VERDICT WATCH CO - Gannon Stauch, 11, found deceased, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 27 Jan 2020 *Arrest* #67

[Teche]

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This must be a summary of Dr. Lewis's answers. She spoke for an extended time. Well, maybe it seemed long because I was mindlessly watching her mouth and hands move while accompanied by silent audio.

 

[Soulmagent]

We are supposed to believe we saw T in a psychotic state? In the interview room? Maria who kills people? And no one in the room recoiled? No protective stances? No fear? Rubbish.

The video with T talking with Dr. Lewis ,reminds me of when my silly middle school friends would swear they didn't move the Ouija planchette. '' Which spirit said that ?"" '' Is this Elvis?"

 

[Seattle1]

I do wonder if she had a medical license (to allow ordering the tests). Surely lawyers themselves cannot order an MRI or PET or similar?

^^rsbm

I was somewhat under the impression DL relied on the license of another when she testified about calling Dr xy, for free. This came up during cross by the prosecution -- but not that she was asked directly who would be ordering the tests she required.

I recall the motion by the defense was first that LS's monitored test (72 hours) be performed at a clinic, then it was at the state hospital, and lastly it was she be tested at the jail.

The prosecution responded to the EEG at the ECJ by filing a motion in October 2022, on behalf of its contractor, WellPath, opposing this test conducted at the jail.

Also, I did find evidence that Colorado allows an Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), and while they are clear about requirements for 1) IDTF Supervising Physician, 2) IDTF Interpreting Physician, and 3) requirements for an IDTF Technician, seems tests ordered by others are directed to the CFR: Non-physician practitioners may order tests as set forth in 42 CFR 410.32(a)(3).

I do find it interesting that DL obviously didn't want to appear before the Court to answer why, exactly, the EEG and MRI were required -- especially if the data was so important for a complete, qualified, evaluation as DL testified. She clearly used not having this test data as the reason for such a minimal report. ETA: The Court wasn't questioning Dr. Lewis's method, but was questioning the cost value and wanted the expert to support that the test was critical and necessary. Lewis failed to do so.

We know an MRI was approved by the Court but never completed, and the defense request/motion for the EEG was withdrawn by the defense per Lewis's direction (evidenced by DL's email, allegedly).

Federal Register :: Request Access

www.ecfr.gov

https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/04th_Judicial_District/El_Paso/Stauch/10-12-2022%20Wellpath%20Position%20Re%20Deft%20Motion%20for%20Second%20Evaluation.pdf

 

[10ofRods]

All I can say about the EEG/MRI business is...what a mess.

The only form of testing that most psychiatrists and neurologists would accept as evidence of brain damage, and it wasn't done.

Fortunately, even if it is done, it is probably only going to show the minor kinds of variation that go along with being an Antisocial PD - or perhaps the more extensive issues that are seen (sometimes) in what one researcher calls "psychopathy."

The Neuroscientist Who Discovered He Was a Psychopath

While studying brain scans to search for patterns that correlated with psychopathic behavior, James Fallon found that his own brain fit the profile

www.smithsonianmag.com

Methinks the Defense did not want a Dx of psychopathy.

 

[TragicPuzzl3s]

No record found

Online Registration Renewal | Office of the Professions

www.op.nysed.gov

https://npiprofile.com/npi/1982936415/record

I'm flabbergasted that expert witnesses don't have to adhere to a strict criteria... regardless of whether they're testifying/giving assessment/reports for the prosecution or defence.
They certainly do in my part of the world.
That said, the blame for getting "the good Dr." Dr.ewis on the stand lies firmly with the defence team.
Imo they've been disrespectful towards the jurors at best (& traumatising for them and if course to poor Gannon's family).

A mockery, IMO.

 

[ZoriahNZ]

I think that if they ordered the MRI/EEG that would have opened the door for rebuttal expert prosecution witnesses to also examine the test results. Imagine if there was no evidence of any kind of traumatic brain injury ever, even from decades ago. Or, as @10 of Rods explained, what if there were signs of other types of anomalies which pointed more towards other PD's which don't fall under the CO NGRI umbrella.

 

[GoJacks]

Did the judge mention the time allotment for closings?

Openings felt pretty short.

Thinking we could see a verdict before end of day tomorrow.

I don't think it will be long, it's not like they're deciding if she is guilty or not. This leaves a lot less aspects to argue in deliberations.

Personally, id actually be more likely to find LS ngri before they put dr.lewis on the stand. Think she all but sealed the guilty verdict for the state.


As always,

Justice for Gannon.

 

[Soulmagent]

Did the judge mention the time allotment for closings?

Openings felt pretty short.

Thinking we could see a verdict before end of day tomorrow.

I don't think it will be long, it's not like they're deciding if she is guilty or not. This leaves a lot less aspects to argue in deliberations.

Personally, id actually be more likely to find LS ngri before they put dr.lewis on the stand. Think she all but sealed the guilty verdict for the state.


As always,

Justice for Gannon.

He did not impose a time limit. I guess he was giving the defense time to ask each and everyone of T's cast of wayward personalities if they want to take the stand.

