Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, Continued:
"Mr. Sledge had two options, plead guilty or wait for an appointed attorney to try this case and he would have been sitting in jail and he'd still be in jail today," Schardt argued about being able to ask those questions to Sledge in front of the jury.
"All of those cases are ready to be tried right now. Everybody that has been severed for that reason is ready," Whitaker said.
Schardt will be allowed to ask his three questions that the state objected to.
After a brief hearing on Rule 22 issue, Judge Whitaker is allowing
@InfamousSylvia to continue to live stream the trial and gave her some warnings about potentially giving identifying information about jurors and using "nicknames" on them.
A man who identified himself as a podcaster asked Whitaker to be allowed to use a cellphone and a laptop in court and Whitaker approved it.
After those issues were resolved, the state is going through some exhibits, including videos of Lebron James and others, that Steel wants to introduce during cross-examination.
Steel wants to play videos showing Lebron James, Stefon Diggs, CeeDee Lamb and others wiping their nose, a sign that prosecutors allege is used by YSL members as a "gang sign.”
Love argued that the videos are nothing more than people imitating "hand motions or lip-syncing words" that Young made popular through his music and songs.
Judge Whitaker told Steel he can only play two-three of those videos showing famous people wiping their nose.
Sledge said being in Rice Street Jail for eight months and being separated from his sick mother and children and didn’t “have” a lawyer for trial put pressure towards taking a plea deal on December 2022.
“I wanted to go home to my sick mother,” Sledge said about whether disagreements he had about the factual acknowledgements in the plea deal would have made him reconsider taking the deal.
Schardt went through the factual acknowledgments one by one with Sledge before closing his cross-examination trying to ask Sledge why the state felt he was so dangerous when he was first arrested but not 7 months after when he got his plea deal. Love objected repeatedly to it.
Steel is now cross-examining Sledge.He starts off by having Sledge introduce his attorney Derek Wright to the jury to talk about a Zoom call they had together on June 9, 2024.
Love is constantly raising objections and asked the judge to approach the bench but Steel did not want to stop his cross-examination.“I would rather not stop because that is all Ms. Love does. I’ll rather continue,” Steel said.
Love asked Whitaker to strike from the record the “that’s all Ms. Love does” comment from Steel.
Steel went through each date of the Young 's and Travis Scott's Rodeo Tour even over Judge Whitaker asking if it was necessary.
"Do you have any personal knowledge that Jeffery Williams committed the murder of Donovan Thomas Jr.?" Steel asked Sledge.
"No," Sledge replied."In any fashion?" Steel asked."No," Sledge added.
A funny interaction occurred when Steel asked a questioned, Love raised an objection and Whitaker initally said "overruled" but she actually meant to say "sustained.”
Sledge testified that the video music shoot in Miami was already scheduled ahead of Jan. 10, 2015.
Sledge testified that he was never told his plea agreement is conditioned to what he says on trial.
Similar to with Schardt's cross-examination, Love is continually objecting to Steel's questions.
After some technical difficulties, Steel is playing videos that shows multiple NBA players and famous people wiping their nose.
Steel played a video showing
@49ers WR Deebo Samuel wiping his nose and saying “Slime”.
Steel plans to go for 30 more minutes after Whitaker asked if they wanted to stay or continue on Monday.
It ended up being only 10 minutes so Whitaker is dismissing the jury for the day so they can address other issues.
Before they broke for the day almost an hour ago, Whitaker indicated that apparently Sledge’s attorney Derek Wright had been subpoenaed to testify by the state and asked if it would be a problem for Wright to continue to represent Sledge while he was on the stand.
Love said it wouldn’t be a problem and they will let him know when he is expected to testify after they are done with Sledge.
