GUILTY NC - Laura Ackerson, 27, Kinston, 13 July 2011 #7

[Ann-Tx]

http://www.wral.com/news/local/asset_gallery/13395393/
WRAL - Raleigh, NC -- 2/14/14 (Day 13 of Amanda Hayes murder trial)


Amanda Hayes murder trial testimony (Day 13)

Feb. 14, 2014, testimony in the murder trial of Amanda Hayes, accused of killing Laura Ackerson on July 13, 2011.




Amanda Hayes trial testimony (Day 13, pt 1)
Attorneys discuss new evidence in the case on Feb. 14, 2014.



Amanda Hayes trial testimony (Day 13, pt 2)
Feb. 14, 2014, testimony of Raleigh Police Homicide Detective Jerry Faulk.



Amanda Hayes trial testimony (Day 13, pt 3)
Feb. 14, 2014, testimony of Patrica Barakat.



Amanda Hayes trial testimony (Day 13, pt 4)
Feb. 14, 2014, testimony of Patsy Hayes.



Attorneys' charge conference
Attorneys and the judge discuss the instructions that will be given to jurors prior to deliberations.

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Twice in 2 days I have tried to post thoughts here and I got them all typed up and then WS freaked on me. So I will just say that today was a BAD day for AH. Hopefully a good day for Laura we will see.

 

[borndem]

Well, Peeps, I met our Becky Holt tonight -- how about that?!

DH and I went for a casual Valentine's Day dinner at a tavern-type place here in west Raleigh that we have been frequenting for 30 years....I think we were in elementary school at the time (hah, that).

Anyway, we were standing around, waiting for our table, and in comes Becky Holt with another woman. She stood there waiting for a table, too, so I went up to her, introduced myself & asked if she were Becky Holt (although I was sure it was she), and she said yes, we shook hands and I told her how I has seen her in court today. I apologized for being so bold and she said, "No, no, go ahead." I explained I had seen her before, etc., etc., and asked her how she felt about the case, and she said "Good," very confidently. Then I asked her if Boz was really gonna run for Wake Co. DA and she said, somewhat reluctantly, "Yes, he is," and she commented about how bright & quick-minded he is. I agreed, and said that was good news & bad news and she agreed. Anyway and so forth.

We wound up sitting near her -- she was at a big table of 10--12 women -- it may have been a birthday party or some such get-together -- folks from the office, perhaps. Anyway, we got up to leave, and I went over & said "No mercy, Holt," and tapped my fist to her shoulder, and she said, "That's right." Cool. Very out-going and gracious woman.

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

Twice in 2 days I have tried to post thoughts here and I got them all typed up and then WS freaked on me. So I will just say that today was a BAD day for AH. Hopefully a good day for Laura we will see.

It happened to me, too, several times. Someone's kind advice on this thread early on suggested to copy your comments before your hit "preview post" or "submit reply", so if the forum freezes up, you can try again and just paste your comments. Took me several long posts to remember to do this.

 

[borndem]

So, the voice mail that was left by Grant to his mother was on July 13, 2011, the day of the killing. Their alibi plan was already in play that day, so saying just he, Amanda and Lily would be moving to Kinston seems very deliberate to coincide with that alibi. It fits with their plan to say Laura never showed up to pick up the boys that day at the gas station. I wouldn't be fooled by it. Praying the jury won't be fooled by it.

A lot of devious and careful planning (in their minds) attempting to pull off the perfect crime. I don't believe they ever planned to give up those boys - they were both controlling power freaks and were trying to cover their tracks. They were in a frenzy by July 13th, incensed by the Calloway evaluation report, they were being evicted and they were absolutely broke. They were in their own little bubble of fury and were determined to get rid of Laura as their solution.

Because, after all, they blamed Laura for all they were going through to get custody. A custody fight they started with that ex-parte motion and "took possession" of baby Gentle right out of Laura's hands.

I think you should email this post over to Becky Holt for her to use in her part of the closing, MissSallyAnnie! Good, tuff stuff!

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

Well, Peeps, I met our Becky Holt tonight -- how about that?!

DH and I went for a casual Valentine's Day dinner at a tavern-type place here in west Raleigh that we have been frequenting for 30 years....I think we were in elementary school at the time (hah, that).

