GUILTY NC - Laura Ackerson, 27, Kinston, 13 July 2011 #8

[aa9511]

The problem is there is no way to replicate the sound from where the sawing actually transpired. In the courtroom, which is much larger than the bathroom would have been, the sound would be much different. Also, the sound would change significantly when the blade came into contact with whatever was being cut.

A chainsaw, or any saw, gets much louder when it has to power through the object being cut.

Anyone that has had construction in their neighborhood knows how annoying a saw can be. And it isn't because they are quiet.

Very, very good points.

I am glad the Judge did not let them take it back into the deliberating room with them, where they would have done who knows what experiments on it.

 

[aa9511]

my fear is what if there is a juror who believes it to be loud and therefore grant did not use it in the apartment and our dear amanda was actually unaware of what he did! Please tell me that such a juror doesn't exist!!!!!

o m g.

So then do they also believe he rolled her up in the rug??!

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

I guess I need to take a step back and remember that, hopefully, they are using "reason" and not "emotion". It's hard not to be emotional, but I know if I was on the jury, emotion cannot enter into it. "Reason" should be front and center, and with everything presented, I find it hard to believe that the saw sound is relevant.

Reason, reason, reason...not emotion. Someone on that jury is having a hard time understanding the testimony and/or instructions. I'm having a hard time believing that 12 people could find her not guilty on first degree murder.

Attn: MissSallyAnnie "Step away from the keyboard, step away from the keyboard" :scared:

 

[AnonymousD]

I still can't believe Juror #2 made it on the jury without any objections......

 

[04009margaret]

A reciprocating saw demo
Reciprocating Saws Video - YouTube

 

[Myvice]

Very, very good points.

I am glad the Judge did not let them take it back into the deliberating room with them, where they would have done who knows what experiments on it.

I agree. Without blades and something to cut it just wouldn't be realistic. I can't imagine they would think someone could use a saw in an apartment and not be heard.

The walls in my bathroom are 6" and insulated for sound and I can still hear a toilet flush if the door isn't shut tight.

There's no way she didn't know.

 

[aa9511]

I guess I need to take a step back and remember that, hopefully, they are using "reason" and not "emotion". It's hard not to be emotional, but I know if I was on the jury, emotion cannot enter into it. "Reason" should be front and center, and with everything presented, I find it hard to believe that the saw sound is relevant.

Reason, reason, reason...not emotion. Someone on that jury is having a hard time understanding the testimony and/or instructions. I'm having a hard time believing that 12 people could find her not guilty on first degree murder.

Attn: MissSallyAnnie "Step away from the keyboard, step away from the keyboard" :scared:

Yes I agree, this person or persons having doubts (if tha'ts what it is), is definately in the minority. I'm thinking 1 or 2, leaning more towards it just being 1 person that needs convincing.

 

[aa9511]

I agree. Without blades and something to cut it just wouldn't be realistic. I can't imagine they would think someone could use a saw in an apartment and not be heard.

The walls in my bathroom are 6" and insulated for sound and I can still hear a toilet flush if the door isn't shut tight.

There's no way she didn't know.

Yes. I'm sure some of these jurors have lived in an apartment before. It's hard to imagine just how small it would be, when you are looking at a large diagram which makes it seem like a ranch-house. THey have to go on their experiences of knowing how small apartments are!

 

[CUCKOOHEAD]

*Last O/T folks, promise!*

I am laughing just thinking about it :floorlaugh:

Oh, and the "Andrews" :giggle:

Question Cuckoo, when you are scrolling through the TV guide do you without fail hear in your head (or say out loud) "You ain't seen Bad Boys 2" when you see the movie is showing? I DO!

Hot Fuzz - You Ain't Seen Bad Boys II? - YouTube

OT YES, YES, YES! :floorlaugh: Sometimes when I am weaving in and out of traffic to get home I catch myself humming 'Goody, goody two shoes.' 'Shaun of the Dead' was nearly as good.

 

[Truth Detector]

No, I think I get it. So because this is not the exact saw, they didn't want to test the noise, b/c the noise might not be what the noise of the actual saw was. Is that right?

Not entirely.

We can only speculate why they want to turn it on, but the noise volume assumption seems logical.

AFAIK, they are not asking to saw through bones in a bathtub yet.

There are a number of reasons they should not be allowed to turn it on, but most of them boil down to the fact that juries must not be allowed or encouraged to manufacture evidence or conduct their own experimentation which expands the scope of their deliberations beyond the testimony, evidence, and facts established at trial.

They are to consider the facts, the evidence, and the testimony. They are not to make it up on their own.

You can be sure that the judge will not allow such a thing.

He even pointed out that both sides had ample opportunity at trial to present evidence related to the saw, its noise, and its other physical properties.

He absolutely should not have stated that the saw was not the same one used by Grant, which is why he qualified what he meant and then instructed the jurors to disregard his misstatement.

 

[SurfieTX]

Unlike us who have gone over this x2 with a fine-toothed comb, I think they are having a hard time understanding how no one else heard the saw or complained about the noise. I think they have not come to the realization that it was done on a Wednesday during the day when everyone else was at work and the boys were with Sha. You have to admit it was pretty damned risky to dismember a body in an apartment with a saw.

