Okay...Arron's cross exam by the State. I could almost sense the prosecution doing the Snoopy happy dance at the opportunity to get AL on the stand. I know Christmas is now over, but they received a late gift today!
Oh boy. This was a fight from the beginning. His demeanor was immediately and noticeably different from the direct exam by the defense. Gone was the leaning forward in his chair, the hand gesturing and the "bro-like" conversation. What I mean by "bro-like" is sort of like a guy would talk if he were out with a bunch of his bros and just sitting around shooting the bull. I forgot to mention that he was SO relaxed during direct that he started to use quite a few curse words (including the F word) and he had to be reminded several times by his counsel to cool it. The last time he did it, I could tell James was getting frustrated and was sort of like "COOL IT!".
Anyway, the previous Arron was replaced by a more sullen and agitated Arron who answered everything with "yes sir" and "no sir".
When asked if he swore the FB affidavit was true, he replied "Yes, sir."
The state then went into his long string of felony convictions - which the jury would have known NOTHING about if Mr. Legal Genius had not taken the stand. For the record, we may never know for sure, but it is my belief that there is no way James recommended that he get on that stand. I believe that he insisted and poor James was left to try to deal with making the best of a bad situation. But as the saying goes...can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh(&t).
They began to go down the list of all his crimes and convictions and pointed out that they were "all stealing from other people" and that he was a "schemer". They pointed out that he "chose to steal from people instead of going to work". AL said he made money the way he knew how and that if was laid off a job that to him sometimes making money meant stealing from other people. He was COMPLETELY and TOTALLY unapologetic. I couldn't help but think during all this that he probably wasn't winning many points from the jurors, who probably went to work the days they weren't in court having to deal with a psychopath like him.
They stated that Al had had access to 1,000 pages of discovery and started to go over the ways his story had changed/evolved since he was first arrested. My notes get shaky here, but this is what I *think* they said. Mimi can correct me if I'm wrong, as she is no doubt a MUCH superior note taker than myself!
#1 - told Det. Allison the Trevor story.
#2 - Went after BC because she was a rich broker - still Trevor invovled
#3 - The Shannon Miller/Jailhouse interview, which is when Trevor leaves the picture.
#4 - The FB Death by Vagina affidavit.
He noted that although these stories all varied wildly, the common thread in all these stories was Arron Lewis and Beverly Carter.
They then started going through the timeline backwards from the time of his arrest on Green Mountain Drive.
When they got to the part about AL jumping out of a 2 story window, AL was smiling and grinning as he told it and the prosecution immediately (and aggressively) asked "Is that funny? He then went and grabbed up a picture of a dead Beverly Carter, held it up to him and said "Is *this* funny?!?"
AL stated he didn't remember pulling a box cutter on Adam Nash. They then got into the reason AL ran in the first place. If he hadn't done anything wrong, as he claimed, then why did he run?
AL said that the guy "looked weird at me" and that someone said "that's Arron Lewis" and he did point out that he had a stolen dumptruck across the street. There was some back and forth over whether AL had run. He first stated he walked away "briskly" and then he conceded that he "trotted". Prosecution keeps asking if he trots off every time someone looks at him or says "hey, that's arron lewis".
Prosecution asked if Argos was his go to place for when he committed crimes. AL vehemently disagrees. He finally concedes that he did, in fact, bury a dead body at one of their locations and stole a dump truck from another location. So..point made. Ha ha. There was quite a bit of back and forth over why, if AL hadn't done anything wrong, did he run from police at the hospital? All AL would answer is, "I've done plenty wrong". When asked what, he would say something like "What? What are you asking me?" Question repeated and would get the same "I've done plenty wrong." Wash, rinse, repeat in a big circle.
AL said he didn't think the cops were at the hospital to talk to him about a murder. He thought it was to talk about the wreck. (yeah, right) and that his typical MO was to avoid cops at all costs, so since he wasn't under arrest, he left. When asked why he left if he didn't do anything wrong.....reference the previous paragraph. It was very much like being on a merry go round. Going round and round and round and getting nowhere.
I was DYING for them to ask him about calling the cops re: the toilet paper incident, but they never did. He was saying he avoided all cops, but he sure didn't that night.
