Tuesday, March 17

Another day in the courtroom completed. The court ruled on six motions today. Here are the results:

(1) The court granted the prosecution motion to admit evidence of the defendant's fleeing the crime scene and hiding after the crime, as evidence of the defendant's consciousness of guilt for the crime.

(2) The court denied the defense motion to exclude evidence of the police manhunt after the murder and evidence of the defendant’s being found on the back floorboard of a car trying to escape the police perimeter. Defense argued the evidence was irrelevant and the court
rejected the argument.

(3) The court denied the prosecution Evidence Code section 1101(B) motion to rule admissible, during the guilt phase of the trial, evidence of four prior incidents involving chases of the defendant by the police or the defendant being caught in possession of a handgun. The court agreed with the prosecution that the four incidents may still be considered by the jury during the penalty phase. The court will rule on that after the guilt phase is completed.

(4) The court granted the motion of the Sheriff's Office to have the defendant, for security purposes, wear a locked leg restraint device. The device locks in place when the defendant stands up, precluding him from running. The court rejected the defense argument
that such a leg restraint was unnecessary.

(5) The defense motion to have the penalty phase motions (on the admissibility of penalty phase witnesses and evidence) heard prior to the start of jury selection was opposed by the prosecution and denied by the court (the motions will be heard after the guilt phase if there is to be a penalty phase).

(6) The prosecution motion to preclude death penalty questions to jurors about specific facts of the case and the jurors’ views of those facts was granted. The court agreed that such questions would be asking the jurors to prejudge the case and the court ruled that the
questions must be generic, not specific to feelings or conclusions about our case.

(7) The court deferred the defense Brady discovery motion for EPAPD personnel records until Wednesday morning.

(8) At defense request, the court deferred the prosecution motion to limit defense psychiatric testimony and the prosecution motion to allow prosecution questioning of the defense psychiatrists about the defendant’s gang involvement until April 10, 2009. The defense needs more time to respond to the prosecution written motions.

This was another good day for the District attorney's office (Steve Wagstaffe). They have a couple of motions in the morning and will finalize the jury questionnaire tomorrow.

Jury selection starts on Monday morning with a couple weeks of hardship inquiry (asking the jurors whether they can sit for a trial of this length). The jurors will be told that the trial will formally start in early May and could run as long as to mid-July. 840 jurors will be brought in the next two weeks to be questioned about hardship and their availability for a 2-1/2 months long trial.