 

[potboiler]

Hi everyone! Just popping out from lurking to express some concerns. I kept waiting for the procession to call out AH more on her lack of concern for LA after her "accident". Laura called the boys twice a day, every day. Wouldn't you wonder

after not picking them up friday and not hearing on sat or sunday? If she hit her head hard enough to need an ambulance, even if she changed her mind, could she be at the side of the road or in her apt injured?

I have learned some 1st aid I didn't know. If someone suffers a head injury, its best to drag them down the hall into a feces stained bathroom while waiting for the ambulance.

When you have been evicted from your home, have 18k on your credit card and a new baby- a ROAD TRIP is the 1st thing to come to mind.

When LA didn't come fri night, there was no talk of canceling the trip. Just throw 2 toddlers into the mix. They are great fun driving straight thru somewhere for 24 hrs. Esp when you are breaking the law by taking them out of state without permission.

Neither of them had jobs to go to, why not wait a few days, at least until you have permission to take the boys?

I wish the prosecution had made a bigger point of some of this, cause someone on the jury seems to believe her. :banghead:

 

[jmt707]

What notable items were never recovered other than that particular saw, LA's tape recorder, etc.? Could it be that some things were thrown away together in a different location. But where? Kinston? Or is this far-fetched?

 

[Madeleine74]

I couldn't figure out why Grant didn't just take the body parts to dump them somewhere closer, within 1 to 3 hours away and not near anything or anyone associated with them. A road trip to TX to dump body parts was just really stupid on so many levels of stupidity.

 

[SurfieTX]

We also have to remember that the jurors don't know what evidence was put on at Grant's trial (except for the videos that were shown in Amanda's trial). In Grant's trial, where the dismemberment was done was not a huge issue given all of the other evidence they had, but in Amanda's trial, this is a key element.

 

[Patchouliluvr]

The noise did not last all day. It did not take but a few buzzes then on to the clean up.imo

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

Hi everyone! Just popping out from lurking to express some concerns. I kept waiting for the procession to call out AH more on her lack of concern for LA after her "accident". Laura called the boys twice a day, every day. Wouldn't you wonder

after not picking them up friday and not hearing on sat or sunday? If she hit her head hard enough to need an ambulance, even if she changed her mind, could she be at the side of the road or in her apt injured?

I have learned some 1st aid I didn't know. If someone suffers a head injury, its best to drag them down the hall into a feces stained bathroom while waiting for the ambulance.

When you have been evicted from your home, have 18k on your credit card and a new baby- a ROAD TRIP is the 1st thing to come to mind.

When LA didn't come fri night, there was no talk of canceling the trip. Just throw 2 toddlers into the mix. They are great fun driving straight thru somewhere for 24 hrs. Esp when you are breaking the law by taking them out of state without permission.

Neither of them had jobs to go to, why not wait a few days, at least until you have permission to take the boys?

I wish the prosecution had made a bigger point of some of this, cause someone on the jury seems to believe her. :banghead:

:floorlaugh: You learn the most amazing facts during a trial!

 

[CUCKOOHEAD]

I apologize in advance for the gore, but this type of saw is significantly louder when striking a rigid, solid object (wood, bone, etc.) than if used on soft tissue.

The rapidly moving blade will have a tendency to 'jump' unless held firmly in place against a stationary solid object, including for example the victim's osseous matter.

Assuming her bones would have been held against the floor and/or the sides or walls of a tub enclosure the vibrations/sounds would have been conducted by those objects as well.

Check with a carpenter, plumber, construction worker or homeowner who cuts through items as thin as drywall, gypsum, or sheet rock. It sounds like the whole house is coming down.

Think of carving fowl or poultry with an electric knife, especially cutting through a bone or joint. As small as that is compared to the saws in question, these things cannot -- and were not -- done quietly, and probably not alone.

Hopefully there are a couple of jurors who have experience using this type of saw and can persuade a juror that doesn't know. I'd say a reciprocating saw is about 100 times louder than the loudest electric can opener.

 

[JusticeFever]

Unlike us who have gone over this x2 with a fine-toothed comb, I think they are having a hard time understanding how no one else heard the saw or complained about the noise. I think they have not come to the realization that it was done on a Wednesday during the day when everyone else was at work and the boys were with Sha. You have to admit it was pretty damned risky to dismember a body in an apartment with a saw.

I am late to this case, but I was thinking the same thing. Maybe Grant always had loud music going all the time, so if someone were around, it would have drowned out the saw noise.

Isn't this a truly horrible case, Amanda was once someone Grant loved and she trusted him and he took everything from her.

When I look at her picture I want to remember her beauty, her joy, and her love for life, and not her last minutes on earth, before what he and Amanda did to her.

 

[Martha Morris]

"The Greater Good...."


I totally LOVE that movie too, my son and I saw it in Vegas when it came out (he was in his teens, so we would bring him along and hang by the pools in the daytime and go to movies/shows at night).
Matter of fact I love all the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movies, but Fuzz is my fav. I think....
Sometimes I just will shout "A great big bushy beard" to my son, when relevant :floorlaugh:

Sorry for the O/T folks,,,,,

Just one more quick O/T - but if you're a Nick Frost fan, he's got a new movie out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTS4AsJprm4