In her closing argument Daysha Young urged the jurors to go back and look at the photos of the girls in their bathing suits in the backyard, to see if they can spot any ladder. She says it's not there and Jennifer's sister is lying about Millie and Laila falling down from the ladder the day before Laila's death. The bruises on Millie's hip area are not consistent with scraping down horizontal ladder steps and the sister never gave a statement or contacted anyone after Jennifer was charged to tell them she was there and saw how Millie's hip got injured.
When Mull cross-examined Millie she showed her photo after photo of their clothes in the closet, toys in their room, their bunk beds, dresses, bicycle, the front door, bath time, the parties and treats they were given. She never showed her that photo of the ladder propped up against a tree and asked if she remembered it or remembered falling down it.
In fact I'm sure somewhere I heard during the early part of the trial that their explanation for the hip and back bruising started out as injury from the wall ladder at the gym, until the gym instructor denied they would use the wall ladder, and then it evolved on last day of trial into this ridiculous story of a ladder propped against the tree that is still there over 4 years later, conveniently photographed and slipped into evidence, without giving discovery to the state.
That is disingenuous, coming after Ms Mull confirmed with the detective that no photos were taken of the back yard.
I thought the cross-examinations of both of Jennifer's sisters were handled brilliantly. Especially the part about daycare that was the wrong age group and time of day to corroborate the messages Jennifer sent Tessa about having just collected Laila from daycare because she was sick, cancelling Tessa's scheduled visit the next day, and sending her a photo of Laila that was 2 months old, putting a filter on it to make it darker and claiming it was taken that day at the doctors.
I laughed when Daysha Young said her heart almost stopped when they brought in a witness who owns a daycare, but it transpired Laila and Millie weren't enrolled there, she was only there to testify about knowing Jennifer through political meetings! DY exclaimed "why are you here?"
When Mull cross-examined Millie she showed her photo after photo of their clothes in the closet, toys in their room, their bunk beds, dresses, bicycle, the front door, bath time, the parties and treats they were given. She never showed her that photo of the ladder propped up against a tree and asked if she remembered it or remembered falling down it.
In fact I'm sure somewhere I heard during the early part of the trial that their explanation for the hip and back bruising started out as injury from the wall ladder at the gym, until the gym instructor denied they would use the wall ladder, and then it evolved on last day of trial into this ridiculous story of a ladder propped against the tree that is still there over 4 years later, conveniently photographed and slipped into evidence, without giving discovery to the state.
That is disingenuous, coming after Ms Mull confirmed with the detective that no photos were taken of the back yard.
I thought the cross-examinations of both of Jennifer's sisters were handled brilliantly. Especially the part about daycare that was the wrong age group and time of day to corroborate the messages Jennifer sent Tessa about having just collected Laila from daycare because she was sick, cancelling Tessa's scheduled visit the next day, and sending her a photo of Laila that was 2 months old, putting a filter on it to make it darker and claiming it was taken that day at the doctors.
I laughed when Daysha Young said her heart almost stopped when they brought in a witness who owns a daycare, but it transpired Laila and Millie weren't enrolled there, she was only there to testify about knowing Jennifer through political meetings! DY exclaimed "why are you here?"
talk about freudian slip!
Just seen this in the sidebar -
