GUILTY NC - Kathy Taft, 62, Raleigh, 6 March 2010 - #6

[NCEast]

Hi All!
Glad this trial is finally beginning. I've been in and out today so I will have to watch opening statements tonight. Seems the mic at the witness stand is working well but all others are mighty weak on my end.
Hope everybody is well!

 

[kate42000]

Thanks NCB but it is not showing it anymore....I'm getting dizzy with the trials and waiting for the verdict in the Tammi Smith trial....0)

 

[NCB]

Thanks NCB but it is not showing it anymore....I'm getting dizzy with the trials and waiting for the verdict in the Tammi Smith trial....0)

Hi again, Kate--sorry, just checked back in here. Were they on a break? Looks like they are closing up for the day in Florida and here in Raleigh.

P.S. OT That defense attorney in the Kaufman trial is something else!!

 

[kate42000]

Yes they are both finished for the day....I'll see you folks manana....have a great night.

 

[borndem]

I wonder if they are going at this defense from 2 angles. First to show that the defendant was too intoxicated to form the specific intent to kill the victim, therefore knocking out the first degree murder AND to add enough mitigation so that in the punishment phase, avoid the death penalty. I have a link on that that I will post soon. I need to make sure it's okay first.

Sounds like a good defensive plan, Prancy. I still wonder, however, about the "too intoxicated" part, and maybe I'm overthinking or not giving the male physiology enuff credit, but he certainly wasn't too intoxicated to leave his DNA on that bedsheet, etc.

If they can knock out 1st Degree, then the DP is moot, but they would be covering the bases pretty well with your theory, wouldn't they -- a Plan A would be Not 1st Degree Murder, and a Plan B would be 1st Degree Murder but not the DP.

 

[borndem]

Hey laces, I'm on our desktop right now, but we've discussed the problem with hearing on laptops before. It can usually be solved with an inexpensive pair of headphones. When I'm listening on the laptop I usually borrow hubby's headphones for his laptop. :fence:

Yeppers, glee. I use a $6.00 pair of earbuds, and they do just fine.... My laptop has good sound, though, so I'm usually all right. When Savage asks some of her questions, I have a very hard time hearing it, but then she turns or something & she is loud & clear. :waitasec:

 

[AnonymousD]

Goodness. This makes no sense.

http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Trial_In_Kathy_Taft_Murder_To_Begin_148488345.html

*snipped*

Conner says Williford broke into the home, not realizing anyone was inside. The attorney says his client panicked after Taft make a noise, striking her three time in the head with a rock and then he raped her.

Gee, the last time I checked, don't they teach it in BLET (Basic Law Enforcement Training) that most criminals who are breaking into a home & are startled will, in fact, RUN? Heck, they even taught us that in concealed weapons class. Not beat someone in the head & then rape them.

 

[borndem]

I guess it depends upon the make-up of this jury. Me personally, he came across as rather bumbling, rambling etc. Perhaps that's his schtick? Like an Andy Griffith type character. I'd never heard of him before. Borndem, do you know what case Boz is handling? I thought he was prosecuting this one, don't know where I got that impression from though?

No idea, glee. Yes, I would like to see him again, too. Sharp & quick & very tech-savvy.

Saacks is a real go-getter, too. Does anybody know who the woman is at the PT table with Saacks? I thought her O/S was good, and short and to the point. She made KT a very human victim. She made us see that poor woman, lying in the bed, bleeding and hurting and dying.

 

[borndem]

I agree...I don't know how these families can cope with it...so sad...

I don't see how they do it, either, but it must be just pure love and gutz, I guess. KT was tuff in her own little feminine way, and I guess they're doing it now for her since she can't. He beat the tuff right out of her that night. Grrrrr.

LWOP would fit him like a glove.

:maddening:

 

[borndem]

Excellent testimony by Wake Med Emergency Room Sane Nurse - she stayed beyond the time her shift was over to perform the exam and collect evidence from Kathy Taft. She was knowledgable, unruffled and I think anyone who comes in contact with her in the ER is darned lucky. I'm proud to be a nurse when I see women and men like this one!

My thoughts exactly, laces (except I'm not a nurse). I thought throughout her testimony and when she left the stand, what a soothing person she could probably be to some 15 year old girl who had been through a horrible trauma, etc, or anyone who is scared, mad, raw-feeling, and possibly wrongly feeling ashamed to be there. Yes, it looks like she is someone who has found her calling.

