2010.12.03 Agreement: No Death Penalty, Life In Prison For Elisa Baker

[simlyme]

"The defense always has the right to look for evidence"

but does that mean they can literally BRING it to LE?? Shouldn't LE be told of it and allowed to obtain it and scrutinize the surroundings with care??? I mean look for it but actually retrieve?
Seems counter productive...just odd

This is exactly what was already done on or about the 23rd of October.

 

[Lera213]

Was the DA up for re-election last month? OMG, this all stinks really bad!! I bet the Police are fit to be tied over this mess. This DA just sabotaged this entire freaking case, NO JUSTICE for ZAHRA!

 

[Lera213]

I mean, from the start after EB admitted to writing the ransom note why didn't LE get a search warrant and start processing that house? They had enough for that warrant from that note, dogs hit on the vehicles and they were the last to have seen her. If they did that, they would have found the tissue, blood and then could have applied the pressure without making a deal!

 

[RR0004]

There is no evidence that EB murdered Zahra and the ONLY evidence they have was given to them by EB. Due to the media attention this case has gotten she will not have a fair trial, no way. So of course, a deal had to be made.

Defense Lawyers have a job to do, they absolutely have to do what is best for their client. So I am not surprised by this at all.

Not defending this monster but the law is the law and everyone is entitled to a fair trial in the court of law.

Ah, but people have been convicted on less...which IMO is the reason she started talking in the first place. The State gave away too much in this deal. I'm looking forward to their explanation.

 

[CarmelEyesD]

I expected this, but I think it is just plain wrong.

ETA" On the other hand, letting her out REAL soon could result in the 'death penalty' anyway.

 

[Virgogalsue]

There is no evidence that EB murdered Zahra and the ONLY evidence they have was given to them by EB. Due to the media attention this case has gotten she will not have a fair trial, no way. So of course, a deal had to be made.

Defense Lawyers have a job to do, they absolutely have to do what is best for their client. So I am not surprised by this at all.

Not defending this monster but the law is the law and everyone is entitled to a fair trial in the court of law.

With all due respect I have to disagree. There have been plenty of notorious murderers who have received a 'fair trial'. They may have to move the trial out of the local region but it is still possible.
PLUS, we really do not know ALL the evidence LE may have. Just off the top of my head I know that we do not have the 'financials' that LE has been looking into!

 

[impatientredhead]

"The defense always has the right to look for evidence"

but does that mean they can literally BRING it to LE?? Shouldn't LE be told of it and allowed to obtain it and scrutinize the surroundings with care??? I mean look for it but actually retrieve?
Seems counter productive...just odd

This is hard to answer because we don't know what the item is or where it was retrieved from. I do not think the attorney or her PI went to a burial site and removed evidence. I think EB hid an item in the house or somewhere else for safe keeping, exactly for this purpose, to leverage her position if the situation called for it. She had no way to know whether Adam would be hauled in first and he would try to cut a deal.

The more common and totally acceptable version of this scenario would be the defendant brings the gun used in the killing to his attorney. They cannot keep it, hide it, destroy it, etc... if they take possession of it they have to turn it over. Or if I am charged with a crime and I have been audio taping the person that is actually guilty and stored those tapes in a safety deposit box I can give that info to my attorney and she can retrieve it and bring it to the police. That way I know my interest are being covered and another person has witnessed the transfer for that data (ie a corrupt officer cannot dump the evidence that messes up their investigation).

There is definitely a purpose and appropriate way that these types of evidence transfer are done, are allowed, and should be.

Those situations are different than sending my attorney to the scene of the crime to retrieve something from the victims pocket even if I plan to turn it over to LE when I deem it is the time to do so. That is disturbing a crime scene, disturbing evidence, etc.....

There is a case you can look up in google where an attorney went to the scene of a crime and took photos of the body, thus collecting evidence, but supposedly did not disturb anything, destroy anything, etc..... but did not provide the location or the photos to LE at that time. They came to light much later in the trial. They tried to say the attorney have overstepped their bounds and prove misconduct. When it all shook out the judge said it was fair and acceptable. Attorney was not required to disclose the location as it was privileged information between him and his client and that he had only documented and not disturbed the scene (that they could prove),

The case they compared it to though a PI working for an attorney had gone to the scene of the crime and scraped the nails of a victim to sumbit a DNA test they believed would exonerate their client, the results of which they much later provided (but they had not ever disclosed the location). That was misconduct and a huge problem. That was disturbing the scene, destroying evidence, etc... the defense would have been entitled to that test when the scene was processed by the state and if the DNA that could have cleared his client was destroyed by time lapsing before the body was found that was not their problem. They could not go in and run the test unilaterally and allow the rest of the scene to degrade in the elements.

I can find the links if anyone wants them.

