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

[Chelly]

Tuesday, February 5th:
*Trial continues-No Jurors (@ 10:30am PT) - CA - McStay Family: Joseph (40), Summer (43), Gianni (4) & Joey Jr (3) (Feb. 4, 2010, Fallbrook; found Nov. 11, 2013) - *Charles "Chase" Ray Merritt (57/now 60) arrested (11/5/14) & indicted (11/7/14) of 4 counts of murder with special circumstance; plead not guilty. DP case.
12 jurors & 6 alternates were finalized on Tuesday (12/11/18). 8 women & 4 men, while the alternates include 4 men & 2 women. Trial started 1/7/19. Dark on Fridays.
Skipping Day 1 thru 6 – reference post #1180 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #2
Skipping Day 7 thru 12 – reference post #1121 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #3
1/28/19 Day 12: State witnesses: Susan Heckaman, worked for Geis Construction. Jeffrey Martin, Martin's company (Geis Construction) did business with McStay's company. Dr. Chanikarn Changsri, medical examiner. Trial continues 1/29.
1/29/19 Day 13: State witnesses: Elva Fonseca, used to work for Merritt. Joseph Steers, was a detective with SDSD. Diana Wright, FBI forensic examiner. Sergeant Ryan Smith, lead detective. Field trip tomorrow for the jury, they will not be in court No court tomorrow (1/30). Trial resumes Thursday morning (1/31).
1/30/19 Day 14: Jurors visit grave site. Trial continues 1/31.
1/31/19 Day 15: State witnesses: Det. Ryan Smith. Carmen T. Garcia, worked for Metro Sheet Metal from 2007. Michael Dominick Bosillo, works for T-Mobile in Dallas, Custodian Records Testifier. David Lipnitzky, custodian of records from AT&T. No testimony on Monday or Tuesday, Tuesday late morning (~10:30am) they will be discussing motions. On Tuesday 2/5 they are going to meet & take video depo of Ryan Baker, the customer service rep from Quickbooks. Jury back on Wednesday, 2/6.


Don't know if I should mark this day as Day 16?? No jurors, so...

@Niner
Law and Crime is noting today as Day 15.
Watch Live: McStay Family Murder Trial Day 15

 

[mrjitty]

This was discussed a length years ago, along with cartel connections, drug deals gone bad, Summer's ex or her different jobs, or the family disappearing to Mexico to hide. Not a scintilla of evidence and just red herrings to throw the investigation off.

I trust LE far more than blogs or musings by individuals trying to make a buck off a tragic situation.

This is why detectives use theory of the case

Evidence will tend to emerge to corroborate the correct theory

No evidence will emerge for incorrect theories

The defence want us to believe that lack of evidence means police missed the evidence. But they simply didn't find evidence of a drug cartel because it's a fantasy

 

[Force Ten]

Innocent until proven guilty. How many have made up their minds about his guilt, using 'CM' rather than 'the killer' in describing some imaginary actions, and state like a fact such things as Kavanaugh was in Hawaii, CM put a power cord around Joseph's neck, ...

CM is the suspect, there is some evidence that makes him suspicious, so lets snowball that, he did A, B, C, he could do D, E, F, why not, he's such a he's capable of anything! As for G, H, I, let's see, I don't see how he couldn't have done that! It's greed! Someone accused him of domestic violence (albeit w/o proof or conviction, who cares), right, domestic v-i-o-l-e-n-c-e, that's the same nature as murder of a family four with 2 babies! He didn't like the kids, so he killed them! What an evil man! He was around the house before the disappearance, he did the internet search. Remember greed can make someone do any evil! Remember a sociopath knows how to lie to a lie detector! So even if he passed the lie detector test it means nothing! Who said he couldn't have done the murders, look at his muscles! Look how creepy those photos with him in the desert hole are! He said Joseph was his best friend, how could he not answer his best friend's phone call because he's watching a movie? He was the first one to raise concern about not hearing from Joseph, that really makes him look suspicious! If he was not guilty, why did he want to represent himself in the court?! An innocent man would not want to represent himself! And he said his health was not good in order to be out of jail and postpone the trial, sounds so guilty! CM did it! Such an evil, can't believe there are people who still think he's innocent! CM belongs to hell! Can't wait to see him pay for what he did to this family!

That's a bit abrasive and wholly not quite accurate of why people believe he's guilty. It's the totality of everything.

