State v. Carter: The Prosecution Rests its Case (with clip)
MARCH 15, 2019
"COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- The prosecution rested its case on Friday after watching and listening to hours of interrogations and interviews with the defendant, Jason Carter.
Marion County Attorney Ed Bull called two Iowa DCI Criminalists and law enforcement to the stand.
Criminalist Anna Young examined the finger prints on certain pieces of evidence in this case.
One of those pieces of evidence is the gun safe from the Carter home that has become a centerpiece in the case.
She said out of the 55 prints on the gun safe, 31 of them are Jason Carter's.
At one point during the investigation, Jason denied knowing about the safe, “I’ve never touched the gun safe. I’ve never touched the ammunition ever. I didn’t even know he had gun safe until just recently.”
Criminalist Victor Murillo talked about the bullet fragments and bullets he found at the scene and during the investigation....
The jury also heard from Marion County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Brian Bigaouette, who showed previous interrogation and interview videos of Jason Carter.
In one of the clips, Jason talked about his finances.
“With the amount of grain I had left over, carried over to sell out, I was probably around $50,000. If I had to pay my note back that day, I would have been $50,000 short,” Jason said.
In another clip, Jason emotionally described the moment he found his mother dead on the kitchen floor.
“I took two or three more steps inside and she was laying there. And I knelt down and I grabbed her pant leg and shook it and said, ‘Mom.’ You know, hoping she would respond somehow,” Jason said.
In both video and audio clips that were heard in court on Friday, law enforcement and attorneys asked Jason similar questions on different days and his answer wasn’t always the same.
One thing that has remained the same throughout is after he found his mom dead, he called his sister, Jana Lain, and then called 911.
“I don’t know know who killed my mom or what happened to her. I am telling you the truth on that. I’ll tell it to you, like I said, forever,” Jason said.
Jason says sometime after finding his mother and making phone calls, he then put his second cell phone, that he texted his mistress on, in the fuse box under the hood of his truck....
Outside the presence of the jury, defense attorneys and state attorneys discussed emails from one of the Iowa DCI investigators on the case with Judge Brad McCall.
The defense claims information in the emails is evidence of bias against Jason Carter.
They also talked about the defense’s motion to dismiss, to which McCall replied that the court will take the emails under advisement and Bull has the opportunity to respond by Monday.
The defense also asked for a directed verdict, which McCall denied.
Court is scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. at the Pottawattamie County Courthouse on Monday, starting with the defense’s case."
State v. Carter: The Prosecution Rests its Case