 

[borndem]

Goodness. This makes no sense.

http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Trial_In_Kathy_Taft_Murder_To_Begin_148488345.html

*snipped*



Gee, the last time I checked, don't they teach it in BLET (Basic Law Enforcement Training) that most criminals who are breaking into a home & are startled will, in fact, RUN? Heck, they even taught us that in concealed weapons class. Not beat someone in the head & theat rape them.

This dog don't hunt for me, either, AnonD -- According to this scenario, for all JW knew, the victim could have had a 250-lb Navy Seal husband in another room with a sig sauer on his hip...

And I'll say again, he wasn't too drunk to think to beat her to death or to leave DNA evidence behind.
:twocents:

 

[gracielee]

This dog don't hunt for me, either, AnonD -- According to this scenario, for all JW knew, the victim could have had a 250-lb Navy Seal husband in another room with a sig sauer on his hip...

And I'll say again, he wasn't too drunk to think to beat her to death or to leave DNA evidence behind.
:twocents:

And he wasn't to 'diminished' to understand he wasn't offering up his DNA to the cops either.

 

[NCEast]

The female ADA is Trish Jacobs, first murder trial. I'm already wishing her tons of luck!

 

[diphi]

I'm in the middle of watching the DT's opening statement. So far, I'm feeling bad for JW's dad, just having his own issues put out there. So much for privacy in your personal life...

imo

 

[NCEast]

I'm in the middle of watching the DT's opening statement. So far, I'm feeling bad for JW's dad, just having his own issues put out there. So much for privacy in your personal life...

imo

I was thinking the very same thing as I listened to the DT opening. It breaks my heart that JW's family is being subjected to so much mud. Obviously, they love him and are still trying to help him. Very sad.

 

[borndem]

The female ADA is Trish Jacobs, first murder trial. I'm already wishing her tons of luck!

Thanks, East -- I did not know who she was.


Whew -- can you imagine -- your first murder trial and it's a DP case?! And it's getting more bizarre by the minute...
​

I liked her O/S (to repeat myself). She's doing a fine job up there, IMO.
​

 

[diphi]

Thanks, East -- I did not know who she was.


Whew -- can you imagine -- your first murder trial and it's a DP case?! And it's getting more bizarre by the minute...
​

I liked her O/S (to repeat myself). She's doing a fine job up there, IMO.
​

I liked it, too. Didn't bother with, or need, tons of detail. Good job.

imo

 

[NCEast]

Thanks, East -- I did not know who she was.


Whew -- can you imagine -- your first murder trial and it's a DP case?! And it's getting more bizarre by the minute...
​

I liked her O/S (to repeat myself). She's doing a fine job up there, IMO.
​

I didn't know who she was either.....not like I know all of them. Most of my friends are in low places but I do have a couple in high places
She got off to a good start with her OS--short and to the point and easy to follow. Since this case is so sensitive in several areas I think the decision to use a female ADA second chair was a good one.

 

[no1uknow]

My opinion of the testimony, so far, is that Jason and his defense team aim to blame this crime on everyone except for Jason. It truly chaps my hide that the DT is presenting this case as if his parents, his wife and even Kathy's sister shoulder some responsibility in what happened. He's apparently admitted that he raped and murdered her. What in the world is the point in this character assassination, of calling this victim's family members out as alcoholics? It may be true but what does that have to do with anything?
I am horrified to learn more about what a monster I was living a few feet away from. The details of the crimes he has committed are gruesome and the defense he and his lawyers are presenting is utterly despicable.

 

[borndem]

I heartily agree with you, no1 -- the DT has lassoed his parents, his girlfriend, poor JF, his friends, and DH, and whoever else they can grab, and is just dragging them all through stuff much worse than mud... And all of those people are going to go back out into the world during & after this trial and they will all have to try & hold their heads up and walk down the street, go to the grocery or hardware store, or to the mall, or to work or to church or to the bank, or to a restaurant and act like "normal" human beings.

And they are trying to make it sound like Jason is the only person in the world who has these problems, poor guy, and we should not hold this against him because he is of diminished capacity and mentally ill.

This is like defending someone who blows a BAC of .29, drives his car & t-bones a car carrying 3 family members & kills them all, and saying "he was so drunk, he couldn't help it, his thinking was addled. It's not his fault." Blame the bartender, the liquor store and the automaker and the gasoline station for enabling this poor drunk to drive that night...

Could they not have simply asked the DA's office to accept a plea of Guilty of 1st Degree Murder and Rape and in exchange, take the DP off the table?

:maddening: