, his interviews with police and his testimony at the first trial and point out where there are inconsistencies.
DW: When you testified at the first trial, you said that you did have trouble understanding Mr. Spector when he was drunk. Why did you leave that out now? [...] [You said], you didn’t understand him when he was drunk; you didn’t understand him when he was mumbling; you didn’t understand him when he didn’t finish his sentences.
AJ: Objection! [Read back of prior testimony is incorrect.]
Judge Fidler asks De Souza a question. De Souza responds that when he testified on direct, he had no trouble understanding Mr. Spector that day.
Weinberg gets De Souza to admit that by the time that he was done with Mr. Spector, he had been up for about 23 hours.
In the interview with Detective’s Tomlin and Fortier, Weinberg questions De Souza on the fact that he told them that Spector was slurring his words outside of Trader Vic’s.
I believe there is an objection here by the people, and Fidler directs Weinberg in the first of many similar directions for the rest of the afternoon, to finish quoting from the interview so that the question he is asking is presented “in context.” It’s something that Weinberg tries to do again and again throughout De Souza’s cross.
Weinberg is now crossing on something De Souza testified to at the first trial. He has his clerk put the text of the testimony up on the ELMO and the people object. The objection is sustained. This is not proper protocol for introducing cross exam, and Weinberg has already been told by the Judge on prior occasions that he’s not to do that.
DW: Isn’t it true sir that the last time you testified under oath, you were the one who invited Lana into the Mercedes?
It happens again. Weinberg reads part of a prior testimony at either the trial or the grand jury and AJ quickly objects. Fidler then instructs Weinberg to include the next few lines or more lines to put the question into context.
I believe we are now on the afternoon break, because I have in my notes that I overhear Sandi Gibbons introduce the woman in the back row to Harriet Ryan. She’s a producer for NBC working on developing a pilot about Los Angeles prosecutors and she’s studying AJ. Harriet asks her if it’s a documentary and she replies that its a fiction series. Sandi Gibbons then says to me, “I saw your ears perk up Sprocket.” Sandi Gibbons then introduces me by my real name to Onalee Hunter and that I write I blog. I tell Ms. Hunter that I write from the perspective as if my readers were in the courtroom with me, as if they would see what I see. I have a lot of mundane commentary about people coming in and out of the courtroom and where they sit.
3:11 pm: Weinberg asks Fidler if he can play about 45 seconds of the prosecution’s tape of detectives talking outside near the fountain. He wants to play it not for the dialog, but for the sound level of the fountain. Weinberg also wants to have De Souza demonstrate with the weapon in his hand, how he saw Spector holding the gun. Fidler instructs Weinberg that he wants to make sure that De Souza does not hold the gun in the direction of the jurors and that a latex glove will be needed to handle the weapon. The bailiff produces a glove.
3:15 pm: Break is over and we are back on the record.
Weinberg asks De Souza about how much does Lana Clarkson weigh and how tall she is. The state objects and Fidler overrules them, saying he can guess. He estimates Lana Clarkson’s weight as 170 to 160 pounds. He is then asked to estimate the same for Spector. He states Spector is about 5’2” to 5’3” and weighs approximately 125 pounds. De Souza states that Lana Clarkson was helping Spector to walk up the stairs to the front entrance. Weinberg continues to cross him on the reenactment and plays the audio of the fountain. It’s quite noisy. De Souza states that he did not hear any arguing or other voices before the “POW” noise that startled him.
Again, via another question, De Souza still states that he didn’t have any problem understanding Spector that night.
3:29 pm: Spector’s fan arrives and sits in the third bench row.
Weinberg is asking several questions about how he saw Spector holding the gun. De Souza says, “I can show you.” Weinberg then wants De Souza to not just show the jury with his right arm and finger pointing, he wants him to demonstrate with the weapon in his hand.
Once De Souza takes the weapon and tries to show the jury without pointing the gun in their direction, AJ, who is seated at the prosecution table says, “Let the record reflect I’m 12 to 15 feet away and I can clearly see the demonstration [and medallion] on the weapon.”
Weinberg is crossing De Souza now about the color of the handle of the weapon. “Is it your testimony that at 5 o’clock in the morning you could see the handle?” De Souza answers, “Sure. My hand is bigger than Mr. Spector’s.”
3:36 pm: Now Weinberg brings up the fact that in the first trial he identified the handle of the gun as black verses brown, today.
DW: Do you remember talking to Tomlin and Fortier, that you “thought you saw some blood but not sure,” but now you’re testifying now you’re certain you saw blood. Why is that?
Now Weinberg is asking De Souza about Spector’s reaction after he asked him, “What happened, sir?” and the small discrepancies in his testimony.
I could swear that I just heard De Souza say in response to one of Weinberg’s questions, ‘It’s not like ordering a pizza sir, when you see a body.’
Now Weinberg is back to questioning him about the 911 call.
DW: If that’s what you were trying to convey, why didn’t you say that? Why didn’t you say, [clarifying] “He said?”
This is the part of the 911 tape where Weinberg asked the 911 system operator about the “quote marks” around a part of the text in the people’s transcript of the call.
DW: At no time in your conversation to 911 to CHP did you say, “Mr. Spector said this,” or, “Mr. Spector said that.”
DW: You’ve had the experience of misunderstanding someone and they’re not drunk.
ADS: Yes sir.
DW: No fountain, you’re not drunk. You just simply misunderstand.
Weinberg gives an example of one of the transcripts.
DW: You heard him mumble before?
ADS: Yes.
DW: You heard him clearly at that moment?
ADS: Yes.
DW: The first person you spoke to, Officer Cardella, his report, page 16 has you say that “he” [you; De Souza] opened the door, stepped inside and saw Phil Spector.
De Souza reads a paragraph from that report. The words that he says he heard spoken in that report are, “I think I just killed her.”
ADS: No, I don’t remember.
It’s 4:00 pm and court has ended for the day.
When the jurors exited the courtroom passing the defendant, Spector smiled as he notices the Sun Records t-shirt on Juror #5. Spector then spoke to Weinberg's paralegal, Susan. I'm not positive on what Spector said. It could have been, "Did you see that?"
Court resumes at 9:30 am, tomorrow morning.
November 19th, 2008
Adriano De Souza testifies!
Prosecution Witnesses:
#13: Gamaliel Catalan* (Communications Supervisor of Alhambra Police Dept.; testimony completed) *Possible misspelling of first name.
#14: Sandra Hill (Public Safety Dispatch Supervisor for the California Highway Patrol; testimony completed)
#15: Adriano De Souza (substitute personal driver for Spector the night of February 2, 2003; currently under first cross by Weinberg)
Accredited Press in the courtroom:
Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times
Beth Karas of TruTv's In Sessions, morning session (unofficial capacity)
It was a very exciting day today. After two quick witnesses to present De Souza's 911 call, Adriano De Souza took the witness stand today and told the jury the words he heard Spector say just outside the rear entrance of his Alhambra home and holding a gun in his right hand, "I think I killed somebody."
