Posted on 10/11/2017 9:51:09 AM PDT by Elderberry
Tribune-Herald staff writer Tommy Witherspoon is live-tweeting from inside the courtroom in the trial of Jacob Carrizal, the first biker to be prosecuted for his alleged role in the May 17, 2015, Twin Peaks shootout.
Jury selection is underway, and opening statements are expected to be given this afternoon.
Nine people were killed and dozens injured in the melee between rival biker groups the Bandidos and Cossacks.
The judge and attorneys are talking to prospective jurors individually now. These are the ones who asked not to speak publicly about issues.
The judge is talking to the parties in chambers. They might begin calling in potential jurors who didn't want to talk about issues in public
Her last question: "Will each of you promise to give Jake Carrizal the fair trial he deserves and has been waiting so long to get?"
Gotro is asking each of the 145 or so on the panel if they will follow the law.
Gotro said a jury is allowed to disregard evidence if it finds the evidence was illegally obtained.
Gotro is asking the panel about items searched and seized without probable cause.
The gun discussion is ongoing. Gotro has really got the panel talking now, with comments on all sides of the issue.
Many say there are too many guns but they aren't comfortable with the government seizing guns from lawful owners.
Now she's got the panel in a 2nd Amendment discussion, asking if there are too many guns and if they fear the government will take them.
Gotro is saying that "technicalities" that people often chide defense attorneys for exploiting are actually important constitutional rights.
Gotro asked why someone would lie to a police officer.
Gotro is talking about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony and reasons why it can be flawed. One juror said Twin Peaks served alcohol.
Gotro is warning jurors against what she called confirmation bias, having formed an opinion and only listening to evidence that supports it.
She is asking if witnesses, including police officers, always tell the truth. One juror said it is unlikely a police officer would lie
Gotro is picking up her voir dire where she left off Tuesday evening. She is asking why defendants might not take the stand.
The parties have agreed to proceed without the missing juror, but the judge ordered deputies to continue looking for him to execute the writ
The judge told the panel that we can't proceed at this time and recessed the proceedings actually before they started.
The judge issued a writ of attachment for a no-show juror and the judge is recessing the panel until he is located.
Stay tuned. There is never a dull moment around here and you never know what is going to happen next. But you can bet it won't be ordinary.
The jury panel is coming in now and defense attorney Casie Gotro will continue her voir dire examination of the panel.
“Other than the fact that you throw wild accusations against posters and Waco defendants alike.”
Not wild accusations! And no one refutes ..,. Only goons make the personal attacks.
Oh they do. You're just too obtuse to acknowledge it. And you forge ahead with your nonsense.
Post 'em.
“Oh they do”
Post them!
That’s a “personal attack”? LOL
You still never answered the question.
You still never answered the question.
placeholder
What question you batcrap crazy old SOB?
The one I asked you for a straight answer.
Done with your cryptic games. Get some help.
beginning with last two from yesterday
Tommy Witherspoon @TSpoonFeed 17h17 hours agoLooks like it's time to break for the day. We will be back at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Tommy Witherspoon @TSpoonFeed 17h17 hours agoThe judge is meeting with the lawyers in his office. Not sure what that is all about.
Tommy Witherspoon @TSpoonFeed 1h1 hour agoGood Morning. We are back in 54th Court for the trial of Jacob Carrizal, president of the Dallas Bandidos chapter.
1hr agoCarrizal, 35, is charged with directing the activities of a criminal street gang and two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity.
57m57 minutes agoThe jury is coming in now.
54m54 minutes agoJames Owens, a retired Waco police officer, is back on the stand. He testified Monday about collecting cellphones and analyzing phone data.
51m51 minutes agoHe is discussing data on phones belonging to Carrizal, Marshall Mitchell and Ray Allen.
51m51 minutes agoGotro is objecting to the admission of the three phones' contents, in part because she said she hasn't reviewed them and is hearsay.
