Closing Arguments- Chase Merritt Charged W/Murder of Joseph, Summer, Gianni and Joe Jr McStay #2

[la2cabo]

Anyone know if we get the same judge in the event of a hung jury? I think he is retiring? And, apparently we would be stuck with Maline and McGee? Just doesn't seem right to me to force M&M to do the retrial. I think they are working pro-bono or just collecting the court appointed lawyer fee.

M&M aren't working pro bono that I'm aware of. I think they're hoping to strike it rich with the documentary.

 

[Kavya01]

Again, if you have ever had endless meetings at work, those headache inducing, stressful, dull, maybe full of power struggles and arguments and tension, day-long meetings.
Here they are, days of meeting, sitting around that table, going over sad stuff, and trying to make the right decision about a terrible crime. I get the need for breaks. I do NOT want them to get so fed up because they did not get a bit of time away to recharge every now and again, that some of them, against their instincts,feel compelled to say "fine, whatever," and justice does not get done as fairly as possible.
JMO

 

[Edmo]

Would a new defense team be able to claim that his current attorneys had failed in not requesting the mistrial due to delay?

Now, the defense has caused a substantial amount of the delay—but still, are new attorneys bound by the (possible) mistakes of the old defense team?

I thought Steven Avery's original DT did an amazing job and yet, they were found in-effective. There's no telling what grounds CM will have at an appeal, if he's found GUILTY !!!

 

[Mony Mony]

M&M aren't working pro bono that I'm aware of. I think they're hoping to strike it rich with the documentary.

I can't imagine the documentary is paying CMs lawyer fees. Are they?

I can imagine they struck up a deal to get part of the royalties. But it is a gamble. If the documentary isn't successful, M&M don't get money.

MOO

 

[Sulamith]

Seriously? A break after 2 hrs 12 minutes? This is getting more ridiculous by the second, don’t the jury usually have lunch brought to them? They don’t have to actually go to lunch and abandon deliberations...

I served on a jury in Victorville, Ca. which is in San Bernardino County, around 16 years ago. Drug offense, only lasted one whole day. No lunch was brought to us. Heck, we did not even have water, sodas, coffee offered to us in the deliberation room. That was my experience, probably things have changed by now. I was the one "holdout" on the jury on the perp's guilt. I still feel bad about caving to the other jury members. If I knew then, what I know now, I would have questioned the cop's "probable cause". MOO

 

[gitana1]

Okay I'm going to try and believe that the schedule is due to jurors schedules. I am okay with that scenario.




I have zero opinion on Chase's guilt or innocence.

I do have a very strong opinion about justice. I wanted Chase to get a professional, fair trial. I don't feel like he got that at all.

I want a hung jury because I don't feel this trial was fair. I don't want him acquitted OR convicted by this jury.

Though I can see panicking if you fully believe he's guilty, at the thought of an acquittal. Couldn't blame them at all for that, I would be too. This isn't like Caylee, this was an entire family beaten to death. The person who did it is a danger to society.

I think anyone who can murder their very own child is a danger to society, you know what I mean?

But that aside, justice and feelings are two different things. A case may not feel fair to someone but there have to be concrete legal reasons to point to that demonstrate that a defendant was denied due process. The constitution isn't based on emotion. It's based on fact and what the nation decided would be law, founded on democratic principles and the concept of inherent rights which was influenced by Enlightenment philosophers.

Was his counsel so grossly incompetent as to be ineffective in defending him?

Did the court issue rulings that were contrary to the law?

Was there actual misconduct we know of, like evidence tampering?

Was the defendant prevented from cross examining witnesses, did the court prohibit him from testifying or presenting his own witnesses?

If the answer to all the above is no, then his due process rights were protected. That's justice.

What, specifically, do you feel was a due process violation in this case?

I'm trying to understand.

 

[la2cabo]

I served on a jury in Victorville, Ca. which is in San Bernardino County, around 16 years ago. Drug offense, only lasted one whole day. No lunch was brought to us. Heck, we did not even have water, sodas, coffee offered to us in the deliberation room. That was my experience, probably things have changed by now. I was the one "holdout" on the jury on the perp's guilt. I still feel bad about caving to the other jury members. If I knew then, what I know now, I would have questioned the cop's "probable cause". MOO

Why did you feel like you had to cave to the others?

 

[Roundhouseman]

Maybe they've reached a verdict, and now the judge is notifying family so they can head over to the courthouse. Or maybe it will still drag on through the end of this week.

No verdict yet. I’m with one of the family members.

 

[gitana1]

There’s no way I can now be pursueded the paltry time spent deliberating is because of the jurors schedules . They go on pretty long lunches , regularly . They could have lunch brought in , even if they chose not to deliberate while eating. It would save a lot of time .
This is starting to smell rotten , IMO.
Wonder if the Prosecution has tried to get JS to set some stronger perameters ?

What do you mean by "rotten"? I take that to mean corruption of some sort.

 

[asyousay]

No verdict yet. I’m with one of the family members.

Thanks for the update

 

[MissJames]

I feel like we should be grateful they were able to come up with a jury and alternates. I read somewhere a while back that San Bernardino county was having a difficult time finding people who would show up after receiving a notice for jury duty. Maybe things have changed since I read that but that's what was said some years ago.

Well now I wish they’d moved it to another county .

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

Good morning/afternoon, everyone!

Are the jurors back from lunch yet?

 

[geevee]

#McStay: Jurors are back in their deliberation room at 1:36 pm.

 

[gitana1]

I thought Steven Avery's original DT did an amazing job and yet, they were found in-effective. There's no telling what grounds CM will have at an appeal, if he's found GUILTY !!!

Citing a rare case like that is like citing the not guilty in a case like Casey Anthony's as evidence that this rarity should be a serious concern.

It's really uncommon to win an appeal, and even rarer to have your own former attorney signs an affidavit agreeing he was ineffective for not hiring certain experts.

 

[UndiscoveredTruth]

#McStay: Jurors are back in their deliberation room at 1:36 pm.

Thank you, geevee!!

 

[MissJames]

What do you mean by "rotten"? I take that to mean corruption of some sort.

Of course I can’t take it that far , although the DA did ask the judge to question all of the jurors about being approached by Wallace .
I should add , I really don’t like criticism of juries . This has been an exception for me , to some extent.
It’s more of the feeling I had after the CA trial , that maybe some of the jurors had their own agenda ( book deals, media attn ) .
There’s just something very off . Gut feeling based on the lack of time spent actually deliberating .

 

[gitana1]

No verdict yet. I’m with one of the family members.

How do they feel?

 

[Meemaw12]

Maybe the jurors are following the example set by those in the Court.

 

[Meemaw12]

Or maybe the jurors have never seen a trial and think all trials are carried out this way,

No rush, take your time type stuff.

Dunno

Imo

 

[Roundhouseman]

How do they feel?

Doing ok. Waiting for the call to head that way.