CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #6

[Tricia]

On Feb 4th, 2010 the McStay Family, Joey, Summer, Gianni, and Joseph Jr vanished from their home. It looked like the family simply got up and left their home never to return.

Law Enforcement was convinced that the McStay family ran away to Mexico.

Patrick McStay, Joey's father, along with other loved ones knew there was no way Joey and his family would never flee to Mexico. There was no reason for this scenario presented by law enforcement.

Up until the remains of the family were found buried in the desert on November 11, 2013, Patrick McStay searched for his son and his family.

Family friend Chase Merritt was arrested for the McStay family murders on Nov 7th, 2014 and finally, Merritt's first-degree murder trial is underway.

The McStay forum is in our private section. However, we are making the discussion of the trial public.

Link to prior threads
#1 CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010

Trial Thread #4
Thread #5

 

[Niner]

Wednesday, January 16th:
*Trial continues (Day 7) (@ 9:30am 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. Dec. 19 hearing will focus on evidence & details about possible jury visits to the both the desert grave sites & the McStay family home in Fallbrook. Trial to start 1/7/19.
1/7/19 Day 1: Judge will allow live stream of trial. Judge gives jurors initial instructions. Judge not happy with the number of cameras in the courtroom. Opening statements are done. Trial continues 1/8.
1/8/19 Day 2: State witnesses: Susan Blake (Joseph's mother). Michael McStay (Joseph’s brother). Trial continues on 1/9.
1/9/19 Day 3: Prosecutor tells the judge Mike McStay doesn't want to be shown on camera today. Judge denies request. State witnesses: Jennifer Michley (or Mitchley), former Fallbrook neighbor of the McStays, she is now from out of state. Michael McStay. Trial continues on 1/10.
1/10/19 Day 4: State witnesses: Michael McStay (subject to recall). Bruce Carter, He was security for the San Jacinto Shopping Center mall where the McStay's Isuzu Trooper was towed from on the Mexico Border town of San Ysidro. David Jackson. Jackson worked for the last witness. He was a security guard at the parking where vehicle was owed from. Kathleen Conwell, in 2010 she was an animal control officer for San Diego County. Sgt. Michael Tingley, San Diego Co. Sheriff's Office. In 2010, he was a patrol deputy for the Fallbrook area. Trial continues on Monday, 1/14. Will be dark on Fridays.
1/14/19 Day 5: State witnesses: Jeffrey "McGyver" McCargar (he was friends with Joseph & Summer. He introduced them). Det. Troy DuGal, from San Diego Sheriff's office. Tomorrow 1/15 trial will go from 9:30am to 12 noon, as a juror has an appointment.
1/15/19 Day 6: State witness: Ret. Detective Troy DuGal. Trial continues on 1/16.



Am I spelling the detective's name correctly? Is it DuGal or Dugal - ?? The tweeter person has DuGal.

 

[Harmony 2]

Please continue discussion here. Several snarky and personalized posts were removed from the previous thread. Posting in this manner may result in the loss of posting privileges.

 

[mrjitty]

First page

 

[Mica]

Following

 

[Niner]

Well, since Mica said there was court today:

