I hope it's ok to post tweets (??)
In Session Judge Burmilla has just taken the bench. "One housekeeping thing we need to do is there's one juror that was not sworn in. I took care of that this morning, so all the jurors are now sworn."
The judge says there is one motion that needs to be addressed this morning. Defense attorney Steve Greenberg says that one of his concerns is what can and can't be said during openings. "If either side starts saying things in their opening, and they aren't proven up later on, the jurors will hear that ... some of these things are of serious concern. If the State starts getting into the specifics of the hearsay statements, we have many objections to that ... all of Kathleen Savio's statements that 'Drew's going to kill me' are not admissible." He cites case law to back up his position.
In Session Greenberg continues to go over case law that he believes backs up his position regarding use of hearsay during the openings. "We're worried about that."
In Session Greenberg also mentions motive evidence. "When a person dies, and they're already divorced, the individual is considered as a living person under the statutes. For years, we've been hearing that Drew did this for financial reasons . . . But there's a divorce decree where a judge said this was a fair settlement. They have zero evidence to show . . . that if anything happened to her he was going to benefit. So I don't think they should be allowed to argue that he was in way benefitting from her death."
In Session Greenberg wraps up by arguing that the State should not be allowed to claim that "this was a staged crime scene... they shouldn't be able to get into this in their opening, because they have no evidence of it... they can't say Drew was at the house, because they have no evidence of it... how can they say these things in opening statement? Because they want to believe it's true."
In Session The prosecution responds by arguing that there is no pertinent law that limits what can be said during openings, and disputes the case law cited by the defense.
In Session Prosecutor Connor offers some case law to the Court. Greenberg complains, says the defense was not provided with this info prior to the hearing. The judge agrees, but lets Connor proceed, and says if the defense needs time later to look at this material, that can be arranged.
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