Watching Emma's testimony this morning. My observations:
DIRECT
- When Emma says she has not watched any prior testimony, CD smirks
- I don't believe for a minute that Emma doesn't know the financial situation with Prior
- When Emma starts speaking of Tammy's health, CD does his "chin thrust" (fearlessness, superiority)
- Emma's testimony sounds very scripted. There's some strange, unnatural sounding wording (the school "houses three grades," "some people didn't know that," "I observed her," "I was aware of"), and she seems to immediately have an answer for everything, with no pause for thought.
- When Emma starts talking about the FitBit, CD very briefly swaps to his "self-soothing" pose (LDS prayer pose, shoulders hunched), which makes me think he's nervous about something with that FitBit.
- When Emma is talking about Tammy reading in bed, CD makes an odd sort of expression (grimace/contempt?)
- Emma says that Tammy told her she "never would" run a 5k. Right. Because that's normal language people use.
- "My mother and I were both overweight." This statement just feels gross to me. You weren't "overweight" -- you'd just had a child.
- "She stopped going when she died." What a bizarre statement.
- Oh, so Tammy could fend off an attacker bc she played a boxing game on the Wii.
Riiiight.
- CD switches to his "self-soothing" pose when Emma is talking about the health insurance, which makes me think he was nervous about that part. He stays in that pose through the rest of the testimony.
View attachment 504939
- When Emma mentions using the Cozy Cone for music so that they didn't disturb Tammy, CD nods a bit
- CD wanting to keep to "the original form" of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and using the term "fundamentalist"
screams to me that he wanted to reinstate
polygamy
- Prior definitely seemed to be prompting Emma to show some emotion with his line about "if you need a tissue or anything"... and later "if you need a break, tell me"
- After the break, CD is back to his "default pose" - maybe Prior reminded him how he's supposed to be sitting?
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- The jury is supposed to believe Emma's word that he was not fleeing the day the children were found. She could tell he was driving only 50 mph.
- The jury is also supposed to believe that CD's behavior at Tammy's funeral was totally normal for grieving LDS spouses, even though every witness they've talked to that said it was odd were, in fact, LDS.
CROSS-EXAMINATION...
- Knowing that Emma has been talking to CD daily calls absolutely
everything she says into question
- I'm
really hoping that we get to see/hear some prison visits/calls with Emma on the rebuttal, bc it's obvious Blake has more info on those conversations that we haven't seen yet
- "I stay up later when I'm sick and have just thrown up as well," Emma said, regarding Tammy being up after 10pm that night. This does not seem normal to me. People who are sick tend to sleep more, not less.
- I love that Blake pointed out that CD signed the insurance papers; it completely destroys the whole "Tammy did this without consulting CD" narrative
- I also love that Blake asked, "Did you ever ask your dad where [the kids] were? What did he tell you?" And then Blake gives the jury a nice long pause to think about that.
- I also like how Blake got Emma to testify that as patriarch, CD was the sort of person who liked to be in charge and run things
REDIRECT...
- CD goes back to his "self-soothing" pose when Prior tries to throw LVD under the bus by saying that she never told CD what happened to the children
Honestly, I think this testimony is going to hurt CD more than help him. I think the jury will be able to see CD's manipulation at work within Emma. She's shown that she's willing to lie and stretch the truth and that she's still being guided and influenced by CD.