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

[missy1974]

And? Doesn't make him a murderer, right?

hmm so I read pages and pages catching up while at work and this is exactly what everyone was saying about the jailhouse audio, that Merritt was fabricating an alibi, so are you saying if that's the case, that doesn't make him a murderer either????


Which, IMO, if anyone has actually listened to that whole hearing, would understand what they were talking about and McGee made it pretty clear that this is exactly what she has been saying since Day 1, and has never waivered. If it's true, it's not fabricated. IMO

 

[JMarsh]

It seems to me the last e-mails from Joey were stating he'd overpaid Chase, not the other way around. And Joey would have been intelligent enough to know that he could not legally allow CM to sign Joey's name to his checks without making him an authorized signatory on the EIP bank account - and why would he?

If JM thought he owed CM money, he hadn't planned to be killed and buried in the desert, he would have cut him those checks himself. Just illogical fairy tales the defense is dreaming up to defend the indefensible.

Actually, I believe you are misinterpreting that email, but we'll have to see what the defense puts forward.

Not sure I understand your last paragraph at all.

 

[citygirl]

I've been reading up quite a bit on crime scene staging and profiling in recent days

Things that stand out to me

• The offender is "organised", in that there is serious staging (Mexico)
• In the case of such staging, the offender will be obviously connected to the deceased
• Therefore there will only be 1-2 serious suspects - and it is a case of last man standing
• The overkill to the face / head is quite significant - this was someone who knew them.

Unfortunately because the bodies were found so late, we are missing quite a bit of the picture of the assaults. IMO there was a sexual aspect.

Not to mention the one little boy. I think the older of the two? His skull was estimated to have been hit 5-7 times? They collected shards? How personal is that? I shudder to think that his parents were watching.

 

[mrjitty]

People get murdered over 6 cans of beer in a kiosk in London at midnight

I am always sceptical about the idea that "this wasn't a good enough reason to murder a whole family"

Someone did actually murder them for no good reason. I mean what reason could make sense to bash in the heads of those wee boys?

How much money is the right amount?

 

[JMarsh]

For his siblings to walk out of the room is an eye opener.
They may be completely surprised/shocked and don't want to witness CM's downfall now.
MOO.

It appears they believe in his innocence and care about what happens to him.

 

[Mony Mony]

Juanita Merritt? Who is this?

 

[Force Ten]

Chase's sister is on after Bachman.

 

[citygirl]

How was this man held 5 years on murder charges? What was the probable cause? I would ask for that dismissal right about now.. they haven't even proven that he actually stole any funds to the point he'd probably be found innocent if this was an embezzlement trial. In the United States of America your supposed to have evidence that has probable cause that the charges have most likely been committed by the accused. This seems like a trial in the middle east.. Pitiful. It makes the entire country look bad.

Nah. In the Middle East he would have been beheaded in the town square. Like 2 days later. MOO.

 

[Texas Red]

Thanks. Operative word to me is "creating". So you agree that they met and CM feared he would file charges against him for theft?

Possibly, I think CM had been doing this type of thing for awhile, kind of pushing the envelope and seeing how much he could away with before JM finally had enough. Problem with prosecuting such behavior as a crime is when something like this is allowed it to happen for so long the DA won't prosecute, CM knew this and felt that any feasible denial by him would end with only civil charges being filed.

 

[asyousay]

It’s interesting reading this thread and seeing how different peoples opinions are on this case as we go along.


It will now be interesting to see how the defense play this out when they get their chance which by the sounds of it we wont have long to wait. I am now expecting big things from them.


IMO

 

[mrjitty]

Not to mention the one little boy. I think the older of the two? His skull was estimated to have been hit 5-7 times? They collected shards? How personal is that? I shudder to think that his parents were watching.

Yes this is quite important

If the bodies had been found sooner, the overkill would have been more apparent.

A random killer does not obliterate the whole family like this

He was intimately connected with them and the staging indicates his attempt to divert suspicion in other directions

So according to the defence, the killer was either DK or CM

it is binary

 

[Mony Mony]

Oh man, I hope the sister testifies that the two timed felon did not visit between Feb-8.

