April 29 weekend of Sleuthiness

[Danielle59]

Originally Posted by Cheyenne130
If I'm understanding this correctly, what some are saying here is that because the police left the computer on for 27 hours after the search warrant was served any evidence found on the computer should be thrown out because of "spoilage"? I can't say that I would be able to accept that if I was on the jury.



The Cooper house was not at all like an unsecured lab. As soon as police assumed control over the house under the SW, they put the familiar yellow tape around it, posted police in marked patrol cars at the house 24/7, and no one was allowed inside unless authorized.

Usually when a house is under LE control, entry by only one person is not allowed -- this most certainly includes LEOs. So no single individual could enter. The computer was still plugged in, along with everything else in the house because they were not planning to do the search/seizure at that time.

When the computer was seized, two specialized individuals performed it, or if they were separated, it was done in the presence of other LEOs on the scene. The computers were unplugged, not turned off, batteries were removed, and the items were taped, put in sealed "Evidence" envelopes which were signed by the seizing officers, and taken directly to the evidence locker. All of the officers, in their various cars, "caravanned" (word?) there, making no stops.

This "dual control" protocol is not just in LE situations -- when employees in certain jobs have to be bonded for insurance or legal reasons, dual control protocol is requred by the bonding company. Any time important items are in custody, no single individual is left alone with such items. It relieves a single person from possible accusal of tampering or theft, and it does not give a single person with bad intentions an opportunity to tamper or steal. Collusion, of course, could occur and then it's katie-bar-the-door with such evidence, but there we get quite afield, IMO.

Just sayin' ...

The CPD secured the house about 10 hours before they had the search warrant, they told BC to leave. At that point all evidence was in the hands of the CPD, in their possession. We don't know when they entered the house specifically, or if they followed protocol. We don't know if even two LEOs did go in togther if they stayed together once inside, and it appears there are many rooms in the house. Once they obtained the SW it was another 12+ hours before the laptop was powered down. In total the laptop was powered up for 27 hours. The reasoning given was that unplugging it would have corrupted data. They have not been able to adequately explain what made the 27th hour the magic hour.

We do know that the FBI agent was unaware of this lapse of protocol. We also know that CPD has not released the chain of evidence records for the laptop. Finally, we know that they erased NC's Blackberry, and that protocol was not followed with that at all, they didn't even have a SW when they erased it and requested the SW after they had erased it.

 

[Danielle59]

Hinky meter red-lined. anic:

Why has it redlined?

 

[SleuthinNC]

Well, when PG (Cisco VoIP expert) was on the stand, Zell had put the equipment that was seized from the house up in front of him and left it there. When Howie questioned him, he asked PG if he had been asked to look at logs from any of that equipment. He said that he didn't know about the TWC box, but none of the other devices had logs other than in-memory logging that would be lost at power-down.

That was when Howie pulled some Zell-esque slight-of-hand by repeating "so you didn't look at logs on any of these devices?" PG said "no". Well, that's technically true but it was because there were no logs to look at.

Anyway, point is, it seems like the only places that there might have been any tracking info available is on the router (which is MIA) or the laptop. I'm not sure that a telnet session is necessarily logged on the laptop in some way but can try it later to see.

I think it would be shown in the CSA log, at the very least a TCP connect since it showed all of the traceroute and port connection attempts.

 

[Tink56]

No kidding. we too are working on vegetables & shrubs/perrenials. We planted six rhododendrons the other day, and three lilac bushes. Yesterday I bought some more azaleas & lilies. Way too old to be a farmer anymore. My husband has taken an interest in heirloom seed vegetable gardens, so we've grown our own tomato, pepper, etc. plants from the heirloom seeds he's bought online. We are attempting to get away from all the genetically altered seeds of today.

