NM - Tera Chavez, 26, found dead in her Los Lunas home, 22 Oct 2007 - #1

[Thundar]

and... we are done for the day. Sigh. What do you folks think? Is the case done and over with?

maybe the prosecution is going to put on a witness to say that these were notes about something else......Was that a prosecution witness or a defense witness? The defense just said something about turning it back over to the prosecution??

 

[Celeskitty]

maybe the prosecution is going to put on a witness to say that these were notes about something else......Was that a prosecution witness or a defense witness? The defense just said something about turning it back over to the prosecution??

They have a defense witness coming in tomorrow and its the only time the person can testify. They (both sides) agreed to let him testify out of order and then turning the case in chief back to the prosecution.

Weird since I've never heard that happen before.

 

[TigerBalm]

Serna: I'm not going to remember so text me

WTH, is he saying that to the prosecutors

:thud:

 

[TigerBalm]

maybe the prosecution is going to put on a witness to say that these were notes about something else......Was that a prosecution witness or a defense witness? The defense just said something about turning it back over to the prosecution??

One would think that the prosecution would....... but sadly in this case, they probably won't. :sigh:

 

[seattlechiquita]

maybe the prosecution is going to put on a witness to say that these were notes about something else......Was that a prosecution witness or a defense witness? The defense just said something about turning it back over to the prosecution??

Hmmmmm..... even if Tera had told witness "X" that she wrote notes about her affair, wouldn't that be hearsay? Plus who knows. I am having doubts. And all the jury needs is reasonable doubt.

 

[NCEast]

I had a 90 minute phone call with one of my kids who is on an Alaskan cruise. I missed practically the entire day of the trial. Maybe a good thing I missed the handwriting expert. But I hope the prosecution can bring it around that the notes had nothing whatsoever to so with a supposed suicide, they were written entirely about something else and the defense is taking them out of context. We can only hope and pray. I do not like this prosecution team, Serna, nor the judge. I hope the prosecution can redeem themselves somehow tomorrow. Or soon.

 

[ChubbyCheeks]

This medical examiner has gorgeous hair. Especially for her age. It's thick and healthy.

I thought the same thing NC! Loved her cut.
She was great for the prosecution, I thought. And from what I heard she didn't let Serna put words in her mouth either. She stood her ground. Score for the State.

 

[ChubbyCheeks]

This medical examiner has gorgeous hair. Especially for her age. It's thick and healthy.

I thought the same thing NC! Loved her cut.
She was great for the prosecution, I thought. And from what I heard she didn't let Serna put words in her mouth either. She stood her ground. Score for the State.

 

[NCB]

Wow--I was semi-listening to the proceedings while making dinner. I heard Van Valkenburgh say the handwriting was consistent with Tera, but I didn't realize he meant for both notes. I was then surprised to see both a) Serna crossing him (I was waiting for the Perry Mason moment--"LC wrote the second note!" Cue dramatic music...Duh, duh, duh, duhhhhh...), and b) Serna being congenial to a prosecution witness. I then actually listened to what was going on with both my ears and understood Serna's demeanor. I was pretty dumbstruck. I have to go back and listen to/read the actual text of the notes again. As I recall, neither were true suicide notes, but that second one sure could be taken in that direction. I understand why the PT had to put him on--it would have looked like they were hiding him if they didn't. This case and this trial is really odd. I said before that I was upset because I think LC was close to getting away with her murder. I am seriously concerned he still might. Does anyone think he forced her to write it under duress? I shudder to think.

 

[ChubbyCheeks]

This is such important testimony and the ada just can't get her questions formed exactly right. I know what she is trying to ask, wish she could spit it out. Wish, too, that Serna would be quiet.

Serna is nothing but a condescending bully. He must feel he is an inadequate lawyer since he always resorts to that obnoxious, mean spirited behavior.

 

[ChubbyCheeks]

Very compelling testimony from what I read the last witness, from the ME office?, said that the gun had another bullet chambered. Tera was dead immediately from the shot she suffered. She would not have any strength to chamber the next shot, she was dead.

hello Levi

Wow, that's damning evidence! First I've heard another bullet had chambered. What are the odds that LC would have missed that? He probably does it by rote and didn't give it a second thought. And he had to shower quickly to get his dead wife's blood off if himself. I hope the PT hammers that into the jury's minds in closing.