The jurors appeared transfixed every since the playing of the 911 call. Court started a bit late this morning, a little after 10 am. De Souza's direct testimony was finished around 2:18 pm. After a very short break, Weinberg started cross examination. Weinberg methodically began to chip away at De Souza's memory. He also confronted De Souza on the different versions he gave to investigators of the statement he claims Spector said. Weinberg did something that I don't believe the defense did in the first trial. Wearing a latex glove, Weinberg had De Souza pick up the gun that killed Lana Clarkson and demonstrate to the jury how he saw Spector holding the weapon when he stood at the back door. De Souza testifies that he could see the color of the gun handle.
AJ: Let the record reflect that I'm approximately twelve to fifteen feet away and I can clearly see the [medallion? on the gun during the] demonstration."
While he is demonstrating for the jury, Weinberg asks De Souza, "Is it your testimony that at five o'clock in the morning you could see the handle?" "Sure," De Souza replies. "My hand is bigger than Mr. Spector's."
I'm very tired today and I will write up detailed notes over the holiday break. However, I wanted to mention some people who were in the courtroom today. Two middle age gentlemen came in and sat behind Rachelle. At the lunch break, Spector greeted them and they left the courtroom together. Beth Karas of In Sessions was in court during the morning session and we both commented that we did not recognize the men having attended the first trial. Louis Spector and his companion, Frieda were in court today. Remember Ricardo Ocampo, the former Deputy District Attorney who was appointed to the L.A. County Superior Court last Friday? His mother was in the gallery today. She was warmly greeted by AJ before court began. At the afternoon break, she was introduced to Mrs. Clarkson, who congratulated her on her son's recent appointment. Also in the courtroom was Onalee Hunter from NBC. In the afternoon, DA spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons introduced her to Harriet Ryan and myself. She is working on a fictional pilot/series for a show about L.A. prosecutors. AJ and Truc are both very attractive and with AJ's charisma, they could easily play themselves!
I almost forgot! Juror #5 is wearing the black, Sun Records t-shirt again. I believe this is the fourth time Juror #5 has worn a music related t-shirt in 9 days of testimony. When the jurors exited the courtroom passing the defendant, Spector smiled as he noticed the shirt. He then spoke to Weinberg's paralegal, Susan. I'm not positive on what Spector said. It could have been, "Did you see that?"
Update! Detailed Trial Notes for Wednesday, November 19th, 2008.
I’m a bit late. I make the 8:39 am train. As the train takes off from North Hollywood, I watch the walls of the tunnel speed by. My mind drifts off to a familiar topic and that’s an earthquake while I’m in the tunnel. The train is making an unusual stop in the middle of the tunnel. Over the speaker we’re told it’s to “drop off personnel." This is at a spot somewhere between the Universal City Station and the Hollywood and Highland Station. I try to peer out the window but I’m on the wrong side of the train to see anything. Yesterday, Mr. Sprocket and I had a “disagreement” about what an earthquake will and will not do. I want him to strap down all the electronic equipment ~ DVDR’s, receivers, the TV ~ in the living room armoire. Mr. Sprocket (who has never been through anything more than a 4.5) keeps telling me that the “cable” attached to the TV and other stuff will keep it in the armoire during an earthquake. I have to remind him that the last earthquake flattened an apartment building in Northridge and destroyed freeways.
9:29 am: I’m inside the courtroom. San Diego Linda and her friend Paula have taken the Metrolink to be here today. There is a possibility that De Souza will take the stand and Linda said she didn’t want to miss it. This is true dedication to watch this trial. The Metrolink ride is two hours one way.
9:45 am: Court still hasn’t started yet so something must be up. 9:53 am, Louis Spector and Frieda arrive. It isn’t until 10 am that Truc enters the courtroom. I’ve never seen anyone unpack a laptop and get it set up faster than Truc. There are a few public people in the courtroom today.
10:02 am: AJ strolls in with the cart carrying the prosecution's case binders that they need for today. A friend of AJ’s is in court and he greets her with a hug and a kiss. Later, I find out that this is the mother of Ricardo Ocampo, who was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court on November 14th. A gentleman enters the courtroom and asks AJ if he can sit in the first row on the end. I suspect this is the prosecution’s next witness. 10:05 am: One of the prosecution’s clerks arrives with AJ’s laptop. I note that Mrs. Ocampo is very nicely dressed in a dark skirt and white jacket with a thick black belt.
Spector is wearing his usual Edwardian type suit jacket. From where I’m sitting it has a bit of a satiny sheen to it. Rachelle is wearing a black pinstripe jacket.
10:07 am: Harriet Ryan and the Clarkson’s enter. Beth Karas arrives and greets Louis and Frieda. Both counsel approach the bench for a conference before testimony starts.
The next witness is called, #13 Gamaliel Catalan, a communications supervisor for the Alhambra Police Department. I remember when he testified at the first trial. He supervises the 911 system for the City of Alhambra. At the time of the shooting, land line 911 calls would go directly to the 911 emergency system. However, calls from cell phones went directly to the California Highway Patrol, (CHP) who would take the information and direct the call to the appropriate municipality.
The 911 system is audio voice recorded and a paper trail is generated and that’s called a “dispatch incident.” Under subpoena, he did a search of record systems and found a single 911 call from 1700 Grand View and provided the information to the DA’s office.
Truc plays for the jury De Souza’s 911 call. What’s interesting is, this is the “second” half of the 911 call. The text of the call is put up on the screen as the audio is played. The document shows the call came in at 5:02:20 am. When the paper document, the “dispatch incident” is introduced, Weinberg objects to the record as hearsay. His argument is that it’s not verified as to who said what words, that are on the document.
Judge Fidler questions the witness about the record and how it’s generated. Afterwards, he overrules the objection. I have here in my notes “the audio of the 911” but I’m not sure if it’s played again, (I think so) or if they are going over the dispatch incident.
The 911 call clearly states that De Souza saw Spector with the gun. This is moments after the shooting. The jurors have a transcript of the call and the text is also up on the ELMO as the audio plays.
TD: Other than this one call, were there others?
GC: No.
Direct is finished and cross begins.
Weinberg crosses the witness on the dispatch incident report. “Can you tell who created or spoke what [from this report]? Weinberg asks. “It’s the dispatcher’s abbreviation,” Catalan responds. Weinberg then brings up the fact that we have not heard the portion related to the CHP, who first took the call. That’s it. Cross is finished and the next witness is called.
#14 Sandra Hill, Public Safety Dispatch Supervisor for the California Highway Patrol. She has been in this position for 12 years. She is a custodian of records for the CHP. Their records are stored on audio tape for 180 days and a paper trail is also generated. Their incident report is up on the screen. What’s interesting is, the record shows the time as 5:04:52 am. The clocks must have been off somewhere, because this call actually happened before the call that was just introduced into evidence with an earlier time stamp on it’s paper document.