I'm behind in my planting, too. I am just sprouting heirloom tomatoes, beans, peppers, and peas. (My "green" child ordered them for me.) I have raised beds, but he organic soil brings lots of little flies. I'm trying to be "healthier," but I may just have to spray these nasty flies pretty soon. I'm trying to come up with a good rationalization for doing so...:bananalama:

 

[momof7]

I'm behind in my planting, too. I am just sprouting heirloom tomatoes, beans, peppers, and peas. (My "green" child ordered them for me.) I have raised beds, but he organic soil brings lots of little flies. I'm trying to be "healthier," but I may just have to spray these nasty flies pretty soon. I'm trying to come up with a good rationalization for doing so...:bananalama:

Try some dawn dish soap in a water bottle. Honestly, it has done wonders for my garden and the bugs and I don't worry about the sprays and the dogs.

Kelly

 

[NCEast]

Thanks for your insight. I suppose how you would vote in Willoughby's next election also depends on which side of the fence you are on.

If BC is found G, I can't imagine voting for Willoughby. Unless he were to say "We knew BC was guilty for certain based on xyz evidence which is inadmissible in court, so we did our best with the evidence which was allowed". But I can't imagine that to be the case.

If BC is found NG, I'd really like to see exactly what Willoughby says to the public. Most importantly, I'd want to hear him say immediately that the case of NC's murder is open, unsolved and still actively being investigated.

JMO.

I don't live in Wake County so my opinion doesn't mean much. However, from what I see on the news and read, CW has a pretty decent reputation--personal and legal. I would not cast my vote, if I had one, against him just based on this one trial. If the JY trial seems to be as shoddy, and since it's a high profile case as well, then that would be my reason to question his leadership in the Wake County DA's office when it's all said and done. I agree with you with respect to a BC not guilty verdict, would hope to have a firm statement from CW addressing it and why they even brought it to trial. And hope the CPD will continue to investigate. A 'real' investigation the next go round.

 

[borndem]

We've been talking about whether or not the contents of the windows system event log should be admitted. The question is whether it properly falls under the scope of rebuttal. I Googled "scope of rebuttal testimony". On the first returned link, I found the following quote from an appellate ruling in federal court. (Maybe someone can find an example of case law from North Carolina that would be more applicable.) I quote it below, bolding two important points from the decision.



In this case, the appellate court upheld the admission of rebuttal evidence. The defense only made an inference to a theory, and the court let in new clothing evidence. That the rebuttal was broader than the inference and that the new evidence was late were both dismissed as arguments against admitting the evidence.

So, applying this ruling, for the windows system event log evidence:
It doesn't matter if this evidence is new.
It doesn't matter if this evidence is late.
It doesn't matter if this evidence does more or less than negate a statement or inference made in the defense case in chief.

It is proper to admit this evidence to rebut.

BBM in above post.

I am going to try to find a case law example, but in the meantime, here is the law for section on Rebuttal in Superior Criminal Court in NC. Short & sweet. It is very similar to what you found, macd.

Case law in this point would be interesting, I agree.

Here is what is stated in the North Carolina General Statutes:

Chapter 15A: Criminal Procedure Act.
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Article 73 - Criminal Jury Trial in Superior Court.
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15A‑1226. Rebuttal evidence; additional evidence.
(a) Each party has the right to introduce rebuttal evidence concerning matters elicited in the evidence in chief of another party. The judge may permit a party to offer new evidence during rebuttal which could have been offered in the party's case in chief or during a previous rebuttal, but if new evidence is allowed, the other party must be permitted further rebuttal.
(b) The judge in his discretion may permit any party to introduce additional evidence at any time prior to verdict. [FONT=Times New (W1)](1977, c. 711, s. 1.)[/FONT]

 

[SleuthinNC]

Ah, ok. Not saying that it's impossible, but, I still see no reason that such a device would blurt out ARP info for a device that was no longer there. Some devices do gratuitous ARPs, but it's of their own address, not someone else's.

It wouldn't necessarily blurt it out it would just be there when the IP address conflict occurs.

you can statically map devices in both the routing table and arp table on Cisco routers. If you suck at data networking, which I kinda think BC does, static mapping is much easier to manage than dynamic. If you recall there was a lot of bad connections going on when he had the VoIP setup on his home line so it wouldn't be unreasonable to statically map things to see if that helped with the data connection.