 

[Deleted member 192280]

smr, I've been thinking about friends who may have wondered about a supposed birthday party on Sat., Feb. 6th, at Chucky Cheese. Did it get canceled, did people show up? Surely good friends would call and ask, keep in touch. If one or more stopped by the house, was the Trooper gone? I'm hoping we will find out soon.

I seem to read somewhere that shortly after the disappearance JM's family/relatives sold many of his possessions on craigalist etc. That's bothering, too.

 

[Cricket28]

Testimony has been given by two detectives that he was in Hawaii - so yes there is evidence he was there.

Plus the reporter in one of the CNN documentaries said they were able to verify/confirm DK's Hawaii alibi.

MOO

 

[mrjitty]

Plus the reporter in one of the CNN documentaries said they were able to verify/confirm DK's Hawaii alibi.

MOO

Has there even been one piece of evidence to suggest he wasn't there?

 

[Force Ten]

I seem to read somewhere that shortly after the disappearance JM's family/relatives sold many of his possessions on craigalist etc. That's bothering, too.

Absolutely 100% untrue.

 

[Texas Red]

Good morning Missy and all!

I have a close family member who owns a large car dealership and friends who have smaller ones.

Imo he traded his truck in either for a new one or a used one. It can even be a dealership that only deals in used vehicles.

What the dealer does is try to sell the traded in vehicle, but if it sits on the lot, say for 90 days, without selling, every car dealer I've known will then take it to a car auction to offload it.

Anyone can come to these auctions along with a certified dealer, and have them bid on any vehicle they want to purchase for themselves or for resale.

Vehicles auctioned can only be taken to be auctioned, and sold by a licensed car dealer.

If they find one the dealer will bid for them up to their max bid they have told the dealer they are willing to pay.

In fact at times I've helped my family member drive some of the vehicles to the auction house that is going to go up for auction.

Depending on the size of the dealership they may have 20 or 30 or even more to auction off. It's usually held once every month.

I imagine this is what happened here too with Merritt's truck. The poential buyers at the dealership may have thought it was way over priced or it had too much wear and tear.

The dealer has already made most of their profits anyway at the time of the trade in so they just try to get rid of the vehicles at auction to get them out of their inventory.

Imo, most definitely he traded it in, and it didn't sell, so off to the auction it went like many others. Lol

Someone bought it when it was run through the auction.

Jmo

The auction that sold the truck Ritchie Bros, Used Heavy Equipment for Sale | Heavy Equipment Auctions | Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is more of a heavy equipment auction and is open to the public. The dealer exclusive auctions such as Manheim or Adesa, handle about 90% of the auction wholesale business and are the ones used by most dealers. CM could have been the one that put the truck in the auction, that way he wouldn’t need to meet or deal with the buyer.

 

[Cricket28]

I just wanted to say his mentioning his girlfriend as his wife, kids he is a little "partial" about, health requiring no jail time—all stuff to make the cops think he would have never done this and keep him out of jail is what it sounds like, trying to paint himself as a good person? He did stuff like this in the years leading up to the trial, his stupid stall tactics, crocodile tears and "can't you see my puppy eyes" & "I'm wrongly accused" type look.

But what about the mentioning of going over into Mexico to buy Viagra? Was this ever checked into? Was that his way of making these supposedly incompetent cops go "gross" and not want to follow-up?

Or IF...IF.. SM was raped, then he couldn't have done it right? He's to old and has even had to take Viagra in the past for his "dysfunction".

MOO

 

[A lucas]

Summer knew that JM was seeing CM(last known where about) and what it was about.........she was a loose end and the children where collateral damage.
If CM believed this would possibly be his 3rd strike (financial theft plus whatever) he was going to go big. He had nothing to loose.
There are adept criminals, and there are stupid criminals. CM is stupid. He talks too much, he keeps getting caught, he lies about little stuff that's not even necessary, lies about bigger stuff that can be proven otherwise, he thinks his charm and conniving will get him by. He has a track record of not being smarter then the average bear.

Do you remember there was talk of Summer calling some company 4th Feb afternoon asking for homeopathic ‘anger management’ meds. So maybe you’re right and she was aware of the fact CM had taken money and CM was out confronting him, hence anger meds. She must have been furious at this development! I know she had sensed stuff about CM already and there was no love lost between them according to McCargar.

 

[Deleted member 192280]

I've seen little discussion about the possibility of a hit job. At the grave site only some unknown DNA was found. There is the possibility that someone trustworthy to the family was used to lure them somewhere, then they were abducted by hitmen, driven to the grave site, where the hitmen and the mastermind of the whole crime met. The two separate tire tracks could be one from the hired abductors, the other from the mastermind. The actual killing could be by either the hitmen or the mastermind.

