CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #9

[Niner]

Tuesday, February 26th:
*Trial continues (Day 24) (@ 9:30am PT) - CA - McStay Family: Joseph (40), Summer (43), Gianni (4) & Joey Jr (3) (Feb. 4, 2010, Fallbrook; found Nov. 11, 2013) - *Charles "Chase" Ray Merritt (57/now 60) arrested (11/5/14) & indicted (11/7/14) of 4 counts of murder with special circumstance; plead not guilty. DP case.
12 jurors & 6 alternates were finalized on Tuesday (12/11/18). 8 women & 4 men, while the alternates include 4 men & 2 women. Trial started 1/7/19. Dark on Fridays.
Skipping Day 1 (1/7/19) thru 6 (1/15/19) – reference post #1180 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #2
Skipping Day 7 (1/16/19) thru 11 (1/24/19) – reference post #1119 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #3
Skipping Day 12 (1/28/19) thru 14 (1/31/19) - reference post #217 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #5
Skipping Day 15 (2/5/19) thru 17 (2/7/19) - reference post #648 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #6
Skipping Day 18 (2/13/19) thru Day 20 (2/19/19) - reference post #6 here: CA - Joey, Summer, Gianni, Joseph Jr McStay Murders - Feb 4th 2010 #8
2/20/19 Day 21: State witnesses: Donald Thomas Jones continued on stand. April Coronado, fraud investigator for Union bank (in 2010). Scott Weitzman, forensic accountant, certified fraud examiner. Trial continues on 2/21.
2/21/19 Day 22: State witnesses: Scott Weitzman, forensic accountant returns to the stand for cross examination. Subject to recall. Ryan Smith (phone records of Chase & Joseph’s discussed). Kevin Boles, Special Agent with FBI (phone pings). Trial continues Monday, 2/25.
2/25/19 Day 23: State witness: FBI Special Agent Kevin Boles regarding the cell phone/tower records. Boles will return tomorrow (2/26) for cross examination.

 

[itsbrookie]

The numbers for the McStay case are better than a lot of the other cases. Come back to us Cathy Russon. She did do a good job of tweeting today. Not the same as getting to actually hear the testimony, but at least it was something.

Law & Crime Network

I agree, she did a really good job posting the relevant new information. Definitely better than nothing!

From an evidential standpoint it doesn't seem good to me that Chase's phone has a history of inconsistent cell tower connectivity

All JMO

 

[katydid23]

I wonder how Cathy Russon got her info to tweet? She wasn't attending the trial, was she?

 

[mrjitty]

page 2

 

[Tortoise]

Cathy Russon‏ @cathyrusson 4m4 minutes ago
#McStay - McGee went over Merritt's phone activity in Jan and Feb. There were many calls, when Merritt was on the phone or that went to voice mail, that no cell tower data showed, yet a call right before or after would show tower data. Def able to show the data is inconsistent.

Thanks geevee.

Can someone explain the relevance of this to me please, in relation to the data they have for the time of the murders. Is it to show that the calls from Cathy that went to voicemail on the night of the 4th doesn't mean his phone was off?

The problem for the defense that I can see is that her calls spanned 3 hours and he didn't call her back until half hour after her last voicemail. So what does that mean in the defense's argument? Is that what the call records for Jan also showed?

They obviously weren't at home together which is a bigger problem for him, and he was in Mira Loma travelling north when he called her back.

But maybe that isn't what this cross-examination was to prove so I don't know.

 

[Penny Parker]

Thanks geevee.

Can someone explain the relevance of this to me please, in relation to the data they have for the time of the murders. Is it to show that the calls from Cathy that went to voicemail on the night of the 4th doesn't mean his phone was off?

The problem for the defense that I can see is that her calls spanned 3 hours and he didn't call her back until half hour after her last voicemail. So what does that mean in the defense's argument? Is that what the call records for Jan also showed?

They obviously weren't at home together which is a bigger problem for him, and he was in Mira Loma travelling north when he called her back.

But maybe that isn't what this cross-examination was to prove so I don't know.

That's the problem: we can't know for sure since we can't watch it for ourselves.

According to my notes from the testimony of Boles, calls between 5:48 pm and 9:32 pm on 2/4 went to voicemail. As you stated, the 9:32 pm call connected with the Mira Loma area tower near I15.
Boles did say the phone could be off, in airplane mode, or off the network during this time.

We obviously aren't going to get nearly enough information from tweets to keep the facts straight.