He testified there was NO tape on BC until he got to Argos with her dead body. (Important later when he testified he put the tape on while she was laying on the ground in the dirt and grass, yet the medical examiner testified that there was absolutely NO dirt of grass on the sticky side of the tape, up next to BC's face. Sort of unbelievable is you are having to wrestle it on to a dead body on the ground, right? Prosecution said that was proof he put it on her while she was upright....aka alive)
There was this whole physical demonstration by AL showing why he taped her hands behind her back when he was burying her. He claimed it was to keep her hand from popping out of the grave while he was trying to cover her, but I feel the prosecution made a pretty good job of discounting the need for that.
As I stated before, things were quite contentious during this part of testimony and some members of the jury were visibly frustrated with AL and his constant arguments.
We then got to the bugs on the face testimony. Now, all this time I've had in my mind that he was referring to flies, but even that bothered me because it was a night and flies aren't out at night. We have stables with horses and I promise you that no matter how bad the flies are during the day, they are not out at night! Always thought that was weird.
Turns out he was talking about grasshoppers! He put the "mask" of tape on her face to protect her from grasshoppers. Keep in mind that it was wrapped around her head SIX TIMES and VERY tight. So tight that you couldn't get a finger underneath and so tight that her skin was discolored underneath after the tape was removed at the autopsy. I guess I never realized how aggressive grasshoppers can be! The prosecutor was incredulous and if not for the seriousness of the subject it was almost laughable. Prosecutor pointed out that grasshoppers aren't known for their flesh eating ways and AL said the he "doesn't have a degree in entomology." Remember this!! AL knows that the scientific study of insect is called entomology.
Prosecution then went on to tell him that the tape wasn't a mask to protect her from grasshoppers, but it was a hands off way to kill her because he was too big of a coward to do it himself.
I can't remember now what it was, but the state was pointing out that he had left out some pretty important details from his affidavit and AL responded, "Well, I didn't mention what kind of boxers I was wearing either." This type of smart arse remark was par for the course all during his cross exam.
Next, were the detailed description in his affidavit of the scars on BCs breasts from her recent surgery. Prosecution pointed out that AL's description of her scars were on point with the description given in the autopsy report, which AL had access to and had admitted to reading before he wrote that affidavit. AL looks at the autopsy report, which in addition to other things, states that the scars are "linear". AL claims a couple of times that he doesn't know what the word "linear" means. So, we are to believe that the guy knows the word "entomology", but he can't figure out "linear"? LOL
Now prosecution asks him why he had not also mentioned the large hip to hip scar from the tummy tuck surgery. AL claimed that he hadn't noticed it and it didn't stick out in his mind.
Pros. asked why they had bothered to put her clothes back on her if she was already dead and they were just going to bury her. AL was taken aback and stated that one simply does not "drive around with a naked body in the back of your car". And they say he has no etiquette or refinement! I bet this is straight out of Emily Post! LOL
The prosecutor retorted that he personally never drives around with ANY type of body in the back of his car...clothed or not.
LOL
Now we get to what could have been the most ridiculous portion of his testimony yet. Even more ridiculous than the flesh eating grasshoppers. The ransom recording.
Long story short, AL claimed he made that recording on Saturday, after BC's death and that he used a computer generated voice synthesizer. When asked if he was an expert, he claimed you could find out how to do anything on YouTube and went on to describe his own videos of how to steal things, make fake credit cards, etc. Way to impress the jury, Arron! Good job! Yet, he also claimed he had no idea what software he had used.
He seemed insulted that the prosecutor would question his ability to do something like this and said he's "not an idiot." The prosecutor agreed....not an idiot....and AL said that he was said to be of "superior intellegence" on his state mental exam. I briefly had flashes of Dwight Schrute (a reference to the tv show, The Office...LOL)
He stated he made the recording just in case there was an opportunity to make some money. It might be useful if there were a reward or something. Gotta be prepared! LOL Ever the little schemer!
I can't remember the line of questioning, but at some point AL stated that he knew the PIN # to BCs debit card was the same as the passcode for her phone.
When asked why he put the affidavit on FB, he said "to make my account known" and by account, he was referring to his account of the events. He said that media had talked to the police and the prosecution and he wanted his side of the story known. When asked why he didn't simply give his truthful statement to police, he stated "They're not my friends."
At this point the defense had no more questions, so they rested.