GUILTY CA - Faith Tsarnas & Kiya Kitchen, Both 14, Die In Hit & Run, Fortuna, 12 July 2016

[Lilibet]

Chiv says Pearlston will testify this afternoon. Can't wait to contrast his testimony with Stewarts. Will he cover for MK too?

BBM

I fully expect him to cover for her. His father is a well-known attorney who is probably the one who arranged for MK to have legal representation by the time she returned to Humboldt from Oakland. JP isn't likely to stray from the story line IMO.

 

[Lilibet]

Chiv mentions LE viewing video footage from two local establishments that are not far from Eel River Rd where the girls were killed. They did this before the Jeep was found.

http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/05/chp-viewed-video-from-riverwalk-lodge.html

ETA: They knew what kind of vehicle they were looking for from eyewitnesses. At the time, locals were asked to BOLO for it.

 

[Knox]

I know this is only a prelim, but with all the evidence we've heard this far, IMO this is a slam dunk for conviction. Anyone want to wager that a plea deal will be entered into prior to a jury trial?

 

[Knox]

DOJ criminialist Kristina Rosenfield testifies briefly about processing Marci Kitchen's jeep and physical evidence found.

We are on break until 3 while prosecution and defense attorneys meet regarding some evidentiary stipulations.

After break, those will be addressed, then attorneys can present oral arguments and Judge Feeney will rule on the charges against Marci Kitchen.
http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/

 

[Gardenista]

Jevin Kitchen: ‘I believe a little bit of me was still trying to protect my mom’

http://www.times-standard.com/gener...-bit-of-me-was-still-trying-to-protect-my-mom

 

[Gardenista]

JUDGE: Marci Kitchen Will Stand Trial for Vehicular Manslaughter, DUI Resulting in Death, and Fleeing the Scene of a Crime

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2017/may/10/judge-marci-kitchen-will-stand-trial-vehicular-man/

 

[Oblio]

The judge has ruled that she will stand trial.

 

[Lilibet]

[h=3]"She put her own needs well before the girls she left behind. The failure to accept responsibility was consistent."[/h]
Deputy DA Eads' statement says it all. MK's conduct in the months since she killed Kiya and Faith shows that accepting responsibility and putting her own needs (for travel) aside is not a card she has in her deck.

http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/05/she-put-her-own-needs-well-before-girls.html

 

[Lilibet]

I know this is only a prelim, but with all the evidence we've heard this far, IMO this is a slam dunk for conviction. Anyone want to wager that a plea deal will be entered into prior to a jury trial?

BBM

My prediction is that MK's lawyers will stretch out the process as long as possible. They will ask for a change of venue (which I believe could be granted), psychological examinations and anything else they can think of in the way of delays that a judge has to grant. And then MK will decide to hire a new legal team and start the delays all over again. I think we are looking at a year at the very least and probably more before this goes to trial...if it does.

Only at the end of this legal maneuvering will a plea deal be considered. Unless it's a very sweet deal, I'm not sure MK will accept. She may prefer to sit in court and watch her defense team skewer witnesses for the prosecution, including her son, friend RR and her ex, among others. She may honestly hold the delusion that a jury will pull an OJ or a Casey Anthony and acquit her.

Throughout this process, there will be carefully crafted "image improvement" stories planted in the press.

All JMO, MOO and hopefully wrong.

 

[Gardenista]

More detail

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2017/may/10/kitchen-preliminary-hearing/

 

[Lilibet]

More detail

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2017/may/10/kitchen-preliminary-hearing/

An interesting detail revealed by the defense attorney showing that they were "growers".....

While cross-examining Jevin this morning, defense attorney Ben Okin took issue with some of the teen’s testimony.
Okin showed Jevin a photo of the basketball hoop, pointing out it was right next to the marijuana “grow room,” and if you rammed into it you would hit the house. He said that made no sense.
“Yes,” Jevin said. “That’s why I said it was a stupid idea.”

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2017/may/10/kitchen-preliminary-hearing/

 

[Hoosgirl]

She must have been so drunk that she didn't even remember asking her young son to remove and toss the 7 pound bag of marijuana, if she called her friend the next morning and asked her to do it. That's really, really drunk IMO.

I can't believe her defense attorney told the judge there wasn't enough evidence. So glad the judge bound her over for trial!

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[Lilibet]

Chiv says Pearlston will testify this afternoon. Can't wait to contrast his testimony with Stewarts. Will he cover for MK too?

I wonder why Pearlston didn't testify. Chiv said he overheard a conversation in the hallway that he would, so maybe he misheard. I can't imagine he could have done much to help reverse the slam dunk.

http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/05/josh-pearlston-expected-to-testify.html#more

 

[DatelineFan]

She must have been so drunk that she didn't even remember asking her young son to remove and toss the 7 pound bag of marijuana, if she called her friend the next morning and asked her to do it. That's really, really drunk IMO.