 

[JMarsh]

I agree, she did a really good job posting the relevant new information. Definitely better than nothing!

From an evidential standpoint it doesn't seem good to me that Chase's phone has a history of inconsistent cell tower connectivity

All JMO

Why? I don't know one way or the other, but can you elaborate on that?

 

[Tortoise]

I've just seen that the Nouman Raja trial is currently being live streamed by local10.com and wptv.com (I haven't checked to see if there's others covering it). So there was no necessity for Law & Crime to be there knowing that McStay trial was being left with no other cover.

 

[Penny Parker]

I've just seen that the Nouman Raja trial is currently being live streamed by local10.com and wptv.com (I haven't checked to see if there's others covering it). So there was no necessity for Law & Crime to be there knowing that McStay trial was being left with no other cover.

It would be hard to trust them with a future trial since they handled the McStay trial so poorly.

 

[missy1974]

Thanks geevee.

Can someone explain the relevance of this to me please, in relation to the data they have for the time of the murders. Is it to show that the calls from Cathy that went to voicemail on the night of the 4th doesn't mean his phone was off?

The problem for the defense that I can see is that her calls spanned 3 hours and he didn't call her back until half hour after her last voicemail. So what does that mean in the defense's argument? Is that what the call records for Jan also showed?

They obviously weren't at home together which is a bigger problem for him, and he was in Mira Loma travelling north when he called her back.

But maybe that isn't what this cross-examination was to prove so I don't know.

So disappointed we have missed this testimony

I agree that the 3 hour gap is different than calls here and there. Without being able to see all the records though, we don't know right now if that has happened before. As for them not being home together, I still have not heard that he remembers he was ... at least not from his own memory, anything I have heard or read, it was CJ's memory that he is using... SOOO I can't wait to hear from CJ LOL I would love to know what the defense is implying with Boles with those Feb 4th calls but because all the reporters suck, we don't know lol

Where the relevance of the this comes in is the other day that the prosecution is trying to show that his phone is off or off grid or no activity, like on the 8th. Even just showing that it happened often, that his phone went to VM like that, puts that time gap into question. There is just no way to know why that 1 call went to VM, but showing that it wasn't out of the ordinary does help the defense IMO

We don't have any information about whether or not they also went through how many short calls there were, especially between CJ/CM, but I suspect they will or have. I also imagine they have gone through the records to show other time gaps.

As for the other info that we got about Boles saying it is/isn't likely if someone is stationary they will stay on the same tower when they make/end a call... I was able to see that the Feb 6th calls definitely have different initiating and ending towers, but I can't make out the numbers clearly, so I can understand why they are asking that at least. I'm not sure that it's good for Bole's that McGee was able to show that he said something different in other testimony.

 

[missy1974]

I've just seen that the Nouman Raja trial is currently being live streamed by local10.com and wptv.com (I haven't checked to see if there's others covering it). So there was no necessity for Law & Crime to be there knowing that McStay trial was being left with no other cover.

I figured it would be streamed locally ... and I bet their stream is WAY better anyway! I would watch a trial anywhere else before L&C if I had the option LOL Florida streams their trials all the time. Give us back McStay LOL

ETA: ok, even more annoying is that it is a "pool" camera, and I bet it isn't L&C's! So they could have covered it and the McStay's, they said it was because they needed the equipment.

 

[Tortoise]

As for the other info that we got about Boles saying it is/isn't likely if someone is stationary they will stay on the same tower when they make/end a call... I was able to see that the Feb 6th calls definitely have different initiating and ending towers, but I can't make out the numbers clearly, so I can understand why they are asking that at least. I'm not sure that it's good for Bole's that McGee was able to show that he said something different in other testimony.

rsbm

He didn't say something different in other testimony, assuming the tweet is correct.

In previous testimony he said the odds are great the call will remain on the same tower but here he told McGee he wouldn't say the odds are greater that they stayed on the same tower.

Cathy Russon‏ @cathyrusson 3m3 minutes ago
#McStay - Boles looked up the maps he made in 2014 and modified some of them to coincide with the additional training he had recd after 2014. McGee asked Boles - if your are stationary, make and end a call without moving, your odds are that it will still on the same tower?