This was discussed a length years ago, along with cartel connections, drug deals gone bad, Summer's ex or her different jobs, or the family disappearing to Mexico to hide. Not a scintilla of evidence and just red herrings to throw the investigation off.

How was the possibility of a hit job (not necessarily w/ cartel connections) excluded? If it's done by more than 1 person, which is likely, then I think a hit job is quite possible.

 

[katydid23]

Has there even been one piece of evidence to suggest he wasn't there?

I have only heard rumors about the evidence being flimsy. Rumors were that there were no witnesses to corroborate, and the documents submitted were questionable. But who knows if any of that was true?

 

[Emi]

Cathy Russon on Twitter
Cathy Russon‏ @cathyrusson 1m1 minute ago
#McStay - Our camera is setup and ready to go. Waiting on judge. Reminder: jury is not in today. There will be some arguments when court resumes today. Watch Live: https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/live-trials-current/charles-merritt/watch-live-charles-merritt-trial-for-murder-of-couple-and-children-2/ …

0 replies1 retweet2 likes

 

[katydid23]

I am trying to clarify why the jury is not in. Aren't they interviewing and videoing the QB guy that CM spoke to, as JM? Is that video going to be seen by jury at some point?

 

[Texas Red]

Testimony has been given by two detectives that he was in Hawaii - so yes there is evidence he was there.

That’s a bit of a stretch. IMO, unless the detectives offer direct evidence putting DK in Hawaii, their contention is nothing more than speculation derived from hearsay.

 

[Deleted member 192280]

I just wanted to say his mentioning his girlfriend as his wife, kids he is a little "partial" about, health requiring no jail time—all stuff to make the cops think he would have never done this and keep him out of jail is what it sounds like, trying to paint himself as a good person? He did stuff like this in the years leading up to the trial, his stupid stall tactics, crocodile tears and "can't you see my puppy eyes" & "I'm wrongly accused" type look.

I fail to see any logic in the above. If I were wrongly accused and arrested for a crime I have not committed, I'd do my best to avoid jail time. Why should I be jailed for something I didn't do? How does calling a long term gf who's essentially a common law wife wife make one look like a suspect? Trying to explain everything toward the direction of one's conviction is Confirmation Bias.

 

[katydid23]

"McStay feed coming up. Warning, we're in a different courtroom and the signal sucks"

 

[oceanblueeyes]

That's a bit abrasive and wholly not quite accurate of why people believe he's guilty. It's the totality of everything.

Thank you.

I'm confused.

Why would we not use CM to describe the killer when he is the one on trial???

I've never seen such a thing happen the entire time I've followed murder trials here and elsewhere.

The name of the one on trial is used in every trial to describe the killer so somehow it's supposed to be different for CM? I truly don't understand that or why.

As for the presumption of innocence that has long passed.

That is only the judicial standard the jury must go by before testimony starts being entered.

When they first sitdown defendants have that presumption before any testimony is heard. That is why they are told during jury instructions that openings and closings aren't evidence.

The presumption of innocence legally can erode away at anytime during the trial depending on the witnesses testifying that begins to sway that presumption

If the presumption of innocence lasted throughtout the trial then we wouldn't ever have fast verdicts. I have seen one murder trial have a verdict of guilty in 15 minutes which means the presumption no longer held up when it started at the beginning, and probably hadn't shortly after the witnesses started testifying and it kept crumbling.

As for believing he is totally innocent shocks me somewhat with the incriminating evidence in its totality that has already been entered,

I do respect whatever anyone wants to believe.

I would be very interested in knowing what facts have been entered thus far that convinces anyone he is a completely innocent man.

Being innocent, and being found NG aren't legally anything alike. No one is ever found innocent during any criminal trial.

Often in other cases when the jury speaks out after finding a defendant guilty it can be one of the earlier witnesses they heard from that they said was most compelling in finding them guilty so that shows in many cases the presumption doesn't last for very long.

Imo

 

[Deleted member 192280]

The problem with searching for info about Dan Kavanaugh's ex girlfriend is that you mainly get results about the ex girlfriends of Brett Kavanaugh.

 

[A lucas]

How was the possibility of a hit job (not necessarily w/ cartel connections) excluded? If it's done by more than 1 person, which is likely, then I think a hit job is quite possible.

And what would the motive be for a hit? Nothing has been unearthed through the investigations. The only evidence found points to greed and CM.