January 14, 2012 afternoon testimony
Michael Melendez--witness for the prosecution--works for Mesa PD. In June 2008 he was a detective in the computer forensics department. He conducted examinations of computer related evidence. Did forensic examinations.
#214, Camera--Melendez explains how a digital camera works. Battery in the camera was dead. Melendez used a power source instead of a batter. The button to take photos is on the top of the camera.
Lunch break.
(Missed the first few minutes, had to refresh the page)
--Multiple ways of deleting images. Only some of the photos were deleted. This would have been done by choice. There are multiple steps (five) in deleting images.
--The not deleted photos, the witness does not know what they were offhand.
--The forensic software is used to see all the images that were not deleted. There were photos of Travis in the shower and photos of a man and a woman engaged in sexual activity.
#164-169--Images recovered from the unallocated space. Partial images are sometimes found and the information that goes with photos is not found.
--The date and time was embedded on the photos.
--There were thumbnail photos and when they are 'blown up' they are blurry. The larger version of the photos were deleted and may have been overwritten. The tumbnails remained.
--Defence lawyer asks to approach the bench. Photos are entered into evidence.
#164--Date and time is 2008-06-04, 1:42 p.m. Image of a female.
#166--Image of a male and a bottle of KY personal lube. Date in time is 2008-06-04 1:48 p.m.
#165:--2008-06-04, 1:44 p.m. Item in the photo has a blue top and white bottom. Bottle of KY?
#166--Item in the photo with a blue top and a white bottom. TV in the background.
#167--Date and time is 1:47:15 p.m.
#168--Blurry image
#169--No date and time, image is from unallocated clusters of memory.
#141-160
Items also part of the memory card
Dates and times were put there by the camera itself.
#141-- Date is 2008-06-04 at 5:22:24 p.m. Naked male in the shower. View is from the side.
#142--5:22:36, 12 seconds after the first photo. Photo is of a naked male in the shower, view is from the back. Male has back to the camera and has his hands over his head
--photos were most likely taken using one's right hand, otherwise the camera operator would have to reach around.
#140, 5:22:54, Male in the shower with his back to the camera.
The lighting for #140 is darker than #142, the setting may have been changed by the camera operator.
#144--5:23:00, 6 seconds later, Photo is of a male in the shower, view is of the back.
#145--5:23:24, Travis in the shower, view is of his side. Lighting is dark.
#146--5:23:30, 6 seconds later. Almost the same photo.
$147--5:23:40, Travis from rioght side of his face,standing in the shower, lighting is dark.
#148--5:24:48, 18 seconds later. Photo is of Travis standing in the shower, side view of the left side of his face. Shower head appears to be spraying him. In the other photos the side views are of the right side of his face.
#149--5:24:52, 4 second later, Left side of Travis' head as he is facing the shower head.
#150--5:24:56, 4 seconds later, Travis standing in shower, water is spraying the back of his head, shower head is on the right side of the photo.
#151--5:25:00, 4 seconds later. Side shot of Travis in the shower, back is to the shower head.
#159--5:29:20, 4 minutes & 20 seconds later. Photo of Travis in the shower, appears to be sitting, he is looking at the camera.
#160--5:30:30,
#158--5:29:12
#147 5:28:54
156 5:27:28
#155 5:27:18
#154 5:27:12
#153 5:26:56
#160 5:30:30
--Camera does have a zoom so it is unknown how close the photos were taken.
Other photos recovered from unallocated portion of the memory stick of the camera.
#161, #162, #163
#161--5:31:14, 45 seconds later. Photo of a ceiling and the upper wall portion of the bathroom. Can see what looks like the shower door . No floor trim seen in the photo. Was the camera right side up when this was taken? Yes.
Can it be determined if the photo was taken right side up? Yes.
Melendez' opinion is that the camera is 2-3 feet, waist high, off the ground when the last two photos were taken.
#162--5:32:16, 62 seconds later. Was the camera right side up or upside down? Camera was upside down when the photo was taken. Floor can be seen in the photo. (This is the much debated photo of Travis being dragged?)
Det. Melendez has worked on hundreds of thousands of photographs in his career. He is therefore able to form an opinion on where the camera was to take these photos. This photo was taken on the ground.
#163--5:33:13. Photo of the floor, can see a mass with reddish lines in the top left corner. Can see the floor. This photo was taken upside down. Camera would have been on the ground.