 

[sorrell skye]

http://www.wcnc.com/home/DA-Says-Th...ake-Arrest-in-Zahra-Baker-Case-108503144.html

The article in the above link was originally published on November 16, updated November 17:

Gaither also raised questions about Lisa Dubs, the lawyer who has been appointed to represent Elisa Baker if she is charged with murder. Gaither questioned why Dubs and a private investigator working for her went out and picked up important physical evidence in the case.

Dubbs told NewsChannel 36 that Gaither should know that the defense always has the right to look for evidence. She says that in this case the unspecified item was brought to Gaither himself to prove that Elisa Baker would cooperate truthfully.

Gaither says that is a matter he will continue to look into.

"I believe there are some reasonable minds that differ on whether that is an appropriate function of defense council," said Gaither.

My question for Gaither: If that was an inappropriate function of defense council (Dubbs), then why did you reportedly broker a deal with defense council on behalf of her client (EB) in exchange for her client's *truthful cooperation*?

If that was not an appropriate function of defense council, why did you (Gaither) reportedly take the DP & LWOP penalty off the table, in the event that defense council's client might be charged/convicted in the homicide of Zahra Baker, according to several MSM outlets?

In my unprofessional IANAL opinion: If it was an inappropriate function for the defense council to retrieve & present this evidence to the DA's office (and IMO, it was) in order to negotiate a deal that protected the defense council's client from a possible DP/LWOP sentence if charged and/or convicted, then IMO it was equally inappropriate (if not more so) for the DA's office to agree to such an alleged deal.

MOO

 

[impatientredhead]

Ah, but people have been convicted on less...which IMO is the reason she started talking in the first place. The State gave away too much in this deal. I'm looking forward to their explanation.

Totally in agreement with you.

Of course EB wants the best deal she can make, self preservation.
Her defense attorney did her job, and seems to have done it pretty well if what we have read ends up being true. Her job is to provide the best legal counsel she can to her client. If someone is to be faulted here it is the state's office that negotiated this deal.

They represent Z's interests, the community's interests, etc... they gave away way too much from what we have seen for only the location of the remains.

Especially when you consider that she is not the only one with this information. This is not one of these situations where only one person in the world knows where the body is holds all the cards.

This deal pisses me off, but I am not mad at the defense. They represented their interests very well. Zahra was not represented well at all in my opinion.

 

[froginTtown]

so the max. is 50 yrs. for 2nd degree murder..
she still is facing charges on check fraud.
I'm sure she will be recieving several more charges regarding this case, such as abuse of a corpse.
Bigamy
I'm expecting something to come of the iternet stuff to... the 10,000 in a year
I'll bet the IRS has there pens ready too...
maybe some other thinks we are not privy too.....

 

[Lera213]

Now I see why LE is looking into Bigamy, and her other alias accounts and stuff. They are going to pile on the charges because the DA SCREWED UP!

 

[Allusonz]

BBM

Assume for just one moment that EB might not have taken part in this part of the disposal. If the person who did do the disposing of this particular evidence tells EB, " Done. I buried the remains in a creek bed right near that waterfall area off Dudley Shoals Rd ", then isn't it possible that she cooperated as much as she were able, by leading LE to the waterfall area?

As for the prosthetic leg, to the best of my knowledge, WE don't even know if that was retrieved. At least, I don't have that information. The gel liner to the prosthetic leg is what was retrieved from Christie Rd., if I'm not mistaken.

I have said from the start follow the trail of the prosthetic leg, when wanting to know how far my daughter may of gone that is what i follow at home

I have not seen a search warrant stating it was collected nor have i seen where it was fround by LE

I believe that thing LD got was the prosthetic leg. Most people dont think that would be an important part but for an amputee it is a critical part of their day thus i think has been something overlooked by many

The gel liners probably would not have the ID number they were looking for if they indeed did. I would think those would come in batches. The hardware would have the number for example the knee joint

The fact they requested the number from Austrailia told me all i needed to know MOO

 

[impatientredhead]

so the max. is 50 yrs. for 2nd degree murder..
she still is facing charges on check fraud.
I'm sure she will be recieving several more charges regarding this case, such as abuse of a corpse.
Bigamy
I'm expecting something to come of the iternet stuff to... the 10,000 in a year
I'll bet the IRS has there pens ready too...
maybe some other thinks we are not privy too.....

Casey Anthony got time served by the time the tried the check charges.
You can receive up to ten K as a gift without it being taxed, we don't even know that occured in one tax year and not spread over. I don't see a tax evasion charge in her future.

We don't know that they can prove she killed her, but someone else posted that murder two was thirty five years before gain time, education and work credits.

Accessory after the fact is a more serious charge than the abuse of a corpse, but they are not likely to make them consecutive sentences if the standard in the state is concurrent sentencing. They can't treat her differently from the rest of the population and take several small charges and stack them concurrently if that is not how it is applied in general. It would get turned over on appeal. I don't know what kind of penalty bigamy carries?

The reality is the state took the heavy hitting sentencing off the table so hopefully they can prove a murder charge of some sort and not just manslaughter. One earns gain time at one day served one day earned, and one is not eligible for that credit but is eligible for education and work credit. With no cause of death and another viable suspect it could be a real problem.

