GUILTY NC - Laura Ackerson, 27, Kinston, 13 July 2011 #7

[aa9511]

I can understand why Grant's parents came forward with the love letters. Amanda portrays him in a very poor light. They must have been yelling at the TV when she testified. Poor, scared, Amanda with Laura's children and so scared because she didn't want to be a single mom again.

She complains about the custody arrangements and the report, where he claims that the tests were from the 1920. She claims that she didn't know what the report said until a year ago, but when the report was released, she read two pages and completely disagreed with the report. She always knew what was in the report and didn't like the fact that Grant would have to live near Laura to spend time with the children.

Amanda wanted to be in razzle-dazzle NYC, didn't she say she lived in Manhattan?? Manhattan to North Carolina is a big difference. Her other spot was California. Notice how she got in and out of Texas verrryyyy fast (after the husband)....she only got stuck there for a few months taking care of her mom. Then she quickly dumped the mom with the sister, and got back to her razzle-dazzle life.

I don't think she ever for a second wanted to live in North Carolina, especially not for Laura.

 

[aa9511]

Snipped by me



Yes, lol, I will say to myself, surely the jury got that part, and then memories of the Casey Anthony jury come back and my stomach gets a little queasy lease:



You don't know how right you are.

This case brings up a lot of weird feelings and memories for me.

Ex's first wife and I looked a lot alike - both young, very petite, blue eyes, dark hair - it actually freaked me out the first time I met her. It was obvious he had a "type."

Then after he left me he ended up with my childhood best friend who was really nothing like me. She wasn't at all his type. But, her husband was a LE officer who had been killed in the line of duty in the last days of our marriage. She was over all the time at the end because she was in shock, grieving, and it was hard to be in her house alone. So I unwittingly gave my ex access to this woman, vulnerable, and crazy with grief, who was about to get the proceeds of a VERY substantial life insurance policy (standard for officer killed on duty.) Lucky for her she had too many good people looking out for her for my ex to get his hands on her money, though he did try.

When he realized it wasn't going to work, he left her for "Paula." who was a lot like AH. Much older than us (late 40's), twice divorced, good job, owned a nice house, had some money. He got her to hate both me and the first wife with a vengeance that was hard to understand. She spent six years bankrolling his custody fights against each of us (and sometimes both of us at once.) Even when she saw how abusive he was I think she just didn't want to be alone again, so she rationalized and ignored it all. (Quite a bit of which was directed at my son...:furious She ended up bankrupt and in foreclosure at which point he started cheating on her with his wife now. And shocker, lol, she hates me too.

Then just odd little coincidences in this case get under my skin too. Like my ex's mom ran (and still runs) a day care. Weird.

Oh, Irish_Eyes, I hope you are happy now.

 

[aa9511]

And the more I think about it, I really do think this was Amanda's idea or she encouraged him and strengthened him in his resolve to make Laura disappear. Amanda is no dummy. She saw what Grant did to Laura and she knew she would be up next now that the money had dried up. The only way she could hold on to him was to be able to move around with him and there was no way that was going to happen unless Laura was out of the picture for good.

I am kind of leaning towards it being Amanda's idea too - from listening to her testimony, and from the fact that Grant and Laura were already having issues long before Amanda came into the picture. They had already been dealing with the issues stemming from their divorce and of trading off the kids, etc.. But Grant did not kill her off then.

I don't know, but then I think, maybe I would think differently if I had heard Grant testify. Because right now, I"ve only seen Amanda testify. IMO, she shoudl have never testified (for her benefit). I think the jury will see right through her after her testimony, just like we did. I think the jury will come to the same conclusions we are.

IMO, she should have stayed quiet. I think it was her decision to testify, probably against her lawyer's advice. I do not think it was the right decision for her to testify.

I think she thought her "acting skills" would allow her to manipulate the jury, a la Jodi Arias. Only she doesn't see how it actually will (hopefully) make the jury see right through her.

 

[aa9511]

I think they may walk her on the murder charge and convict her on the accessory charge.

