Closing Arguments- Chase Merritt Charged W/Murder of Joseph, Summer, Gianni and Joe Jr McStay #2

[LadyL]

Did Chase Merritt murder the McStay family?
This poll will close on Jun 17, 2019 at 7:34 AM.

1. *
   Guilty
   139 vote(s)
   92.1%
2. 
   Not Guilty
   12 vote(s)
   7.9%
   

POLL - Did Chase Merritt murder the McStay family?

 

[Bennettfit]

If Merritt were running for public office then according to the vote totals posted here, he has obviously lost the election. However, in this circumstance he only needs 1 vote to avoid a conviction and I bet the farm that he has it.

 

[NMurphy02]

Although I think CM will be found guilty, in the event there is a mistrial, hung jury, or acquittal, the biggest factors that could lead to that IMO are:

1. The lackadaisical and lazy investigation of the disappearance of the family by Dugal and SDSO. That it wasn't treated as a crime from the outset is a crime itself. That Dugal couldn't be bothered to push for search warrants when we have seen many many other cases where they did, and in this case there were young children involved - probably would have created an easy bar to get over. There were other investigative balls dropped as well.

2. Time - long time from crime to discovery of bodies. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but it definitely helped CM.

2. The crazy schedule, delays, time from the end of the prosecution case and the completion of the defense case, and overall lack of continuity could hurt some jurors ability to have maintained the big picture of circumstantial evidence clearly in mind.

In the end, I don't think the defense recent shenanigans really are going to make a difference one way or another. I really believe these jurors have made up their minds one way or another. They either believe in the concept and weight of circumstantial evidence, or don't. If the former, there's a few 2-ton bricks in there for motive and consciousness of guilt that will convict him.

I could not agree with number 1 anymore than I already do. To say some random family crossing the border was the McStay's was just plain laziness. They didn't know how to investigate a case like this, so they didn't. Horrible investigation!

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Tweets from Law and Crime Verdicts do work. Just got the alert for the Timothy Jones verdict, being read in a few minutes.

Tim Jones - GUILTY x 5

Thank you. So happy to see justice served and quickly.

I believe they will sentence him to death.

This is the kind of death penalty verdicts I'm use to seeing in my own home state.

Rarely do they take days, and days or weeks to come to their verdict nor when they decide in the sentencing phase whether the death penalty is the just sentence.

Jmho

 

[Bennettfit]

I haven't seen any proof that it wasn't the family crossing the border, perhaps the SDSD was correct in the first place.

 

[MsFacetious]

The sad thing is, I’m sure I have all my statements from then. From then and the 2 decades prior . I seriously need to purge some crap from this house.

Exactly what we are doing this week. Taking a load to the dump, filling the garbage cans and taking 20 bankers boxes to the shredder.

The trial has gone on forever though and jurors might have important appointments that were scheduled months ago when people thought this would be long over with. I know it's all odd but think on HOW long these people have been serving by now. And what an impact on their daily lives. I feel for them and also trust they are not frivolously requesting "a morning off " -- but that there are valid reasons. My hat off to them, in general.

Almost all of January, then Feb, March, April, May. We are now in JUNE. These people are about to start their 6th month of serving . Yeah, I'll cut them some slack for their RL by now.

Absolutely! How many of you could just suddenly start going to court 9-4 every day for 3 months? Oh wait, sorry it's going to be 6 months, our bad! This has been ridiculous. If the JUDGE can cancel court because HE has a dentist appt that COULDN'T be on a FRIDAY... then the jury certainly doesn't have to reschedule non refundable things.

I agree it's a little unsettling that they aren't wanting to stay late. However, it could be that they are arguing and need that break and time away from each other. I'm sure not going to judge them because there is no way I could do what they are doing.

 

[NMurphy02]

I haven't seen any proof that it wasn't the family crossing the border, perhaps the SDSD was correct in the first place.

and that is certainly your prerogative to believe that was them. I think they were already in a grave in the desert.

