It’s official. At 3:55 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2009, prosecutor Jeff Terronez wrapped up his case against Elijah Reid. Within a few minutes, defense attorneys Stephen Richards and William Schick began their case.
With the state’s case in the bag, I offer you all a handy, bulleted, by-the-numbers look back at the state’s case.
- Days of testimony: Well, that’s actually kind of a tough question. The first day (Jan. 5) was actually only about 90 minutes. The following day, the trial wrapped at 11:30 a.m. because lawyers had previous engagements to attend. Then days 3 and 4 were full days. So for week one, we got about 2 1/2 full days. With testimony for the state wrapping up at about 4 p.m. Jan. 12, that means there were two full days of testimony during week two. All told, I’d say it’s about 4 1/2 days total.
- Witnesses called: This one is easier. Jeff Terronez called 31 witnesses.
- Exhibits presented: Keep in mind that I’m counting each part of a group exhibit (that is, an exhibit with several pieces) as separate exhibits. All told, Mr. Terronez presented 138 exhibits.
There you go, folks. That’s a quick rundown of the state’s case. Stay tuned. The defense began its case Tuesday and could wrap up Wednesday. So be sure to check www.qconline.com for updates. And you’re welcome to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bill_mayeroff. I post a lot of updates there, too.
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Bill – My apologies on the Aaron testimony. It’s confusing with so many names, and timelines. Plus you only had a couple of sentences about his testimony thru Friday, but I don’t see anything on the conclusion Monday. Was he credible?
No worries, Mortimer. I didn’t put a lot about his testimony Monday just because he didn’t say a whole lot that he didn’t say on Friday.
As far as credibility, that’s not for me to decide, really. That said, Reid’s attorney did point out a whole lot of discrepancies between his trial testimony and testimony he gave during two depositions. And while on the stand, he admitted lying during the depositions.
So I guess it’s a question of what you believe — Do you believe that he lied during the depositions and is being honest now? Or do you believe he lied then and is still lying now? Or do you believe he actually told the truth during the depositions and lied on the stand? I don’t know the answer.
Bill – your blog was passed on to me by a mutual relative. I’ve read a couple of the postings, and they’re great. Very even and well- written and researched. Wish you were writing blogs on my trials. Keep it up. I look forward to reading them.
Tony
So it comes down to a cigarette butt? In a car he’d been in several times before?
This is why I have such a big problem with the death penalty. It should only be used when someone is guilty beyond ANY doubt, but in practice it requires only beyond reasonable doubt. They’ll find him guilty. They’ll sentence him to death. There’ll be enormous amounts of time and money spent appealing it, but no prosecutor will ever admit he was wrong. Arrogance and bullheadedness seems to be the prerequisite for the job.
To what end?
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