Monday, February 11th:
*Trial continues (Day 18) (@ 9:30am 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 11 – reference post #1121 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #3
Skipping Day 12 thru 14 - Reference post #217 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #5
2/5/19 Day 15: Trial today w/NO JURY. 402 Hearing. Expect arguments regarding testimony from the QuickBooks rep that spoke to a "Joseph McStay" on Feb 9, 2010, however prosecutors say the phone used to make the call was Charles Merritt's. The gist is Ryan Baker, QuickBooks customer service rep is having surgery and prosecution wants to have him appear via video before surgery on Thursday. Defense says they want him there. Defense says they have not been given doctor's notes to prove the witness is having surgery or to prove he cannot travel. They are now arguing about the process of testifying by Skype. Dr Leonid I Rudin is a professional photogrammeographer. Master of Science in Mathematics and Phd in Photography. Testifying re truck leaving the Fallbrook home. Judge says to come back tomorrow at 10:30. The defense says that at 9am, they want to have a meeting about the lack of timely discovery from the state.
2/6/19 Day 16: Judge delaying Rudin’s testimony until Feb 19th. State witnesses: Video/Skype testimony from Ryan Baker, QuickBooks customer service rep. re. phone call received on Feb 9th 2010 asking QB to delete their EIP QB records, claiming to be from Joseph McStay. Michael Russ, Crime Scene Specialist, about the Faro Scan & processing of Merritt's truck in 2014. Legal argument follows outside presence of jury regarding rescheduling of witnesses, court may be dark on Monday 11th, defense wants more discovery from pros. re google earth cell tower mapping, Boles' expertise, & the expertise of their additional cell mapping expert who may be a rebuttal witness to def. expert, & reports from pros. financial analyst, pros. to provide judge with financial graphs & excel spreadsheets 2/7 am, judge threatens to cite def. counsel for misconduct if they raise disallowed material re DK in front of jury. Trial continues on 2/7.
2/7/19 Day 17: DELAYED: A juror was involved in an accident. Next update from court is at 11am PST/2pm EST to see if trial will happen today. The juror who was involved in the accident today is an alternate. He broke his wrist trying to get storage containers down from the rafters in his garage. It was not a car accident. State witnesses: Sgt. Ryan Smith is recalled to the stand by the state. He conducted a search of Charles Merritt's home on 10/22/14. Det. Jason Schroeder - Hi-tech Crime Division, Hisperia PD. No court until Wednesday, Feb. 13th.
Per Mica court on Monday, Feb. 11th.

 

[Tssiemer]

Is there court??

 

[Bernina]

Force10, or anyone who may know:
Is there any truth to CJ filing a restraining order against CM when she left him? Was wandering around the Web and came across it, but couldn't get a direct link to documentation.

 

[missy1974]

I didn't think there was court today or tomorrow ....

 

[Mica]

I didn't think there was court today or tomorrow ....

The judge said there wasn’t at the last hearing but on the court portal jury trial is posted for today. Maybe the portal wasn’t updated?

 

[Force Ten]

Force10, or anyone who may know:
Is there any truth to CJ filing a restraining order against CM when she left him? Was wandering around the Web and came across it, but couldn't get a direct link to documentation.

Interesting info if true. Not sure that would be available as a public record.

 

[asyousay]

Cathy Russon hasn’t tweeted so I’m assuming still no court today

 

[Niner]

Let's see it's what 9:40am on the West coast right?

As I said before I had them coming back on the 13th....

 

[JMarsh]

Interesting info if true. Not sure that would be available as a public record.

Restraining orders are public record.

 

[Emi]

No court until the 13th and then no court again on Monday the 18th

 

[Emi]

The judge said there wasn’t at the last hearing but on the court portal jury trial is posted for today. Maybe the portal wasn’t updated?

could you please post link for the portal

 

[JMarsh]

Someone asked me about Quickbooks and I think it is really intrinsic to a discussion about this case to at least know the basics in regard to that software. Some of this everyone may know already, but it seems worth reviewing. Caveat: I could be mistaken about some of what I'm posting here. The DA has not laid out all the details, so we'll see how close I am to being accurate as the trial progresses, but here's what I know, anyway. For what it is worth.

From what I understand, Joey used Quickbooks Intuit (Not Quickbooks Pro). His first "account" "Contacts" was generated in 2004, so it may be that Joey had a 2004 version of Quickbooks Intuit and had not upgraded since then. And it would appear that he only purchased one license. Which means that technically, he was supposed to be the only person accessing the program. (An account is generally tied to a bank account and you can have numerous "accounts" even if you only have one license.)

In 2007 Joey sets up a second "account" for his Quickbooks program "Custom".

According to the preliminary hearing transcript the account titled "Contacts" documented ALL of Joey's finances, everything from his business to his mortgage to his various bank accounts.

The account titled "Custom" was strictly for business conducted between Joey and Chase.

With Quickbooks you can dictate who has access to different information by way of the email and password you give them. The owner of the software can, for example dictate that email: owner@gmail.com with password "access"-has access to all data.

But then a second email and password can be created, and it is possible in Quickbooks to restrict access for that email and password. So, for example, when Joey created the new email and password for "Custom" , for the sake of this example, let's pretend it was: notowner@gmail.com; password "limited access", the person with only that email and password, would only see what Joey wanted them to see. They wouldn't necessarily be able to see any of Joey's personal accounts or bank balances.