At the time, I thought her direct could have convinced many of the jurors as to her innocence of even the accessory charge; however, by the time both the state and the defense had rested, I thought she looked deceitful and manipulative. There should be no question that she knew Laura had been killed that night.

If she is only convicted of the accessory charge, I read somewhere that she will serve only about two more years

bbm

No, no, no, no, no. I am pretending like I didn't "hear" that!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! I am not even going to entertain that possibility!!!!!!!!!!

IMO, if the jury lets her get away with only 2 years, omg, I don't think they could ever do that.

I think they will give her murder.

 

[Ann-Tx]

Grant thought that Amanda would be like Laura, accomodating to his ways. IIRC, Laura stayed with Grant's parents even after they had divorced. Laura seemed to have taken a very "wife" role when she was with Grant, supporting Grant and doing what he thought was best for the family.

aa9511, Laura and Grant were never married. There was no divorce.

When you say, "they", (bolded by AnnTx in above quote) I am assuming you mean Grant and Laura?

 

[aa9511]

I'm listening to her testimony again this weekend, and the timing of the pregnancy is omitted except to mention that Lilly was born in June - a month before Laura was murdered. Backtracking, she was pregnant in late September. I think that the claims that she left the VI because of a stalking boyfriend and to determine whether Sha could live alone in NYC are part of disguising that fact that she was pregnant at the time and decided to return to NYC because of the pregnancy. She wanted Grant with her, so she flew him to NYC. He was happy to have his business investor fly him around. I have to wonder whether Grant or the other boyfriend is the father of Lilly.

This was a very quick relationship starting with a pregnancy, then an attempt to gain custody of the other two children, then the birth of her Lilly, Grant and Laura are still spending time together, Amanda, Laura and Sha are working on promoting Grant's career, then the murder of Laura. I think that Amanda was insanely jealous of Laura.

Thanks for the insight, Otto. Very, very interesting.

 

[aa9511]

aa9511, Laura and Grant were never married. There was no divorce.

When you say, "they", (bolded by AnnTx in above quote) I am assuming you mean Grant and Laura?

Yes, Grant and Laura. Sorry, I thought they had been married? It does seem to me to be very similar to a divorce, though, because of the children and the custody issues.

But thanks for letting me know, that is important!

 

[SurfieTX]

I'm listening to her testimony again this weekend, and the timing of the pregnancy is omitted except to mention that Lilly was born in June - a month before Laura was murdered. Backtracking, she was pregnant in late September. I think that the claims that she left the VI because of a stalking boyfriend and to determine whether Sha could live alone in NYC are part of disguising that fact that she was pregnant at the time and decided to return to NYC because of the pregnancy. She wanted Grant with her, so she flew him to NYC. He was happy to have his business investor fly him around. I have to wonder whether Grant or the other boyfriend is the father of Lilly.

This was a very quick relationship starting with a pregnancy, then an attempt to gain custody of the other two children, then the birth of her Lilly, Grant and Laura are still spending time together, Amanda, Laura and Sha are working on promoting Grant's career, then the murder of Laura. I think that Amanda was insanely jealous of Laura.

Amanda and Sha flew/moved to NYC New Year's Eve 2009 (of all times?). In Jan. 2010 is when Grant came. They married in Vegas in 2010, April, I think. Amanda got pregnant in Sept. 2010. Lily was born in early June (6 or 9) 2011. Laura was murdered in July 2011.

 

[aa9511]

I'm reading along with your posts--all very good thoughts. I haven't had time today to even 'thank' anybody for their posts. Will go back and do that when I catch up again.
I have to work tomorrow so I will miss everything. Just as soon as I get back home I'll jump on here to see if there is a verdict. I hope this jury comes back as quickly as GH's jury did--what was it 40 minutes? That jury knew what was what and I'm praying this one will too. Having both a nurse and somebody with a psych background on the jury gives me a lot of hope!

And hopefully there is a TEACHER on this jury who will have caught onto Patsy's teacher comment re: Grant's childhood, they will figure out where his problems stem from.

