NC NC - Madalina Cojocari, 11, reported Missing Dec 2022 three Weeks After Last Seen, Cornelius, *Parents Arrested* #3

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@DerekDlngr
·
19m
Back in court for jury selection in the Christopher Palmiter trial.For those not familiar, he's the stepdad of Madalina Cojocari, who has been missing since November 2022. He pled not guilty to a charge of failure to report the disappearance of a child. Case is high-profile.


@DerekDlngr
16m
Madalina's mother, Diana Cojocari, pled guilty to the same charge and walked out of jail yesterday after 17 months there.Interestingly, some of this discussion is over whether Diana will testify. Her lawyer is in court right now.


@DerekDlngr
4m
Judge plans to hold the option open to subpoena, but is holding off on a decision.Onto jury selection after a brief break.(Logistical thing: since this is jury selection, the pool camera will be off for the sake of jury anonymity, but we can be here and update.)
 
Chelly said:
@DerekDlngr
7m
54 potential jurors have entered the courtroom.Judge is giving his introductions and instructions.
Click to expand...
I will be away today so I look forward to yours and anyone else's updates today.
I have a feeling DC will testify and turn this all toward blaming CP.
Even though I also suspect it's possible he had nothing to do with MC going missing.

jmo
 

@DerekDlngr
28m
Judge indicates that the trial *should* last until the end of next week, possibly the week after that.

@DerekDlngr
2m
Judge asked the first 12 questions about who they are, what they do, and if they have anything that may conflict with their ability to serve.All general questions, but jury will be brought out individually to answer
 

@DerekDlngr
15m
There is a general feeling that some of the jurors have knowledge of **advertiser censored* missing persons case in northern Mecklenburg County, but not specifically this case.Others say they don't know anything about any missing person's case.

@DerekDlngr
2m
Just to give some background on how the jury selection is happening--Of the jury pool of 54, they pulled 12 names out. 1 of the 12 was excused, so they're bringing in another from that original pool.
 
Hunter Sáenz

@Hunt_Saenz
·
15m

Before jury selection, some matters were addressed. Specifically, the defense said they had sent a subpoena to Diana Cojocari to testify. In court, per
@EliBrandTV
Cojocari’s attorney told the judge that if she was called, she would likely plead the 5th on all questions

At this point judge says he is likely to permit defense to call Cojocari, but he could change mind in future. So it’s still not clear if she will indeed be called up to testify.
 
@DerekDlngr
16m
All the prospective jurors (those picked out and those in the pool) have been brought back in to allow for additional questions from prosecution and defense.
@DerekDlngr
10m
Prosecution is going over what they contend in the case, laying out what they plan to show in the case. Questions towards potential jurors from prosecution deal with what they know in terms of locations and people involved in the case, and are a little more personal in nature.

@DerekDlngr
1m
Lunch break. Jury selection process resumes at 2pm.
 
@DerekDlngr
1h

Prosecutor says, during jury selection, the state's case will likely be "a day, a day and a half", indicated some of what they have is an interview that was on a body-worn camera, in addition to witnesses.
@DerekDlngr
21m
Just a quick update--jury questions continuing. Prosecutor is going over the answers to the questionnaire that all potential jurors filled out.
 
Found another interesting tweet:

@Hunt_Saenz
1h
Assistant District Attorney Austin Butler told the jury just now he expects jury selection in this case to take longer than the trial itself. Plans to bring 4 or 5 witnesses. Butler says the state will likely take a day to a day and a half to present their case
 
@DerekDlngr
14m
Jury questions continue. Due to the nature of the questions and for the sake of the jury's anonymity, I'm not going into detail on the questions being asked or the answers.In general, however, the questions do relate, albeit indirectly, with interactions with law and work.

@DerekDlngr
9m
Having covered court trials before, these questions are nothing out of the ordinary. Both the prosecution and defense want the best jury they can get. That being said, prosecutors did just excuse two potential jurors. Two more coming up now.
 
@DerekDlngr
20m

10 excused.Jury selection continues in the morning.
===========================================
ETA: I often am clueless about what this tweeter is telling us. I think this means only two jurors have been accepted. Or have no jurors been seated yet. I guess I need to go back and reread his tweets. Has anyone figured it out?
 
Last edited:
www.corneliustoday.com

Missing Madalina: The mystery isn’t the point, jurors told | Cornelius Today

By Mark Washburn. May 22. Jury selection began Wednesday in the trial of the stepfather of missing Cornelius teenager Madalina Cojocari with one promise from the prosecutor: “What happened to Madalina is not what this case is about,” said Austin Butler, assistant district attorney. “I don’t...
www.corneliustoday.com www.corneliustoday.com

*****
Butler (Assistant DA) said his side of the case might last only a day with few witnesses. He said he intended to introduce evidence from Bailey Middle School that Cojocari and Palmiter were understood to be the girl’s parents, and that police would testify about an interview with Palmiter about his understanding of what happened to Madalina.

He also said there would be a 50-minute video of Palmiter being interviewed by police on the day the girl’s disappearance was disclosed. A school bus driver is also expected to testify, he said.

But Butler told jurors that the witness list filed by the defense had 35 names on it—many of them Palmiter’s relatives. He indicated this could signal that jurors might be led to facts that could build sympathy for Palmiter, despite the narrow confines of the offense.

*****
(Looking forward to seeing the 50-minute video -- it will be interesting to see how CP comes across during the questioning.)
 
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