Anyway, we were standing around, waiting for our table, and in comes Becky Holt with another woman. She stood there waiting for a table, too, so I went up to her, introduced myself & asked if she were Becky Holt (although I was sure it was she), and she said yes, we shook hands and I told her how I has seen her in court today. I apologized for being so bold and she said, "No, no, go ahead." I explained I had seen her before, etc., etc., and asked her how she felt about the case, and she said "Good," very confidently. Then I asked her if Boz was really gonna run for Wake Co. DA and she said, somewhat reluctantly, "Yes, he is," and she commented about how bright & quick-minded he is. I agreed, and said that was good news & bad news and she agreed. Anyway and so forth.

We wound up sitting near her -- she was at a big table of 10--12 women -- it may have been a birthday party or some such get-together -- folks from the office, perhaps. Anyway, we got up to leave, and I went over & said "No mercy, Holt," and tapped my fist to her shoulder, and she said, "That's right." Cool. Very out-going and gracious woman.

Small world, great story! Hopefully after Monday, that will be her official nickname "No Mercy Holt" I like it!

 

[MissSallyAnnie]

I think you should email this post over to Becky Holt for her to use in her part of the closing, MissSallyAnnie! Good, tuff stuff!

Thanks, hoping they already know all this!

 

[borndem]

Originally Posted by Irish_Eyes
Twice in 2 days I have tried to post thoughts here and I got them all typed up and then WS freaked on me. So I will just say that today was a BAD day for AH. Hopefully a good day for Laura we will see.

It happened to me, too, several times. Someone's kind advice on this thread early on suggested to copy your comments before your hit "preview post" or "submit reply", so if the forum freezes up, you can try again and just paste your comments. Took me several long posts to remember to do this.

Dayam! I was just typing what I have found that sometimes holds what I have already keyed but not posted when it happened to me again just now. Grrrrr. This usually works for me. It's on my computer -- that's the only one I've ever used to post to WS.... so more than likely it's on yours. I have a PC, not a MAC.

At the upper left of my screen is the familiar "backwards" black arrow which we all use (I assume we all have it, that is) to go back one page. It looks similar to this crude likeness, and it points to the left: <=

Often beside it will be the plug-in symbol that, to me looks like a black lego block. Big whoop. That little thing is not always there...

Sometimes a similar black arrow like this => pointing right, replaces it. When I lose my un-posted but already typed message, the => black arrow will appear. I click on that arrow (which is immediately to the right of the familiar go-back black arrow), my unposted writing will re-appear. Most of the time and almost always, this works. Try that before screaming and saying those bad words. It may surprise you with your post, and make you think of me..

.. good luck. Or it may not work and you may think of me

Or you may already know about it & use it, and you will think I am an idiot for thinking that not all of you know about it...

I know I may be the only one who thinks so highly of it, but there may be some lonely soul out there who needs it. Hope this makes sense & helps whoever needs it...

 

[borndem]

Small world, great story! Hopefully after Monday, that will be her official nickname "No Mercy Holt" I like it!

I've already got my fingers crossed.

This is the time in a trial when I get nervous and worry, worry, worry about the jury. They can be fooled again! (as the Who song doesn't say)

 

[otto]

Any predictions on how this will end? I'm not sure that first degree has been completely proven, but the closing arguments could tie it all together.

 

[otto]

Was Amanda behind the murder? Was she jealous of Laura? I'm listening to her testimony http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/13380860/ and Grant told Laura that Amanda was a business investor? Did Grant say that he couldn't report the murder because, with Amanda and Grant in the room, no one would believe that the black guy didn't do it? Yet, Grant wrote a song about murdering his children's mother when he was still in NYC.

Sha and Amanda's sister Karen both reported to police quickly and truthfully. Has anything been posted about how Amanda's husband died? Was he a paraplegic or a quadriplegic? If the latter, it was most likely pneumonia, which I think it common in people that don't move, so nothing suspicious. If he was a paraplegic, then it would be unusual that he died so shortly after the diving accident. I knew someone that had that accident and he was a paraplegic ... active, working, busy, doing sports. Did the daughter and sister think this was deja vu after the death of her husband ... in the sense of something a bit suspicious?

