Legal Questions for our VERIFIED Lawyers #3

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Does anyone know exactly why they take a deposition for? I watched deposition videos of CA and GA for civil case of Zenaida Gonzales. They asked many questions that I would think they are going to ask in the trial itself anyway? It seems a bit redundant.
 
Does anyone know exactly why they take a deposition for? I watched deposition videos of CA and GA for civil case of Zenaida Gonzales. They asked many questions that I would think they are going to ask in the trial itself anyway? It seems a bit redundant.

A deposition is part of the discovery process. It permits parties to question witnesses that may have relevant information pertaining to a case in order to help a party build that case or defense.
 
AZlawyer : will we ever, ever get to see Mallory's deposition? tia :)
 
A deposition is part of the discovery process. It permits parties to question witnesses that may have relevant information pertaining to a case in order to help a party build that case or defense.

I get that, but it seems like they ask the same questions. or what do they do....narrow it down to a small amount of pertinent questions? I guess the whole deposition would be too long to have during the trial.
 
Wow I leave for a few hours and come back to a brand new thread. :)

uklaw asked this just before the last one closed:
Why does ICA have an attorney in the civil case? Where does the attorney expect to get paid from?

She has an attorney in the civil case because it is pretty much impossible to defend yourself in a civil case from jail. ;) IIRC the Anthonys paid the attorney.

AZlawyer : will we ever, ever get to see Mallory's deposition? tia :)

It's been filed with the clerk, so we can see it anytime we can get the money together and send someone down to fetch it. :)

I get that, but it seems like they ask the same questions. or what do they do....narrow it down to a small amount of pertinent questions? I guess the whole deposition would be too long to have during the trial.

Usually more questions are asked during a deposition than at trial. The purpose of a deposition (normally but not always) is to find out what the heck the person is going to say at trial so you are not blindsided. The downside is that the witness is not blindsided by your questions at trial either. ;)
 
AZ, thanks :) Have we not been able to scape up the bucks to get the depo? Dang.

Thanks for all your replies. Once you catch up today what are your views on them being able to seat a jury? Today did not seem to go to well. If they have to call in another pool of jurors won't they then be tainted with pretrial publicity?
 
AZ, thanks :) Have we not been able to scape up the bucks <modsnip> to get the depo? Dang.

Thanks for all your replies. Once you catch up today what are your views on them being able to seat a jury? Today did not seem to go to well. If they have to call in another pool of jurors won't they then be tainted with pretrial publicity?

There was some discussion of making a list of the top few depos we all wanted to see and taking up a special collection, but it hasn't happened yet.

I thought today went fine. I estimated 75% of potential jurors would be excluded for hardship due to the length of the trial and the sequestering, and then 50% of the remainder excluded for cause due to opinions about the case or not being death-qualified.

Today only 2/3 were excluded for hardship, so I thought it was a good first day! :)
 
She has an attorney in the civil case because it is pretty much impossible to defend yourself in a civil case from jail. ;) IIRC the Anthonys paid the attorney.

Ahh thanks. I wonderedf about that. Although I am sceptical why she is defending it. She has no money anyway.

Out of interest. If she was Pro Se, would she be able to attend in person (more attention?)


It's been filed with the clerk, so we can see it anytime we can get the money together and send someone down to fetch it. :)

Out of curiosity, what are the fees for copies?
 
AZ or any of our attorney's...

How does a juror become death penalty qualified??? JMHO

Justice for Caylee
 
Bill Shaeffer claims that KC can claim ineffective counsel for her attys not getting the information on the air tests. What would this mean? How would it effect her sentence? Thanks in advance.
 
Hmmm let me see if I can word this right. Not even sure if this has been asked and answered, but here goes. If , while in Clearwater, say they find only 10 or 12 to sit on jury. Can they keep those and choose the remaining 8 or 10 from another place, or does the entire jury seated have to be from the same location? Thank you so much in advance.
 
Thanks to AZ again

Does the introduction of evidence that ICA failed to report the disappearance of her child for 31 days, violate ICA's Fifth Amendment Right's not to self incriminate?

Has the defense not raised this?
 
Wouldn't a jury of KC's peers be Moms, young, unwed, a high school dropout, accused of killing their child?
 
AZ or any of our attorney's...

How does a juror become death penalty qualified??? JMHO

Justice for Caylee

Juror must not be categorically opposed to the imposition of the death penalty and not of the belief that the DP must be imposed in all instances of capital murder.
 
Bill Shaeffer claims that KC can claim ineffective counsel for her attys not getting the information on the air tests. What would this mean? How would it effect her sentence? Thanks in advance.