The audio tape is played for the jury and the text of the call scrolls down the screen. I copy what I can.
I think, my boss killed somebody.
He has a lady on the floor and a gun in, in his hand.
I think he, he killed her.
Direct is finished and cross begins.
Weinberg establishes that she had nothing to do with the call. Dispatcher Rick Vollmer handled the call. “Did CHP make that transcript? (exhibit 143)” Weinberg asks. Hill replies, “We did not prepare the transcript. We only prepare logs. [...] The CHP did not prepare it.”
Weinberg crosses her on line 19 of the transcript which has quotation marks around one of the statements. (I am trying to get a copy of the transcript so I can clarify this for everyone.) “There was nothing on the tape about quoting someone was there?” Weinberg asks her.
OBJECTION! Sustained.
DW: Has the CHP tried to enhance the quality of the tape?
OBJECTION! (I believe it’s AJ who makes the objection.) Your honor, there is some confusion because we had to take witnesses out of order.
There’s a bench conference.
DW: These 911 calls come in extemporaneously, correct?
Weinberg is challenging the interpretation of the call.
DW: Do you know if Mr. Vollmer had any other information on how he determined that his [De Souza's] boss killed someone?
Objection!
Fidler asks the witness, “If you know?”
SH: No, I do not.
Fidler then addresses the court. “Because of the confusion of witnesses out of order, we will play the complete 911 call from start to finish.”
The jurors watch the screen, as the audio is played but the text on the screen stops. Fidler points it out to Truc and she responds that the jurors have a transcript of the calls.
We are finally finished and the next witness is called. #15 is Adriano De Souza!
De Souza is wearing a white shirt and a green tie. AJ stands up to present De Souza’s testimony.
In 2003, De Souza was a limo driver. He worked as a private driver and also worked part time at the Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills. He did not own his own limousine but drove the car of whomever hired him. He knew Kathy Sullivan who worked at the restaurant. Dillon Keane was Spector’s “official” driver. He met Keane at the restaurant and he was the one who recommended him to Spector to fill in when Keane was unavailable. De Souza testifies that he drove Mr. Spector in Spector’s own car. Michelle Blaine would call and set up the appointments. He states that he thinks he drove for Spector about 15 times.
When I take a look over at Rachelle, she has a pair of glasses on. It’s 11:03 am and one of the juror’s raises their hand and asks for a restroom break. I had forgotten how tiny Beth Karas is in person. She is wearing a beautiful deep blue skirt with a matching short, form fitting jacket top. Underneath the jacket she has on a stretchy long sleeve black top. She’s also wearing a striking necklace. It appears to be made of solid silver. It’s a large, open pedal rose on a black cord. I have never seen Beth look unprofessional when she's at court. Another woman who might be press is in the back row directly behind me. Spector is wearing black and brown two-toned shoes.
Before the break, AJ asked De Souza what branch of the military he served in. “Army,” he replies. “So a grunt?” AJ asked. De Souza didn’t get the reference and AJ replied, “Bad joke.”
De Souza’s education was reviewed in detail. He’s no slouch. He studied English from a very young age, his early teens. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in computer science. He wrote programming languages in English.
Two elderly looking gentlemen came in during the break or earlier and sit behind Rachelle. At the end of the break, they chat with Rachelle.
11:20 am: Break is over. In the Brazilian Army, De Souza reached the rank of First Lieutenant, which is an officer rank. I think De Souza’s English is a tiny better than the first trial. De Souza states that when he was in Brazil, he had private instruction to learn English.
Up on the ELMO now is an arial view of the front of Spector’s home, the “Castle.” Then two more photos are added that are outside, back of the house views. Next up is a city map of the area and De Souza identifies all the locations relevant to the night of the shooting. De Souza then is asked to identify Spector’s first “date” of the evening and describe her. He describes Rommie Davis.
I take a glance at Rachelle and her eyes are closed.
De Souza testifies about taking Rommie Davis home and going back to pick up Kathy Sullivan at The Grill on the Alley. He details the places that he drove Spector and testifies that he did not enter any establishment. He stayed in the car. When Spector wanted Kathy Sullivan to go with him to Dan Tanas from Trader Vic's, De Souza testifies that Kathy Sullivan told Spector that she was tired.
Spector then decides to go to the House of Blues. De Souza describes how he drove into the wrong entrance area at the House of Blues. He dropped them off, they got out of the car, discovered their mistake and they got back into the car and he drove them down around to the lower, Olive Street entrance.
De Souza then describes when Sullivan came back to the car. She was with someone else and he didn’t know who the other person was. The individual introduced herself to him as Lana. The video surveillance video of Lana coming out is played for De Souza. (Three other videos are also played.)
In each video, AJ asks De Souza to identify the “shorter person” he points to with the laser pointer. Each time, De Souza states that the person is Phil Spector.
It’s now that I get a clear view of Juror #5’s clothing. He’s wearing the SUN STUDIO t-shirt again. Alan Parachini from the PIO and one of his staff members have been in the courtroom most of the morning.
De Souza tells the jury what type of car Lana drove: a black Mercury Cougar.
I look on over at the two gentlemen behind Rachelle. One of them is dressed as if he “might” be in the music or entertainment industry. I think I might have seen that one at the first trial, but I’m not sure. He has slightly curly, almost frizzy salt and pepper hair.
It’s 12 noon and the lunch recess is called. Since I brought my lunch today, Linda, Paula, Sherri and I all have lunch in the courthouse cafeteria.
1:29 pm: We’re back inside the courtroom. The prosecution isn’t here yet. The defense is here with Spector and Rachelle. The friends from the morning session are not here, which leads me to believe they might not have eaten lunch with Spector. There are three students from Pepperdine University who are in a journalism law class, taking notes on the trial. They are sitting in the third row off to my left. A minute later AJ, Truc and one of their clerks arrive.
One of the trial watchers commented to me that Truc has a great wardrobe and I agree. I have been impressed with every suit I have seen her wear. You would think that with all my attention to fashion I would know something about clothes and high couture. I don’t. I couldn’t tell you anything about who the latest designers are. I’ve been a tomboy since my early teen years and my clothing of choice is a pair of comfy jeans with a white t-shirt. I do find it fascinating though, how several of the players are presented and what message that sends to the press as well as the jury. Before I forget, Truc is wearing a chocolate brown skirt and jacket suit. It’s perfectly tailored and the skirt has a nice design of five 10” pleats in the back.
One of Spector’s friends from the morning session returns. It’s the man with the salt and pepper hair. Beth Karas does not return to court for the afternoon session, but Harriet Ryan from the Los Angeles Times is here.
1:34 pm: Court is about to start. The jury files in. The second DA clerk is here and Mrs. Ocampo sits with him. 1:36 pm, Judge Fidler takes the bench. De Souza is back on the witness stand.
De Souza is now going over the testimony where Lana is already in the limo. She speaks to De Souza and De Souza tells the jury that Spector yelled at her not to talk to the driver. After they were driving for a while, De Souza testifies that he started to smell alcohol coming from the back seat of the Mercedes.
