IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #39

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whiskers said:
Physically passing out. To this day I explain it as cartoons we saw as children: The black started at the bottom of my eyes and when it reached the top, I was on the ground. I could see the black slowly taking over my vision. There is no way (from my experience) if you truly blackout, you can commit a crime.
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Maybe that's what he did! He fainted and while he was lying there unconscious, someone ELSE must have done this to Mollie!!
 
MsBetsy said:
Right. The point is we all know what it means when someone has a blackout. I wasn't trying to justify it, just trying to explain for those who may not have a large Hispanic population. People were confused about it, so I offerred my opinion, that's all. I'm curious how they will explain just what a " blockout" is in court.
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Per the affidavit, he "blocked" out his "memory", which is what he does when he gets really upset.

http://media.graytvinc.com/documents/082118+DCI+Arrest.pdf
 
MsBetsy said:
Right. The point is we all know what it means when someone has a blackout. I wasn't trying to justify it, just trying to explain for those who may not have a large Hispanic population. People were confused about it, so I offerred my opinion, that's all. I'm curious how they will explain just what a " blockout" is in court.
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The affidavit quotes him as saying "blocked" his "memory" and he didn't remember anything after that until the cornfield. That sounds to me like he said, and they interpreted him to say, that he blocked out of/from his memory what had happened.

http://www.dps.state.ia.us/commis/p...-2018_DCI_ArrestWarrantComplaintAffidavit.pdf
 
I just find this whole 'blocked' or even possibly 'blacked' (if he didn't understand the two) BS. Even if he did confuse the words, or not even know how to use them, I find him utterly stupid. With 5 weeks to plan, that's the best you could come up with? So you can't remember a huge chunk of murdering another human, but you use a 4 year-olds explanation.
 
MsBetsy said:
Right, but I think what we are saying is it means that he experienced a " blackout". Since he describes it as something that happens as a result of trauma. Someone pointed out that people used the phrase interchangeably.
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He's claiming that Mollie really upset him, and when he's really upset his memory doesn't work. Therefore, he remembers nothing between the time that she really upset him and the moment he discovered an earbud on his lap.
 
jillycat said:
The affidavit quotes him as saying "blocked" his "memory" and he didn't remember anything after that until the cornfield. That sounds to me like he said, and they interpreted him to say, that he blocked out of/from his memory what had happened.

http://www.dps.state.ia.us/commis/p...-2018_DCI_ArrestWarrantComplaintAffidavit.pdf
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Right, that's exactly what it would sound like he is saying since he pronounced the words differently. That's probably why they put it parenthesis.
 
otto said:
He's claiming that Mollie really upset him, and when he's really upset his memory doesn't work. Therefore, he remembers nothing between the time that she really upset him and the moment he discovered an earbud on his lap.
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Yes, I understand!! We discussed it at length the other day! You don't remember? ( Are you having a" black out" or have you blocked it from your memory ?) It means the same thing.. People just say it in different ways.
 
jillycat said:
I think we're going in circles because as I said, he had a translator for whatever he said. And we have no idea if he spoke in English, Spanish, or both or how he pronounces things.
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This is the new Impala or is it a Malibu, thanks to me. I originally wondered when he was forming his faux alibi if he even understood the difference between the two words as native speakers often confuse them. In the long run it probably doesn't matter, but I'm curious how his lawyer will run with it. Because in my experience a true blackout means you fainted.
 
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jillycat said:
I think we're going in circles because as I said, he had a translator for whatever he said. And we have no idea if he spoke in English, Spanish, or both or how he pronounces things.
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I was just trying to help, as I said. I'm not sure why it is you keep replying to me, I'm actually trying really hard to follow along with other people's scenarios right now, that's where my interest is right now, so if you don't mind I'm going to move on, not trying to be rude, I'm just falling far behind
 
jillycat said:
Where is trauma mentioned?
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Not sure what you mean.

In the affidavit, it says that Mollie said that she was going to call police.

"Rivera said he then panicked and got mad and that he then "blocked" his "memory" which is what he does when he gets very upset and ..."​

It seems very clear that Rivera claims that Mollie threatened him with calling police, he got mad, he blocked his memory, and his memory became unblocked when he saw the earbud on his lap.
 
whiskers said:
This is the new Impala or is it a Malibu, thanks to me. I originally wondered when he was forming his faux alibi if he even understood the difference between the two words as native speakers often confuse them. In the long run it probably doesn't matter, but I'm curious how is lawyer will run with it. Because in my experience a true blackout means you fainted.
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Mine too. Or when someone is intoxicated and has no recollection of what they did.
 
jillycat said:
That sounds to me like he said, and they interpreted him to say, that he blocked out of/from his memory what had happened.

http://www.dps.state.ia.us/commis/p...-2018_DCI_ArrestWarrantComplaintAffidavit.pdf
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Sorry to jump in like this (long time lurker) but I am a native Spanish-speaker as well as an attorney who has dealt with interpreters not properly translating what my clients say — resulting in me having to intervene. I practice in urban areas where Spanish is fairly common and interpreters still get a lot wrong. A big factor is that Spanish, particularly informal language and slang, varies a lot depending on where the speaker is from. Mexican Spanish is not the same as Venezuelan Spanish or Puerto Rican Spanish.

“Blacking out” would most closely translate to “losing consciousness” (“perder el conocimiento”). Which would mean CR claimed he lost consciousness after Mollie said she would call the police. But “blocking out” makes the most sense to me, if what CR said is that he can’t recall whatever happened bc it has been “erased” from his memory (ex: “no me acuerdo, lo borré de mi memoria”).

Just my opinion.
 
otto said:
Not sure what you mean.

In the affidavit, it says that Mollie said that she was going to call police.

"Rivera said he then panicked and got mad and that he then "blocked" his "memory" which is what he does when he gets very upset and ..."​

It seems very clear that Rivera claims that Mollie threatened him with calling police, he got mad, he blocked his memory, and his memory became unblocked when he saw the earbud on his lap.
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If I can just ask you, at what point do they write up an affidavit? (If you know) do they do it at the exact time of the arrest and do we know the time? I can't see it, it's so tiny. Or can they just write it up some time after the fact, like the next day?
 
whiskers said:
This is the new Impala or is it a Malibu, thanks to me. I originally wondered when he was forming his faux alibi if he even understood the difference between the two words as native speakers often confuse them. In the long run it probably doesn't matter, but I'm curious how is lawyer will run with it. Because in my experience a true blackout means you fainted.
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There's two different things. I've experienced fainting--where the black comes rushing at you. I'd phrase that as: "I blacked out."

The other one, I've never experienced--it's where you're functioning, physical and mental capacities relatively normal, but there's a failure of short term memory, and afterward, you simply don't remember what you did. (Often associated with alcohol intake.) I'd phrase that as: "I had a blackout."

Personally, I think he's lying, and knows exactly what he did--but from what I've read, he seems to be claiming the second sort of blackout.
 
MsBetsy said:
Mine too. Or when someone is intoxicated and has no recollection of what they did.
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Rivera knows what he did. He is lying when he says that he blocked his memory of what happened between the time that Mollie threatened to call police, and his arrival at the corn field to hide her body.

He is lying when he claims that Mollie's threat to call police made him so mad that his memory malfunctioned. He is simply blaming Mollie for his violent assault on her.
 
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