CA - Chelsea King (17) Rancho Bernardo (north San Diego County) #3

[IzzyBlanche]

He pleaded not guilty today.

Now I wonder what is his defense.

The only feasible strategy is insanity, maybe?

Though, he hid the body, didn't tell anyone (that we know of) what he had done, and didn't contact authorities when she was reported missing... he knew he had done wrong.

I was working at home today, had the arraignment on and trying to pay attention to both it and my work, so I am not 100% positive, but I think the local legal talking head said it's common in cases like this to enter a preliminary not guilty plea to buy some time, but they can always change the plea at the next opportunity.

Not that I expect him to plead guilty later, just repeating what I think I heard with only one ear open.

 

[cluciano63]

insanity won' work-if you bury a body, then clearly you know what you did was wrong...

although the other part of the insanity defense is (i believe) you KNEW it was wrong but could not help yourself...
however-he is clearly not insane. No jury would buy that. He may be a sociopath or a psychopath but not insane. Big difference.
This has to be a DP case and we must hope very very hard that all of the evidence they have holds up. I think his DNA on her panties should be enough IMO. It would be if I was on the jury.
I am still thinking he never went home at all after Thursday which would explain same clothes, etc...maybe his parents never saw him all weekend? I doubt they called cops, though i would love to hear they did...an anonymous call from one of his family over the weekend would go a long way...

 

[Melanie]

odd that it was seman on her panties.
so he chose not to leave his DNA inside her
I'm guessing he has allot of problems........

Could be he used her panties to clean himself off. The kind of animal he is and all. if he got away with the previous jogger, amber (perhaps), then maybe he thought he was invincible. Sorry to be so graphic, but it's hard to think like a monster.

Mel

 

[Ghostwheel]

I was working at home today, had the arraignment on and trying to pay attention to both it and my work, so I am not 100% positive, but I think the local legal talking head said it's common in cases like this to enter a preliminary not guilty plea to buy some time, but they can always change the plea at the next opportunity.

Not that I expect him to plead guilty later, just repeating what I think I heard with only one ear open.

I believe you cannot plead guilty on a capital crime. It's the law in some states, not sure in California.

My Opinion:
If he pleads Not Guilty, he can plea bargain down to LWOP for a guilty to a lesser charge (2nd degree murder, maybe)

 

[TheMentalist]

Since he'd already been arrested as a suspect in her murder before her body was found, something leads me to think there's some physical evidence tying him to the crime ~ like maybe a weapon with blood on it, or bloody clothes, etc. Even though there was the jogger at the same park, it's still a leap to suspect him of murder if there wasn't some evidence. Just MOO.

Yes, the evidence was Semen and the police indicated that it was rushed and analyzed results were obtained within 2 hours they had a match John Gardner.

 

[Leila]

The goth/loner thing isn't true from anything I saw. He had quite a few close friends... and his yearbook pictures don't really support that either. But I didn't know him in Jr. High, just high school.

It's possible that the guy who was interviewed on John and Ken knew JAG, but didn't know him too well. I think he knew him initially in junior high.

 

[Melanie]

I don't know what to do. I was just over at the Chelsea family page on FB only to witness the more horrific pornographic photos I have seen in my life. I'm shaking. I sent a note to the mods to please plese take them down. Maybe LE wants to track down the evil among us. Did he act alone, are these just more sick people. Tell me, someone, please, why would someone disgrace a murdered child like that. I am physically sick.

Mel

 

[mahoneys07]

mgardner,
These are spammer/hacker groups and are almost impossible to get rid of ..The come in take over the page till everyone else jumps ship. Morgan Harringtons site had similar issues but not quite this bad

 

[LogicalMinds]

He pleaded not guilty today.

Now I wonder what is his defense.

The only feasible strategy is insanity, maybe?

Though, he hid the body, didn't tell anyone (that we know of) what he had done, and didn't contact authorities when she was reported missing... he knew he had done wrong.

Insanity defense is very very rarely allowed (in real life...maybe allowed on tv shows LOL)..

he is not insane...the fact that he concealed her body, tired to clean up , etc shows that clearly....no insanity defense here

 

[PQgirly884]

I don't know what to do. I was just over at the Chelsea family page on FB only to witness the more horrific pornographic photos I have seen in my life. I'm shaking. I sent a note to the mods to please plese take them down. Maybe LE wants to track down the evil among us. Did he act alone, are these just more sick people. Tell me, someone, please, why would someone disgrace a murdered child like that. I am physically sick.

Mel

which group on fb?

 

[TravelingBug]

Fox 5 news at 10

People are irate about what happened.

They recount what happened in court with virtually nothing being said and his plea of not guilty being entered on both counts.

There's the two counts, with special allegations (possible DP on one) and then a third account, the other attack, as well.

Bonnie Dumanis (the DA) says this will not be tried in media, but in court.

JAG is still in solitary until his next appearance.

Protesters and media were flooded outside wanting to catch glimpses of JAG when he arrived. The media frenzy is crazy (way more than Danielle VanDam, the other very big case we've had in the last years)

More areas are secured around the courthouse than normal, and way more areas designated for media and media parking.

