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Yahoo!The trial of Ricardo Juarez — the teen accused of fatally stabbing Luis Angel Linares in a March 2007 gang brawl — adjourned early on Wednesday, August 27, after a handful of witnesses had taken the stand.
Very little of what was stated in testimony today was new, partially because many witnesses had previously made appearances in Judge Brian Hill’s court and were called back to the stand. Among the repeat witnesses were Officer McBride, who continued his testimony from Tuesday, Detective LaTorre, prosecution co-counsel and head investigator on the case Detective Brown, and Officer Cruz. The only new witnesses were the manager of Global Feet and Global Feet Kids — sister stores on opposing corners of State and Carrillo Streets — and Officer Kushner who had interviewed several minors associated with the events that took place during the State Street rumble.
Most of the testimony simply rehashed facts that have already been covered by previous testimony, but there were a few new developments. In the course of Kushner’s cross-examination by defense co-counsel Jennifer Archer, it became clear that a juvenile witness interviewed by the officer whose testimony had placed the defendant at the scene of the crime was merely naming those whom he knew had been apprehended. This young man had said that he saw some 10 to 20 Eastsiders involved, but only named the eight at the police station when he was interviewed, as Archer pointed out.
In addition to this positive development for the defense, a shadow of doubt was cast across the thoroughness of the searches conducted by the police on the day of the murder. Archer, in her cross-examination of Detective Brown, brought to light that the head investigator doesn’t know the exact areas searched. While prosecutor Hilary Dozer pointed out that reports need only be filed when something is found by an officer, Archer countered by arguing that though nothing was found, it is unclear exactly what was searched and whether areas might have been neglected. Archer specifically mentioned searches conducted by unknown officers, specific trash receptacles that were not searched in the back parking lot of Saks, and the fact that no one made a full sweep of the trash receptacles in the area bound by Carrillo and Figueroa streets and by State and Chapala streets.
One other small win for the defense was achieved in the course of the questioning of Detective Brown about his contact with yesterday’s witness, Jeannine Kassity. Of the two pages of photo line-ups that Kassity was shown by Brown — a total of 12 mugshots — only one individual was identified. This individual, previously called merely Number Five due to the order of the photos, was the young man whom Kassity believed to be “the kicker,” or one of the main assaulters of the victim while he was lying in the planter in the back parking lot of Saks.
In the course of Detective Brown’s testimony, it became apparent that this Number Five was a young man Atkins and Archer intend to prove was the one who fatally stabbed Linares.
The court adjourned early as one of the prosecution’s witnesses was sick, and will recess until Wednesday, September 3, at 10 a.m.
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What crimes is the defendant charged with in addition to murder?
Justice (anonymous profile)
August 29, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Boy the reporter Caitlin Crandell must be paid by the defense for this one sided chop piece. Is she that new of a reporter or has she ever sat in a courtroom before?
So a witness only wants to identify the people that he knows already are caught... and this is important because???? You think maybe he is unwilling to dime out his homies? Hmmm maybe huh?
Yeah according to Archer more areas should be searched, there might be another body out there and it won't be found until the area is searched. If you find a murder weapon between where the body lies and where the suspect is do you think maybe that is a clue????
Of course the defense attorneys are going to attack the police, that is all they have left to do. After all the defendant confessed to killing the other kid, demonstrated on tape how he did it, and a witness pointed him out to the police moments after it happened. The cops find a knife between where the defendant was stopped (less than half a block away) and where the other kid was killed. Yeah let’s go canvassing the rest of the city and see what we find in the dumpsters. Maybe that knife beyond Madam Lu's was used too. Why not? We have 5000 cops in this city with nothing better to do.
About the questioning of Kassity, how many witnesses were shown a lineup? And only one person, Kassity, ID's a different person as being the "kicker"? Hmmm big win there Caitlin Crandell, HUGH!!!!
This is not TV or the movies, the total picture needs to be looked at and realized. Archer is not doing anything but trying to mimic the OJ defense, meaning throwing any little bit of doubt that she can so maybe they can persuade one juror of a little bit of doubt. That is after all, all that they can hope for since their client already confessed.
I looked at the past article in the Independent, I don't seem to see the same type of headlines when the "Prosecution deals death blow to defense when defendant admits to killing victim!!!" HMMM seems like a chop piece to me.
InTheKnow (anonymous profile)
August 31, 2008 at 6:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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