more details:
Sgt. Jonathan Martin told Moorer’s attorney that Moorer briefly told police he didn’t use a 10th Avenue gas station payphone, but then quickly changed his answer.
Moorer had already spoken with police in regards to Elvis’ Dec. 18, 2013 disappearance, but when he spoke with Martin and other detectives on Dec. 20, 2013, he was briefly dishonest with them about contacting her.
By that point in the investigation, detectives had obtained Elvis’ cellphone records showing she spoke with someone at a payphone before vanishing that night, and detectives had gotten surveillance video of the payphone, but Martin testified they didn’t know for certain Moorer was the one who used it until he corrected himself in the lie.
“And at that point, he goes OK, maybe I made a payphone call,” Martin said Moorer told police. Martin said Moorer said this after police told him they had records and video surveillance of a call.
Kirk Truslow, Moorer’s attorney, questioned Martin on the time between the statement and correction.
“How much time had lapsed in between that?” Truslow asked him.
“10, 15 seconds,” Martin said.
“Ten or 15 seconds … How were you impeded in 10 seconds by that, or obstructed?”
Martin said that information would have been useful to police if he had told officers that initially.
“The lie was only a lie for about 10 seconds,” Truslow said. “How did that impede your investigation?”
“It’s still a lie,” Martin said.
“I know, and it’s bad to lie, but he’s charged with a crime called obstruction of justice,” Truslow said and went on to question whether making a statement and quickly correcting it was obstructing justice.
Martin said the payphone wasn’t the only thing Moorer was dishonest about during the beginning stages of the investigation, and said if he had told the first officers who contacted him about Elvis’ disappearance that he spoke with her from a payphone, the police would have taken different steps in the investigation, like trying to interview witnesses at the gas station.
Truslow also asked Martin about Moorer identifying himself for police and argued police were helped by Moorer telling them it was him on the video footage.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article169861912.html
