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

[oceanblueeyes]

No way is this jury going to believe this is second degree. The repetitive number of victims alone shows premeditation, and malice of aforethought.

I wish they wouldn't show so much of CMs back of his head. Gah. He makes me ill just seeing him.

jmo

 

[Cricket28]

Can Cabo tell which of state is giving closing first?

It goes PT then DT then PT gets a rebuttal? Do I have that right?

 

[MissJames]

I really do like JS. I like the clear common sense way he is laying out the instructions.

imo

I like the way the judge summed up the evidence presented by the DA when he was denying a directed verdict after the Prosecution rested. I’ve never heard a judge do that . There was no drama , just a calm laying out the facts known . He even stressed the fact that there were instances when other testimony corroberated Susan Blakes prior testimony .

 

[oceanblueeyes]

It goes PT then DT then PT gets a rebuttal? Do I have that right?

Yes!

 

[Cricket28]

No way is he going to be found not guilty. But all it takes is a little bit of doubt in ONE juror for a mistrial. That is what makes me nervous.

MOO

 

[wary]

No way is this jury going to believe this is second degree. The repetitive number of victims alone shows premeditation, and malice of aforethought.

I wish they wouldn't show so much of CMs back of his head. Gah. He makes me ill just seeing him.

jmo

Right—second degree would be impossible for anyone to believe.

 

[Cricket28]

I like the way the judge summed up the evidence presented by the DA when he was denying a directed verdict after the Prosecution rested. I’ve never heard a judge do that . There was no drama , just a calm laying out the facts known . He even stressed the fact that there were instances when other testimony corroberated Susan Blakes prior testimony .

I liked that too.

 

[Cricket28]

Yes!

Thanks OBE!

 

[oceanblueeyes]

They should make the first part of the state's closing short then come back with a long rebuttal at the end.

IMO

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Maybe come back at the end with a fire hose to hose down all the smoke the DT is going to put out. JK

IMO

 

[Tortoise]

Richard K. De Atley (@RKDeAtley) | Twitter
Looks like Supervising Deputy District Attorney Britt Imes will be giving jurors the prosecution's final argument as he prepares in the courtroom during the break. The jury is coming back in now.

 

[Frankie Hellis]

Ugg it’s Imes.

 

[Tortoise]

I'm not sure if we're going to get a new feed when they resume. They've cut the old one now.

 

[Tortoise]

 

[Tortoise]

Richard K. De Atley (@RKDeAtley) | Twitter
Smith back on the bench. Imes begins.

He asks, "How does a family of four disappear off the face of the earth?" Repeating the prosecution's question in opening statements. The only answer, Imes says, is murder.

Says there is no other reasonable conclusion than first-degree murder, Reminds jurors prosecution does not need to prove where, when, or how.

Imes speaks of the bludgeon injuries to the McStay family. Shows their shattered skulls on the large screens of the courtroom. "He could have stopped," Imes says of Merritt. But he killed Summer and the two boys.

It was blow after blow after blow to the victims, Imes says, striking the podium with the pound reverberating through the court room. He said greed and self-interest was the reason for the slayings.

You can't look at things in isolation Imes says, must look at the entire picture.

 

[Tortoise]

Leticia Juarez (@ABC7Leticia) | Twitter
Daugherty is delivering and laying out how to find Merritt guilty with circumstantial evidence. He is showing jurors photos of the McStay's remains. Susan Black, McStay's mother is holding her head in her hands and silently crying.

**Correction Susan Blake

Prosecution slams his hand down to describe the blows suffered by the children. He says they were killed because they could id the killer no other reason.

Daugherty says greed motivated Merritt to kill the McStay family.

 

[Tortoise]

Leticia Juarez (@ABC7Leticia) | Twitter
Prosecution says Merritt was being sidelined because of project failures. Joseph McStay was looking to replace Merritt and consolidate his company.

McStays had just moved to Fallbrook house and remodeling the home. They were camping out says Daugherty. They were also preparing for Joe Jr.'s birthday. In the truck they found hidden birthday presents.

Richard K. De Atley (@RKDeAtley) | Twitter
Imes talks about the weeks that separated critical testimony. Because of the length of the trial, he says he will walk jurors through the facts to show Merritt was a "willfull, deliberate killer."

Imes says Merritt was being "sidelined" in the business he was doing with McStay for production problems by Merritt in the large-scale water features he was making for McStay's business.

Talks about the condition of the McStay family home in Fallbrook as it was being refurbished. Recalls how a witness said Summer McStay did not like Merritt, did not even introduce Merritt to that witness when both were at the home March 31,2010.

 

[Tortoise]

deleted (like merritt's cheques!)

 

[geevee]

Imes is doing a nice job of laying everything out so far.

 

[geevee]

lol NM