 

[asyousay]

I haven't seen any proof that it wasn't the family crossing the border, perhaps the SDSD was correct in the first place.

Where is your proof the family was alive after 8pm On the 4th?

 

[Bernina]

I haven't seen any proof that it wasn't the family crossing the border, perhaps the SDSD was correct in the first place.

Go back to the beginning of this case, the border crossing was debunked many ways, including from the mouth of CM.
Beating a dead horse.

 

[MsFacetious]

I haven't seen any proof that it wasn't the family crossing the border, perhaps the SDSD was correct in the first place.

The defendant said it wasn't them in addition to the family.

 

[MissJames]

Exactly what we are doing this week. Taking a load to the dump, filling the garbage cans and taking 20 bankers boxes to the shredder.





Absolutely! How many of you could just suddenly start going to court 9-4 every day for 3 months? Oh wait, sorry it's going to be 6 months, our bad! This has been ridiculous. If the JUDGE can cancel court because HE has a dentist appt that COULDN'T be on a FRIDAY... then the jury certainly doesn't have to reschedule non refundable things.

I agree it's a little unsettling that they aren't wanting to stay late. However, it could be that they are arguing and need that break and time away from each other. I'm sure not going to judge them because there is no way I could do what they are doing.

Jury service is so important , it’s mandated by law. You have to be excused by the court , otherwise you are expected to report and to serve.
It’s not a matter of being able to do what they are doing , it’s required under our laws , Federal , State & local.

The judge in this case has his own reasons for allowing this trial schedule to go along haphazardly , as it is .
I don’t agree with it , but he must have his reasons .
Honestly , even the way the judge would break into everything ,from opening arguments to the middle of a witnesses testimony , was unsettling to me.
Timing matters in court .

This has just been a really weird trial , from a scheduling sense .

 

[missy1974]

Tweets from Law and Crime Verdicts do work. Just got the alert for the Timothy Jones verdict, being read in a few minutes.

Tim Jones - GUILTY x 5

I didn't get an alert!!! LOL But I think I was active and had twitter open on my phone at the time so probably why, I was curious to know if it worked for you, so thanks!

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

The defendant said it wasn't them in addition to the family.

I'm curious as to when SB changed her mind? Apart from the rest of the family, she was the only one who was adamant it was Joey, Summer and the boys on the survellience camera.

 

[wary]

Go back to the beginning of this case, the border crossing was debunked many ways, including from the mouth of CM.
Beating a dead horse.

I don’t remember it even being mentioned in the trial—did I miss something?

 

[Tortoise]

I haven't seen any proof that it wasn't the family crossing the border, perhaps the SDSD was correct in the first place.

The paint on bra and sledgehammer shows they were not killed after crossing into Mexico on the 8th, unless the killer followed them with a can of paint as well. The graves were filmed on google earth on the 12th.

IMO

 

[Kavya01]

If Merritt were running for public office then according to the vote totals posted here, he has obviously lost the election. However, in this circumstance he only needs 1 vote to avoid a conviction and I bet the farm that he has it.

Oh man what a nightmare, I hope those jurors take all the time they need to avoid that scenario. Brrr.

 

[Bernina]

I don’t remember it even being mentioned in the trial—did I miss something?

"Case", not "trial".

 

[ilovesleep]

Does anyone know how long into the evening deliberations last?

 

[Bennettfit]

We know archived photos from 2/12/10 show disturbed dirt at the gravesite location.
However, we have no idea what, if anything, was under the dirt at that time.

Correction, I believe the archived photos are from a few weeks after the 12th.

 

[Lilibet]

I could not agree with number 1 anymore than I already do. To say some random family crossing the border was the McStay's was just plain laziness. They didn't know how to investigate a case like this, so they didn't. Horrible investigation!

It’s the same folks who brought us Rebecca Zahau’s “suicide.” In drama, putting aside doubt or skepticism and accepting something illogical for the sake of the story is called “willing suspension of disbelief.” Suspending one’s critical thinking has no place in an LE investigation.