50m50 minutes agoThe judge sent the jury out so Gotro could review the discs.
50m50 minutes agoThe judge admonished the state for slowing down the trial by not providing Gotro with information before it is presented into evidence.
49m49 minutes agoProsecutor Michael Jarrett said Gotro has had the information before trial, but the judge said she has no way of knowing which specifically
More to follow, next posting. Judge Johnson yesterday sustained some (but not all) of the defense's objections, (according to Tommy Witherspoon) and today has leaned a bit in direction of defense council, rather than simply hand-waving everything off, and there's more to follow regarding the evidence Gotro is objecting to, coming up next...
Tommy Witherspoon @TSpoonFeed 54m minutes agoDuring the break, Gotro reported she couldn't get the discs to load on her laptop, so the state loaned her one so she could review them.
48 minutes agoThe judge is tired of waiting for the disc to load. He is bringing in the jury now.
46 minutes ago"you are trying to introduce an exhibit that no one can see? Is that it?" the judge asked the state.
45 minutes agoGotro said she has still not seen the exhibits and she objects to them on several grounds. The judge sustained the objections.
43 minutes agoNow the witness is missing and the state is looking for him.
43 minutes agoThe judge said the lawyers will work through lunch and the state will turnover all exhibits they hope to admit to the defense to review.
40 minutes agoThe judge doesn't want to inconvenience the jury and delay the trial anymore.
37 minutes agoThe judge recessed the jury until 10:30, saying he knows their patience is being tried.
36 minutes agoThe judge told the jury that it could be up to 45 minutes before the information is in a readable format, so we have another delay.
Appreciate the ping BD
Thank you for the appreciation.
I hope others whom I pinged would not be too overly irritated by myself having included them. Just thought they may be interested...
What is the state been doing for the last two years , the defense still hasn't received everything from the state ?
As I understand the situation for this particular defendant, the attorney has not been on the case but for a few months, the defendant's previous attorney having begged off/quit the case. Even then the information has not been available to defense council "for two years", it having been more like a year or so, and even then it coming out in large chunks, periodically released to the various defense council.
The prosecution has been saying that the information had been supplied -- and maybe it had been.
There's been commentary coming from other defense attorneys that there has been a lot of information released, but in disorganized (apparently deliberately disorganized) data-dump fashion.
Being as the disc the prosecution supplied to defense attorney Gotro would not "play" (and display the evidence the prosecution was otherwise attempting to submit to the court) and the court spectator commentary I'd posted here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3595705/posts?page=11#11 that included such as;
She explained that due to time constraints and strict security protocol imposed by the evidence techs at the department, she has been unable to get access to the material.In some cases, she has been ushered into a computer room, given a CD of the material, and a comptuer with no speakers. In others, she has been shooed out of the area and sent to the lobby whenever there is no one available to surveil her whilst in her labors.
lends credence to the idea that the prosecution has been playing every angle they could think they could get away with playing, making it as difficult as they can for defense council.
The problem I have with that sort of thing, is if the prosecution's case is as strong as they seem to be making it out to be -- then why not assist the Court itself (including officers of the Court, which does include defense council as "officers of the Court) with finding, framing, and even testing what they would like jurors to believe is the truth of these matters?
Are they doing their duty as "finder's of truth"? Or, are they more interested in winning conviction of defendants?
Their primary duty, according to the Constitution of the State of Texas, states that each and every officer of the Court (State attorneys for prosecution, defense council, and Judges also, of course) is the former -- to be "finders of fact" [truth] instead of simply seeking to obtain trial victory for either "side".
We live in a less-than ideal world, though.
Not providing the defense with evidence should be a mistrial... trial by ambush.
It's probably in there somewhere, hidden in plain sight among the multiple terrabites of multiple terrabite+ data dumps the DA's Office laid on defense council.
By What you tweeted , the prosecution looks to be pissing the judge off ,,,,,,,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.