I think she is guilty of conspiring to commit murder, committing murder, acting in concert and hiding the evidence. I think they wanted her dead for different reasons. Grant wanted complete control over his children, and it sounds like he intended to exploit them through the media industry. He wanted her out of the picture. Amanda was jealous of the much younger Laura and was threatened by her so much that Amanda got pregnant. Apparently that wasn't enough, so she too wanted her out of the picture.

 

[otto]

Custody had already been transitioned to Laura with the children staying with her during the week. Before that, it was the other way around.

She is so rehearsed in her testimony ... how she tells her side of the story. In the testimony from the prison mate (Baracat), we learned that Amanda spent a lot of times baby talking with the correction officers and that she did get preferential treatment. I think she's told this story at least three times over the last two years.

 

[otto]

I can understand why Grant's parents came forward with the love letters. Amanda portrays him in a very poor light. They must have been yelling at the TV when she testified. Poor, scared, Amanda with Laura's children and so scared because she didn't want to be a single mom again.

She complains about the custody arrangements and the report, where he claims that the tests were from the 1920. She claims that she didn't know what the report said until a year ago, but when the report was released, she read two pages and completely disagreed with the report. She always knew what was in the report and didn't like the fact that Grant would have to live near Laura to spend time with the children.

 

[otto]

This is the poop testimony: http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/13381801/

She talks really fast and tells a really big story about every detail from the time of the murder.

 

[04009margaret]

I've already got my fingers crossed.

This is the time in a trial when I get nervous and worry, worry, worry about the jury. They can be fooled again! (as the Who song doesn't say)

I think we're all feeling a little nervous about this case. We all hope the jury sees things as we do, I've only seen 1 or 2 tweets regarding the juries reaction to AH. Would have loved to have had somebody tweeting how the jury was responding to testimony on a regular basis for this trial.

 

[otto]

I think we're all feeling a little nervous about this case. We all hope the jury sees things as we do, I've only seen 1 or 2 tweets regarding the juries reaction to AH. Would have loved to have had somebody tweeting how the jury was responding to testimony on a regular basis for this trial.

They're not from Florida, so there is hope that they are taking their position seriously. I think they'll get it. NC jurors seem to be rather astute.

I did not follow the case until this trial, but the more I think about it, the more I see places where she slipped, where she tried to confuse the listener by switching perspectives mid-sentence (we received the custody report and were upset, but I never saw the report until a year ago), the little girl voice, the deliberate misuse of the English language, the I'm too stupid to know better persona, but I'm really rich and I pawned my rollex to furnish a rental apartment in NC and drive a SAAB SUV as a rap groupie. She talks about the antique value of the hutch, but leaves it on a lawn in Texas because she doesn't want it to get damaged in a storage locker and she feared that Grant might take it (even though only she and Sha have keys).

When Amanda's prison friend, Baracat, said that another prison friend mentioned that Amanda wasn't Grant's type, the pieces fell into place for me. He viewed her as a money tree and it sounded like Grant and Laura were in Florida together after Grant was with Amanda in NYC. Amanda was babysitting the children, pregnant while they were in Florida for the weekend. After that, she moved to NC and began making demands for the children. She mentions Grantina's assistance with the ex-parte order - which was a false order, but it was signed by a judge.

It seems that Amanda was an increasingly desperate 40 year old woman with a daughter, when her hasty-marriage husband wanted a son. She viewed Grant's sons as the key to getting his affections, but I doubt that would have lasted long. She was supposed to be the financial provider and when that dried up, he was going to move on.

She went with Grant when he met Laura, but was it because Grant had problems communicating with Laura, or because she wanted to keep an eye on them. Grant was thinking about murder in NYC and she was really angry that her life with Grant was restricted by Laura. Her sister always required that she tell the truth, and she told her sister that she killed Laura, but Grant dismembered the body.

Sorry for the long winded response. I think that she is guilty of 1st degree murder and I think that the jury should see it ... unless they're like the Florida juries.

 

[otto]

The more she responds to prosecution questions, the older she looks.

