Day Four

Sgt. S____ takes the stand. Just before we come out of the jury deliberation room, I tell Juror #4, "I hope this one can read a map." He can't.

The sergeant has a poor recollection of the events that happened a year plus two months ago. The sergeant also is a difficult witness under cross.

A note: The state's witnesses seemed to be good witnesses when under direct examination. When the other team was examining them, they all became a little bit defensive. True, the defense attorney was trying to make them look uncredible, but still, they held nothing to Sgt. S_____. I was hoping to hear my favorite line from the television courtroom dramas -- "Your Honor, permission to treat the witness as a hostile witness?" -- but sadly, that did not happen. End note.

Despite giving the defense attorney a hard time, Sgt. S_____ is pretty funny. A big deal has been made with all other officers testifying that when Mr. E_____ was searched, neither drugs nor money were found. If the State is correct, of course they wouldn't find any money, I thought. He just spent it on drugs! Why is the defense attorney even asking this? Dumb dumb dumb.

A brief transcript of the sergeant's testimony (from memory):

Question: When Mr. E_____ was searched, did you find any drugs?
Answer: No.
Question: Did you find any money?
Answer: Why would we take his money?

In the jury deliberation room, that really cracked us up.

The big thing we need to hear from Sgt. S_____ is where was he when Mr. E_____ got onto the highway? He wasn't behind Mr. E_____. He was parked over here and saw Mr. E_____ pass in front of him, already in the left turn lane to get onto the highway. As a matter of fact -- the undercover police car was on the highway at some point during the pursuit!

Therefore, when they were on the ramp to the highway, the vehicle containing Sgt. S_____ and Det. T_____ had to have been at least one car behind Mr. E_____. Between the two of them was the undercover police car (who most likely pulled over on the shoulder). Sgt. W_____ and Inv. F_____ were behind Sgt. S______'s vehicle.

The defense calls witnesses. First up is a private investigator who took photographs and measurements of the area where Mr. E_____ stated he travelled. Unfortunately for the defense, once we examine the photos in the jury deliberation part of the trial, they help us prove that Mr. E_____ lied on the stand. This means that we could discount part of or all of his testimony. All he was there for was to provide measurements on the highway and photographs of several intersections.

Aside: The private investigator actually looked like a character actor who plays seedy PI's in movies.

During lunch, we stop by the jury assembly room where we discover that the court television shows (Judge Mills Lane and the like) are much more colorful and animated than real life courtrooms.

We return and Mr. T_____ takes the stand. He deals cars in the area with Mr. E_____. Mr. T_____ owns a car lot in the area. After he's done, Mrs. E_____ takes the stand. She cries and talks about their children. She's a sympathy card the defense is playing and we all know it.

Mr. E____ takes the stand. He contradicts himself on the stand in a major way that some of the jurors caught, but the prosecutor didn't. Dumb. (Under direct examination [questions the defense are asking], he says that the person he spoke to in the parking lot said, "Hey, R____! You selling that car?" Under cross, he says that the people in the projects don't know his name, just that they recognize him from working with Mr. T_____.) He gives a route that he took out of the projects that logically didn't flow with earlier testimony by the police.

He finishes his testimony. It is now four-thirty on Friday. We recess until Monday morning when we are to hear closing arguments and legal instructions.

-Faux "but wait! we aren't done!" Pas