Summary of tweets - Thursday, 4/13/23 -
Melanie Gibb / part 3
Nate Eaton
@NateNewsNow
·
30m
John Prior was not in the courtroom this morning for the first part of Melanie Gibb's testimony but he has just walked in.
New thread: During the break, Lori walked out the side door with leg shackles & then sat in a chair with wheels. Deputies wheeled her away. This was likely so deputies didn't have to remove shackles to take her to restroom, etc. She is now back in the courtroom.
Melanie Gibb is back on the stand testifying against the woman who used to be her best friend.
Melanie said she recorded the call with Chad and Lori because she wanted to know where JJ was and she hoped to learn where Chad and Lori were.
Melanie said the weekend she stayed at Lori's house, Melanie stayed in Tylee's room but she went back and forth into David's room, who was sleeping in JJ's room. David woke up "very troubled" from a dream.
Melanie went to Lori's room and texted her and Chad to ask if David could get a blessing. Nobody responded to Melanie's texts and Lori's door was locked.
The next morning Melanie never saw JJ and Lori never told Melanie where JJ was from that point forward.
Melanie says she believes the origins of multiple probations, lives, etc. came from Chad and are not taught in the traditional LDS faith.
Melanie says when Lori was having her relationship with Chad, Lori's behaviors did not represent someone who would know Christ "at that level." Lori had told Melanie that she had seen Jesus in the temple and that he appeared to her.
Blake asks about revelations and if people in the LDS Church get revelations. Melanie says yes.
Melanie learned about Tammy's death the day after her death was reported. A friend sent a screenshot from Chad's Facebook account announcing the death. Melanie then called Lori. It was mid-morning. Melanie told Lori about Tammy's death.
"She knew something was going on. Two of the girls from their group had called Lori and inquired about it."
Melanie asked Lori what happened to Tammy. Lori responded, "She had a dark entity in her and they had to do what they could to get that spirit out of her." "They" referred to Lori and Chad. Lori said Tammy was starting to get suspicious that Chad was having an affair.
Melanie says Tammy had been suspicious about the affair for less than two weeks. Tammy had also turned dark within the two weeks before her death.
After Tammy passed away, Melanie said Lori was very happy to get married to Chad. Lori never expressed any sadness or sorrow. Melanie said Lori's demeanor was similar to after Charles died.
Melanie says Lori told her about "vibrations" that were equal to your level of spirituality. If you were at 1,000, you were at the terrestrial level. The more your vibrations increased, the closer your body was to being translated.
Lori said her vibration level was such that she didn't need to eat and her menstrual cycle could change. Lori did not claim she had visions, according to Melanie, but Lori said she had a dream here or there.
Melanie said these teachings were shared with Alex Cox and he believed the people Chad and Lori were hoping would pass away -- Charles, Tylee, JJ, Tammy -- were zombies.
Melanie said she didn't 100% believe the zombie teachings and told Alex that. Alex responded that he completely believed it. When Melanie asked Alex what happened to JJ, Alex said, "You don't want to know."
Blake has no further questions. John Thomas will conduct cross-examination for the defense.
Thomas asks Melanie when she last met with prosecutors. She says, "I don't remember. A few years ago." Melanie says she did not meet face-to-face with prosecutors for the trial but they met on Zoom.
Melanie says she went over her testimony with prosecutors at the beginning of this month or end of last month. Thomas asks if Melanie was as "forgetful" with prosecutors when they met earlier as she was today. Melanie says yes.
Thomas asks about a 7-page document she created with her testimony. She said she completed it in 2020. Thomas asks the court to strike the witness. Blake interjects and asks for a sidebar conversation. White noise is played in the courtroom as attorneys meet with the judge.
Boyce back on the bench and says an objection will be taken up outside of the presence of the jury.
Thomas wants Melanie Gibb's testimony struck from the record because he says the prosecutor did not furnish statements from Gibb to the defense.
Blake says she interprets the law differently than Thomas and says all statements have been turned over. "The state and the defense are allowed to meet with witnesses and do witness prep."
She says if something is new, it should be turned over but there was nothing new in their most recent meeting with Gibb.
Boyce says, "You're asking me to tell the jury to disregard everything they've heard today?" Thomas says he made this objection two days ago and "the court struck me down" so he thought it would be appropriate to do it when it was his turn to speak.
Boyce says after reviewing case law, the objection is unfounded and
the motion to strike the testimony is denied.
The jury is being brought back into the courtroom.
Thomas asking for clarification on a few points. Melanie explains she met Lori at an LDS Church building during an evening class. They were not in the same group. Lori showed up with her niece Melanie.
Phones must be silenced or turned off in the courtroom. So far this morning two phones have gone off. This violates the court order and the bailiff has seized both of the phones.
Melanie says she and Lori would often meet for lunch or to go to the temple. Thomas asks Melanie how familiar she is with autism and people who are autistic. She says she was quite familiar but wasn't aware if he had a strict routine.
She knows JJ went to a private school that had a section for autistic children.
Melanie is asked if she ever went with Lori to take JJ to school. She says it's possible but doesn't recall. Thomas says JJ had a routine where he would go to Burger King before school with his mom and order chicken fries.
Melanie said Lori believed Melanie had been on earth 4-5 times and at times, Melanie bought into the idea. She says she wasn't sure but Lori was very convincing and tried to encourage her to believe it.
Thomas asked for clarification on how many people stayed at Lori's house the weekend Chad stayed in Arizona for the conference. Melanie says it was a few. Thomas asked if it was a "hookup" for Chad and Lori. Melanie believes so.
Thomas asks Melanie if she thought it was odd that Jesus Christ and Moroni had sealed Chad and Lori in the temple. She says it was but never asked Lori to show her the place in the temple where Lori married Chad.
Melanie says Lori and Chad tried to convince her she was part of the 144,000 but she never felt that was her calling. Thomas says "casting" sounds like witchcraft and Melanie says it didn't feel like that.
Melanie says the casting was more like casting spirits out similar to what Jesus did. Melanie says it felt "very unusual" and "very innocent" to her because it was just like prayer.
Thomas asks for clarification on the light and dark scale. Melanie says she believed it somewhat but not completely.
Melanie says the casting was done in homes, not in the temple. "It was just people standing up in a circle together" and then Lori would express words. Her friends would say something "similar to energy work." Thomas asks about Melanie's experience with energy work.
Thomas trying to get Melanie to clarify exactly what casting is and how similar it is to prayer.
Thomas: "Let's talk about zombies."
Thomas: "When Lori talked about zombies, did you immediately think they were going to die?" Melanie: "No. It was a bizarre teaching and Lori thought it was bizarre too in the context to how it was explained to her by Chad."
Chad told Lori, who then told Melanie, that Tylee became a zombie when she was 12-13 years old but they only knew this when she was 16.
The jurors are very attentively paying attention during this talk of zombies, dark and light, etc. Lori also paying attention as she watches Melanie on the stand. I have not seen Melanie look at Lori.
Melanie says she never prayed for JJ or Tylee.
Boyce calls for a lunch break. We will reconvene at 12:45 p.m.
link:
https://twitter.com/NateNewsNow
and I will continue the rest in (my) morning...