She watched Fatal Error with Grant at the hotel.

http://books.google.ca/books/about/Fatal_Error.html?id=rIBiEqJP0_IC&redir_esc=y or Wilson: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171689/

 

[otto]

The Private Investigator

Murderer is replaced with killed ... Mr Ripley (Grant) is a young man struggling is replaced with Grant is a young sociopath struggling. The phrase "lying and deceive" seems to have been added by the defense witness to his Wikipedia research. The witness admitted that he testified to what the lawyer told him to say and it was obvious that his research was limited to google search.

I'm still waiting for her expression when she tells the prosecutor that Grant was tossing Laura to the alligators in the middle of the night while she navigated the boat.

She seems like a typical sociopath, like Scott Peterson, but Amanda Hayes targeted men and became interested in whatever interested them, like Peterson became a vegetarian when he dated a vegetarian. She has no personality of her own, but she would become a sound booth junkie if she wanted to be like a rapper person.


Tall Blonds

Amamda's husband, who had two children, was paralyzed from the shoulders down. They were in Lubbock Texas for special treatment. Candace lived there too, and two weeks later ... private room ... and then ... while remodelling her house ... he wasn't getting good care at the place that she arranged ... locked in.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/13380858/

He was at home when he died, but if he'd had proper care in the place where he lived, he might not have needed a respirator? There was animosity, buy outs and trades over the inheritance, so she did not get along with her husband's family, and she separated from both that family and her mom's family immediately after the murder.

What happened with her mom? She kept the house with Nikki and moved her mom into the house. Her mom fell down the stairs and had a broken leg, in the hospital she had a broken hip, she moved her mom into a little house in LA, but in Texas while staying with her mom she got her Real Estate Licence.

According to Amanda, her mom "got suckered" into being looked after by her sister Karen for a year..

 

[Ann-Tx]

Her sister always required that she tell the truth, and she told her sister that she killed Laura, but Grant dismembered the body.

otto, you raised many good points in your entire comment up-thread. Thanks.

I do hope that the State will "hammer", in closing arguments, that Amanda told her sister she killed Laura and remind the jury of Karen Berry's testimony.

There are so many inconsistencies in Amanda Hayes' testimony, I do believe the jury probably "caught" them all. Well . . . I hope they did!

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Snipped by me

They're not from Florida, so there is hope that they are taking their position seriously.

Yes, lol, I will say to myself, surely the jury got that part, and then memories of the Casey Anthony jury come back and my stomach gets a little queasy lease:

When Amanda's prison friend, Baracat, said that another prison friend mentioned that Amanda wasn't Grant's type, the pieces fell into place for me. He viewed her as a money tree and it sounded like Grant and Laura were in Florida together after Grant was with Amanda in NYC.

It seems that Amanda was an increasingly desperate 40 year old woman with a daughter, when her hasty-marriage husband wanted a son. She viewed Grant's sons as the key to getting his affections, but I doubt that would have lasted long. She was supposed to be the financial provider and when that dried up, he was going to move on.

You don't know how right you are.

This case brings up a lot of weird feelings and memories for me.

Ex's first wife and I looked a lot alike - both young, very petite, blue eyes, dark hair - it actually freaked me out the first time I met her. It was obvious he had a "type."

Then after he left me he ended up with my childhood best friend who was really nothing like me. She wasn't at all his type. But, her husband was a LE officer who had been killed in the line of duty in the last days of our marriage. She was over all the time at the end because she was in shock, grieving, and it was hard to be in her house alone. So I unwittingly gave my ex access to this woman, vulnerable, and crazy with grief, who was about to get the proceeds of a VERY substantial life insurance policy (standard for officer killed on duty.) Lucky for her she had too many good people looking out for her for my ex to get his hands on her money, though he did try.

When he realized it wasn't going to work, he left her for "Paula." who was a lot like AH. Much older than us (late 40's), twice divorced, good job, owned a nice house, had some money. He got her to hate both me and the first wife with a vengeance that was hard to understand. She spent six years bankrolling his custody fights against each of us (and sometimes both of us at once.) Even when she saw how abusive he was I think she just didn't want to be alone again, so she rationalized and ignored it all. (Quite a bit of which was directed at my son...:furious She ended up bankrupt and in foreclosure at which point he started cheating on her with his wife now. And shocker, lol, she hates me too.

Then just odd little coincidences in this case get under my skin too. Like my ex's mom ran (and still runs) a day care. Weird.