 

[Megnut]

I hope, in their closing statements, the prosecutors ask the jury to consider why she had to strike so many blows to such a small body? Why did she have to stab him 18 times? Why after that, why did she then have to strike him 4 times with some blunt force object, bashing in his small, still growing little skull? And then after that, why did she have to shoot him? The defense would have you believe it was because she was being irrational. Or psychotic. But here's the real reason why she struck him so many times.

Little Gannon was born just one and half pounds. He was so tiny that no one expected him to live. But that little tiny baby, that little tiny boy you could hold in one hand, he wanted to live. He wanted to live. He fought so hard - day after day - growing ounce after ounce - to live. He refused to give up.

And 11 years later, when the stepmother who hated caring for him, who despised having to help him with his stomach issues, who resented being his "babysitter", who said in a google search that she didn't like him, who was furious with his father, and hated his mother, when she decided to end his life, he fought!

Oh he fought. Just like he did 11 years ago. He fought for his life. He fought back against those stabbings, all 18 of them. We saw the proof of it on his hands, and his little fingers. And then he fought back against the blows, all four of them, he fought to keep his heart beating. He fought to keep breathing.

And when she heard those breaths, those last gasps for air, realizing that he was still alive, she ran upstairs and got the gun. The one wound he couldn't fight back against.

Gannon wanted to live. In the face of all her anger, and hatred, and resentment, and selfishness - despite it all - he wanted to live.

It wasn't psychosis. It wasn't insanity. It wasn't irrationality. No. She wanted him dead. It was his love of life, his fight to live, that caused her to have to deliver so many blows. He wanted to live.

In killing this precious child, T wasn't able to extinguish the love in Gannon's heart, just whatever light was left in her ugly soul.

Worth noting, IIRC the gun was in a bin under the stairs, hidden while the dogsitter from Rover stayed at the house.

When Gannon survived the stabbings, I think she grabbed the gun from the storage room. Already covered in blood, she created a trail -- which of course she later blamed Gannon for. She may also have hidden him there when L/H got home, but by the time LE arrived, he was in the Tiguan. Repulsed me that she described that moment -- good to go.

There's got to be a place even worse than hell for her.

Jmo

 

[Ontario Mom]

Back after a much needed LieTecia break.
Someone remind me/us what to expect tomorrow?

 

[ZoriahNZ]

I think the prosecution will still take their time. They have been extremely thorough so far, as they should be, since it is their burden of proof. They have to *prove* beyond reasonable doubt that LS was sane during the commission of the murder of Gannon, and it would help to show she was also sane in the events leading up to, and after the event.

So they have gone through everything, showing LS' premeditation, her stressors and potential motives for the attack on Gannon, her continued deception and manipulation (even to this day) to hide her full culpability for the crime. The concealment and disposal of the victim's remains, too. All pointing to an ordered mind; she knew right from wrong and would lie/forge/impersonate/attack to escape consequences.

The escape video footage during the transport back to CO was vitally important to establish that she was capable of extreme violence in an instant, that she continued to lie and gaslight immediately afterwards and that she demonstrated no psychological break or altered personalities when committing the assault on the deputy. So so important for the jury to see the real LS. Sane, cunning and opportunistic.

 

[iamshadow21]

In killing this precious child, T wasn't able to extinguish the love in Gannon's heart, just whatever light was left in her ugly soul.

Worth noting, the gun was in a bin under the stairs, hidden while the dogsitter from Rover stayed at the house.

When Gannon survived the stabbings, I think she grabbed the gun from the storage room. Already covered in blood, she created a trail -- which of course she later blamed Gannon for. She may also have hidden him there when L/H got home but by the time LE arrived he was in the Tiguan. Repulsed me that she described that moment -- good to go.

There's got to be a place even worse than hell for her.

Jmo

One thing I did find interesting yesterday was that we got a good idea of what the prosecution think was the sequence of events. Young talked about LS dragging Gannon's body to the storeroom, putting it in the suitcase, and hiding the suitcase under a pile of boxes until after the police were gone, then dragging the suitcase up the stairs to the Tiguan in the early morning, before her daughter was awake. It was during the section where he was talking through LS's actions and confronting Dr Lewis at every step with a variation of 'does that show she knew right from wrong?'. I don't recall what point that was, time wise. I took note of it and remembered it because it aligned with my personal theory for where Gannon was during that initial search, based on the blood found in the storage room.

MOO

 

[kaen]

Did the judge mention the time allotment for closings?

Openings felt pretty short.

Thinking we could see a verdict before end of day tomorrow.

I don't think it will be long, it's not like they're deciding if she is guilty or not. This leaves a lot less aspects to argue in deliberations.

Personally, id actually be more likely to find LS ngri before they put dr.lewis on the stand. Think she all but sealed the guilty verdict for the state.


As always,

Justice for Gannon.

The judge put no time allotment on closings. He had remarked that in a 6 week trial with the volume of exhibits, he had expected that each side would need a fair chunk of time.

