Trial - Ross Harris #8

[minor4th]

It does not legally prohibit him from testifying. But it makes it very difficult because once you take the stand the State can discuss anything that is related to the case and the charges. So they can make him talk about the sexting minors and the hooker and the side of the road bj's...etc etc...

If the charges were separated, most likely, that stuff would be prohibited because of it's prejudicial value. So he would be able to take the stand in this trial and only talk about 'forgetting' and not have to talk about the sexting etc.

But I think it is better for the jury to get the entire picture and total context of the timeline for the incident. I think it goes to the question of negligence.

Well even if they separated the charges, the murder case would presumably still feature the sexting and texting etc - it just wouldn't mention that some were minors. So he could still testify in his own defense on the murder charges, and even be cross examined about sexting - without incriminating himself on the sexting minors charges.

 

[minor4th]

I really hate to burst your bubble there~~ But the only adults who could entertain the possibility of forgetting your child in your vehicle within 30 seconds..would have to be totally ignorant..and even those ignorant in experience would have to have NO memory of their past experience of a parent forgetting all about them within 30 seconds. That alone is outside of what Ross Harris's distractions were...He's been distracted since 2008..so why 6 years later..he suddenly forgets what he claims to be the "Beloved Child"??? I actually don't think any normal adult could overlook the evidence in this case..His need to be "Free" has been exposed over and over..Free of Marriage..Free of Child responsibility...Free of Financial drain..and Free to pursuit his Goals..!!!!

I know Ross will be found guilty of many counts..BUT it's up to the jury to decide if he actually knew what he was doing THAT DAY leaving his "Joker" behind strapped into that car Seat!!

LOL. You didn't burst my bubble. I take it you didn't watch the testimony today?

 

[GA_Peach]

I think if the defense was unhappy with his testimony, they would be even more likely to call additional witnesses to put some distance between this guy and deliberations.

Do we know for sure Dr Diamond is going to testify? Are there other witnesses?

Good point about the additional witnesses.

We don't know for sure if Dr. Diamond is going to testify. The DT said that they have one more witness (plus maybe Ross). They said that they should be done by lunch tomorrow.

I think one of the strengths of his testimony (I'm an hour in, and writing an outline as I go) is that Kilgore is addressing, head on (and anticipating the State's counter arguments) the 2 key hurdles left: the belief jurors might (or are likely to have) that forgetting a baby isn't possible, and that it is impossible to believe RH's memory wasn't triggered by all the cues of that day

Really, I think he's doing a pretty good job despite himself, thanks to Kilgore, who keeps translating for him.

I want to relisten to the testimony, but I came away from the testimony this morning thinking that it was practically impossible for Ross to have forgotten Cooper. I firmly believe that a child can be forgotten in a car, but in this situation with the given circumstances, I don't believe that it is likely. I don't believe that the witness thought it was likely either.

 

[minor4th]

I really think most of us can agree this is a difficult case without bright lines dividing guilty and not guilty.

 

[monkeypants]

I think one of the strengths of his testimony (I'm an hour in, and writing an outline as I go) is that Kilgore is addressing, head on (and anticipating the State's counter arguments) the 2 key hurdles left: the belief jurors might (or are likely to have) that forgetting a baby isn't possible, and that it is impossible to believe RH's memory wasn't triggered by all the cues of that day

Really, I think he's doing a pretty good job despite himself, thanks to Kilgore, who keeps translating for him.

The problem he encountered was the DT not sharing all information with him. I got the feeling he wouldn't have been so keen on this trial if he had all the information. He looked and seemed befuddled during cross. It wasn't fair to him to hear all of those points from the state as it left him like a turtle on his back.

 

[Hope4More]

Could the State have been more RUDE during this testimony on direct?! Rolling eyeballs, looking at watch, tapping pen, openly displaying contempt, looking over to the jury with "can you BELIEVE this?" expressions..

If this jury is paying attention, they know this is important, even crucial testimony they're going to need to fairly deliberate. I hope they are offended by this kind of disrespectful arrogance- I know I am.

 

[katydid23]

After hearing there are 50 slides tomorrow, I think it is probably Dr Diamond. Surprising that they say it will only take half the day though. I think he took most of the day in Jayde pool's trial. And he paved the way for her testimony.

 

[Hope4More]

The problem he encountered was the DT not sharing all information with him. I got the feeling he wouldn't have been so keen on this trial if he had all the information. He looked and seemed befuddled during cross. It wasn't fair to him to hear all of those points from the state as it left him like a turtle on his back.

Just getting to cross now, but nothing I've heard so far in direct makes me think the DT didn't give him the info he needed to cover the points Kilgore needed him to make. Reserving judgement.

 

[lisette]

I thought Kilgore missed a great opportunity in not going back to RH's cumulative nights of sleep deprivation. Boring, on cross, brought out that he had not slept much in the 3 nights before the 18th, in fact, that he had slept more the night before than the he had the other nights...That seemed to surprise Brewer, and I would think that that could have been used to his advantage in claiming fatigue..If I were on the jury, I would have caught that, but he didn't go back to it. Of course, this is all based on whether you buy the memory failure due to distractions, fatigue, stress...

 

[minor4th]

Just getting to cross now, but nothing I've heard so far in direct makes me think the DT didn't give him the info he needed to cover the points Kilgore needed him to make. Reserving judgement.

This witness was not there to weigh every piece of information and tell the jury whether Ross forgot his baby or deliberately murdered him.

He was there to explain how it can happen and in fact has happened hundreds of times.