If the air evidence came in at trial, and if an appellate court were to find that the failure of the DT to obtain that info supported a claim of ineffective counsel it could result in a reversal of any conviction. It would not have any effect on her sentence--other than to vacate it if her conviction were reversed.
 
Ahh thanks. I wonderedf about that. Although I am sceptical why she is defending it. She has no money anyway.

Out of interest. If she was Pro Se, would she be able to attend in person (more attention?)




Out of curiosity, what are the fees for copies?

She would not be released from jail to attend court for a civil case.

I don't know the per-page charge. I know MM mentioned that the fees for copying ALL the depositions filed would be several thousand dollars, and a lot more depositions have been filed since then.

Hmmm let me see if I can word this right. Not even sure if this has been asked and answered, but here goes. If , while in Clearwater, say they find only 10 or 12 to sit on jury. Can they keep those and choose the remaining 8 or 10 from another place, or does the entire jury seated have to be from the same location? Thank you so much in advance.

I don't think there's anything that specifically precludes that from happening, but on the other hand I don't think it has ever been done and I don't think it is within the contemplation of HHJP at this time.

Thanks to AZ again

Does the introduction of evidence that ICA failed to report the disappearance of her child for 31 days, violate ICA's Fifth Amendment Right's not to self incriminate?

Has the defense not raised this?

No, the 5th Amd does not protect you from incriminating yourself by your actions, especially pre-arrest. It protects you from being forced to testify against yourself.

Wouldn't a jury of KC's peers be Moms, young, unwed, a high school dropout, accused of killing their child?

There is no actual requirement for a jury of one's "peers." The only effort made is to approximate--in the pool of prospective jurors as a whole--the demographics of the jurisdiction in which the crime took place.
 
No, the 5th Amd does not protect you from incriminating yourself by your actions, especially pre-arrest. It protects you from being forced to testify against yourself.

But it isn't her actions. It is her failure to tell LE what happened to her daughter or the fact that daughter was missing for 31 days.

Surely if she is criminally responsible for the death and she did tell LE that her kid was missing but gave no other details (such as the fact she was responsible) she has incriminated herself. Importantly, she has at the least incriminated herself in respect of child neglect (assuming Caylee is alive).

Isn't this analaguous to the jury drawing an adverse inference from the Defendant's failure to testify/speak to LE?
 
She would not be released from jail to attend court for a civil case.

Thanks for your answer. I figured that though.

What I meant was more that she be "escorted" to the court hearing the civil case in a similar way that she is with the Criminal case. If she wasn't able to attend the civil case surely she would be deprived of her Due Process rights?

I am still bemused as to why on earth she has even bothered with the civil case. She has no money in any event. Why on earth the A's paid for the defense is beyond me
 
But it isn't her actions. It is her failure to tell LE what happened to her daughter or the fact that daughter was missing for 31 days.

Surely if she is criminally responsible for the death and she did tell LE that her kid was missing but gave no other details (such as the fact she was responsible) she has incriminated herself. Importantly, she has at the least incriminated herself in respect of child neglect (assuming Caylee is alive).

Isn't this analaguous to the jury drawing an adverse inference from the Defendant's failure to testify/speak to LE?

You are absolutely free to incriminate yourself and to give voluntary statements to LE incriminating yourself, first of all. The 5th Amendment gives you the right not to make such statements, but does not stop you from doing it if you want to.

The "remaining silent" for 31 days does not trigger any 5th Amendment issues at all. The jury is not allowed to make inferences from a Defendant refusing to make statements after arrest, but IS allowed to make inferences from a Defendant lying, hiding from her parents, "remaining silent," etc. BEFORE arrest. One way to look at it is that the 5th Amendment only protects you if the GOVERNMENT is trying to get information from you, not if your PARENTS are trying to get information. HTH :)

Thanks for your answer. I figured that though.

What I meant was more that she be "escorted" to the court hearing the civil case in a similar way that she is with the Criminal case. If she wasn't able to attend the civil case surely she would be deprived of her Due Process rights?

I am still bemused as to why on earth she has even bothered with the civil case. She has no money in any event. Why on earth the A's paid for the defense is beyond me

No, she would not be allowed to attend routine civil case proceedings, even escorted. Your rights in a civil case are much less than your rights in a criminal case, because your freedom/life is not at issue. If she were representing herself in the civil case, the judge would arrange for her to appear by telephone from the jail for oral arguments, etc. If there were a civil trial I suppose they would get her there in person so the jury could assess her demeanor on the stand.
 
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