 

[ChubbyCheeks]

There is no way a female puts a gun in her mouth to commit suicide. I'm just not buying it.

Agreed. Pills are not messy and no pain.

 

[ChubbyCheeks]

Wow--I was semi-listening to the proceedings while making dinner. I heard Van Valkenburgh say the handwriting was consistent with Tera, but I didn't realize he meant for both notes. I was then surprised to see both a) Serna crossing him (I was waiting for the Perry Mason moment--"LC wrote the second note!" Cue dramatic music...Duh, duh, duh, duhhhhh...), and b) Serna being congenial to a prosecution witness. I then actually listened to what was going on with both my ears and understood Serna's demeanor. I was pretty dumbstruck. I have to go back and listen to/read the actual text of the notes again. As I recall, neither were true suicide notes, but that second one sure could be taken in that direction. I understand why the PT had to put him on--it would have looked like they were hiding him if they didn't. This case and this trial is really odd. I said before that I was upset because I think LC was close to getting away with her murder. I am seriously concerned he still might. Does anyone think he forced her to write it under duress? I shudder to think.

I missed this part of trial and witness. What exactly did the notes say? IF they are written like true suicide notes, couple them with her being full of Nyquil, then maybe you are onto something with LC forcing her to write fake notes, and take cough med to knock her out so he can stick gun in her mouth without her fighting him off. I couldn't figure out how he got her to take the cough med, but yeah he could have had gun on her the entire time ....I believe that scenario.

 

[ChubbyCheeks]

Someone said earlier they were surprised the DA didn't assign this case to one of the stronger prosecutors given how the APD has had so many accusations of dirty cops and the current federal investigation into the department. I got to thinking how lackluster the PT has been and the Judge seems mostly non-existent, maybe the dirtyness isn't confined to the PDA. It would explain why many of us have commented we've never seen a trial like this.
I'm speaking hypothetically of course.
Just one if those "what if" kind of thoughts.

 

[calamityjane831]

Wow, that's damning evidence! First I've heard another bullet had chambered. What are the odds that LC would have missed that? He probably does it by rote and didn't give it a second thought. And he had to shower quickly to get his dead wife's blood off if himself. I hope the PT hammers that into the jury's minds in closing.

Yes the PT has talked about it before, Aaron Jones talked about it. IMHO the PT has been threading through out the 2 weeks very strong damming evidence but they are very straightforward and matter of fact about it and I hope like NCEast mentioned earlier in the thread hopefully the PT will take their threads and sew them together for the jury in closing... on the other hand DT Serna has to be like a crazy male peacock with his colored ruffled feathers all over the place to distract the jury and who knows it just may work and that is scary because then IMO there is a killer on the loose. For all I know LC could and might go home every night and reads this thread.

Today the notes from Tera was a shock but it is best for the PT to put everything forward. It is best practice to not be on the defense (no pun intended). I just hope what Thunder mentioned up thread is that somehow the PT can bring those notes around. I pray for justice for Tera and her family but I am preparing myself for any outcome even though I will be so so very sad but after the Casey Anthony trial I never let myself feel like that again. I was literally crushed and spent the rest of the summer recovering.

 

[calamityjane831]

Forensic investigator testifies in Chavez trial
By Jeff Proctor / Journal Staff Writer on Tue, Jun 25, 2013
POSTED: 12:06 am
LAST UPDATED: 3:55 pm

6:13 p.m.


Dr. Patricia McFeeley, the former chief medical investigator for the Office of the Medical Examiner, testifies about the autopsy report during the murder trial of Levi Chavez on Tuesday, June 25, 2013. (Greg Sorber/Journal)
A single bullet from a Glock 9 mm pistol, whose muzzle was at least an inch into Chavez’s mouth at the time the shot was fired, had all but vaporized her brain stem.

That was the testimony on Tuesday from Patricia McFeeley, the veteran forensic pathologist who supervised the autopsy performed on the 26-year-old’s body in October 2007.

