MISTRIAL MS - Jessica Chambers, 19, Panola County, Dec 2014 #5 - *2nd Mistrial*

[Madeleine74]

As for what would it take to convince a jury of QT's guilt, I believe in this case and with jurors in this geographical location, it would take something like his hand print in her blood, mixed with gasoline, on a couple items, and that's just for starters. Less intelligent jurors don't understand inference and how powerful circumstantial evidence really is when you have a lot of it.

In addition, I think it would take a couple eye witnesses, and someone who heard QT talk about the murder and admit it, along with the kind of physical evidence that cannot be denied.

Digital evidence seems to go over the head of less educated jurors. They don't get it so they end up tuning it out.

Anyway, even with all that, the "Eric" issue is a problem that doesn't get solved.

 

[Niner]

Oh no.... I was worried about this when I went to bed last night....

So - maybe onto Mandy's case!

Thank you (again) all for the updates! Much appreciated.

 

[KarenUK]

My elementary school son just read me a fun fact about how it takes 70 muscles to speak one word... when you’ve had gasoline poured down your throat, how well can you speak “Tellis” and it not sound like “Eric”?

Especially when you consider you have to put the tip of your tongue to the top of your mouth to make the "T" sound - she didn't have that movement

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Oh no.... I was worried about this when I went to bed last night....

So - maybe onto Mandy's case!

Thank you (again) all for the updates! Much appreciated.

Hi Niner. Mandy who? Can you please post a link so I can read up on her case and follow the trial? *if there is one that is?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Panola County District Attorney John Champion told reporters Monday that Quinton Tellis will be sent to Louisiana to face charges there after a second mistrial on capital murder charges in north Mississippi.

A judge declared the mistrial Monday after jurors told him they were deadlocked. Jurors also couldn't reach a verdict in Tellis' first trial last year.

In Louisiana, the 29-year-old Tellis has been indicted on a murder charge in the stabbing death of Meing-Chen Hsiao, a Taiwanese former graduate student, in the city of Monroe. Tellis has pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of Hsiao's debit card.

Defense attorney Darla Palmer tells reporters that the second trial "feels like a 'not guilty' to me."
The Latest: Prosecutor unsure on third trial in burning case

 

[TTF14]

I wonder what else it would take to actually convince a jury of QT's guilt. Do you think with the "Eric" utterance, that it doesn't really matter whatever evidence comes up?

As much as I do think there were other issues at play here, I do NOT think they would have been deadlocked if she'd been deceased already and/or unable to say a word. I think it would have been unanimously guilty.

 

[TTF14]

I haven't followed along over here for a while, since the first trial of QT, sorry if this has already been discussed. I just finished watching the QT retrial and there are a couple things QT said I found odd. In this video during QT's interrogation, @ 18:46, does it not sound like QT says "Eric?" QT is explaining how he met up with JC in the mall/Taco Bell parking lot claiming it was the Friday, the day before she was murdered. He said first he was in his sister's truck, then thought maybe it was his mom's truck. Sounds like he was with an Eric that day....and he slipped up here. JMO.

Then fast forward to 45:20 where LE asks him about the burns on his arm. So did QT's story about falling into a fire at sandbox check out and that's why the prosecution didn't bring his burns up during trial? He said he burnt his arm and hiney. MOO.

I hear what you here at 18:46, and how he keeps saying "I" and then "we" and then even correcting himself back to "I." Hmmmm. I do think it's possible he wasn't alone, at least when he returned after getting the gas can.

The other part is buffering for me so I'll have to try again in a bit.

 

[bonnieclyde4528]

I am not entirely sure if this would have been possible or not, but I think they should have waited for a verdict in the death of Meing-Chen Hsiao in Monroe, Louisiana before trying him this second time. It may have helped if the jury found him "Guilty" for her murder, then tried QT for Jessica's murder. At the very least it would have shown that he is capable of murder and possibly show a pattern of behavior. But like I said, I don't know all of the logistics in regards to that case, and if this was even an option.

I have a feeling that there will be a different outcome in regards to Meing-Chen Hsiao murder. Maybe they try QT after that trial and see if they can get a(n) conviction in Jessica's case if they find him "Guilty" of Meing-Chen Hsiao murder?

 

[BUF]

Sorry, but a 6-6 split verdict is nowhere close to not guilty.

The Latest: Prosecutor unsure on third trial in burning case

Defense attorney Darla Palmer tells reporters that the second trial "feels like a 'not guilty' to me."

 

[Niner]

Hi Niner. Mandy who? Can you please post a link so I can read up on her case and follow the trial? *if there is one that is?

Sorry - that is Meing-Chen's American nickname - Mandy - & it's been posted before - but here's her thread:
LA - Meing-Chen Hsiao, 34, murdered in her Monroe home, 9 Aug 2015

 

[FrankieT]

I've followed the Jessica Chambers case since the beginning, I'm just shocked at the outcome. Peace to her family. They will have to draw it from somewhere other than the legal system.

 

[PeterThomasFan]

Well, they got that wrong (AGAIN)!

Eric, Derek, no... Quinton!!!

 

[erpie46]

I haven't followed along over here for a while, since the first trial of QT, sorry if this has already been discussed. I just finished watching the QT retrial and there are a couple things QT said I found odd. In this video during QT's interrogation, @ 18:46, does it not sound like QT says "Eric?" QT is explaining how he met up with JC in the mall/Taco Bell parking lot claiming it was the Friday, the day before she was murdered. He said first he was in his sister's truck, then thought maybe it was his mom's truck. Sounds like he was with an Eric that day....and he slipped up here. JMO.

