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An early good morning from Pike Co. murder trial of George Wagner IV. First up - hearing on the final 7-8 wiretap recordings on which there is still dispute. Jury reports at 9:30 then we expect BCI's Julia Eveslage to introduce wiretaps to close out prosecutions case
Judge Deering on bench - there were 8 that were under dispute and maybe needed more context. Another needed to be edited just to show George knew they were being recorded.
One of them the prosecution agrees to play it all - it is 21 minutes long.
Another recording in truck - this one about George being upset Jake's daughter is calling Beth Ann Mommy - how it affects his son. Canepa says nothing is audible except that and nothing else provides context.
George says "I have to go home and confront him with the cold-hearted truth" - he has to tell his son that Angela is not his mommy as he believes.
In that same recording, George says Jake will rat them out he's the biggest rat of them all and that he should go to BCI and rat them out. Canepa says defense can't tell what else is on that recording because it's inaudible.
Prosecution withdraw the one about Olympics - referring to possible deer poaching. And another one withdrawn because it's short. They are playing another one in its entirety.
Defense wants full 9 minutes of next recording to be played. Canepa says it doesn't provide context - but glad to add and doesn't have a problem.
Next one Canepa says she was unable to listen to full call last night to argue it at this point.
One that is 32 minutes includes conversation about grandfather's headstone and people they met at R&L Carriers. Canepa says they've isolated the relevant part. Defense is saying they are only using 37 seconds and jury should be told these are snippets.
Last one is 22 minutes - prosecution says most not relevant. The segment they want to play is 2.5 minutes - begins 5 minutes into recording. This is one about "he would rat out anybody" - then Jake talks about how much he spent on toys for both kids. Objection withdrawn
That leaves just one for Canepa to review. Prosecution withdrawing 2 recordings. Some they will play it all. And defense withdraws objection on a few. Deering is allowing one snippet to be played where George and Jake say they know they're being listened to
Deering is going to instruct jury about transcripts as listening aids - they are not evidence.
Deering doesn't want them to go back to jury room for deliberation. They need to listen to tape not refer to transcripts.
That means at this point, 33 of the original 49 recordings/texts will be played or shown, with one still up for debate with the two that were withdrawn by prosecution this morning. There were 14 sustained objections yesterday.