It was a key statement as prosecutors pushed into the third week of their attempt to convince a Sandoval County jury that Levi Chavez, Tera’s husband and an Albuquerque police officer at the time, pulled the trigger.

That’s because, according to McFeeley’s testimony, Tera Chavez would not have been able to perform “any voluntary act” after the shot was fired.

In McFeeley’s opinion, that would include applying the five pounds of pressure needed to depress the mechanism that released the bullet clip from her husband’s APD-issued semiautomatic handgun, according to her testimony.

Aaron Jones, the lead detective who investigated Tera’s death for the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office, testified earlier in the trial that the Glock’s magazine was “unseated,” meaning it wasn’t locked into the butt of the gun, when he arrived at the Chavezes’ home near Los Lunas. Levi Chavez had called 911 around 9 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2007 to say his wife had shot herself in the head.

McFeely’s testimony came over boisterous objections from Levi Chavez’s attorney, David Serna. It took two conferences at the bench with state District Judge George P. Eichwald, both demanded by Serna, for her to be able to give her opinion on the possibility of Tera releasing the magazine after the fatal shot had been fired.

The exchange came on a day when prosecutors’ subtle physical evidence and circumstantial evidence placing Levi Chavez at the death scene were in perhaps their most clear focus since the trial began on June 10.

The DNA expert who tested the Glock said she found Tera’s DNA on the muzzle and samples from both Chavezes on the grip.

An APD officer with whom Levi Chavez had an affair in late 2006 and the department’s property supervisor shed light on a crime scene photograph that showed Chavez’s uniform hanging in an armoire.

They both said APD field officers are issued only one uniform.

According to Chavez, he had worked APD shifts the two days before he discovered his wife’s body. He also has said he hadn’t been to the home since the morning of Oct. 19.
McFeely’s initial finding was that Tera Chavez had committed suicide.

She testified Tuersday that her determination was based, in part, on information that had been passed along from law enforcement that Tera had killed herself.

That has been Levi Chavez’s assertion since the night he reported his wife’s death. And that theory has been the constant pillar of Serna’s defense strategy.

In early November 2007, Jones came to the state Office of the Medical Investigator where McFeeley was working at the time. He showed her crime scene photos and told her about “further history that rasied concerns,” so OMI changed the manner of Tera’s death from suicide to undetermined.

Serna also locked in on testimony McFeeley gave while looking at a photo from Tera’s death scene.

“There is the potential for a part of a broken tooth,” she said, pointing one of Tera’s lower right incisors.

Serna spent more than 10 minutes on cross-examination trying to get McFeeley to say the autopsy report she signed off on contradicted that.

Although the report made no specific mention of a broken tooth, McFeeley said, it did not say there had been no damage to any of Tera’s teeth.

Prosecutors did not point out the significance of the possibly broken tooth, but Assistant District Attorney Anne Keener had McFeeley restate that the Glock had been well into Tera’s mouth when the shot was fired.

McFeely also testified that there was Benadryl found in Tera Chavez’s system, as well as a “higher than usual dose” of acetominephine, the active ingredient in Tyleonl. The drugs, she testified, would have been enough to render Tera Chavez “sleepy but not unconscious.”

Her testimony included another detail, as Serna asked whether there had been any medical evidence found during the autopsy of a struggle: Tera’s fingernails weren’t tested or sent to a lab.

 

[thefragile7393]

Forensic investigator testifies in Chavez trial
By Jeff Proctor / Journal Staff Writer on Tue, Jun 25, 2013
POSTED: 12:06 am
LAST UPDATED: 3:55 pm

6:13 p.m.


Dr. Patricia McFeeley, the former chief medical investigator for the Office of the Medical Examiner, testifies about the autopsy report during the murder trial of Levi Chavez on Tuesday, June 25, 2013. (Greg Sorber/Journal)
A single bullet from a Glock 9 mm pistol, whose muzzle was at least an inch into Chavez’s mouth at the time the shot was fired, had all but vaporized her brain stem.

That was the testimony on Tuesday from Patricia McFeeley, the veteran forensic pathologist who supervised the autopsy performed on the 26-year-old’s body in October 2007.