When he said there is nothing unique about this case compared to the hundreds of others - that's the crux of his testimony. We can draw the conclusion that Ross had a memory lapse just like hundreds of other parents have. And the things that point to that possibility are: sleep deprivation, external distraction from complex traffic situation, stress about a project at work, and habit of driving straight from CFA to work. Those are the kinds of things that are seen in this and other cases of such fatal memory lapses

 

[minor4th]

I thought Kilgore missed a great opportunity in not going back to RH's cumulative nights of sleep deprivation. Boring, on cross, brought out that he had not slept much in the 3 nights before the 18th, in fact, that he had slept more the night before than the he had the other nights...That seemed to surprise Brewer, and I would think that that could have been used to his advantage in claiming fatigue..If I were on the jury, I would have caught that, but he didn't go back to it. Of course, this is all based on whether you buy the memory failure due to distractions, fatigue, stress...

I agree! Perhaps this will be argued in closing argument or through Dr Diamond. I bet the jury noticed though - and even Boring seemed to catch what he was doing towards the end of that questioning.

 

[arkansasmimi]

Yes, there was. Well, kind of, about time only, and from home to CFA, not LAA. I think Stoddard testified to this, and on cross Kilgore elicited that Le had never driven the route, but had instead relied upon Google to provide an estimated time--which was around 20 minutes, iirc, an amount of time Kilgore did not concede as accurate. .

Catching up. I know there was testimony a little by Stoddard, who never actually drove it, but Googled it. ^^ that is what I remember to Hope

 

[arkansasmimi]

These early days have enabled me to get the kids closets cleaned out and the playroom...wahoo! I've been so addicted that I have not gotten all my charity donations for clothes and toys organized...now that I'm caught up I hope they go the whole day tomorrow lol..I'm ready for 50 slides!! opcorn:

LOL same here, I got all my leaves raked, caught up til next week on that lol :autumn: I think we all missed the month of October! Trial has been going 1 month today, but not a full month of testimony. Minus Hurricane Matthew days, weekends, half days I thinking we only had about 17 or 18 full days of trial.

 

[monkeypants]

Just getting to cross now, but nothing I've heard so far in direct makes me think the DT didn't give him the info he needed to cover the points Kilgore needed him to make. Reserving judgement.

I feel like a vast sum of questions posed to him by boring ended with boring saying were you aware of.....and memory dude saying, no I didn't know that in one form or another

 

[lisette]

I wonder if the jury will understand why Ross can't testify about forgetting Cooper without possibly incriminating himself on the other charges. I know that if I had accidentally left my child in the car, I would want to get up there and let everybody know that I didn't do it on purpose. But with the charges not being severed has made that impossible...But, on the other hand, I guess the sexting was such an integral part of the state's case against RH that they couldn't be severed...kinda a catch 22 for him and the DT. It's just so obvious that he is guilty of the sexting that I think I would just get up there and be honest about it and let people know that leaving Cooper in the car was a tragic mistake and take whatever consequences for the other charges...just so people would not think I had purposefully murdered my child...That is, of course, if it truly WAS a mistake.

 

[arkansasmimi]

I think Dr. Diamond is a crucial, and wonderful witness for the defense. But I would've thought his testimony would last at least two days with direct, cross and rebuttal. What's up with that? Maybe his testimony is going to be very limited as to the generalities of FBS? I can't think of another witness who has 50 slides. But what would his slides show? What about FBS is out on slides?
So confusing. I'm in trial tomorrow so I won't get to check in until much later. And Diamond's is the only testimony I'm really interested in watching.

Boring and Kilgore pretty much slugged it out and Boring is wanting his testimony (or from what I gathered from Hearing) for this testimony to be pretty limited.

 

[Inthedetails]

This witness was not there to weigh every piece of information and tell the jury whether Ross forgot his baby or deliberately murdered him.

He was there to explain how it can happen and in fact has happened hundreds of times.

When he said there is nothing unique about this case compared to the hundreds of others - that's the crux of his testimony. We can draw the conclusion that Ross had a memory lapse just like hundreds of other parents have. And the things that point to that possibility are: sleep deprivation, external distraction from complex traffic situation, stress about a project at work, and habit of driving straight from CFA to work. Those are the kinds of things that are seen in this and other cases of such fatal memory lapses

Yes, I think he was there to establish reasonable doubt. The jury now knows it's indeed possible to forget things that we think are impossible to forget. Without direct evidence that intentional murder was committed, reasonable doubt will get him off that particular charge.

Whether or not Ross forgot might be less important than it's POSSIBLE he forgot.

jmopinion

 

[monkeypants]

Boring and Kilgore pretty much slugged it out and Boring is wanting his testimony (or from what I gathered from Hearing) for this testimony to be pretty limited.

Lol but slide amount increased substantially ! Going to be a long morning...

 

[TexMex]

Good point about the additional witnesses.

We don't know for sure if Dr. Diamond is going to testify. The DT said that they have one more witness (plus maybe Ross). They said that they should be done by lunch tomorrow.



I want to relisten to the testimony, but I came away from the testimony this morning thinking that it was practically impossible for Ross to have forgotten Cooper. I firmly believe that a child can be forgotten in a car, but in this situation with the given circumstances, I don't believe that it is likely. I don't believe that the witness thought it was likely either.

That's what makes me wonder about Diamond. It will take an hour to go through his CV! Then direct, cross, redirect, 50 slides?
Done by noon?
Maybe...

 

[TexMex]

I feel like a vast sum of questions posed to him by boring ended with boring saying were you aware of.....and memory dude saying, no I didn't know that in one form or another

At one point he's asked something like "the defense didn't provide you enough information" on something and he answered No
Lots of I don't knows and his mind was wandering wondering about a guitar. Not very professional IMO