 

[aa9511]

Whatever we may think happened, whether it was Grant's idea or Amanda's idea, we all have no doubt, from what I've read, that Grant and Amanda did this together. I think that the overall message of both trials is that they did all of it together. I don't honestly see how the jury can see it any other way. And luckily, this is not so high-profile, as in all over the whole country, that they will second-guess themselves, their thinking, or get bogged down in legal stuff. They know that the evidence tells them that the two of them did this together.

JMO.

 

[Boodles]

Have been out of town & just got caught up on listening to testimony & reading comments here. Thanks for all your great comments! I think AH & Sha moved to NYC 12/31/2009 & Lilly wasn't born until 6/2011 so she couldn't have been pregnant when she moved from VI to NYC. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. I am just not sure the M1 charge has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt but definitely have proven the other charges. I definitely think she knew LA was dead as soon as it happened & that she was a willing participant from this point forward (also may have participated in murder but not as sure of this).No way she didn't know about death until they got to TX. I found it interesting that during her testimony about July 13-15 she kept saying that GH left for hours & she had no idea where he was or what he was doing.Really?? No Way! Think PT should have pressed her on this. A lot of her testimony just doesn't add up but even if jury believes her jailhouse "friend", she just contradicts AH timeline of what she knew when but doesn't say she committed the murder.

First, you're right about AH not getting pregnant until fall 2010. She was not pregnant with Lily when she left the VI.

AH told some very flagrant lies. She screwed up. The jurors were studying her very intently, and taking notes, watching her constantly. They are very engaged.

I was thinking today that if AH had admitted the truth about being an accessory after the fact, it may have served her better. Because I don't see how the jury could ever believe that she did not know that Laura was dead. But because she lied about that, and was caught in several other big lies, I hope they will see that since she lied about the accessory charge, she's lying about it all.

If she had said "yes I helped after GH killed Laura," but proceeded with the "not being involved in the murder" lies she told on the stand, she might have gained more credibility and she might have done just a short sentence for accessory. But she had to go for the gold, so to speak, pleading not guilty to everything. I hope it bites her in the azz.

I think the murder was premeditated but intended to be done earlier that day, somehow, but then Laura was late. I do believe Berakat, that AH said "it wasn't supposed to happen like that." I also believe that AH is the one who killed Laura, and that the murder was her idea, but that it happened not the way they originally planned.

I think AH told the truth for quite a bit of her testimony. It's when she throws in "so, anyway"...(blink blink blink) that she lies, and also when she looks down to the left when she's pulling from her fictitious version. But it seems she throws in a lot of true details, too.

And I'm saying again: the FBI lady was wrong IMO because Laura did not write that note, not under duress, not at all. It's forged, specifically traced from words from the prior hand written legal order John Sergeant referred to in his testimony. It looks obviously forged to me due to its odd spacing between words and phrases and Sergeant's name is even spelled wrong. Becky has also alluded to this, IMO, but they had to call that FBI witness so as not to appear to be hiding evidence. JMO. AH and GH came up with the plan to feed Laura to the gators and have the police believe that she ran off with $25K by having that bogus agreement handy in their apartment. Yeah, right, $25K. "Well, duh."

 

[Boodles]

I definately, definately got strong hints of jealousy towards Laura in Amanda's voice, even to this day, even in the setting where she knew to specifically not show any jealousy or hate towards Laura. And she couldn't help it. It was dripping off of her in her testimony, especially the jealousy.

I totally agree with you! And I think it was obvious to others in the courtroom.

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

I've already got my fingers crossed.

This is the time in a trial when I get nervous and worry, worry, worry about the jury. They can be fooled again! (as the Who song doesn't say)

Me, too, nerve-wracking. I have a hard time believing that 12 jurors could acquit her, so at worst I'm thinking it may be a hung jury on the murder charge. I wish I was on the jury so I could argue all the points made on this forum. Unfortunately, some people want a video of the murder, and still will have doubts. :facepalm: Fingers crossed for a good closing.

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

Any predictions on how this will end? I'm not sure that first degree has been completely proven, but the closing arguments could tie it all together.

I agree, closing arguments should make the case,.

