CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #18

[mrjitty]

So just as an example re discovery, in leading EIC for forensic dude, Maline makes it clear that significant amounts of material were received via discovery from the DA's office. This also occurred over time as the evidence revealed additional records that needed to be requested.

The major thing that was not provided by the state was Joey's ledgers which were located by the defence computer guy (received 13 April)

Especially forensic dude says that they looked at DK financial records from q3 2005 to end 2010. He certainly says nothing about having only just receiving the paypal records. It's not entirely clear, but my interpretation is forensic dude finished his main work one year ago with his 7-8 page report

Then he did work in the last week - largely about the schedules from computer dude. This is when he did his crazy gambling cash withdrawal exhibit.

So I am not sure why we'd assume DK's financial records were not part of the bulk discovery - which apparently took place in 2016 - IMO it seems clear they were.

The problem always with this stuff is we don't have the exhibits first hand to see all the things in evidence - but it is vast amounts of stuff.

Forensic dude agreed he received boxes and boxes of stuff

ETA: Just checked back on X

Forensic dude focussed on DK back at the time of his first report because "that was the records we had at the time"

He then prepped more while watching state financial expert in Court.

Then went nuclear from the 13th until his testimony based on the schedules

But MR makes clear he actually had all the QB material and Chase bank records all along - but didn't focus on any of that in his first report

But what he definitely appeared to have is the DK financial stuff, because that is what he focussed on for his first report when was instructed in 2016.

ETA2

MR in her bulldog Geis (ep?) construction mauling of the witness makes is clear that forensic dude had access to DK financial records for his first report - yet "missed" DK paying 5K to Chase.

 

[Tortoise]

So - the only witnesses - that I caught in all the posts - was Stutchman & Henke - correct? Not this Sgt. Steers too?

TIA!

You guys will have to start posting "who" is on the stand for me! LOL!

Stutchman finished on April 30th.

Yesterday was, in order:

Dennis Shogren - defense financial accountant
Sgt Joseph Steers - re. the Mitchley awning
Detective Daniel Hanke - re. the paintball documentation

Hanke is expected to be back on the stand today, briefly.

 

[mrjitty]

Something I find remarkably casual in this Court is Maline wanders in with a drink while his colleague is addressing the Judge, meanwhile Deputy DA Imes is chatting with MR

 

[katydid23]

Something I find remarkably casual in this Court is Maline wanders in with a drink while his colleague is addressing the Judge, meanwhile Deputy DA Imes is chatting with MR

It is definitely a casual laid back approach to court protocol. I am from California, been to many trials as my father and brother were both attorneys, and I have never seen a judge be this laid back about rules.

 

[mrjitty]

Going through MR's bulldog X

It's a great point that Joey almost never put the job name on the cheques.

Another blunder from Chase, given he said in his interviews that Joey gave him the cheques. In his zeal to make the cheques look legit - he revealed that he created them.

I wonder why the State didn't produce a witness to compare the Joey cheques with the Chase forged cheques on their face.

Maybe they feel the activity record is enough.

 

[mrjitty]

It is definitely a casual laid back approach to court protocol. I am from California, been to many trials as my father and brother were both attorneys, and I have never seen a judge be this laid back about rules.

Absolutely!

I was terrified when i first appeared in the High Court to make a motion for a delay to a case. This was only commercial list and the Court was crowded with various parties so there is some quiet discussion. But you certainly didn't chatter while the Judge was addressing your matter

 

[mrjitty]

bulldog X (cont.)

Forensic dude lets himself down on his answer as to why Levine & Provecho are added to the "overpaid" amount.

Clearly Joey regarded these as debit items in his own favour which is why they can be added to the 15K overpaid to get to 42K

No one really contests that they are outside the normal ledgers - that is why they are listed as extraordinary items.

He just looks like a muppet on this point.

You just know if hired by the state - he would be jumping straight on to the black and white text of the email as the most obvious evidence of Joey's belief re the total debt being 42K as at that date.

 

[Niner]

Thanks a bunch Tortoise! Looks like I got all wrong! Much appreciated!

 

[Tortoise]

<snip>
I wonder why the State didn't produce a witness to compare the Joey cheques with the Chase forged cheques on their face.

Maybe they feel the activity record is enough.

April Coronado certified fraud examiner for Union Bank in 2010 testified about that.

She spoke to DuGal in Feb 2010 about the cheques and he did nothing. I get so frustrated with that guy. Took 2 or 3 dogs there trained to notice stuff hidden or not visible to the naked eye but used his vision to decide they weren't needed in the house.

Went to San Ysidro but didn't get security footage for the whole of the 8th based on the security guy saying he thought he would have noticed the Trooper if it was there before 5 pm.

 

[mrjitty]

How much of CMs financial records have been entered? Did they produce any of his business or personal tax returns, and 1099s?

The way I understand the discovery each side turns over the discovery each one plans to use in each one's case.

So it would be up to the defense to get DKs financial records since they were the ones going to use it in their CIC.

Tia

It's pretty clear that DK's financial records emerged years ago in the incremental discovery process - my guess is in the original state discovery dump

Of course it is difficult to tell exactly who produced what of course - and not everything discovered is produced. So defence may produce exhibits based on discovery from the state.

What is really quite fascinating is to review Maline's opening now, and read with great care what he actually says.

First up he is mainly critical of Dugal - but we know Dugal was unable to get search warrants for the DK stuff OR the Chase stuff. He struggled even to get McStay stuff.

Second, Maline doesn't say the state didn't dig up all DK's finances and phone records. He merely says the State didn't get a forensic accountant to understand them.

So you know, the state gets the bank records and sees all the transactions in Hawaii, and the phone records sees all the Hawaii calls - no wonder the DK investigation went nowhere.

