2011.04.25 - The Trial Begins

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Wrinkles

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The trial begins today. The following are the prefacing articles I could find:

"Coleman Trial Starts Monday:" Chris Hayes, Investigator; KPLR 11 St. Louis; video at this link. Says that complete coverage will be at Fox2

>>A public defender tells FOX2, that jurors in the Chris Coleman murder case are more likely to convict, because of how they were picked.<<

then...
>>Here's part of what O'Gara would usually say, "I want you to imagine you've found Chris Coleman guilty. You've convicted him beyond a reasonable doubt, for killing his wife and killing his two young sons." Then he would ask whether that potential juror could not only consider the "death penalty" but also "life in prison without parole."<<

and, here is a little different wording of what we have heard...
>>One of the jurors that appeared most likely to be against the death penalty told the court someone recently murdered her son. She told attorneys "Even if they catch my son's killer, I might not want to see him executed."<<

I "might not" is different from I "would not." I can hardly believe someone who has recently lost a son to murder could bare the burden of sitting on a murder case jury :(

Read more at the above article...

From StlToday.com, Coleman's murder trial begins today:"

>>Follow our complete coverage of the case every day at stltoday.com/coleman. We will have updates from the trial, photo galleries, courtroom sketches from Post-Dispatch artist Dan Martin, a timeline of the case, videos from KMOV (Channel 4) and Twitter feeds.<<

The link at the above webpage (stltoday.com/coleman) did not work for me, this link did:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/coleman/

Bill McClellan at STLToday.com writes another article, "Coleman's defense needs novel plan."

>>In reality, though, the defense likes to have an alternative theory. In addition to trying to poke holes in the state's case, the defense wants to address the obvious question — if it didn't happen the way the state says it did, how did it happen?<<

and

>>But at a hearing in June 2009, Columbia, Ill., Police Chief Joe Edwards testified that experts had traced those threats to Coleman's laptop computer.

Because a stranger would not have access to Coleman's computer, the defense faces a choice. It can either mount an all-out attack on those computer experts, or it can adopt an alternative theory that accepts the fact that the threats came from Coleman's computer.<<

Seems there is a number of things missed, but this timeline is helpful in refreshing a memory.

This bit is particularly disgusting...
>>March 3: Court documents indicate that Dr. Michael Baden, a nationally known forensic pathologist, put the time of death at no later than 3 a.m. — almost three hours before Coleman left for the gym. Also revealed: Coleman considered a vasectomy reversal to have children with Lintz, and they had been looking at real estate listings and registering at wedding websites.<<

Looking at real estate listings, what, to buy? Oh...maybe because they knew the house was not long ago placed in Chris' name only? (Nov. 8) Now just how did that happen? Will a forgery of those documents be proven? Were any of Sheri's friends told by Sheri that Chris and she were removing her name from the house paperwork for some reason?

Then there is another from McClellan, "McClellan: Guilty plea could be Coleman's best move ":

>>Reitz will likely stress three things in the penalty phase. The motive was base — lust and greed. There was premeditation. The computer threats speak to that. Coleman planned this for months. Every night when he tucked those boys in, he could have decided to stop. And finally, there is the nature of the crime itself. The last thing those boys saw was the face of their killer, and Reitz will surely add that it wasn't the pensive face the jury has seen, but a face contorted with determination and effort. It is not easy to strangle a person, even a child.

Clarence Darrow would have a hard time making the case for mercy at that point.<<

If all of the above articles are not enough reading before we hear more news, don't miss the article posted earlier, "Son's murder charge hits Coleman family hard":

>>Ronald Coleman says he cries about it every day. Connie Coleman does the same.<<

Hmmm... I might have understood tears at the courthouse the other day.

Brother Brad tells his children Uncle Chris is working in Waterloo. I suppose the truth might be a little tough for children to hear, but working?
 
Are there any reporters tweeting live from the courtroom? What time is the trial supposed to start?
 
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/article_c293b985-a54c-5be1-8540-5c4b7a98432d.htmlWATERLOO &#8226; In opening statements this morning, Monroe County State's Attorney Kris Reitz told the jury that they will hear a "very comprehensive" case from 40 witnesses, who will outline Christopher Coleman's six months of planning for the murder of his wife and two sons.

Reitz said jurors will hear that Coleman bought a can of apple-red spraypaint two months before the killings and was busy texting his girlfriend in Florida the night before the murders. Reitz said apple-red paint was used to scrawl messages on the family's walls.