PIO staff enter the courtroom and sit in the plastic seats against the wall by the door.
De Souza testifies that for the first time ever, Spector instructed him to stop at the front entrance to the house where there is a huge staircase. If I’m remembering correctly from the first trial, there are over 80 steps to reach the front entrance. De Souza then drove around to the back gate and parked directly beside the rear entrance to the house. This was the first time that De Souza drove Spector and a woman to the Castle.
AJ pantomimes the handling of the briefcase and how far De Souza went into the house to drop it off. I then see AJ lean over the railing to Mrs. Clarkson to prepare her for gruesome photographs of her daughter. De Souza states that at around 5 am he heard a noise. He goes onto describe how he got out of the car and walked around the fountain looking for the source of the noise. He then got back into the car.
Right after he got back into the car, Spector emerged from the rear entrance of the house. AJ goes over to the bailiff and retrieves an evidence bag. A mug shot of Spector is put up on the ELMO, and De Souza identifies that this is how Spector looked, on the night of the shooting. De Souza stands and using his hand as a substitute for the gun, demonstrates how he saw Spector was holding the weapon. With his knowledge of guns from 9 years in the Brazilian Army, De Souza testifies that Spector was holding a revolver. He identifies the gun from the evidence bag as the one Spector was holding.
De Souza testifies what he heard Spector say after he emerged from the house. “I think I killed someone.” AJ goes over this several times with De Souza, making sure the jury hears that there is “no question in his mind” as to what he heard Spector say.
De Souza testifies that he saw blood on Spector’s right forefinger. “He had a stupid look on his face.” De Souza says. De Souza testifies that he leaned to the right to look around Spector who is standing in the rear entrance doorway and sees Lana. “What happened, sir?” De Souza says to Spector. Spector’s response to that question is to shrug his shoulders. The shrugging movement is demonstrated to the jury. Spector had no expression on his face. “Like a blank stare?” AJ asks. “Yes,” De Souza answers.
De Souza then tells the jury how frightened he was. He started to run down the driveway away from the house and then remembered the car. He ran back, got into the Mercedes and drove to the front gate where he knew there was a sign with the address on it. He had testified earlier that he knew how to get to the Castle but he didn’t know the exact address to tell the 911 operator.
De Souza states he first called Michelle Blaine. He didn’t reach her; he left a message on her answering machine. That tape is played for the jury and the text is put up on the ELMO.
2:16 pm: The white haired man from the first trial enters the courtroom and sits down beside Rachelle in the first row.
(I don’t have it i my notes but if I’m remembering correctly, I think the 911 call De Souza made is also played. I may be wrong, and it could have been played as part of the redirect.)
Direct is finished and cross begins.
Weinberg verifies that De Souza was interviewed by Alhambra Police Officer’s Kennedy and Pineda, as well as two from the Sheriff’s Department, Tomlin and Fortier. De Souza will continually state that he is not sure about all the officer’s names. He testifies that he was interviewed by many officers. He does remember being interviewed by Officer Pineda. Weinberg asks him if he was interviewed by the prosecutor’s since the last trial and De Souza says no. Weinberg then asks the question again, almost with a disbelief tone in his voice. De Souza states that he hasn’t talked to anyone since the last trial about the facts of the case except his wife and that was only to detail the times he would have to go to court.
Weinberg asks De Souza if he speaks Portuguese at home with his wife and De Souza says, “That’s right.” Weinberg acknowledges his education and English and that’s it. There are not hundreds of questions about his English like Bradley Brunon did at the first trial. But what Weinberg does for the rest of his cross examination for the day, is cross him on his testimony at the grand jury, his interviews with police and his testimony at the first trial and point out where there are inconsistencies.
DW: When you testified at the first trial, you said that you did have trouble understanding Mr. Spector when he was drunk. Why did you leave that out now? [...] [You said], you didn’t understand him when he was drunk; you didn’t understand him when he was mumbling; you didn’t understand him when he didn’t finish his sentences.
AJ: Objection! [Read back of prior testimony is incorrect.]
Judge Fidler asks De Souza a question. De Souza responds that when he testified on direct, he had no trouble understanding Mr. Spector that day.
Weinberg gets De Souza to admit that by the time that he was done with Mr. Spector, he had been up for about 23 hours.
In the interview with Detective’s Tomlin and Fortier, Weinberg questions De Souza on the fact that he told them that Spector was slurring his words outside of Trader Vic’s.
I believe there is an objection here by the people, and Fidler directs Weinberg in the first of many similar directions for the rest of the afternoon, to finish quoting from the interview so that the question he is asking is presented “in context.” It’s something that Weinberg tries to do again and again throughout De Souza’s cross.
Weinberg is now crossing on something De Souza testified to at the first trial. He has his clerk put the text of the testimony up on the ELMO and the people object. The objection is sustained. This is not proper protocol for introducing cross exam, and Weinberg has already been told by the Judge on prior occasions that he’s not to do that.
DW: Isn’t it true sir that the last time you testified under oath, you were the one who invited Lana into the Mercedes?
It happens again. Weinberg reads part of a prior testimony at either the trial or the grand jury and AJ quickly objects. Fidler then instructs Weinberg to include the next few lines or more lines to put the question into context.
I believe we are now on the afternoon break, because I have in my notes that I overhear Sandi Gibbons introduce the woman in the back row to Harriet Ryan. She’s a producer for NBC working on developing a pilot about Los Angeles prosecutors and she’s studying AJ. Harriet asks her if it’s a documentary and she replies that its a fiction series. Sandi Gibbons then says to me, “I saw your ears perk up Sprocket.” Sandi Gibbons then introduces me by my real name to Onalee Hunter and that I write I blog. I tell Ms. Hunter that I write from the perspective as if my readers were in the courtroom with me, as if they would see what I see. I have a lot of mundane commentary about people coming in and out of the courtroom and where they sit.
3:11 pm: Weinberg asks Fidler if he can play about 45 seconds of the prosecution’s tape of detectives talking outside near the fountain. He wants to play it not for the dialog, but for the sound level of the fountain. Weinberg also wants to have De Souza demonstrate with the weapon in his hand, how he saw Spector holding the gun. Fidler instructs Weinberg that he wants to make sure that De Souza does not hold the gun in the direction of the jurors and that a latex glove will be needed to handle the weapon. The bailiff produces a glove.
3:15 pm: Break is over and we are back on the record.
Weinberg asks De Souza about how much does Lana Clarkson weigh and how tall she is. The state objects and Fidler overrules them, saying he can guess. He estimates Lana Clarkson’s weight as 170 to 160 pounds. He is then asked to estimate the same for Spector. He states Spector is about 5’2” to 5’3” and weighs approximately 125 pounds. De Souza states that Lana Clarkson was helping Spector to walk up the stairs to the front entrance. Weinberg continues to cross him on the reenactment and plays the audio of the fountain. It’s quite noisy. De Souza states that he did not hear any arguing or other voices before the “POW” noise that startled him.