They had a separate room for news crews and just had a pool feed to them because of the mass number of media.

Many people are pinning things outside JAG's family's townhome and they show the graffiti on the garage, and a lady screaming and pounding against the gate .

A neighbor said that if they had been aware that JAG, an RSO had been living or visiting there, that

The garage door grafitti was painted over by neighbors who didn't want it to look bad.

JAG's family is now out of town after yesterday. Extra patrols have been added to the neighborhood.

PHS students wore purple in Chelsea's honor and extra counselors were on hand. It's a mix of grief, anger, and trying to stay cohesive and honor her.

Naperville (IL) students and families are also mourning her loss, as she had lived there 10 years in between the time her family has been in San Diego.

 

[socalsuz]

I CANNOT believe that anyone would do such a cruel thing as post graphic pics on a FB dedicated to this sweet girl....THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR YOU!!!!!!!

Okay, everyone...let's use the power of love to overcome those images. Just think about the beautiful pics from last night in which the glow of thousands of candles lit the way for Chelsea to look down from heaven and see how much she is loved!!!!!

 

[sarx]

Passionflower
The cadaver dogs were on boats (2 I believe), alerted in an area, lots of rattlesnakes and it was then that the dive teams were told to come to that area. I was less than an hour (maybe 45 min) from then when the body was found. They were smelling her from the boats, just couldn't point and say "right there guys".

 

[SoCalSleuth]

That's another good thought. I really do believe blood is involved; otherwise if her body hadn't been found yesterday, they would have to face releasing him if they didn't have some evidence a murder actually took place. MOO

They had her underwear and a shoe. She was gone. He was alone without her. She wasn't at either of his residences. That is enough to charge him with rape and murder--you don't need a body to charge him with murder.

 

[TheMentalist]

Reports do not confirm dogs on the boat or dogs alerting to a scent.
Official report is that FBI diver saw something that just didnt look right back from the shoreline and stepped off onto the shore to check it out...moving a little debri saw that there was a body in a shallow grave.

 

[Sharedspirit]

I don't know what to do. I was just over at the Chelsea family page on FB only to witness the more horrific pornographic photos I have seen in my life. I'm shaking. I sent a note to the mods to please plese take them down. Maybe LE wants to track down the evil among us. Did he act alone, are these just more sick people. Tell me, someone, please, why would someone disgrace a murdered child like that. I am physically sick.

Mel

That has been going on for a while on the FB page. I had to quit going there. Didn't they start a new page because of it? Or is this the new page that is also getting the sick messages? I guess I will have to go look for myself. I'm still in shock. I was so hoping she'd be found hidden somewhere alive...with Amber.

 

[sarx]

In regards to the dog questions and blood. In the beginning they would have been using area search/and or trailing dogs. These dogs work using the millions of microscopic scent particles shed by humans. In the case of trailing dogs it's connected to human tissue and skin cells in microscopic size that a body constantly sheds that drops to the ground and they will look for only the given subject using a scent article when they start. Area search dogs will be sent out by their handler systematically covering an area and it is not until the get into a "cone" of scent that they will home in on the person. Area dogs will find any and all people out there, so they are best used in closed off areas.
Blood is not something that these dogs are trained for generally. If the person is dead and area search dog may or may not find them as the scent cone may be gone if they have been dead long enough. Trailing dogs will work the trail effectively but can literally get confused when they get to the body and it's not alive (not really an issue because there are people attached to them, but it's interesting to see happen).
Cadaver dogs are trained on blood, the smell of decomp, and bones. They can find tiny parts of a body.
Each dog really has a very specialized roll and are extremely effective at what they do.

To my knowledge the cadaver dogs were not brought into that area by land at any point. I only heard rumors of what the other dogs did, so I won't speculate.

 

[sarx]

Reports do not confirm dogs on the boat or dogs alerting to a scent.
Official report is that FBI diver saw something that just didnt look right back from the shoreline and stepped off onto the shore to check it out...moving a little debri saw that there was a body in a shallow grave.

Reports don't confirm it, the scanner did however.

 

[Melanie]

mgardner,
These are spammer/hacker groups and are almost impossible to get rid of ..The come in take over the page till everyone else jumps ship. Morgan Harringtons site had similar issues but not quite this bad

Just when you think he world is as evil as it can be - these monsters jump in. I just wanna line em up and systematically you know what. I did report all the photos to the mods - not sure what good this is gonna do.

Poor Chelsea - she doesn't deserve this.

Mel

 

[Melanie]

mgardner,
These are spammer/hacker groups and are almost impossible to get rid of ..The come in take over the page till everyone else jumps ship. Morgan Harringtons site had similar issues but not quite this bad

Just when you think he world is as evil as it can be - these monsters jump in. I just wanna line em up and systematically you know what. I did report all the photos to the mods - not sure what good this is gonna do.

Poor Chelsea - she doesn't deserve this.

Mel