I don't know for a fact that Joey set things up this way, but I suspect he did. It seems very possible that if someone were to put in the email and password for the "Custom" they would only have access to data specific to that account, which is why Chase could not use the drop down vendor list from "Contacts". If I'm right about this, that would explain why Chase created new vendor contacts.

I don't want to bore everyone to tears, but it did seem that some of the nuances in the Quickbooks software are not widely known.

Quickbooks is awesome. I've used it in a number of different ways. And for the small business person it allows for some, kind of creative, applications when monitoring expenses, etc.

 

[JMarsh]

Someone asked me about Quickbooks and I think it is really intrinsic to a discussion about this case to at least know the basics in regard to that software. Some of this you all may know already, but it seems worth reviewing. Caveat: I could be mistaken about some of what I'm posting here. The DA has not laid out all the details, so we'll see how close I am to being accurate as the trial progresses. But here's what I know, anyway.

From what I understand, Joey used Quickbooks Intuit (Not Quickbooks Pro). His first "account" "Contacts" was generated in 2004, so it may be that Joey had a 2004 version of Quickbooks Intuit and had not upgraded since then. And it would appear that he only purchased one license. Which means that technically, he was supposed to be the only person on the account. (An account is generally tied to a bank account and you can have numerous "accounts" even if you only have one license.)

In 2007 Joey sets up a second "account" for his Quickbooks program "Custom".

According to the preliminary hearing transcript the account titled "Contacts" documented ALL of Joey's finances, everything from his business to his mortgage to his various bank accounts.

The account titled "Custom" was strictly for business conducted between Joey and Chase.

With Quickbooks you can separate access to different information by way of the email and password used. The owner of the software can, for example dictate that email: owner@gmail.com with password "access"-has access to all data.

But then a second email and password can be created, and it is possible in Quickbooks to restrict access for that email and password. So, for example, when Joey created a new email and password for "Custom" , for example notowner@gmail.com; password "limited access", the person with only that email and password information, would only see what Joey wanted them to see.

I don't know for a fact that Joey set things up this way, but I suspect he did. It seems very possible that if someone were to put in the email and password for the "Custom" they would only have access to data specific to that account, which is why Chase could not use the drop down vendor list from "Contacts". If I'm right about this, that would explain why Chase created new vendor contacts.

I don't want to bore everyone to tears, but it did seem that some of the nuances in the Quickbooks software are not widely known.

Quickbooks is awesome. I've used it in a number of different ways. And for the small business person it allows from some, kind of creative, applications when monitoring expenses, etc.

If Chase had accessed the Contacts account, that would be suspicious to me. The fact that he only ever accessed Custom seems in keeping with his version of events around his Quickbooks usage. But we haven't reached this point in the trial, so we'll see.

 

[dlkutac]

Just wanted to comment why you could appear to be backdating a check. If you manually wrote out a check on the 4th, but were posting the check into the system on the 5th, the system would log & date it the 5th, so you would manually change the date back to the 4th. The log would remain dated the fifth, but the check would have the correct date of issue. If you are printing a computer generated check, you normally leave the date alone as the check is being issued "today" in the system. You never delete a check, for obvious reasons, even though the option exists. You void it. I believe the system even asks you to confirm you want to do such an idiotic thing.

You would never delete an active check. Ever. No possible reason to do that.

 

[JMarsh]

Just wanted to comment why you could appear to be backdating a check. If you manually wrote out a check on the 4th, but were posting the check into the system on the 5th, the system would log & date it the 5th, so you would manually change the date back to the 4th. The log would remain dated the fifth, but the check would have the correct date of issue. If you are printing a computer generated check, you normally leave the date alone as the check is being issued "today" in the system. You never delete a check, for obvious reasons, even though the option exists. You void it. I believe the system even asks you to confirm you want to do such an idiotic thing.

I think you are correct. Sometimes when drafting checks the user doesn't intend to print those checks on that day, so the "date" is a feature that gets manipulated a lot.

Everything, with the exception of the check deleting seems easily explained. I don't know why Chase deleted the checks. When Joseph was alive, you could speculate it was to keep Joseph from knowing right away about the check, but if that is the reason for the deletion, it makes no sense to continue deleting those checks if the person generating them knows Joseph is no longer around to see what is occurring.

I suspect that there may have been another reason for the deletion.