Unless and until you have proof ( a link at least ) of some impropriety, please do not anyone engage in discussing names of TES volunteers in any sentences that disparage or question their motives. That is wholly misguided. A Texas Equusearch volunteer is a Texas Equusearch volunteer , period. A conflict of interest is a term used to describe the situation in which a public official or fiduciary, a lawyer for example, who, contrary to the obligation and absolute duty to act for the benefit of the public or a designated individual, exploits the relationship for personal benefit. The volunteer is in no such position, real or imagined and should not be accused.
Many, many, many times folks perform a variety of tasks for Texas Equusearch, there is so very much that goes into what the organization does. The actual searching through the woods or doing a dive or searching trash dump sites is one part, of course. Also there are many other duties the volunteers preform. Some come in from the searches and sit down at the computer who are experts in many fields, engineers, military personnel, doctors, from wealthy people to people that don't have a dime to their names, you would be amazed at the wide variety of walks of life, experience, etc. etc. There is nothing nefarious about one of them volunteering to sit with the defense lawyers while they review the documents. Any and all work done for TES, including the lone volunteer lady in the Texas office is done by a volunteer.
Saying there is a conflict of interest makes no sense, whatsoever. Respectfully, whoever thought that has a very poor understanding of what c o i means.
I am not surprised, if one has been listening to the defense lawyers in this case. Three times ,that I know of ,one of the lawyers for Casey stood and argued in court that Mark Nejame had a conflict of interest for representing TES after having resigned from representing mom and pop. All three times that was a lie. Not only does no conflict of interest exist, but he has in his file a SIGNED WAIVER OF CONFLICT, just for perfunctory reasons.
Brad Conway corrected them and informed the judge that is not true, there is no conflict, and his clients certainly are NOT asserting any such thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK8Y2rzldmA
Unless and until someone has some conclusive evidence of some wrongdoing, I respectfully request that we refrain from any implication that the Texas Equusearch member has done anything that should be considered potentially shady. That is not what we do here, make wholly unfounded accusations against innocent people. A volunteer performing more than one type of task for the organization ......how in the world could that be a conflict of interest? Of whose interest? Go to any free law library and look up the definition for clarity.
It is nonsense like this that is what Mr. Miller is trying to protect his volunteers from, being accused and their good names being disparaged for no reason whatsoever!!!! It is outrageous.
If you listen carefully, you will see the judge made things better for the prosecution in this case regarding his ruling on the TES records, much better. This judge is concerned with a trial that has no appeal issues. He has cleared that path.
To be clear, the defense won nothing . The only thing the judge did was make it to where they are all out of excuses. A retired judge is going to sit in with them. THE DEFENSE LAWYERS ARE NOT LEAVING THAT ROOM WITH THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF ALL OF THE TES VOLUNTEERS. That is the only thing TES was trying to avoid. There is no problem at all having a judge tag documents for them. Mrs. Drane-Burdick and Mr. Conway were able to tag their own. Since this process is somehow outside of the skill set of Mr. Baez and Mr. Cheney, or is confusing to them in some manner, they have expressed to the judge they cannot do it.
So now they have a judge ( who will be beyond reproach, this removes possible appeal problems ) helping them understand how to tag documents.
TES knows it has the proof that the exact area Caylee was found in was under water. The State knows it has the proof of how long she was there due to the plant growth. Let the defense look at all the other areas around Orlando that volunteers searched, we want them to. It is about damn time they are finally doing so.
At the end of the day the judge wants them to search the records from top to bottom and set out the ones they wish to have the trial judge decide if they are relevant. This is the exact same opportunity they have always had. They still cannot copy the documents and bring them back to their office. Judge Strickland told them they could review all of the documents LAST YEAR. They feigned an inability to do so. The slight difference now is they can take notes. OK. So what?
Check out Brad Conway letting the court know in JANUARY of 2009, that what was just argued by the defense in that morning's hearing is incorrect. His clients specifically waive any would be conflict.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aijyVQuLVEA Obviously the defense didn't bother to check with mom and pop what their position was. Too too funny. My point is just because you hear Jose or Cheney say something is no indication it is correct. So, IN COURT, the court was notified in January there is no conflict. What does Todd take to the podium and say to the judge in August....guess...he claims Mr. Nejame has a conflict of interest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7LsKP77ycw , later Andrea did the same thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5IrzGBLLjg
(four minute mark)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYXZ_GSPyk0 You just can't make this stuff up!!!!
No document is leaving that location except through the retired judge's hands. He will take them to Judge Perry to determine relevance. This is wonderful for Caylee's justice; because, it moves the ball down the court, and at the same time the identity and personal cell phone information of the volunteers will not be copied and released to the public.
Of course, the 911 calls coming into the trial is HUGE. Any juror hearing the sheer panic in Cindy Anthony's voice is going to be effected by the truth.
The fact that a judge will be watching over the defense lawyers, simply ads another layer of protection for the privacy of the TES workers. Much like when Jose asked the court to let the experts and defense view the evidence on their own, outside of the OCSD staff......
what the defense actually got was MORE scrutiny, now not only are they removed any excuse that they were hindered in looking at the docs, now they have a judge who can testify that they had unfettered access, and this will remove ANY claims they make to the contrary, going forward. This is much like be careful what you wish for. In my earlier example, the defense walked out of the hearing with not only the OCSD staff indeed going to be present, but the State Attorney's office staff going to be present, and it was videotaped. Judge Perry is focused on removing ANY possible claim that the defense did not have a fair opportunity to properly defend Casey, any!
What the judge did regarding the TES records is set it up to where the defense has no, zero , excuse not to get on with what they could have done a year ago, and make it impossible for anything regarding this matter to be an appeal issue. The prosecution is happy about this development. One must think of big picture, appeal issue, appeal issue, appeal issue. If you listen carefully when Judge Perry rules, you will notice a pattern, he quotes from Supreme Court decisions, where appeals have been decided upon. Indeed.
As for any TES volunteer, God bless them for volunteering, in any capacity that they can and do. They have my abiding appreciation. May good people who can afford to, continue to ask for time off work, purchase plane tickets, bug spray, and boots and continue to search, in all conditions, for these murdered children who in the words of Tim Miller "Deserve a proper burial".