 

[bloghooligan]

<snipped>

The thought of a guilty man walking is very sad.

The thought of an innocent person spending their life in jail is worse in so many ways (including that the guilty person still walks free).

 

[borndem]

Sure if you disregard the initial assertion:

"Evidence introduced on rebuttal serves to ‘rebut new evidence or new theories proffered in the defendant's case-in-chief,’"

This evidence does not meet that initial criteria.

Please see my earlier post citing NCGS 15A-1226 in a response to macd. There seems to be a lot of latitude in this ruling...

 

[SleuthinNC]

Please see my earlier post citing NCGS 15A-1226 in a response to macd. There seems to be a lot of latitude in this ruling...

True and the fact is, it is being allowed. Now the next question will be what kind of shenanigans go on in regard to what is allowed of the defense for rebuttal of the rebuttal.

 

[BrownRice]

This trio of ADA's botched the case.
Unfortunately, I see him walking...yes, very sad.

If tomorrow was verdict day and I was a juror, I'd have to vote not guilty because I am not sure. It seems likely he may have done it, but it also seems likely JP could have done it.

With that said, however, how many people are EVER acquitted of a murder charge? Besides high-profile OJs and Robert Blakes? I googled i and came up with a wikipedia page and most of the defendants were from the 1800's! And it's not like there were thousands to begin with. So, I wonder if they will just consider him guilty because he probably is (and they're too confused with all the evidence, arguing, and lying).

 

[RaleighNative]

I don't live in Wake County so my opinion doesn't mean much. However, from what I see on the news and read, CW has a pretty decent reputation--personal and legal. I would not cast my vote, if I had one, against him just based on this one trial. If the JY trial seems to be as shoddy, and since it's a high profile case as well, then that would be my reason to question his leadership in the Wake County DA's office when it's all said and done. I agree with you with respect to a BC not guilty verdict, would hope to have a firm statement from CW addressing it and why they even brought it to trial. And hope the CPD will continue to investigate. A 'real' investigation the next go round.

Thanks for the response! I'm really interested to hear all opinions here.

CW has been DA since I was a child, and I'm a native, and I've voted for him everytime he's been up for reelection...no hesitation. I've held him in extremely high regard.

But what really gets me, is based on last week's blackberry testimony, I'm convinced LE tampered with evidence. Many people were saying that from the very beginning, but I did not believe any evidence tampering was deliberate. Until last week....

DA's office presented their case for 8.5 weeks....defense for 1 week.

Then we have Cummings losing it more than once on Thursday....

Now we have Boz twisting facts to get a "rebuttal" witness, after the DA's office has dragged this case on and on and on.

I know people have attacked Boz for this rebuttal witness, but I'm more hesitant to attack Boz. Because he works for CW. So where is Boz getting his direction?

Not only do I now question the ethics of LE, but I question the ethics of the Wake County DA's office under CW.

My biggest fear is the victim will never see justice in this case. I do hope BC is found not guilty, and maybe it's unrealistic, but I'm hoping LE and the DA continue to search for her killer.

 

[Grammy Jean]

I am rather new to posting here but I am one of the people who feel BDI! One thing I think should be made more of and I was glad the ADA included this when she cross examined the PI about the route Brad claims he took, and that is Brad has admitted to lying in his deposition. In my mind if one is truly innocent one will tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

 

[CrimeAddict]

I'm behind in my planting, too. I am just sprouting heirloom tomatoes, beans, peppers, and peas. (My "green" child ordered them for me.) I have raised beds, but he organic soil brings lots of little flies. I'm trying to be "healthier," but I may just have to spray these nasty flies pretty soon. I'm trying to come up with a good rationalization for doing so...:bananalama:

I am doing a lot of herbs this year, and I keep hearing I need to plant marigolds.. have you tried that next to your plants to help? I am running out tomorrow to get some, hope it helps!