Cathy Russon‏ @cathyrusson 3m3 minutes ago
#McStay - Boles said he wouldn't say that odds are greater the call would stay on one tower. McGee referenced a case Boles testified in, quoted Boles saying if you are stationary the odds are great the call will remain on same tower. Boles: "I can see that's how I testified"

 

[missy1974]

rsbm

He didn't say something different in other testimony, assuming the tweet is correct.

In previous testimony he said the odds are great the call will remain on the same tower but here he told McGee he wouldn't say the odds are greater that they stayed on the same tower.

It's hard to know if it's a word in a tweet or not. But the fact that McGee showed him testimony from a previous trial where he was a witness tells me that he said something different. If he said the same thing, then no need to show him previous testimony where he contradicts himself, IMO.

Knowing that McGee was a prosecutor until 2014 before turning to defense lawyer, I wonder if Bole's was his witness at the time of the testimony that he showed? LOL I did a quick google search last night of Bole's, I found an article where he testified in a 2016 (I think) trial about cell phone activity, and Daugherty was the prosecutor, but I am sure there are more, and he originally looked at these records back in 2014, so we know he was doing this back then. Just thought it was interesting and would like to know which case he said that in lol

 

[JMarsh]

It's hard to know if it's a word in a tweet or not. But the fact that McGee showed him testimony from a previous trial where he was a witness tells me that he said something different. If he said the same thing, then no need to show him previous testimony where he contradicts himself, IMO.

Knowing that McGee was a prosecutor until 2014 before turning to defense lawyer, I wonder if Bole's was his witness at the time of the testimony that he showed? LOL I did a quick google search last night of Bole's, I found an article where he testified in a 2016 (I think) trial about cell phone activity, and Daugherty was the prosecutor, but I am sure there are more, and he originally looked at these records back in 2014, so we know he was doing this back then. Just thought it was interesting and would like to know which case he said that in lol

Boles has testified on many high profile cases. He testified on the Pinyon Pines murder case. Christopher Brandon Lee's prosecution. And the prelim for this case. I'm sure there are others as well.

 

[Mica]

I've just seen that the Nouman Raja trial is currently being live streamed by local10.com and wptv.com (I haven't checked to see if there's others covering it). So there was no necessity for Law & Crime to be there knowing that McStay trial was being left with no other cover.

Absolutely correct.

 

[Edmo]

The Raja Trial is being streamed in Hi Def as well.

 

[Recidivist]

They are sending the cameras back. I heard, and imo

 

[missy1974]

from L&C chat... I have been watching the chat to see any updates on McStay, this is the time that everyone comes in asking about it LOL

bones7616: we are going back to mcstay. stay tuned please

bones7616: maybe monday

bones7616: we might be able to start back up next week

bones7616: @anon8840 we pulled cams to cover raja not knowing that dooley's cams would be pulled. if that makes sense.

bones7616: so now we have to send cams back to mcstay

ETA: bones is a chat mod.

 

[JMarsh]

from L&C chat... I have been watching the chat to see any updates on McStay, this is the time that everyone comes in asking about it LOL

bones7616: we are going back to mcstay. stay tuned please

bones7616: maybe monday

bones7616: we might be able to start back up next week

bones7616: @anon8840 we pulled cams to cover raja not knowing that dooley's cams would be pulled. if that makes sense.

bones7616: so now we have to send cams back to mcstay

ETA: bones is a chat mod.

Nice.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

rsbm

He didn't say something different in other testimony, assuming the tweet is correct.

In previous testimony he said the odds are great the call will remain on the same tower but here he told McGee he wouldn't say the odds are greater that they stayed on the same tower.

It sure is awfully quiet in here today. LOL!

Here is what I believe the jury will do with the off the grid phone data evidence.

CE isn't ever weighed individually, but is always weighed in its full totality from beginning to end.

Imo, based on all of the other evidence they will learn about until the end of the state's case, they will then determine what weight should be given to the off the grid phone data concerning the very important timeline of events.

Once they are able to hear all of the states evidence, and the DTs CIC, then start deliberations they will come to the determination if the off the grid phone evidence lines up with other evidence that points to his guilt.

Or they will decide they believe the very timely off the grid phone data evidence is just a coincidence that doesn't help prove his guilt one way or other.

These jurors are sitting there hearing every bit of all testimonies. I have full faith they will know what the off the gird evidence means to them.

So what I may think about CMs cell phone evidence really isnt important, but what they believe most definitely is of vital importance.

So I'm going to leave it all up to them to decide, since they are the only ones to decide what all of the CE facts means, and what weight each should be given.

Jmo