Simon B. testimony

I never ran into any Simon-type guy at a tow yard. He's very cool. Bright and so well-spoken. His best jeans and a borrowed jacket. Tries harder than the defendant to be presentable for court.

God bless Simon B.! What a surprise that he knew garbage and decomp smells! What a blessing he was today.

pizza box and papers, nothing amounting to food stuffs, it was very light...not like a half a chicken in there...

LDB: did you or mr anthony put your hands in the bag and sift though?

no, not really a first glance to see if this was something that created that smell and I offered to dispose of it.

JB: you are the perfect person to tell the difference between human decomp and garbage?

SB: not perfect but I have smelled both, I have towed hundreds of cars in my years.


(snarky so and so!)

Did anyone else think Simon Birch was downplaying Cindy's behavior at the tow yard, perhaps out of respect for the situation now? In any customer service job I've worked, when you need the manager's help to deal with an unhappy customer, that generally means that the customer is behaving in a way that's more extreme than your average unhappy customer. And Birch testified that no one is happy when they come to the tow yard.

I also wondered why George said we will get divorced other this to Birch. Was he serious? It seems like an extreme thing to say about a towed car. Was he referring to the situation with Casey? Why would they get divorced over that?

Wholehearted said:

Did anyone else think Simon Birch was downplaying Cindy's behavior at the tow yard, perhaps out of respect for the situation now? In any customer service job I've worked, when you need the manager's help to deal with an unhappy customer, that generally means that the customer is behaving in a way that's more extreme than your average unhappy customer. And Birch testified that no one is happy when they come to the tow yard.

I also wondered why George said we will get divorced other this to Birch. Was he serious? It seems like an extreme thing to say about a towed car. Was he referring to the situation with Casey? Why would they get divorced over that?

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BBM 1 I get the impression he is one of those easy going guys in that regard, as he said, nobody is having a good day when they arrive. I also got the impression that it is standard practice for him to take charge when someone is being beligerent. I do think he did not come right out and say CA was a real "B" on wheels when she came in but that is the impression I got when he stated he and the employee exchanged "the look". I took that to mean the employee was sort of "she's all yours boss" with the look and SB was like "I got it"

BBM 2 That is exactly what I was thinking GA meant by that statement. Caylee is missing. He and CA have not been getting along in regards to "what to do about Casey". He has begun to to suspect there is no job, let alone two and the stealing from grandpa (CA's dad). I think GA meant that Casey's antics, and now this damn car in impound, were going to be the death of his marriage.

This gentleman was an absolutely perfect witness. He is very intelligent and well spoken. I also think he tended to downplay CA's behavior and present GA in the best light he could. Seems like an all around good guy. His credibility helped the SA today IMO.

can you believe the good fortune of him having smelled the odor of decomp on more than a couple of occasions AND having worked in waste management for a couple of years? What a shocker.

bumping this because Simon Birch was the State's most credible witness to date, IMO. He was fantastic. I want to re-watch his direct and cross-exam.
He handled JB perfectly and I loved every minute of it.

I LOVED every minute of it too Beach!!!

Simon Birch did NOT back down one iota from JB's questioning! Simon Birch was a very credible witness, well articulated, seemed to be a gentleman and was very pleasant.

I was also very impressed with SB's testimony. He was very informative, pleasant, considerate and polite, without letting JB get the best of him. He answered the questions for both sides very swiftly and without wasting any time. As others have mentioned, he is by far the most credible witness that the state has and I am very optimistic that his testimony will help make the outcome of this trial a huge win for the state. IMO

I think Key things brought up by his questioning.

The car smelled like decomp.
That the gas was already out of georges car ,ready to be put into the tank of the car casey drove

That george mentioned the car being at amscot for 3 days

The both of them looked in the trash bag together.

And he did not notice duct tape on the gas can.

I think he was being honest. I dont thnk he is an overly friendly person who felt like dealing with chatty george and his issues.

I dont think JB was trying to "get the best of him"

I dont understand why everytime baez questions someone people think he is trying to brow beat someone. He isnt. He has to highlight the problem area's it is his job.

I had a "feel" for him after reading his depo, and what I saw today completely corresponded to what he said in the depo and confirmed my opinion about the impact of his testimony. IMO it supported GA's testimony nicely, and lended him much needed credibility.

It was definitely a score for the state, and will probably be the best backup for the air sample evidence. This will be a long trial, but Simon Birch's testimony won't be forgotten.

Soulmagent said:

I think Key things brought up by his questioning.

The car smelled like decomp.
That the gas was already out of georges car ,ready to be put into the tank of the car casey drove

That george mentioned the car being at amscot for 3 days

The both of them looked in the trash bag together.

And he did not notice duct tape on the gas can.

I think he was being honest. I dont thnk he is an overly friendly person who felt like dealing with chatty george and his issues.

I dont think JB was trying to "get the best of him"

I dont understand why everytime baez questions someone people think he is trying to brow beat someone. He isnt. He has to highlight the problem area's it is his job.

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I apologize, Soulmagnet. I didn't explain my post very well. I do understand that JB is only doing his job. You are right about that. I just meant that sometimes he can be very snarky and sort of confuse the witness with the way he puts things, IMO. He probably doesn't mean to, it's probably just the way it comes across to me. I agree that he is there to defend his client and I do know that he has an unpleasant job to do most of the time. Sometime's it is easy to forget that when we get wrapped up in a case as crazy as this one. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

SB and GA both had experience with the odor of death in their respective fields. Both thought the vehicle smelled like human decomposition. GA had mentioned to SB his granddaughter was missing shortly before they opened the trunk. When they opened the trunk, SB said the odor was stronger than when they opened the car door, GA said it was not stronger. They both saw the trunk had a white garbage bag in it. The white garbage bag was removed and eventually placed in a dumpster.

Earlier in the year SB had dealt with a vehicle that a person had committed suicide in, and the odor in that car was horrendous, and according to SB similar to the odor in the pontiac. SB is the manager of a towyard that has a contract with the police department. He has had many cars that contained evidence for the police.

I believe that although the odor emanating from the Pontiac was awful, once SB and GA found the white trash bag in the trunk, both men believed the white trash bag was the cause of the odor. The reason I believe this to be the case is, the actions of both men after finding the white trash bag.

SB said he would not allow someone to drive a vehicle away if it had evidence of a homicide. If SB really was certain this was the smell of death and not the smell of rotting trash, then he would not have allowed GA to drive the car away, because obviously if the smell of a decomposing body was in that trunk, that trunk would contain evidence of a homicide and he would not have allowed GA to drive away with the evidence.

This is a big blow to the foundation of the states case. The jurors have not studied this case for 3 years. They basically only know what is presented in court. In court, a very credible SB allowed GA to drive the car away. JB will remind the jurors repeatedly of this everytime the smell of death comes up in trial. SB would not have allowed GA to drive that car away if he was certain that odor was the smell of death and not the smell of trash, because that would be allowing someone to drive away in a car that would very likely have contained evidence of a homicide in it.
As always, my entire post is my opinion only.