This is big time smoke and mirrors and there simply is no evidence DK was not investigated. The problem is nothing links him to the crime.

If the State really didn't gather up DK exhibits - I think Maline would have specifically said that stuff

 

[mrjitty]

April Coronado certified fraud examiner for Union Bank in 2010 testified about that.

She spoke to DuGal in Feb 2010 about the cheques and he did nothing. I get so frustrated with that guy. Took 2 or 3 dogs there trained to notice stuff hidden or not visible to the naked eye but used his vision to decide they weren't needed in the house.

Went to San Ysidro but didn't get security footage for the whole of the 8th based on the security guy saying he thought he would have noticed the Trooper if it was there before 5 pm.

Damn thanks T - i completely forgot about this.

I wonder why then, the Judge didn't allow MK to X on the cheques being forged - because there are facts in evidence about this.

 

[mrjitty]

Shame the side bar was edited out on PayPal 3rd parties

I am pretty sure the Court doesn't appreciate the scope of access for 3rd parties devs/API etc

MR gets it.

 

[Tortoise]

Damn thanks T - i completely forgot about this.

I wonder why then, the Judge didn't allow MK to X on the cheques being forged - because there are facts in evidence about this.

My impression is the defense aren't denying he forged the cheques after the 4th but they're saying it was done with Joey's consent. They have Joey doing the cheques on the 2nd and 4th.

OS:

Merritt had a practice of doing business with EIP between him and Joseph, after handling something for Joseph Merritt would always call him to update. So he wrote four cheques and deleted them at 12.39 then he calls and leaves a message ten minutes later – ‘Hey it’s done’.

 

[mrjitty]

No one seems to have covered this, but MR scrolls through DK's financial records for Jan and Feb 2010.

He starts out buying a plane ticket beginning Jan. Then has transactions in Hawaii all through Jan and into feb including 2,3,5,6 and 8 Feb and at least until the 12th there are Hawaii transactions.

A charge for an airticket then goes through on 17th feb - so presumably he left that day, or maybe a day or two earlier depending on how long the charge took to come thru.

So based on this, there is more than enough to prima facie conclude he was in Hawaii, and obviously a prosecution would not get off the ground.

See around the 52min mark. Seems to me he was indeed based in Hawaii, and came home when Joey went missing. Like why are we even talking about this?

And how the hell did "forensic accountant" not prepare anything in his report about DKs likely whereabouts?

This ends the case for me. unless the defence is going to produce something specific showing DK in Fallbrook on the 4th

 

[mrjitty]

My impression is the defense aren't denying he forged the cheques after the 4th but they're saying it was done with Joey's consent. They have Joey doing the cheques on the 2nd and 4th.

OS:

Merritt had a practice of doing business with EIP between him and Joseph, after handling something for Joseph Merritt would always call him to update. So he wrote four cheques and deleted them at 12.39 then he calls and leaves a message ten minutes later – ‘Hey it’s done’.

yes - but I think based on his own admissions he forged Joey's signature on more than one occasion?

Oh well - I guess MR makes a key point that a forensic accountant should wet their pants over this kind of detail

 

[mrjitty]

MR did a good job of shredding this witness

He would have been far more convincing if he stuck to the facts and analysed in a balanced way - after all he had good points to make

1. The "overpaid" number is only a snapshot in time, so can easily be misunderstood as longstanding debt - but its really just a variable ledger balance.
   
   
2. Provecho - not yet "demanded" is actually a decent point. We don't know when Joey was going to start paying down Levine/Provecho. But trying to claim it wasn't owed is silly - Joey treated it as a credit to himself just like the "overpaid"

Witness would have been much better to appear balanced but still land his heavy blows.

On DK his evidence was laughable.

 

[mrjitty]

Bulldog X (...cont)

My man was rocked hard on his arse by the question "were you aware where the money was withdrawn" in relation to the alleged MSM cash / casino withdrawal

I guess he realised how ridiculous his exhibit looked at that moment

Clearly what has happened is Chase has reverse briefed this idea thru, and then Forensic Dude erased some of his personal credibility on it, without having checked it out fully. MR's team did a great job on picking this up seeing they only got the exhibit within a day or so

 

[mrjitty]

I think what happened here was testimony by sock puppet.

Maline probably felt for 31K ++ , he could demand the witness create that silly exhibit to "testify" what Chase cannot say himself

 

[mrjitty]

Something drastic happened for Merritt's bank to have closed his bank account in November 2009, which is when he moved out of his house into an apartment also. That seems to coincide with the timing of the arguments at Metro.

JMO

Forensic dude really opened my eyes to the heart of the matter - cash

A lot has focussed on net position (e.g. 15K "overpaid" but usually in business cashflow is far more important

IMO the move from 65% to 15% destroyed Chase's cashflow and combined with his gambling issues (and no doubt debts all over town) led to the loss of his account. He didn't even have a bank account in the following couple of months

So while Chase was not paid 65% gross (Joey paid lots of invoices on behalf from Chase's end) it looks to me like Chase could still utilise that far more of that cashflow for himself and suppliers.

15% may ultimately be the true margin he was getting before (i.e. 50% costs) but it still heavily reduces your room to move. When you are getting big whacks of money you can stiff suppliers for months and pay only the hungriest mouths while diverting cash to yourself. On 15% that stuff catches up on you.

In previous years his 65% end had cashflow approaching 200K.

At 15% it is barely 45K

MR was right to focus on "financial health" - the man can't even get a bank account in late 2009, the big cheques are going to MSM - then suddenly in early feb he is rolling in cash. He knew the big numbers Joey was pulling down and that is what he was after.

 

[citygirl]

He actually said something like you don't need a bank account to survive.