It was a key statement as prosecutors pushed into the third week of their attempt to convince a Sandoval County jury that Levi Chavez, Tera’s husband and an Albuquerque police officer at the time, pulled the trigger.

That’s because, according to McFeeley’s testimony, Tera Chavez would not have been able to perform “any voluntary act” after the shot was fired.

In McFeeley’s opinion, that would include applying the five pounds of pressure needed to depress the mechanism that released the bullet clip from her husband’s APD-issued semiautomatic handgun, according to her testimony.

Aaron Jones, the lead detective who investigated Tera’s death for the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office, testified earlier in the trial that the Glock’s magazine was “unseated,” meaning it wasn’t locked into the butt of the gun, when he arrived at the Chavezes’ home near Los Lunas. Levi Chavez had called 911 around 9 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2007 to say his wife had shot herself in the head.

McFeely’s testimony came over boisterous objections from Levi Chavez’s attorney, David Serna. It took two conferences at the bench with state District Judge George P. Eichwald, both demanded by Serna, for her to be able to give her opinion on the possibility of Tera releasing the magazine after the fatal shot had been fired.

The exchange came on a day when prosecutors’ subtle physical evidence and circumstantial evidence placing Levi Chavez at the death scene were in perhaps their most clear focus since the trial began on June 10.

The DNA expert who tested the Glock said she found Tera’s DNA on the muzzle and samples from both Chavezes on the grip.

An APD officer with whom Levi Chavez had an affair in late 2006 and the department’s property supervisor shed light on a crime scene photograph that showed Chavez’s uniform hanging in an armoire.

They both said APD field officers are issued only one uniform.

According to Chavez, he had worked APD shifts the two days before he discovered his wife’s body. He also has said he hadn’t been to the home since the morning of Oct. 19.
McFeely’s initial finding was that Tera Chavez had committed suicide.

She testified Tuersday that her determination was based, in part, on information that had been passed along from law enforcement that Tera had killed herself.

That has been Levi Chavez’s assertion since the night he reported his wife’s death. And that theory has been the constant pillar of Serna’s defense strategy.

In early November 2007, Jones came to the state Office of the Medical Investigator where McFeeley was working at the time. He showed her crime scene photos and told her about “further history that rasied concerns,” so OMI changed the manner of Tera’s death from suicide to undetermined.

Serna also locked in on testimony McFeeley gave while looking at a photo from Tera’s death scene.

“There is the potential for a part of a broken tooth,” she said, pointing one of Tera’s lower right incisors.

Serna spent more than 10 minutes on cross-examination trying to get McFeeley to say the autopsy report she signed off on contradicted that.

Although the report made no specific mention of a broken tooth, McFeeley said, it did not say there had been no damage to any of Tera’s teeth.

Prosecutors did not point out the significance of the possibly broken tooth, but Assistant District Attorney Anne Keener had McFeeley restate that the Glock had been well into Tera’s mouth when the shot was fired.

McFeely also testified that there was Benadryl found in Tera Chavez’s system, as well as a “higher than usual dose” of acetominephine, the active ingredient in Tyleonl. The drugs, she testified, would have been enough to render Tera Chavez “sleepy but not unconscious.”

Her testimony included another detail, as Serna asked whether there had been any medical evidence found during the autopsy of a struggle: Tera’s fingernails weren’t tested or sent to a lab.

After watching and now reading this....man....I am thinking Serna and his client are going to win. Buuuut I remember that Drew P got jail even with pretty wonky evidence. ....a conviction can still happen

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[NCEast]

Jenny Chapman ‏@JennyChapmanKY 1h

Latest Soap Opera! "All My Officers" "As the APD Turns" "Bold & the Blue" #LeviChavez #Albuquerque

 

[NCEast]

Good Morning All! The prosecution MUST come to the trial today with their game hats on. They need a few home runs before they quickly sink into the toilet. I am still praying.

 

[thefragile7393]

I'm still getting bounced off of the live feed. My four year old Siamese could run things better than that TV crew at KOAT.

Oooh what color? Applehead or wedgie? I miss my meezers...had a seal point applehead and a lilac lynx point wedgie long ago....

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