I can't believe they took life sentencing off the table. If the theories that she trafficked Z and possibly was showing it on the internet for the money she was receiving that would be a real charge,and a federal one, with minimum sentencing, not effected by the deal they made. But other than the theory that she might have been doing that there is nothing we have seen to show there is any reality to that.

 

[simlyme]

The prosthetic was found by investigators on the 26th

http://www.wsoctv.com/zahra-baker/25564797/detail.html

The prosthetic was found off Christie Road in Caldwell County late Tuesday afternoon, Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said. Police are still working to positively confirm that it is Zahra’s prosthetic through a serial number.
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The "ITEM" from Dubbs was brought in around the 23rd

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/...-filing-baker-shows-her-help-case-ar-540284/#

The beginning part of the motion also states that on Oct. 22, Elisa talked to her attorneys and investigator, about the circumstances about the disappearance and/or death of Zahra.

During the late evening and early morning hours of Oct. 22 and Oct. 23, "the defense team verified that certain information provided by Ms. Baker was reliable. As part of that verification, the defense team located and collected a significant item of evidence."

The following day, on Oct. 24, law enforcement was told that Zahra was dead, and "her body had been dismembered and that it would be recovered at different sites. The piece of evidence collected by the defense was turned over to law enforcement."
------------------------------------------------------------------------So, the prosthetic is NOT the "item" Dubbs brought in to LE whatever the item is, it definitely started the ball rolling for EB to be taken out on the body parts and prosthesis hunt.

 

[catnron]

I am so angry it has made me sick sick to think EB gets a slap on the hand and a kiss on the cheek, u have to tell the truth with some lies but not to many & u have to promice u will never do it again and u can get out of jail soon..
The police put their lives on line each and every day,they catch the monsters and lock them up, then we give them the best attorneys, they make deals and the mionsters are back on the street to kill & molest again,our system has got to change, we as Citizens of the United States have got to stand together to make this stop!! What is it going to take to stop the abuse aganist our country? How can a no DP or no lwp stand if the killers know they will get out of it. Take a look at all the people in jail where EB is waiting on a deal.... It looks like the whole county is in jail.Several Murders, rape, etc..When a person like EB is able to one day walk the streets of America after what she done to a child then justice will never be served, The system is saying go ahead kill, molest and don't worry u won't spend much time in prison. The Judges of our country need to be made to stand by the laws of our country and say no deals, the judge needs to have the final say, not the attorneys making the deals..
I think EB did it without AB , her plans were to dismember Zahra and then use the chipper but could not make it work, Dogs hit on chipper so we know a part of Z was there.
EB just scattered Zahra all over when she was unable to chip Z.
AB knows how to run the wood chipper, If AB was involved Z would have been chipped up in pieces and sold as sawdust. Our system is not failing us, we are failing the system. For the system to work we as citizens have got to stand up and make the laws already in place work.We can just keep on & on making new laws that is not gonna work either, What we need is to make the old laws work then we would not need new laws..Say no to"" NO DEALS"

 

[LiveLaughLuv]

I wonder if a judge can recind that deal or the attorney general?

Why would a SA seek to take the DP and LWOP off the table without knowing Zahra's COD? I'd be okay with the DP alone, not both...I think an over zealous prosecutor made a deal that he now regrets and one they might have to live with, unfortunately.

Someone up thread stated, the SA made a deal with the devil, seems to fit so right...JMHO

Where's the justice for Zahra??

 

[magiemay]

Unless she did it herself why are there no other arrests.

agree and if she didn't do it why the worry of the DP? jmo

 

[LiveLaughLuv]

http://www2.morganton.com/news/2010...reveal-grisly-details-zahra-baker--ar-579817/

Good article which outlines the information from the unsealed warrants.

I can't find the warrants themselves anywhere online except for the three that we already have.....JMHO



Justice for Zahra

 

[TxLady2]

Now I see why LE is looking into Bigamy, and her other alias accounts and stuff. They are going to pile on the charges because the DA SCREWED UP!

They can pile on the charges all they want to, but it is up to the DA to decide whether or not those charges stick. It has to go to the grand jury before they can be formally indicted, and the DA controls the grand jury.

I don't know for sure but I would suspect that offering her a plea deal was the only way they could get the information they needed in order to find Zahra's body and figure out what she and AB did to her. Without her talking, they might still be looking for Zahra.

These plea deals happen in almost every case. And it might never go to trial anyway, if she pleads guilty to a lesser charge, she would just be sentenced and sent straight to prison, which would save the taxpayers a LOT of money.

 

[LiveLaughLuv]

Plea deals do happen in most cases but this deal was handed to EF on a silver platter...No DP or LWOP if she's tried and convicted for murder..but this case had been deemed a homicide so I'm not sure why the SA would go along with both these deals. One I can see (DP) but not both! JMHO

Where is the justice in that for Zahra???

Justice for Zahra