Again, via another question, De Souza still states that he didn’t have any problem understanding Spector that night.
3:29 pm: Spector’s fan arrives and sits in the third bench row.
Weinberg is asking several questions about how he saw Spector holding the gun. De Souza says, “I can show you.” Weinberg then wants De Souza to not just show the jury with his right arm and finger pointing, he wants him to demonstrate with the weapon in his hand.
Once De Souza takes the weapon and tries to show the jury without pointing the gun in their direction, AJ, who is seated at the prosecution table says, “Let the record reflect I’m 12 to 15 feet away and I can clearly see the demonstration [and medallion] on the weapon.”
Weinberg is crossing De Souza now about the color of the handle of the weapon. “Is it your testimony that at 5 o’clock in the morning you could see the handle?” De Souza answers, “Sure. My hand is bigger than Mr. Spector’s.”
3:36 pm: Now Weinberg brings up the fact that in the first trial he identified the handle of the gun as black verses brown, today.
DW: Do you remember talking to Tomlin and Fortier, that you “thought you saw some blood but not sure,” but now you’re testifying now you’re certain you saw blood. Why is that?
Now Weinberg is asking De Souza about Spector’s reaction after he asked him, “What happened, sir?” and the small discrepancies in his testimony.
I could swear that I just heard De Souza say in response to one of Weinberg’s questions, ‘It’s not like ordering a pizza sir, when you see a body.’
Now Weinberg is back to questioning him about the 911 call.
DW: If that’s what you were trying to convey, why didn’t you say that? Why didn’t you say, [clarifying] “He said?”
This is the part of the 911 tape where Weinberg asked the 911 system operator about the “quote marks” around a part of the text in the people’s transcript of the call.
DW: At no time in your conversation to 911 to CHP did you say, “Mr. Spector said this,” or, “Mr. Spector said that.”
DW: You’ve had the experience of misunderstanding someone and they’re not drunk.
ADS: Yes sir.
DW: No fountain, you’re not drunk. You just simply misunderstand.
Weinberg gives an example of one of the transcripts.
DW: You heard him mumble before?
ADS: Yes.
DW: You heard him clearly at that moment?
ADS: Yes.
DW: The first person you spoke to, Officer Cardella, his report, page 16 has you say that “he” [you; De Souza] opened the door, stepped inside and saw Phil Spector.
De Souza reads a paragraph from that report. The words that he says he heard spoken in that report are, “I think I just killed her.”
ADS: No, I don’t remember.
It’s 4:00 pm and court has ended for the day.
When the jurors exited the courtroom passing the defendant, Spector smiled as he notices the Sun Records t-shirt on Juror #5. Spector then spoke to Weinberg's paralegal, Susan. I'm not positive on what Spector said. It could have been, "Did you see that?"
Court resumes at 9:30 am, tomorrow morning.
Here We Go Again - Halverson To Appeal
Disgraced Judge, Elizabeth Halverson plans to appeal the decision that permanently removes her from the bench. Halverson has 15 days to appeal the decision to the Nevada Supreme Court.
The Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission issued the decision on Monday following an investigation into serious misconduct allegations including lying under oath, sleeping on the bench, inappropriate contact with jurors, and abuse of staff.
Michael Schwartz, Halverson's lawyer, says that his client was not surprised by the decision and added that she should not be removed from office.
Schwartz said, "Knowing the facts of the case, I don't believe there's a basis to have that kind of disposition."
The ruling comes after more than a year and a half of fighting between the judge and Nevada’s judicial system. Prior to and during the hearing, Halverson was unsuccessful in petitioning several courts, including the Nevada Supreme Court and federal court, to intervene on her behalf.
Halverson was suspended from the bench in July 2007, but has continued to collect her $130,000 annual salary. As of Monday, she will no longer receive that paycheck.
She is not eligible for a pension, as Nevada judges need to serve for five years before they can collect.
KTNV
Las Vegas Review-Journal
The Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission issued the decision on Monday following an investigation into serious misconduct allegations including lying under oath, sleeping on the bench, inappropriate contact with jurors, and abuse of staff.
Michael Schwartz, Halverson's lawyer, says that his client was not surprised by the decision and added that she should not be removed from office.
Schwartz said, "Knowing the facts of the case, I don't believe there's a basis to have that kind of disposition."
The ruling comes after more than a year and a half of fighting between the judge and Nevada’s judicial system. Prior to and during the hearing, Halverson was unsuccessful in petitioning several courts, including the Nevada Supreme Court and federal court, to intervene on her behalf.
Halverson was suspended from the bench in July 2007, but has continued to collect her $130,000 annual salary. As of Monday, she will no longer receive that paycheck.
She is not eligible for a pension, as Nevada judges need to serve for five years before they can collect.
KTNV
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Phil Spector Retrial: Day Eight of Testimony
November 18th, 2008
Prosecution Witnesses:
#10: Sophia Holguin (waitress who served Spector at the House of Blues; testimony completed)
#11: Euphrathes Anthony Lalonvriz (Security trainer at the House of Blues; testimony completed)
#12 Melissa Grosvenor (1101(b) witness who was held at gunpoint in Spector's Pasadena home)
Accredited Press inside the courtroom:
Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times (about an hour in the afternoon session)
I miss the 8:29 am train this morning. Going down the escalator I realize I forgot to take a sweater again and I forgot to bring a bottle of water. When I get a seat on the train, there is a woman in the seat directly behind me. She has headphones on and she is singing, badly. This is going to be an interesting (and auditorialy painful) 1/2 hour ride. When the train starts up I'm fortunate. The sound drowns out the weak wailing of the American Idol wannabe.
In the first floor elevator bay, Pat Kelly from the PIO and I chat about where I can get any public case documents or motions. She tells me that normally they would be on the mezzanine level but since the case is in court the easiest would be to just ask the prosecutors for a copy of the document. It takes us about five tries before we are able to get on an elevator.
The courtroom is almost empty. There's no accredited press and no attorneys with Mrs. Clarkson and Fawn. There are two gentlemen in the gallery on my left. Spector's #1 fan is here. Weinberg's male clerk is covering computer exhibits duty today. Spector is wearing a black pinstripe jacket, black pants a black shirt and a white kerchief. There are black shoes on his feet. Rachelle is wearing the black form fitted short satin jacket again with a midnight blue satin shirt. From here, her pants look like they have multicolored pin stripes, but I'm sure that's not right. They are too long, too; the pant cuffs are dragging on the floor. Over that she is wearing one of her long, worn sweater coats.
Wendy and AJ and Truc chat. At 9:37 am the jury is called and the bailiff calls out for people in the gallery to turn off their cell phones and pagers. For a short time, the courtroom appears that it's a bit warmer today. The DA's clerks arrive. I notice two of the alternates take out wool looking shawls and wrap them around their shoulders when they sit down. Juror #5 is wearing another music related t-shirt. It's black with an image and the words Johnny Cash. The rest of the men are wearing button down or polo shirts. A juror in the back row has a coughing fit, but she's fine.