I think the defense will use the final witness's visual phone/car/life 360 timeline to prove it was her and to give a refresher on her non-insane cunning. JMHO

 

[Megnut]

I think the prosecution will still take their time. They have been extremely thorough so far, as they should be, since it is their burden of proof. They have to *prove* beyond reasonable doubt that LS was sane during the commission of the murder of Gannon, and it would help to show she was also sane in the events leading up to, and after the event.

So they have gone through everything, showing LS' premeditation, her stressors and potential motives for the attack on Gannon, her continued deception and manipulation (even to this day) to hide her full culpability for the crime. The concealment and disposal of the victim's remains, too. All pointing to an ordered mind; she knew right from wrong and would lie/forge/impersonate/attack to escape consequences.

The escape video footage during the transport back to CO was vitally important to establish that she was capable of extreme violence in an instant, that she continued to lie and gaslight immediately afterwards and that she demonstrated no psychological break or altered personalities when committing the assault on the deputy. So so important for the jury to see the real LS. Sane, cunning and opportunistic.

She should've been charged with attempted murder. She herself said she was Maria and Maria kills. That's all she do.

And since there's no Maria, just T and her dark moods, T was going for the gun.

Wicked.

Jmo

 

[ZoriahNZ]

One thing I did find interesting yesterday was that we got a good idea of what the prosecution think was the sequence of events. Young talked about LS dragging Gannon's body to the storeroom, putting it in the suitcase, and hiding the suitcase under a pile of boxes until after the police were gone, then dragging the suitcase up the stairs to the Tiguan in the early morning, before her daughter was awake. It was during the section where he was talking through LS's actions and confronting Dr Lewis at every step with a variation of 'does that show she knew right from wrong?'. I don't recall what point that was, time wise. I took note of it and remembered it because it aligned with my personal theory for where Gannon was during that initial search, based on the blood found in the storage room.

MOO

Interesting, I noticed that too. I was wondering if he was accidentally getting the details wrong, or deliberately getting it wrong to bait a response from LS. It was a minor but new detail, so it stood out to me. Do you think that is what actually happened (or what the prosecution now thinks what happened)? That she stored the green suitcase with Gannon inside of it in the storage room, covered by stuff. When the police were there that evening, she kept them away from searching the storage room too thoroughly.

Then only put the suitcase in the Tiguan in the morning? Around 6:35am after speaking to LH on the phone and lying about heading out to search for him.

 

[GoJacks]

Back after a much needed LieTecia break.
Someone remind me/us what to expect tomorrow?

Hopefully hearing Judge Warner say:

Letecia Stauch, you and your 9 fake personalities are guilty of first degree murder.

 

[iamshadow21]

Interesting, I noticed that too. I was wondering if he was accidentally getting the details wrong, or deliberately getting it wrong to bait a response from LS. It was a minor but new detail, so it stood out to me. Do you think that is what actually happened (or what the prosecution now thinks what happened)? That she stored the green suitcase with Gannon inside of it in the storage room, covered by stuff. When the police were there that evening, she kept them away from searching the storage room too thoroughly.

Then only put the suitcase in the Tiguan in the morning? Around 6:35am after speaking to LH on the phone and lying about heading out to search for him.

That's been my theory for a while, now. Since seeing photographs of the storage room - they made a point of the contents of the room being arranged completely differently in the initial bodycam footage to later. In the bodycam footage, things were piled high in one area of the room. The bluestar reactions, charted across the floor to the sump pump area, which was the area piled high with boxes during the initial search. To HH's testimony, where they specifically asked her how deep a sleeper she was. Once was when they were in Florida, when Gannon's body was disposed of, but the other time was early the morning after Gannon went missing, would she have heard her mother moving things around down there in the basement if she was asleep, she said no. And finally, it was LS herself, who in various iterations of her story insisted Gannon (and sometimes an intruder) was hidden in or behind boxes in the store room and that she had tried to 'signal' to police that they were there. She never tried to signal anything, she was trying to explain away any blood they found in there, but it was framed in a fragment of truth - Gannon was in that room when she reported him missing, but he wasn't hiding, and he wasn't alive.

Very much my opinion only.

 

[arielilane]

Letecia Stauch case timeline: Trial of murdered stepson nears end after three years

Closing statements are expected on Friday in the trial against Letecia Stauch, accused of killing her stepson Gannon Stauch. Here's a timeline of everything that has happened thus far:

gazette.com

Closing statements are expected on Friday in the trial against Letecia Stauch, accused of killing her stepson Gannon Stauch.

Here's a timeline of everything that has happened thus far in the more than three years it took to reach this point.

 

[arielilane]

Letecia's google searches give her away. Premeditated murder... she was aware of Gannon being shot before his body was found. The searches reveal premeditation and a confession, imo.


Stauch trial enters week five, Stauch's web searches days after Gannon's disappearance revealed

• Shock from watching someone get shot

 

[iamshadow21]

Back after a much needed LieTecia break.
Someone remind me/us what to expect tomorrow?

Resting cases, closing arguments, jury instructions, and, hopefully, a guilty verdict, if they're quick with their deliberations and align with us here in their impressions of the case.

Some folks are suspicious that LS might change her mind and want to take the stand after all. I truly hope not. It won't help her and it will just hurt the family more.

MOO