Not so at all. He may think he was stating a fact when he's not. Is the word "definitely" so crucial to you? What if CM said "I'm definitely innocent"? Would you infer that "he was clearly stating a fact"?
"And I think that at the moment he said it, Mr. Merritt was feeling confident, smug, and awfully proud of himself." Now I say, it's definitely not the case. Must be true, right?
But he didn't say he was definitely innocent, but if he had I would definitely think he was lying. Lol
What he clearly did say though is....he KNEW he was definitely the last person to see Joey.
So how would he begin to know he was definitely the last one Joey saw when according to him he saw Joey much earlier in the afternoon when they had their very important meeting ?
Joey could have easily seen other people between that time, and when he was murdered.
For all Merritt knew Joey could have stopped some place on the way back from their meeting, and seen other people.
But Merritt was definite and he said he definitely knew he was the last person to see Joey alive even though he said they parted ways at Chic-Fil-A in the early afternoon.
In fact it sounds like Summer, and their two darling children were already dead since they would have been there with Joey alive at some point before being killed. That is the only way Merritt can be so definite about being the last one to see Joey alive.
Imo, There isn't any other logical conclusion why Merritt was so emphatic about knowing he was the last person Joey ever saw.
I think the jury will pick up on his words immediately when his interview is submitted as evidence.
Just like the police noticed right away he used past tense when talking about Joey and his family very early when they were only considered willingly missing at the time.
The jury is going to closely critique every single word he has ever said from the very beginning until he stopped ...always mindful he is the one accused, and charged with murdering all four.
Imo