Sophia is up on the stand, under cross examination.
Ms. Holguin's cross is not as painful as some of the 1101(b) witnesses. Many times however, she answer's Weinberg's questions with I don't remember that, I don't know or I don't recall.
I take a moment to look on over at the jury. One alternate stares at Weinberg a lot. A juror in the top row takes a note. The alternates in the first row have their eye on the witness. I would have to say in general, this group does not take many notes. There are a few jurors that hardly take any notes at all.
Weinberg goes over in detail with Holguin's recollection of how Spector instructed the $450.00 tip be distributed, and she didn't get that entire tip. Weinberg asks her, "In fact, he had about five people in mind, correct?" Holguin answers, "Yes." Weinberg then implies that she takes most of the money for herself and didn't distribute it like instructed.
DW: You told your roommate when you got home you, you told your roommate you got $350.00?
SH: I don't have a roommate.
Weinberg gets Holguin to admit that Spector was not "irritated" the entire time he was at the House of Blues. He tries to impeach her that she told detectives Spector just asked for rum, not Bacardi 151 specifically. He asks her if she knows what "up selling" is and she denies doing that with Spector's order.
Weinberg's cross concentrates on focusing on discrepancies in her initial interview with police on February 7th, 2003. In that interview, she went over the details of the dialog she heard Spector say when ordering drinks at the House of Blues three times. It was on the third recounting of the event when she tells detectives that Spector said to Kathy Sullivan, "Just order a f***ing drink!"
DW: Isn't it true that on the 3rd go through, this is the first time you said [to detectives] 'Get a f***ing drink? [...]
I believe she answers yes.
DW: Will you explain to the jury why it wasn't until the third time you went over this, this is the first time you bring this up?
Because I had just heard the woman I was working with was murdered.
DW: Is that what you think?
SH: That's what I had heard on the news at the time. I don't know.
DW: Didn't you just mix this up in your mind?
SH: Because as I talked about it, more detail came back.
When Weinberg makes these confrontational type questions, the witness is a bit stunned, almost like she's starting to doubt her own thought process. That's just my impression.
One juror in the back row is very attentive and takes notes. Two jurors in the front row, both have one arm across their chest and a hand resting on their face. Another juror in the back row rocks in their chair.
Weinberg is now in a familiar stance when he is cross examining. He has his left arm across his chest, and his right arm is close to his body and his hand on his face. His chin is resting in the palm of his right hand. I don't always see his full face, so I don't know what expressions he is giving the witness when he stands like this.
Right after cross ends, John Taylor enters the courtroom and sits with Lana's family. AJ gets up to redirect his witness.
On redirect, Holguin testifies that Spector asked her to go home with him. She declined. She also testifies that Spector was hitting on Lana and that the detectives when they first interviewed her, asked her about this.
Recross.
There are more questions again about the three times she went over the drink ordering event with the detectives. The jurors look totally bored at this point and I rarely see a note being taken now. It must be putting Rachelle to sleep. Her eyes are closed.
DW: Are you trying to say that the first time you were talking about ordering drinks you were not giving exact words?
SH: Could you repeat that please?
Weinberg asks about the ordering of the rum again. In the interview with detectives she told them Spector ordered it straight up. Today, she testified that it was on the rocks. The jury looks like they want to leave. Fidler asks Weinberg if they can take a break. He states that he just has a few more questions. I think this is ridiculous.
Recross is finished and AJ gets up to redirect.
AJ: Regardless of what he ordered, straight up, on the rocks, what you served was Bacardi 151 and that's what he drank, correct?
SH: Yes.
AJ: And it's double the alcohol?
SH: Yes.
We're finished and we take the morning break.
11:06 am: Break is almost over. Pat Dixon comes in to sit in the back row on one of the plastic chairs. During the break I saw Euphrathes and Melissa Grosvenor in the hallway. One of them will be next. I believe the gentleman who is with Melissa is her husband. During the break, a trial watcher came up to me and said they thought Rachelle was starting to look a bit dowdy, because she has toned down her outfits. She has been wearing more dark colors than light.
The next witness is Euphrathes Lalonvriz and Truc presents the witness.
He had worked at this House of Blues location a little over a year and before that he had worked at a HOB in New Orleans. His job title/description was Bartender/Security. At the time he was a "trainer" which meant that he could go to any HOB location and train new employees.
He explains the Foundation Room inside the House of Blues as a VIP room for clientele. He had seen Spector at the HOB before the February 2nd date. He explains the term "golden" and how it is used to treat some members like they would treat the honored patron, Dan Ackroyd.
Lalonvriz details his recollection of the altercation at the entrance to the Foundation Room between Spector and Lana. He then describes what he saw of the drink ordering event. He testifies that inside the "Buddha Room" where Spector and Kathy Sullivan were seated, Sullivan was sitting somewhat behind Spector. He did not see her face while he was ordering drinks. He states that he saw Sullivan shaking her head that she did not want a drink, and that she silently "mouthed" that she just wanted water. He instructed the waitress to put Sullivan's water order in a tall glass with a lime to make it look like it was a drink. He testifies that Sullivan appeared "edgy" and uncomfortable to be there.
Lalonvriz testifies that he had a short conversation with Sullivan at the Sunset Blvd. entrance outside. He states that Sullivan said while shaking her head, 'I just want to leave." She was walking toward the backside of the HOB [towards the parking area where Spector's car was parked].
Truc then introduces five security footage video clips into evidence. As the first tape starts to play, Lalonvriz holds up his hand and he says something to the effect of, "I'm sorry. It has nothing to do with you. The courtroom is real cold and I have to go to the bathroom."
It's a funny moment and the jurors and the gallery laugh. Judge Fidler says, "Of course." and Lalonvriz makes a bee line for the door.
Meanwhile, Detective Tomlin is sitting in Linda Deutsch's favorite spot. Several of the jurors chat with the individual beside them. I see a black man enter out of the corner of my right eye and sit in the back row of the courtroom. 11:43 am the witness retakes the stand and Fidler retakes the bench.
As each tape is played, Truc stops the video and has Lalonvriz identify people in the video. The first three videos are of the parking area outside the House of Blues. The fourth clip I don't remember seeing before. It's of Lana inside the Foundation Room, putting out candles at the bar area. This was one of her jobs that she has to complete before she is allowed to go sit with Spector at his table.
While this clip is up, Lalonvriz describes various areas of the Foundation Room that surround the image of the bar up on the ELMO. I notice that Donna gets teary eyed, seeing the grainy, infrared image of her daughter up on the screen. She is dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex. Seeing her cry, my eyes start to well up with tears also.
Fidler calls the noon recess. When I look on over to my left I see that Donte has arrived sometime since the last break. He leaves the courtroom with Spector, Rachelle and the bodyguard.