 

[Boodles]

Amanda wanted to be in razzle-dazzle NYC, didn't she say she lived in Manhattan?? Manhattan to North Carolina is a big difference. Her other spot was California. Notice how she got in and out of Texas verrryyyy fast (after the husband)....she only got stuck there for a few months taking care of her mom. Then she quickly dumped the mom with the sister, and got back to her razzle-dazzle life.

I don't think she ever for a second wanted to live in North Carolina, especially not for Laura.

Forget Manhattan to Raleigh. She was gonna end up in KINSTON! She made sure that was not going to be her fate (unless she gets sent to a prison there!)

And I hated the way she spoke about her deceased mother..the smirking snide comment about everyone getting "stuck" with her. What a biatch. And even if her mother was an evil monster, who speaks that way about their mother when they're facing a murder charge and trying to woo the jury?

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

Was Amanda behind the murder? Was she jealous of Laura? I'm listening to her testimony http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/13380860/ and Grant told Laura that Amanda was a business investor? Did Grant say that he couldn't report the murder because, with Amanda and Grant in the room, no one would believe that the black guy didn't do it? Yet, Grant wrote a song about murdering his children's mother when he was still in NYC.

Sha and Amanda's sister Karen both reported to police quickly and truthfully. Has anything been posted about how Amanda's husband died? Was he a paraplegic or a quadriplegic? If the latter, it was most likely pneumonia, which I think it common in people that don't move, so nothing suspicious. If he was a paraplegic, then it would be unusual that he died so shortly after the diving accident. I knew someone that had that accident and he was a paraplegic ... active, working, busy, doing sports. Did the daughter and sister think this was deja vu after the death of her husband ... in the sense of something a bit suspicious?

I think she is guilty of conspiring to commit murder, committing murder, acting in concert and hiding the evidence. I think they wanted her dead for different reasons. Grant wanted complete control over his children, and it sounds like he intended to exploit them through the media industry. He wanted her out of the picture. Amanda was jealous of the much younger Laura and was threatened by her so much that Amanda got pregnant. Apparently that wasn't enough, so she too wanted her out of the picture.

Excellent thoughts. I believe, too, that Amanda was very jealous of Laura. I take your point about Grant wanting control of the boys, as objects to promote. I re-watched the testimony of Calloway, and in her report she notes that Grant needs to tone down his "autocratic manner" when interacting with his boys. This seems to be something from his family background. His father must be Grant II, grandfather Grant I - named like kings. Grant discusses this in that phony interview on his YouTube channel. He was creepy even before this happened.

I also wonder if Amanda or Grant were disappointed that their baby was a girl. He really seemed to want boys, to someday grow up and travel the world with him (he says this in a You Tube Video), and they would all admire him - because he's the man!

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

They're not from Florida, so there is hope that they are taking their position seriously. I think they'll get it. NC jurors seem to be rather astute.

I did not follow the case until this trial, but the more I think about it, the more I see places where she slipped, where she tried to confuse the listener by switching perspectives mid-sentence (we received the custody report and were upset, but I never saw the report until a year ago), the little girl voice, the deliberate misuse of the English language, the I'm too stupid to know better persona, but I'm really rich and I pawned my rollex to furnish a rental apartment in NC and drive a SAAB SUV as a rap groupie. She talks about the antique value of the hutch, but leaves it on a lawn in Texas because she doesn't want it to get damaged in a storage locker and she feared that Grant might take it (even though only she and Sha have keys).

When Amanda's prison friend, Baracat, said that another prison friend mentioned that Amanda wasn't Grant's type, the pieces fell into place for me. He viewed her as a money tree and it sounded like Grant and Laura were in Florida together after Grant was with Amanda in NYC. Amanda was babysitting the children, pregnant while they were in Florida for the weekend. After that, she moved to NC and began making demands for the children. She mentions Grantina's assistance with the ex-parte order - which was a false order, but it was signed by a judge.

It seems that Amanda was an increasingly desperate 40 year old woman with a daughter, when her hasty-marriage husband wanted a son. She viewed Grant's sons as the key to getting his affections, but I doubt that would have lasted long. She was supposed to be the financial provider and when that dried up, he was going to move on.