Then fast forward to 45:20 where LE asks him about the burns on his arm. So did QT's story about falling into a fire at sandbox check out and that's why the prosecution didn't bring his burns up during trial? He said he burnt his arm and hiney. MOO.

 

[erpie46]

I think he is saying "Big Mike" there which he repeats later.

 

[Brubeck]

Long ago I read this case and thought the answer at least in part lay with the extra gasoline (over twice her normal amount) Miss Chambers purchased earlier.

In December 2014, surveillance video showed Chambers was at a gas station less than two hours before she was found. Wearing a sweater and pajama pants that looked like sweatpants, she put $14 worth of gas in her car, more than the $5 or so she usually purchased, Ali Fadhel, a clerk at the gas station, told The Associated Press in the days after her death.

“I asked her, ‘Why are you putting so much gas?’ She said, ‘I’m going somewhere,’” Fadhel said.​

Jury selected in Jessica Chambers case; trial begins Tuesday

 

[JerseyGirl]

Mississippi authorities said they had not yet decided if they would prosecute Tellis a third time but that he would now be returned to Louisiana to face that murder charge.

Tellis has pleaded not guilty in Hsiao’s death. He previously admitted to unlawfully using her credit card.

Judge Declares 2nd Mistrial in Burning Murder of Jessica Chambers

 

[rbarber17]

IMO the Eric issue gave Jurors who didn't want to convict a reason. IMO there were "other" issues at play. As there was at last trial.

Bravo,

You mean like "Police Harrassment"? Darla Palmer was running scared this time with her aces in the hole last trial now reduced to deuces and treys. So she did what any coniving defense attorney would do, try someone else beside her client. And that someone else was the PCSO. She placed three witnesses for the defense on the stand, and as far as I'm concerned, the main reason was to get them to say how badly they had been mistreated by the Po-Po, and thereby taint the entire case. O. J. Simpson II in my opinion. Maybe the Chambers family can sue Tellis for wrongful death in a civil suit? Only kidding, they need to just let it go.

I am curious about the 6/6 split (Guilty/Not Guilty) being reported here and elsewhere. I don't believe the Judge polled the jury one-by-one in open court this time like he did last time, mainly because there was not the same confusion of an erroneous "Not Guilty" verdict being proclaimed by the confused foreman at the end of the last trial. So, as far as I am aware, there is no official count on record, just hearsay.

IF that split is indeed true, then at the very least, one-third of the nine African-American jurors had to have thought Quentin Tellis was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and as many as 2/3rds could have thought that (though I somehow doubt that was the case -- the 2/3rds part, not the guilty part.) Darla was tooting her dog whistle pretty loudly toward the end. It achieved the intended result.

Like several others here, I was thinking it was only 1-2 holdouts and was very surprised to learn (if true) that the jury was so deeply divided. I don't think there will be another retrial. Even Champion has to report to someone above him.

All JMO,

Clouseau

 

[JJBONES]

there was an arrest warrant;
Quinton Tellis Arrest Warrant.pdf

How Quinton Tellis met suspected Louisiana murder victim 'Mandy" Hsiao

I am not sure if that means he was actually arrested though.
I don't see that that case will be different considering you can't place him there at the exact time. It's more circumstantial cell phone evidence. No DNA inside her apartment because it had been cleaned after the murder.

The second article linked above has another story about a woman in Clarksville, TN who was burned alive because they were afraid she was a snitch. Is this anywhere near the area Jessica Chambers lived or visited? It just caught my eye because what are the chances of that happening again in 2015 just as it happened to Jessica in 2014.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

IMO there's nothing else the prosecution team could have done in regards to this Eric issue. They brought in a speech pathologist, they had the head of the trauma burn center testify, they got several first responders to concede they could have misheard what JC was saying, they emphasized how chaotic and loud the scene was, and they even brought a few fire trucks to recreate the amount of noise when jurors went on their field trip. These were the additional things the prosecutors did to try and minimize the significance of JC's utterances.

They looked for anyone named "Eric" or "Derek" in the county and went through social media, interviewed hundreds of people.

They did everything but hire a medium/channeler and hold a seance to try and conjure the spirit of JC to ask her about Eric.

Seriously, what else could they have done that they didn't do?

No matter who tries to litigate the case, that "Eric" utterance, which was made many times by JC at the scene, is not going to go away. If only she had said nothing at all, QT just might have been convicted as all the other evidence points right to him. I think whatever justice is going to happen will have to happen in Louisiana or somewhere else.

I haven't been following this trial or the other potential one very closely, but the Eric in the other case outlined here, did they give an indication as to how he was involved or where he was or did he even get mentioned during this case?

It almost sounds like these two were in cahoots for a while?

Quinton Tellis indictment in Meing-Chen Hsiao stabbing death

 

[Openminded]

I felt in both trials it would be split the way it was and for that reason it would be pointless to retry a third time. However, if Jessica's family wants another trial (and who wouldn't want a conviction when their child has been murdered) then it could happen. But the prosecutor is smart enough to know the odds of a guilty verdict are basically non-existent. Let Louisiana try and if successful then Jessica's family will at least know he can't do this again. But there will be no true justice for Jessica.