12:59 pm: I'm back in the hallway, waiting. I see Donte sitting on one of the benches. It makes me wonder if he went to lunch with his father, or if he ate in the cafeteria, alone. 1:25 pm Spector, Rachelle and the bodyguard arrive. Inside the courtroom, Donte is sitting beside Rachelle in the first bench row on the right. The courtroom is virtually empty. The only other people are one of the DA's clerks and the witness.
I watch Truc pull these huge, five or six inches thick binders off the cart and then put some hand cream quickly on her hands. "Where's AJ?" she asks the clerk. He said he would be right along after the clerk left the office. 1:33 pm Pat Kelly from the PIO arrives, and still no AJ. 1:36 pm the Clarkson's arrive. Spector's #1 fan is here and again there is no press in the room.
Lalonvriz takes the stand again and identifies the people in the last video clip. Sandi Gibbons from the DA's office enters at 1:43 pm. I notice Spector is facing the ELMO, watching the video clip. And that's it. Lalonvriz's testimony is finished for direct. As the last clip plays of Lana Clarkson getting into Spector's Mercedes I think, This is the last image that anyone has of Lana, alive. The only people who see her alive after this are Adriano DeSouza and Spector. A chill goes down my spine.
Weinberg has no cross for this witness! Melissa Grosvenor is called to the stand. A man I remember from the first trial is with her. I think it is her husband. He sits on the second bench row off to my left.
AJ requests a short recess to argue a motion outside the presence of the jury. The jury files back out and Melissa Grosvenor, who was sitting in Linda Deutsch's favorite spot is asked to leave the courtroom for a moment. AJ makes an effort to prevent the defense from bringing up Melissa's bank fraud felony conviction, as well as the employment application she filled out for Continental Airlines where she lied on an employment application. He fails. Fidler rules this is all admissible under Wheeler.
With that settled the jury comes back in and Melissa comes back into the courtroom. This time I think she is sitting on the end in the first row. As the jury comes in Spector sits down before they are finished filing in. During that time he has turned his body around and he's staring directly at Melissa Grosvenor for about 6-8 seconds. When Spector realizes the jury hasn't finished filing in he stands up again. During the entire stare down, Grosvenor stares straight ahead and doesn't look at Spector.
Grosvenor's testimony was finished early at around 3:30 pm today. However, it's getting late and I need to wash my hair and get to bed. I'll try to finish up this entry tomorrow evening. I believe that Spector's driver, Adriano DeSouza will be the first or second witness up on the stand tomorrow. More to come...
Prosecution Witnesses:
#10: Sophia Holguin (waitress who served Spector at the House of Blues; testimony completed)
#11: Euphrathes Anthony Lalonvriz (Security trainer at the House of Blues; testimony completed)
#12 Melissa Grosvenor (1101(b) witness who was held at gunpoint in Spector's Pasadena home)
Accredited Press inside the courtroom:
Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times (about an hour in the afternoon session)
I miss the 8:29 am train this morning. Going down the escalator I realize I forgot to take a sweater again and I forgot to bring a bottle of water. When I get a seat on the train, there is a woman in the seat directly behind me. She has headphones on and she is singing, badly. This is going to be an interesting (and auditorialy painful) 1/2 hour ride. When the train starts up I'm fortunate. The sound drowns out the weak wailing of the American Idol wannabe.
In the first floor elevator bay, Pat Kelly from the PIO and I chat about where I can get any public case documents or motions. She tells me that normally they would be on the mezzanine level but since the case is in court the easiest would be to just ask the prosecutors for a copy of the document. It takes us about five tries before we are able to get on an elevator.
The courtroom is almost empty. There's no accredited press and no attorneys with Mrs. Clarkson and Fawn. There are two gentlemen in the gallery on my left. Spector's #1 fan is here. Weinberg's male clerk is covering computer exhibits duty today. Spector is wearing a black pinstripe jacket, black pants a black shirt and a white kerchief. There are black shoes on his feet. Rachelle is wearing the black form fitted short satin jacket again with a midnight blue satin shirt. From here, her pants look like they have multicolored pin stripes, but I'm sure that's not right. They are too long, too; the pant cuffs are dragging on the floor. Over that she is wearing one of her long, worn sweater coats.
Wendy and AJ and Truc chat. At 9:37 am the jury is called and the bailiff calls out for people in the gallery to turn off their cell phones and pagers. For a short time, the courtroom appears that it's a bit warmer today. The DA's clerks arrive. I notice two of the alternates take out wool looking shawls and wrap them around their shoulders when they sit down. Juror #5 is wearing another music related t-shirt. It's black with an image and the words Johnny Cash. The rest of the men are wearing button down or polo shirts. A juror in the back row has a coughing fit, but she's fine.
Sophia is up on the stand, under cross examination.
Ms. Holguin's cross is not as painful as some of the 1101(b) witnesses. Many times however, she answer's Weinberg's questions with I don't remember that, I don't know or I don't recall.
I take a moment to look on over at the jury. One alternate stares at Weinberg a lot. A juror in the top row takes a note. The alternates in the first row have their eye on the witness. I would have to say in general, this group does not take many notes. There are a few jurors that hardly take any notes at all.
Weinberg goes over in detail with Holguin's recollection of how Spector instructed the $450.00 tip be distributed, and she didn't get that entire tip. Weinberg asks her, "In fact, he had about five people in mind, correct?" Holguin answers, "Yes." Weinberg then implies that she takes most of the money for herself and didn't distribute it like instructed.
DW: You told your roommate when you got home you, you told your roommate you got $350.00?
SH: I don't have a roommate.
Weinberg gets Holguin to admit that Spector was not "irritated" the entire time he was at the House of Blues. He tries to impeach her that she told detectives Spector just asked for rum, not Bacardi 151 specifically. He asks her if she knows what "up selling" is and she denies doing that with Spector's order.
Weinberg's cross concentrates on focusing on discrepancies in her initial interview with police on February 7th, 2003. In that interview, she went over the details of the dialog she heard Spector say when ordering drinks at the House of Blues three times. It was on the third recounting of the event when she tells detectives that Spector said to Kathy Sullivan, "Just order a f***ing drink!"
DW: Isn't it true that on the 3rd go through, this is the first time you said [to detectives] 'Get a f***ing drink? [...]
I believe she answers yes.
DW: Will you explain to the jury why it wasn't until the third time you went over this, this is the first time you bring this up?
Because I had just heard the woman I was working with was murdered.
DW: Is that what you think?
SH: That's what I had heard on the news at the time. I don't know.
DW: Didn't you just mix this up in your mind?
SH: Because as I talked about it, more detail came back.
When Weinberg makes these confrontational type questions, the witness is a bit stunned, almost like she's starting to doubt her own thought process. That's just my impression.
One juror in the back row is very attentive and takes notes. Two jurors in the front row, both have one arm across their chest and a hand resting on their face. Another juror in the back row rocks in their chair.