Reitz said Coleman was frustrated that his wife would not give him a divorce.

"He couldn't believe he couldn't get away from her," Reitz told jurors.

Reitz also touched on the threatening emails that investigators traced to Coleman's own work computer. "Experts will tell you the threats came from his computer," Reitz said.

Reitz said Coleman's employer, Joyce Meyer Ministries, had in fact fired people for having affairs. Investigators have long said a motive was Coleman's fear that he would lose his $100,000-a-yea job as bodyguard for televangelist Joyce Meyer of Fenton if he divorced his wife for his girlfriend.

Defense attorney William Margulis outlined a case in which "there is a lot of reasonable doubt."

Margulis, a Clayton attorney, told jurors that Coleman had been having an affair, but that he was looking for work and planned to leave the Joyce Meyer Ministries.

Margulis also said that, in the weeks before the murders, Chris and Sheri Coleman had been getting along better.

"Things had improved and they seemed happy," Margulis told the jury.

As for the threatening emails, he said, "anybody could have remotely accessed his computer." As for the paint, Margulis said that investigators checked Coleman's fingernails and never found any evidence of any matching paint.
 
How "happy" could they have been with him house-hunting, and wedding-gift registering with Tara? Not to mention , he spent his families last night on earth texting Tara.

Are they seriously going to argue reconciliation...or Sheri suddenly being okay with this?
 
The prosecution said it will lay out its case to the jury and will begin about six months prior to the murders. They believe Coleman came up with an elaborate plan to kill his family so he could make a new life with his mistress.

The prosecution said Coleman's mistress, Tara Lintz, went to high school with Sheri Coleman. They said Coleman had sexual relations with Lintz while he was traveling for work. Coleman worked security for Televangelist Joyce Meyer and made $100,000 a year.

Meyer was unable to attend the trial, so she taped her deposition. Prosecutors said Meyer testified she would fire any employee having an affair and that she ordered the couple to get counseling.

Prosecutors said Coleman felt "it was a job he could not lose."

Sheri's friends will testify during the trial that Sheri told them that Chris told her she wanted a divorce and that the family was getting in the way of work, according to the prosecution.

The defense did not deny that Coleman had an affair with Lintz.

They said Chris was seeking other job opportunities, so he could leave the ministry to spend more time with his wife and family."

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/256104/3/Opening-statements-wrap-in-Coleman-trial
 
Comment :

I just read the update from 10:55, and it didn't include this, but Channel 2 just reported that some new information that Reitz provided in his opening statement is that they have evidence from cellphone records that he apparently drove north, past the Columbia exit on I-255, as he was supposedly "rushing home". He probably needed a little more time so he passed up exit 6 (Columbia) and then took the next exit, #9 I think, in Dupo and then doubled back. Interesting. So he is rushing home and misses his exit? Really?
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I am sorry, this is already shaping up to be a schizophrenic defense. He was looking for other employment to spend more time with his wife and kids, or because he wanted to leave his wife and knew Joyce would fire him if he did? Sherri and he were happy in the last few weeks, but he was busily texting his mistress and planning his wedding to her and considering reversing his vasectomy so he could have children with her?

Already the defense seems ridiculous.
 
The defense team is desperate and will try anything. I saw the father Art Margulis in another murder trial in Hillsboro, MO last week and when the main witness was walking up to the stand he said, 'and this kids full of shxx'. He said this while court was in session and the jury was seated. This is the kind of scummy defense Coleman has. In the other case in Hillsboro a female prosecutor made mince meat out of them as will this defense attorney.
 
Brpkelly Brian Kelly tweets:


Chris Coleman wipes away tears as pictures of murdered wife and children are shown to jury. Officer testifies they'd been dead a while.
 
Comment :

I just read the update from 10:55, and it didn't include this, but Channel 2 just reported that some new information that Reitz provided in his opening statement is that they have evidence from cellphone records that he apparently drove north, past the Columbia exit on I-255, as he was supposedly "rushing home". He probably needed a little more time so he passed up exit 6 (Columbia) and then took the next exit, #9 I think, in Dupo and then doubled back. Interesting. So he is rushing home and misses his exit? Really?
-
the defense will argue that he was flustered and probably dialing on his cell phone and somehow missed the exit....
 
KPLR KPLR
Chris Coleman trial on lunch break. Sherri Coleman's mother expected to take stand following lunch. Details @fox2now #colemantrial
 
So we have read about the thuds hitting the wall...

Let's see:

"Coleman defense says triple murder evidence is circumstantial"


And here...

>>The defense opened by saying the evidence and prosecution's case against Coleman is circumstantial.<<

Um yeah, so? Many "circumstancial" cases have ended in convictions, circumstances can prove that someone did the crime.

And here "Chris was distraught when he learned about the murders,"

Um yeah, why he was so distraught he banged his arm against the guerney to hide wounds he got during the commission of the crime. As for his giving DNA, he figured it would be all over the house, why not give it.''

And here, "The defense told jurors 'you will find a lot of reasonable doubt in the evidence.'"

Ummm no, don't think so... I will define reasonable, and I will find (have found) reasonable proof.

THUD...FLING... Mysterious palm print...

>>The defense pointed to a mysterious palm print on a basement window and unidentified footprints outside the house and in the home's foyer.

Oh well, what was that about the text in the painting on the wall matching matching the text in Chris' emails? Umm...like starting sentences with "U" instead of "You" and ending the sentences with words that ARE IN ALL CAPS... I don't think I am distracted by that "mysterious palm print."

THUD! FLING! Chris was looking to spend more time with his family?

>>The defense did not deny that Coleman had an affair with Lintz.

They said Chris was seeking other job opportunities, so he could leave the ministry to spend more time with his wife and family.<<

Yes, is that why he told Sheri he was leaving her when he got back from Florida? Yes, he could do that in between house shopping with Tara and making sexy videos with her? Or maybe he would be spending more time after his vasectomy reversal and making boom boom with Tara to make her a baby?

OR MAYBE HE WENT TO THE GYM THAT MORNING INSTEAD of spending time with his family? Or maybe that's why the Disney tickets were cancelled? Yeah, he was realllly motivated to be near his family, wasn't he? THUD!

THUD! FLING!


>>Margulis also said that, in the weeks before the murders, Chris and Sheri Coleman had been getting along better.

"Things had improved and they seemed happy," Margulis told the jury.<<

Show me a man planning a wedding with his girlfriend, and I'll show you a man that is NOT getting along better and wanting to stay with his wife. THUD! What a dopey shot that was...

Yeah, happy? Was Chris showing Sheri the videos he and Tara were making and the two of them had a lot of laughter over dinner about this? That kind of "seemed happy?"

FWINNNNNNNNNNNNG THUD THUD THUMP FLOP!

>>As for the threatening emails, he said, "anybody could have remotely accessed his computer." As for the paint, Margulis said that investigators checked Coleman's fingernails and never found any evidence of any matching paint.<<

Yeah, and the moon could be made out of green cheese too, I mean have you ever dug down in the moon and tested to see that it isn't?

About that paint, ever heard of gloves and paint remover and bleach and a shower at a Gym? And calling hours after a murder and clean up and saying, "Can you check on my family?
 
ChrisHayesTV Chris Hayes
#Colemantrial- suspect sobs through crime scene photos but never turns to look. More @fox2now
5 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
 
Can we get some links to news resources that everyone is watching?

Twitters:
Coleman trial: http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#colemantrial
Nick Pistor: http://twitter.com/nickpistor
Ryan Dean: http://twitter.com/ryanjdean
Casey Nolen: http://twitter.com/CaseyNolen

CCup shared these news sources:

http://www.stltoday.com/
http://www.ksdk.com
http://www.kmov.com
http://www.fox2now.com/
http://bnd.com

BTW found this pdf with pictures and notes on those involved in the case.

Nick's twitter tells us of another THUD!

>>"prosecutors say cell phone activity shows Coleman not rushed to get home. Defense says cell tower ping doesn't prove anything"<<

Nah, and neither does the spelling, or that the message came from the computer of Chris, and neither do the videos... Yeah, nothing proves anything, I get it.
 
Sheri's Mother is to testify this afternoon.

I can only imagine how it will be for her. seeing Chris, knowing he willfully destroyed her daughter and her grandsons.

It would be hard to walk into a courtroom and face a driver who crossed the center line and killed your love ones...more so, a person who had murdered your family in a momentary loss of control.

But before her sits the man who planned the deaths of her loved ones for MONTHS and this trial is all that stands between him and getting ALL he wants. If found not guilty, her loved ones will be reduced to nothing more than cigareete butts in the street under his feet...kicked away as he proceeds on with his new life.

This Mother's pain must be beyond mortal description.
 
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