I can't believe her defense attorney told the judge there wasn't enough evidence. So glad the judge bound her over for trial!

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Great observation! That's true. She was blackout wasted!

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[Safeguard]

BBM

My prediction is that MK's lawyers will stretch out the process as long as possible. They will ask for a change of venue (which I believe could be granted), psychological examinations and anything else they can think of in the way of delays that a judge has to grant. And then MK will decide to hire a new legal team and start the delays all over again. I think we are looking at a year at the very least and probably more before this goes to trial...if it does.

Only at the end of this legal maneuvering will a plea deal be considered. Unless it's a very sweet deal, I'm not sure MK will accept. She may prefer to sit in court and watch her defense team skewer witnesses for the prosecution, including her son, friend RR and her ex, among others. She may honestly hold the delusion that a jury will pull an OJ or a Casey Anthony and acquit her.

Throughout this process, there will be carefully crafted "image improvement" stories planted in the press.

All JMO, MOO and hopefully wrong.

bbm

I don't know what kind of spin they could put out there about her. She doesn't seem to have a single redeeming quality. She's fighting for her life... I would be on my knees begging them to take mine...

I don't know how she breaths in and out, eats, or does any of the activities of basic living. I think I would need to be hospitalized on "watch" if I were in her shoes, and yet she can speak to discredit her son, who's life she also destroyed imo.

 

[Lilibet]

bbm

I don't know what kind of spin they could put out there about her. She doesn't seem to have a single redeeming quality. She's fighting for her life... I would be on my knees begging them to take mine...

I don't know how she breaths in and out, eats, or does any of the activities of basic living. I think I would need to be hospitalized on "watch" if I were in her shoes, and yet she can speak to discredit her son, who's life she also destroyed imo.

I don't know how they could spin her image in a positive direction either. I threw in that comment, figuring they might try, especially if the trial is moved.

But yes, a normal mother would want to die. I can't imagine living with myself under these circumstances, let alone taking vacations to foreign countries, etc. In my experience (alcoholic father), blaming others is how substance abusers avoid facing their responsibility and shame.

 

[Knox]

Great observation! That's true. She was blackout wasted!

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There were two places where video was obtained, so MK was at both drinking that afternoon/evening? I really thought we might see testimony from a bartender. Or maybe a debit or credit card transaction, guess they could have paid cash. But given the small town atmosphere, you'd think whoever served them the alcohol would remember how much she drank. Maybe it's a liability issue, they served her and let her drive away. Don't want to be involved for fear of being pulled into a lawsuit?

 

[Knox]

I don't know how they could spin her image in a positive direction either. I threw in that comment, figuring they might try, especially if the trial is moved.

But yes, a normal mother would want to die. I can't imagine living with myself under these circumstances, let alone taking vacations to foreign countries, etc. In my experience (alcoholic father), blaming others is how substance abusers avoid facing their responsibility and shame.

Yes, something is clearly broken in her. Her seemingly cavalier attitude is baffling to say the least.

 

[Safeguard]

I never really looked into her, after the very first initial reports...I didn't even know she made bail. How the heck was done?! (I'll look up the info, just thinking aloud here). I really (naively), just assumed she's be in jail all this time!

Somehow, I felt this would be treated like more than just a run of the mill "hit & run" like so many others...maybe I thought she wouldn't even try to make bail. I don't know...

I find myself wondering if she's even sane. She obviously wasn't mentally healthy even before she destroyed her children...

I wonder if she's just "Alive' and that's it. Not really caring one way or another, but following the script because...why not?
There's nothing left of her life... why not just go wherever the wind blows... I don't know, but it doesn't sound like she has much of a connection to her Son anymore... Just a shell of a person... Maybe she really doesn't even care what happens to her, but she's going on because... what else is there to do now?

 

[Lilibet]

There were two places where video was obtained, so MK was at both drinking that afternoon/evening? I really thought we might see testimony from a bartender. Or maybe a debit or credit card transaction, guess they could have paid cash. But given the small town atmosphere, you'd think whoever served them the alcohol would remember how much she drank. Maybe it's a liability issue, they served her and let her drive away. Don't want to be involved for fear of being pulled into a lawsuit?

I'm not sure if the video obtained means she was drinking at those two places. LE looked at the video before the Jeep was found in her back yard when they didn't know who it belonged to. They just knew what had run the girls down and those are the two closest places to drink. So it makes sense they'd look on video for that vehicle. I have a vague memory of another bar mentioned back then in comments. I also remember someone saying that they had spent time at the county fair. So she could have had drinks in several places.

I'm sure there was a lot of evidence collected and witnesses interviewed that will be used in a trial. They didn't need more for a preliminary hearing.