Weinberg is now in a familiar stance when he is cross examining. He has his left arm across his chest, and his right arm is close to his body and his hand on his face. His chin is resting in the palm of his right hand. I don't always see his full face, so I don't know what expressions he is giving the witness when he stands like this.
Right after cross ends, John Taylor enters the courtroom and sits with Lana's family. AJ gets up to redirect his witness.
On redirect, Holguin testifies that Spector asked her to go home with him. She declined. She also testifies that Spector was hitting on Lana and that the detectives when they first interviewed her, asked her about this.
Recross.
There are more questions again about the three times she went over the drink ordering event with the detectives. The jurors look totally bored at this point and I rarely see a note being taken now. It must be putting Rachelle to sleep. Her eyes are closed.
DW: Are you trying to say that the first time you were talking about ordering drinks you were not giving exact words?
SH: Could you repeat that please?
Weinberg asks about the ordering of the rum again. In the interview with detectives she told them Spector ordered it straight up. Today, she testified that it was on the rocks. The jury looks like they want to leave. Fidler asks Weinberg if they can take a break. He states that he just has a few more questions. I think this is ridiculous.
Recross is finished and AJ gets up to redirect.
AJ: Regardless of what he ordered, straight up, on the rocks, what you served was Bacardi 151 and that's what he drank, correct?
SH: Yes.
AJ: And it's double the alcohol?
SH: Yes.
We're finished and we take the morning break.
11:06 am: Break is almost over. Pat Dixon comes in to sit in the back row on one of the plastic chairs. During the break I saw Euphrathes and Melissa Grosvenor in the hallway. One of them will be next. I believe the gentleman who is with Melissa is her husband. During the break, a trial watcher came up to me and said they thought Rachelle was starting to look a bit dowdy, because she has toned down her outfits. She has been wearing more dark colors than light.
The next witness is Euphrathes Lalonvriz and Truc presents the witness.
He had worked at this House of Blues location a little over a year and before that he had worked at a HOB in New Orleans. His job title/description was Bartender/Security. At the time he was a "trainer" which meant that he could go to any HOB location and train new employees.
He explains the Foundation Room inside the House of Blues as a VIP room for clientele. He had seen Spector at the HOB before the February 2nd date. He explains the term "golden" and how it is used to treat some members like they would treat the honored patron, Dan Ackroyd.
Lalonvriz details his recollection of the altercation at the entrance to the Foundation Room between Spector and Lana. He then describes what he saw of the drink ordering event. He testifies that inside the "Buddha Room" where Spector and Kathy Sullivan were seated, Sullivan was sitting somewhat behind Spector. He did not see her face while he was ordering drinks. He states that he saw Sullivan shaking her head that she did not want a drink, and that she silently "mouthed" that she just wanted water. He instructed the waitress to put Sullivan's water order in a tall glass with a lime to make it look like it was a drink. He testifies that Sullivan appeared "edgy" and uncomfortable to be there.
Lalonvriz testifies that he had a short conversation with Sullivan at the Sunset Blvd. entrance outside. He states that Sullivan said while shaking her head, 'I just want to leave." She was walking toward the backside of the HOB [towards the parking area where Spector's car was parked].
Truc then introduces five security footage video clips into evidence. As the first tape starts to play, Lalonvriz holds up his hand and he says something to the effect of, "I'm sorry. It has nothing to do with you. The courtroom is real cold and I have to go to the bathroom."
It's a funny moment and the jurors and the gallery laugh. Judge Fidler says, "Of course." and Lalonvriz makes a bee line for the door.
Meanwhile, Detective Tomlin is sitting in Linda Deutsch's favorite spot. Several of the jurors chat with the individual beside them. I see a black man enter out of the corner of my right eye and sit in the back row of the courtroom. 11:43 am the witness retakes the stand and Fidler retakes the bench.
As each tape is played, Truc stops the video and has Lalonvriz identify people in the video. The first three videos are of the parking area outside the House of Blues. The fourth clip I don't remember seeing before. It's of Lana inside the Foundation Room, putting out candles at the bar area. This was one of her jobs that she has to complete before she is allowed to go sit with Spector at his table.
While this clip is up, Lalonvriz describes various areas of the Foundation Room that surround the image of the bar up on the ELMO. I notice that Donna gets teary eyed, seeing the grainy, infrared image of her daughter up on the screen. She is dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex. Seeing her cry, my eyes start to well up with tears also.
Fidler calls the noon recess. When I look on over to my left I see that Donte has arrived sometime since the last break. He leaves the courtroom with Spector, Rachelle and the bodyguard.
12:59 pm: I'm back in the hallway, waiting. I see Donte sitting on one of the benches. It makes me wonder if he went to lunch with his father, or if he ate in the cafeteria, alone. 1:25 pm Spector, Rachelle and the bodyguard arrive. Inside the courtroom, Donte is sitting beside Rachelle in the first bench row on the right. The courtroom is virtually empty. The only other people are one of the DA's clerks and the witness.
I watch Truc pull these huge, five or six inches thick binders off the cart and then put some hand cream quickly on her hands. "Where's AJ?" she asks the clerk. He said he would be right along after the clerk left the office. 1:33 pm Pat Kelly from the PIO arrives, and still no AJ. 1:36 pm the Clarkson's arrive. Spector's #1 fan is here and again there is no press in the room.
Lalonvriz takes the stand again and identifies the people in the last video clip. Sandi Gibbons from the DA's office enters at 1:43 pm. I notice Spector is facing the ELMO, watching the video clip. And that's it. Lalonvriz's testimony is finished for direct. As the last clip plays of Lana Clarkson getting into Spector's Mercedes I think, This is the last image that anyone has of Lana, alive. The only people who see her alive after this are Adriano DeSouza and Spector. A chill goes down my spine.
Weinberg has no cross for this witness! Melissa Grosvenor is called to the stand. A man I remember from the first trial is with her. I think it is her husband. He sits on the second bench row off to my left.
AJ requests a short recess to argue a motion outside the presence of the jury. The jury files back out and Melissa Grosvenor, who was sitting in Linda Deutsch's favorite spot is asked to leave the courtroom for a moment. AJ makes an effort to prevent the defense from bringing up Melissa's bank fraud felony conviction, as well as the employment application she filled out for Continental Airlines where she lied on an employment application. He fails. Fidler rules this is all admissible under Wheeler.
With that settled the jury comes back in and Melissa comes back into the courtroom. This time I think she is sitting on the end in the first row. As the jury comes in Spector sits down before they are finished filing in. During that time he has turned his body around and he's staring directly at Melissa Grosvenor for about 6-8 seconds. When Spector realizes the jury hasn't finished filing in he stands up again. During the entire stare down, Grosvenor stares straight ahead and doesn't look at Spector.
Grosvenor's testimony was finished early at around 3:30 pm today. However, it's getting late and I need to wash my hair and get to bed. I'll try to finish up this entry tomorrow evening. I believe that Spector's driver, Adriano DeSouza will be the first or second witness up on the stand tomorrow. More to come...
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