 

[Force Ten]

People get murdered over 6 cans of beer in a kiosk in London at midnight

I am always sceptical about the idea that "this wasn't a good enough reason to murder a whole family"

Someone did actually murder them for no good reason. I mean what reason could make sense to bash in the heads of those wee boys?

How much money is the right amount?

Right? What is a 'good enough reason'?

 

[geevee]

Actually, I believe you are misinterpreting that email. But we'll have to see what the defense puts forward.

Not sure I understand your last paragraph at all.

Why would CM 'pay himself what he thought he was owed' if JM were still alive and capable of paying CM himself? It appears CM knew JM was not alive, by some magical intuition.

 

[Longtimenoc]

Exactly. And it may be that nothing of that kind happened. Chase is very likely innocent. (And I used to be absolutely convinced of his guilt.)

Stop and ask yourself what hard evidence is there tying Chase to an act of murder? What real evidence-not innuendo, evidence? Can anyone name one conclusive solid piece of evidence presented so far?

The state has had almost two months to make their case. That's a long time, even with the days off. There are only so many times they can put Ryan Smith back on the stand. Where is the evidence?

I was referring to him paying himself per an arrangement made at Joey's request.

We may never know for certain if Joey asked for this new arrangement, but it seems like a stretch for someone to kill a family of four to get money Chase was already owed, and that history showed, he would have been paid anyway had Joey lived.

If Chase had written checks to the tune of 100K, that records showed he wasn't owed, for projects that didn't exist, that would be one thing. But all the checks written are in keeping with the amounts Chase was owed. (says the defense, so we'll see if they can produce the evidence to back this claim made in their opening).

Regardless, 20K is not a lot of money. Chase was getting paid much more than that. Seems crazy to kill the golden goose, for no reason.

Yes pretty crazy. Did you ever stop and think that people do crazy murder stuff for actual money?

 

[missy1974]

But surely at a high level it is clear Chase created and backdated and deleted cheques and forged Joey's signature on multiple occasions?

Do you accept those aspects?

Yes, with the exception of the one on the 4th, I cannot say it was him definitively on the 4th. I also have thoughts that I don't post, because I'm going to be honest... there are a lot of posters here that look at things as black and white, I don't. People do things that you or I may not do. People do things that are not always legal but they do them anyway. Add to this the defense implying that this is what they did, and look... this happened, Joey called Merritt, this happened Merritt called Joey, on all of those days??? I guess it could be coincidence???

So yes, I want to see the books, I want to see what was owed, who was paid what for what project. The prosecution is the one saying that Chase owed Joey money, shouldn't they have to at least show and prove that? That isn't proven by showing me Chase's bank statements, or his cash withdrawals, or how many times his phone pinged at the casino.

 

[Texas Red]

Cite your authorities if you think it can be made out.

It is a very difficult action.

Before conducting any legal research I require a retainer.

 

[JMarsh]

Why would CM 'pay himself what he thought he was owed' if JM were still alive and capable of paying CM himself? It appears CM knew JM was not alive, by some magical intuition.

Because Joey was working out an arrangement whereby Chase would be able to write checks for himself and Metro. This would free Joey up, as their business was growing. Joey could always put a stop payment or challenge a check if Chase did write an unauthorized check.

It actually seems like a solution to the problem of Chase and Summer not getting along. And according to the defense Joey was changing over from an on-line program to desktop only, so I believe he was training Chase while the on-line program was still in effect.

I think the defense's version of this makes much more sense than the DA's. Especially given the amounts of the checks written.

 

[JMarsh]

Oh man, I hope the sister testifies that the two timed felon did not visit between Feb-8.

February 6 is the date in question. February 8 is when Chase supposedly drove the Trooper to the border.

 

[Texas Red]

BIB

You will need to be specific about what you think was fabricated.

Listen to the Ramos interview and extrapolate from that.