 

[sunshine05]

If tomorrow was verdict day and I was a juror, I'd have to vote not guilty because I am not sure. It seems likely he may have done it, but it also seems likely JP could have done it.

With that said, however, how many people are EVER acquitted of a murder charge? Besides high-profile OJs and Robert Blakes? I googled i and came up with a wikipedia page and most of the defendants were from the 1800's! And it's not like there were thousands to begin with. So, I wonder if they will just consider him guilty because he probably is (and they're too confused with all the evidence, arguing, and lying).

I don't know. I would have to research that a bit, but I do know that there have been hundreds of overturned convictions and that is pretty unsettling.

 

[SleuthSayer]

I am still holding on to some hope something will pull together in the end

I'm still of the opinion (which is worth what you pay for it) that there is little chance he will be found NG. I see the chances of a hung jury having climbed, but I am thinking that he will be found guilty. The prosecution will probably find some way to put NC's mother and/or sister back on the stand in rebuttal and will recapture thereby the emotion of it all.

My thinking all along is that there is not going to be enough evidence that he should be found guilty, but he will be nonetheless.

 

[RaleighNative]

If tomorrow was verdict day and I was a juror, I'd have to vote not guilty because I am not sure. It seems likely he may have done it, but it also seems likely JP could have done it.

With that said, however, how many people are EVER acquitted of a murder charge? Besides high-profile OJs and Robert Blakes? I googled i and came up with a wikipedia page and most of the defendants were from the 1800's! And it's not like there were thousands to begin with. So, I wonder if they will just consider him guilty because he probably is (and they're too confused with all the evidence, arguing, and lying).

Thanks BrownRice. I can't recall a defendent in Wake County being acquitted of a murder charge. It's certainly very rare. I thought there was a case of a murder acquittal last year; but I believe it was in another county? Maybe someone can clarify that for me...it was not a high profile case.

Just curious, do you think it could have been a stranger? I'm also suspicious of JA and JP, but personally I think a stranger is most likely.

 

[RaleighNative]

I am doing a lot of herbs this year, and I keep hearing I need to plant marigolds.. have you tried that next to your plants to help? I am running out tomorrow to get some, hope it helps!

LOVE my herb garden, as my hubby and I love to cook! I've found all the critters don't touch my herbs due to their natural scent. I have heard marigolds can help around vegatables though.

 

[NCEast]

Thanks for the response! I'm really interested to hear all opinions here.

CW has been DA since I was a child, and I'm a native, and I've voted for him everytime he's been up for reelection...no hesitation. I've held him in extremely high regard.

But what really gets me, is based on last week's blackberry testimony, I'm convinced LE tampered with evidence. Many people were saying that from the very beginning, but I did not believe any evidence tampering was deliberate. Until last week....

DA's office presented their case for 8.5 weeks....defense for 1 week.

Then we have Cummings losing it more than once on Thursday....

Now we have Boz twisting facts to get a "rebuttal" witness, after the DA's office has dragged this case on and on and on.

I know people have attacked Boz for this rebuttal witness, but I'm more hesitant to attack Boz. Because he works for CW. So where is Boz getting his direction?

Not only do I now question the ethics of LE, but I question the ethics of the Wake County DA's office under CW.

My biggest fear is the victim will never see justice in this case. I do hope BC is found not guilty, and maybe it's unrealistic, but I'm hoping LE and the DA continue to search for her killer.

I was browsing over the Wake County DA's website this morning. I remembered that somebody earlier this week said H. Cummings was next under CW. I assume tenure must be in play. I don't know how much 'hands-on' CW has spent with the ADAs in this case. He may have given them free reign. I can only imagine his anger this past week with the same issues we all witnessed from the ADAs. I don't like what I've seen play out in this trial either, by the CPD or some of the ADA's methods. Cummings' losing it the other day was a jolt. I certainly understand, and agree, with everything you feel. I would hate to think, though, that CW would lose his job just based on this one case. Would like to know what the stats, w-vs-l, are for capital crimes since he's been in office. He has been there a long time.