She went with Grant when he met Laura, but was it because Grant had problems communicating with Laura, or because she wanted to keep an eye on them. Grant was thinking about murder in NYC and she was really angry that her life with Grant was restricted by Laura. Her sister always required that she tell the truth, and she told her sister that she killed Laura, but Grant dismembered the body.

Sorry for the long winded response. I think that she is guilty of 1st degree murder and I think that the jury should see it ... unless they're like the Florida juries.

Just wow. You should write the book on this case! All of your impressions are what I was thinking, but you really articulate them perfectly. I also think the move to NYC was to get Grant away from St. John, because wasn't Laura down there with him part of the time? She pretended to never have seen Laura in St. John, but I think she's lying.

She must have also lured Grant with her money. I can't get over how stupid Amanda was with her money. And a single woman telling someone she really doesn't know how much money she has in the bank is asking for problems.

 

[geevee]

Yes, Grant and Laura. Sorry, I thought they had been married? It does seem to me to be very similar to a divorce, though, because of the children and the custody issues.

But thanks for letting me know, that is important!

Laura thought she and Grant were married but he never signed the marriage certificate, I don't recall when Laura became aware of that little fraud he perpetrated on her but one of her friends testified about it.

Something has been bothering me, when Amanda testifed and said Lily had a 'poopy' diaper and she came out of the bedroom to get a fresh diaper, it just didn't seem like she was saying she had brought Lily with her, she said she stopped behind Grant and picked up the paper that Laura slid across the table to him and read it, then suddenly Lily is in Amanda's arms because Laura starts talking about how pretty she is. Does anyone else get the feeling that maybe Lily was not in her arms when she came out of the bedroom and the rap about Laura getting up because she wants to hold Lily and trips on the carpet is a bunch-a-bull? That maybe Amanda came out of the room and 'hurt her, hurt her bad'?

 

[Madeleine74]

Yes, Amanda's story is probably 99.9% percent fiction. We know she lies, she demonstrated that on the stand, and her story sounded preposterous.

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

First, you're right about AH not getting pregnant until fall 2010. She was not pregnant with Lily when she left the VI.

AH told some very flagrant lies. She screwed up. The jurors were studying her very intently, and taking notes, watching her constantly. They are very engaged.

I was thinking today that if AH had admitted the truth about being an accessory after the fact, it may have served her better. Because I don't see how the jury could ever believe that she did not know that Laura was dead. But because she lied about that, and was caught in several other big lies, I hope they will see that since she lied about the accessory charge, she's lying about it all.

If she had said "yes I helped after GH killed Laura," but proceeded with the "not being involved in the murder" lies she told on the stand, she might have gained more credibility and she might have done just a short sentence for accessory. But she had to go for the gold, so to speak, pleading not guilty to everything. I hope it bites her in the azz.

I think the murder was premeditated but intended to be done earlier that day, somehow, but then Laura was late. I do believe Berakat, that AH said "it wasn't supposed to happen like that." I also believe that AH is the one who killed Laura, and that the murder was her idea, but that it happened not the way they originally planned.

I think AH told the truth for quite a bit of her testimony. It's when she throws in "so, anyway"...(blink blink blink) that she lies, and also when she looks down to the left when she's pulling from her fictitious version. But it seems she throws in a lot of true details, too.

And I'm saying again: the FBI lady was wrong IMO because Laura did not write that note, not under duress, not at all. It's forged, specifically traced from words from the prior hand written legal order John Sergeant referred to in his testimony. It looks obviously forged to me due to its odd spacing between words and phrases and Sergeant's name is even spelled wrong. Becky has also alluded to this, IMO, but they had to call that FBI witness so as not to appear to be hiding evidence. JMO. AH and GH came up with the plan to feed Laura to the gators and have the police believe that she ran off with $25K by having that bogus agreement handy in their apartment. Yeah, right, $25K. "Well, duh."

Excellent post. Wish we were on the jury together! I agree with it all :great: