Wrongful death trial begins. Trial coverage and discussion #2

[*Lash*]

Much appreciation for our Websleuth court reporters. Justice for Rebecca!

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⬆️ THIS ⬆️
Thank you❗️ :goldcrown:

 

[*Lash*]

Sorry if this has been posted already. WS member Carioca :daisy: transcribed some of Adam’s polygraph. Here is the WS link:

www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?190115-Zahau-Death-Investigation&p=9422875#post9422875

News 8 Exclusive - The polygraph examination of Adam Shacknai

 

[Gilgamesh]

In my opinion, it was completely a defense strategy for Adam to point to and ask his alleged GF in open court a question. It was pre-planned.

ETA - BBM- Is she already on the witness list?

Interesting fact: Ted Bundy married his then girlfriend by turning to her in court and saying whatever was legally allowed for him to marry her right there on the spot. Looking forward to hearing more about Adam addressing HIS gf in court. Something’s up with that.

 

[*Lash*]

Becca - really??? Adam actually used this name testifying on the stand. SMH!

 

[claudianunes]

Can someone hear AS cutting RZ down on the 911 tape? I would think that it would be audible since he was standing on that tiny table. I'm just assuming that, no matter how skinny she might have been, she was still a adult woman so, wouldn't it be kind of hard for him to hold her while cutting the rope without dropping her or falling down the table? He must be Hulk or something.

 

[Hraefn]

Not sure since it was live-streamed today if anyone is interested in my take of today’s trial day (Monday) in addition to my snippet posted at lunch recess, but here are a few more thoughts:

After lunch, Shacknai attorneys presented a Motion for Non-Suit? to be introduced. The very matter-of-fact judge stated that previously she said no motions would be taken before the end of the trial. The judge then commented how thick the paperwork was but, at the end of the day, that she would find time to read it and believes she will address it at the lunch break tomorrow. I believe it attempts to dismiss the suit. Hopefully a routine step for a civil suit. Perhaps a lawyer could comment on it. Is that routine or desperation?

RSBM

I had never heard of a motion for non-suit (we don't have that in my state which is also where I went to law school, so I never learned it). It seems to essentially be the same or very similar to a motion for a directed verdict which would be a very standard motion to file in almost any civil law suit. Here is the California code on motion for non-suit and an article comparing and contrasting the difference between motion for non-suit and motion for a directed verdict. The biggest difference seems to be the non-suit motion can come right after the plaintiff is finished presenting their case, before the defense presents; whereas the directed verdict comes after both sides prevent but before the case goes to the jury.
http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/code-of-civil-procedure/ccp-sect-581c.html
http://www.legaldocspro.net/blog/motion-for-a-directed-verdict-in-california/

 

[Brit]

That struck me, too. Yet, he calls her "Becka," which sounds like a nickname of some endearment, throughout other portions of his testimony. Also, strikes me that in his 911 call, he NEVER ONCE says her name...he doesn't scream, "Oh Becka, Oh my god, Becka..." never seems to be very dismayed about her condition (just irritated with the things that were immediately happening while he's supposedly cutting her down-- *, s**t, etc.). No even when he yells at her, "Are you alive?" (bizarre) -- he doesn't say, "Are you alive? Becka, talk to me..." Nothing. This hit me much harder once I heard him call her Becka throughout much of his testimony--not like some distant, random girlfriend of his brothers, that he hardly knew. Rather, someone very, very familiar to him.

Strange.....I’ve only heard her referred to by either Rebecca or Becky. I don’t think in any interview I’ve seen of her family (Mary, Snowem) Jonah on 20/20 and Greer, that they ever referred to her as Becca. Always Becky or Rebecca.

 

[Brit]

Can someone hear AS cutting RZ down on the 911 tape? I would think that it would be audible since he was standing on that tiny table. I'm just assuming that, no matter how skinny she might have been, she was still a adult woman so, wouldn't it be kind of hard for him to hold her while cutting the rope without dropping her or falling down the table? He must be Hulk or something.

I agree, I also think that it would take longer than a few seconds for him to cut thru that heavy duty rope while perched on a broken wobbly table. That kind of boating rope has a plastic kind of coating on it, which is why I also think it would have been difficult for her to tie her hands behind her because that rope is hard to maneuver and hard to make tight knots unless you know what you are doing. It makes me think that she was cut down previously or she wasn’t even hanging, that he made it look like she had been hanging. The bed didn’t move very much, which makes me think that he might have moved the bed himself to prove she had hung but didn’t properly calculate how far the bed should have actually moved. The fact that her legs were bent the way they were with rigor Mortis. I would think her legs would be straight.

Thought of this after my original post hence the edit. That railing does not look very sturdy, I would think that if she was hurled over that railing there would be some type of damage to the railing. Like rope grooves or scrapes on the railing.

 

[Imp]

I've transcribed the last portion of what I think was brilliant questioning by Mr Greer:

<snipped to save space>

Reading that, I agree it's brilliant. Thanks to the "investigation" and the conclusions the "investigators" drew from it, Greer doesn't have a whole lot to work with with regard to AS's culpability. However, he does have AS at the scene (supposedly the only other person at the scene other than RZ all night), and he also has ample evidence (imo) that her death was a brutal homicide, not a suicide.

1: AS presence at Spreckels at the time of RZ's death
1: RZ's death a homicide
2: AS caused RZ's homicide

1 + 1 = 2

 

[Inparadise]

Trial Day Monday - After Lunch

Not sure if this was streamed and you've all seen it but I didn't see the cameraman there for a part of the afternoon.

The surprise for me - during the defense on the 911 call testimony - was that Adam not only got the knife to cut Rebecca down from the main house (which was unlocked early morning) but he also went through the main house through the front door (which was also unlocked early morning) to go back to the courtyard after retrieving the house address from the street side. What? The main house wasn't locked at any door?? That just doesn't make sense. I know Coronado is very safe but why wouldn't Rebecca lock the doors before retiring for the night. And, with that kind of reasoning, why didn't Nina or DS walk right in when they came by late at night?

Now maybe Adam went out the front door of the main house (thus unlocking it) and then went back into the house after retrieving the address for 911. But something doesn't add up here at all. Smells very fishy.

I also liked Greer asking Adam why he didn't just cut Rebecca down while standing on his tip toes without the use of a table. Well Adam didn't know how many feet Rebecca was off the ground and didn't have any real answers. Keith said "didn't this make a vivid impression on you?". Guess not because Adam couldn't answer.

The two detectives after break, Detective Troy BuGal, basically stated that his role was to do the area canvas and originally was going to do also the evidence marking. As it turns out he only did the area canvassing. There was a lot of talk about recreating the sounds that a neighbor (Mrs. Allison) heard but it wasn't done. The final take was that children had made that noise playing around and that Mrs. Allison's words changed through the interviews. Okay..........

Greer hammered on BuGal on many fronts: Since suicide was found to be the finding by the many detectives involved and you agreed with that finding.... Forensically and logically, did the others tell you about the evidence such as the menstrual blood, did they discuss no fingerprints on the door knobs, the tying up demonstration (saw it on TV), did you vote also for suicide, how many were involved in the vote, etc. Basically Greer denigrated BuGal's participation in the facts because he answered no to all of these. He had a small part in the findings overall.

Most every time that Greer stated these questions (above), the defense objected and the judge overruled. I wish I had counted how many times. Yeah!!!!

Detective Todd Norton on stand. They interviewed JS. He assigned who searched what with Norton searching bottom basement, living room, master bedroom, kitchen, butler pantry.

He also did an Excel spreadsheet on Rebecca's phone indicating the text messages due to the fact they had no forensic tech to download the info.

They spent a lot of time on the rope analysis with this detective on lengths, etc, I must admit it was confusing to me and probably to the jury.

They expect the trial to continue into April - perhaps April 3rd. They believe, though, that they will lose one juror who had a commitment to vacation but they have two backups.

The front door is a mortise lock: if you do not manually push the unlock, it will automatically lock when the door closes.

 

[Imp]

In my opinion, it was completely a defense strategy for Adam to point to and ask his alleged GF in open court a question. It was pre-planned.

ETA - BBM- Is she already on the witness list?

Agree! Said this yesterday! That was preplanned to give the jury a look at AS's "girlfriend of 20 years."

 

[claudianunes]

I agree, I also think that it would take longer than a few seconds for him to cut thru that heavy duty rope while perched on a broken wobbly table. That kind of boating rope has a plastic kind of coating on it, which is why I also think it would have been difficult for her to tie her hands behind her because that rope is hard to maneuver and hard to make tight knots unless you know what you are doing. It makes me think that she was cut down previously or she wasn&#8217;t even hanging, that he made it look like she had been hanging. The bed didn&#8217;t move very much, which makes me think that he might have moved the bed himself to prove she had hung but didn&#8217;t properly calculate how far the bed should have actually moved. The fact that her legs were bent the way they were with rigor Mortis. I would think her legs would be straight.

Thought of this after my original post hence the edit. That railing does not look very sturdy, I would think that if she was hurled over that railing there would be some type of damage to the railing. Like rope grooves or scrapes on the railing.

Exactly. I also think she was never hung. Did she have her neck broken? Or, at the very least, some major neck injuries?

 

[Imp]

Strange.....I&#8217;ve only heard her referred to by either Rebecca or Becky. I don&#8217;t think in any interview I&#8217;ve seen of her family (Mary, Snowem) Jonah on 20/20 and Greer, that they ever referred to her as Becca. Always Becky or Rebecca.

Imo, AS was rehearsed to the moon and back by his defense team. Calling Rebecca by her first name was part of the rehearsal. We know he didn't use her name a lot based on both his 9-1-1 call and his polygraph.

But because he's an oddball, he just never quite "got" the whole Becky thing, and called her Becca instead. We've all met people (usually men, imo) like that. They are so disconnected from other human beings that names are unimportant and not memorable to them, and they are forever calling people by the wrong names or mispronouncing their names or whatever.

The Becca thing was rehearsed, and so was the shoutout to his 72-year-old long-term girlfriend, and probably the vast majority of his testimony. The defense team did, after all, need an extra weekend to teach AS his lines.

 

[Imp]

Exactly. I also think she was never hung. Did she have her neck broken? Or, at the very least, some major neck injuries?

Her neck injuries, according to Dr. C. Wecht, don't comport with a dead drop of 9 feet, 2 inches. So, no.

 

[MzOpinion8d]

Greer did say something like, "is that because you were told by this point to not recall in order to avoid further questioning...??" Glad he threw that in.

The T-shirt gag comment was something: AS: "a little. I've never seen a gag before, so have nothing to compare it to." Really? Did they ask that??? -- relative to your typical gag, Mr. Shacknai, would you say this gag had the standard amount of material in the mouth, or a lot more or less than most gags? NO! Was a LOT or a LITTLE of her t-shirt in her mouth when you found her? You don't need to be a gag expert to give a straightforward answer to that question!

If he's watching Asian bondage on his iPhone, I'd guess he's seen a gag or two.

 

[*Lash*]

Respectfully snipped for context:

Trial Day Monday - After Lunch

Not sure if this was streamed and you've all seen it but I didn't see the cameraman there for a part of the afternoon.

The surprise for me - during the defense on the 911 call testimony - was that Adam not only got the knife to cut Rebecca down from the main house (which was unlocked early morning) but he also went through the main house through the front door (which was also unlocked early morning) to go back to the courtyard after retrieving the house address from the street side. What? The main house wasn't locked at any door?? That just doesn't make sense. I know Coronado is very safe but why wouldn't Rebecca lock the doors before retiring for the night. And, with that kind of reasoning, why didn't Nina or DS walk right in when they came by late at night?

Now maybe Adam went out the front door of the main house (thus unlocking it) and then went back into the house after retrieving the address for 911. But something doesn't add up here at all. Smells very fishy.

First, :daisy: thank you JBS for the notes and reporting!

Surprised me too because Adam said in his poly he went “around”, he did not say he went “through”.

AS: I think.. I got to reach her and realized I wasn't going to be able to get her off without a knife. You know I tried -- I realized -- quite quickly. You know I realized this thing will happen like this. I went around the back into the house which the door was open. I got a knife with the butcher block thing -- came back out -- cut her down -- and tried called 9-1-1 shortly thereafter -- if not before.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/22221589/...raph-exam-of-adam-shacknai?clienttype=generic

 

[Verboten]

In my opinion, it was completely a defense strategy for Adam to point to and ask his alleged GF in open court a question. It was pre-planned.

Seems like it was preplanned. I hope Greer can call her, since it's defense who has inserted her into the picture. We'll see.

 

[MsFacetious]

I definitely think Greer should call the girlfriend now. I don't think he would have been able to before but now that the defense has opened the door it's possible.

 

[MzOpinion8d]

Imo, AS was rehearsed to the moon and back by his defense team. Calling Rebecca by her first name was part of the rehearsal. We know he didn't use her name a lot based on both his 9-1-1 call and his polygraph.

But because he's an oddball, he just never quite "got" the whole Becky thing, and called her Becca instead. We've all met people (usually men, imo) like that. They are so disconnected from other human beings that names are unimportant and not memorable to them, and they are forever calling people by the wrong names or mispronouncing their names or whatever.

The Becca thing was rehearsed, and so was the shoutout to his 72-year-old long-term girlfriend, and probably the vast majority of his testimony. The defense team did, after all, need an extra weekend to teach AS his lines.

His girlfriend is 72?!?!?! And this is supposed to influence the jury how? A man that much younger is going to be far more likely to desire a woman 20 years younger than him...one that he had easy access to, and one who would have rejected him flat out, causing him to be angry.

 

[*Lash*]

Even in the video Adam gives an arm motion showing he went &#8220;around&#8221; not &#8220;through&#8221;...

Adam never uses her name, let alone come up with Becca!

very first 10 seconds into the video:

http://kfmb.videodownload.worldnow.com/KFMB_20130511015525187AA.mp4