GUILTY NE - Juliette Geurts, 2, beaten to death, Gering, 11 July 2008

[AmandaReckonwith]

Chauncey was in court again today.

http://www.kotatv.com/news/nebraska...rt-judge-to-decide-on-photo-evidence/31258010

[h=2]Judge considers photos displayed in opening statements[/h]
Special prosecutor Jim Zimmerman asked the judge to allow him to use two specific photos to show to the jury in opening statements, before the photos are introduced into evidence.

The specific photos depict two dissected livers in the hands of a pathologist.

Zimmerman says he intends to show the jury in his opening statements what a “healthy” liver looks like, and what a liver that has been “damaged” as a result of receiving blows looks like.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Am I mixed up on my memory, or is this the first we've heard that Juliette's worst injury was a lacerated liver?

And I am so mad. How could you hit a baby so hard that you lacerate their liver!!

 

[MsFacetious]

Nope, it's been in the thread from the beginning. :twocents:
My surprise was that a child that small has a liver big enough to have a 4 inch laceration to it. :twocents:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...r-s-2-year-old-murdered&p=7941681#post7941681

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Thanks, Ms. I'm surprised too... it must have been basically dissected.

I added this to the Case Archive; it is based on your post.

 

[mellie89]

Zimmerman filed the motion to show two photographs during opening arguments earlier this week. Arguments on the motion were heard in front of Judge Leo Dobrovolny Friday morning. Dobrovolny denied the motion late Friday afternoon.

Chauncey is scheduled to be tried Feb. 23 through Feb. 27.

http://m.starherald.com/news/local_...4aa-b3fa-11e4-9834-270c5df8ee33.html?mode=jqm

 

[mellie89]

Charyse Guerts appears in court.

Prosecuting attorney Doug Warner made a motion to have Guerts detained while she is scheduled to appear in court next week, which he estimated would be Monday through Wednesday.

Guerts' attorney Bell Island objected the motion.

District Judge Leo Dobrovolny took the motion, along with a separate motion to quash, under advisement,. He said he will make a ruling sometime early Friday

http://m.kotatv.com/news/nebraska-n...court-thursday/31369024#.VOaVfE-I0QA.facebook

 

[mellie89]

Charyse Guerts

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Charyse Guerts

I wonder how she is smirking now.



http://www.starherald.com/news/loca...cle_d762d5f4-b898-11e4-989c-9f818b3241c6.html

Bell Island, attorney for Charyse Geurts, said that the woman shouldn’t be in custody and that other accommodations should have been made for her if she was being taken in as a material witness. He argued that the state knew that he and partner Sterling Huff represented Charyse Geurts but had made no attempt to contact them to secure the woman to testify next week.

Island denied that the woman had been refusing service, but had moved to Texas to "start a new life" after a strained relationship with her mother-in-law.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Judge Dobrovolny has ruled that she-devil can be released on $100K bond and be under house arrest until she testifies.

http://www.kotatv.com/news/nebraska-news/guerts-to-stay-in-custody-before-chauncey-trial/31391740

http://www.starherald.com/news/loca...cle_5c7fcc55-be58-5e45-ae8f-3aceb66df9e6.html

 

[MsFacetious]

I can't believe this trial is finally going to start!
When I first heard about Juliette I was done having babies.
Now I have had a change of heart, tried to get pregnant for 2 years and am expecting #3 in July.
It has been SO long since Juliette died... it's unbelievable how long it took to get here. :tears:

It isn't that difficult to inform the prosecutors seeking justice for your murdered daughter... where you are living. :twocents:
I love that they detained her and I'm not convinced she will be released to house arrest because of the money.

http://www.kotatv.com/news/nebraska-news/justice-for-juliette-trial-begins-monday/31415008

The "Justice for Juliette" trial will start at 8:30 a.m. Monday morning in Scotts Bluff County District Court.

---------------------------

Guerts' mother Charyse, is detained and will testify as a material witness during the trial.

http://kneb.com/regional-news/week-...man-accused-in-2008-death-of-juliette-geurts/

Jury selection will begin Monday morning in the scheduled week long trial of 28 year old Dustin Chauncey, the man accused in the 2008 death of 2 year old Juliette Geurts of Gering.


Juliette Serenity Geurts
November 2, 2005 - July 11, 2008

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

I'm so ready to see justice! I can only imagine how the people that fought for this day are feeling.
Obviously little Juliette's parents wrote her off and moved on, but the people of Gehring and elsewhere rallied around Aunt Monica and got this to trial. Go Justice!

I have the markers ready and I will be archiving each day of the trial here:
Juliette Geurts Case Archive
http://s296.photobucket.com/user/crankycrankerson/library/Juliette Geurts -NE-?sort=6&page=1

I wish I could be in the courtroom when Mom testifies.

 

[MsFacetious]

I wish it was going to be live.... I'd love to watch, even if it was later in the day.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Juliette/163622797027340?ref=br_tf

The burning question is how can anyone bury their daughter just to walk away and not fight for justice for her.
Do you see them fighting for justice for her? Silence... Crickets...
We all keep asking ourselves why and there will never be a satisfactory answer to this most sickening and bazaar twist to the death of Juliette Serenity Geurts.

So when this is all said and done and the trial and the verdict is forever archived in Nebraska history what will we all remember?
That those who never knew Juliette in life fought harder for her than many who claimed they loved her.
But here is the one truth, Juliette's life meant more to Jaelyn than anyone here on God's green earth.
And if Jaelyn was all grown up today she would be the one person fighting the hardest for her twin sissy to see Justice prevail.

We will never forget the fact that Juliette deserves justice from all those responsible.
And God help us all if another child should ever suffer the same fate again by those responsible because justice was never served.
Who will stand up and be that voice and fight that fight for an innocent little child?"

Now with the Mother in custody against her will as a material witness let the trial begin for Dustin Chauncey and for Justice for Juliette!

 

[MsFacetious]

The Scottsbluff Elks Lodge was being used for jury selection Monday because of the large jury pool and the ability for all the jurors to be questioned at one time by the attorneys and the judge rather than in shifts at a courtroom.

http://www.theindependent.com/news/...cle_c051d757-0abf-5efa-b4a4-b0a3e3a5599b.html


A jury pool of 123 people gathered Monday and underwent questioning this morning as voir dire is underway in the trial of Dustin Chauncey. As of noon, a jury pool of about 80 potential jurors remained.

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Testimony in the case will likely begin Tuesday as jury selection is expected to take most of Monday.

As of mid-afternoon, a handful of jurors had been excused because they had signed the petition that Hall circulated or said they held opinions, based off media reports, information they had seen on social media or received from other sources, and would be unable to serve as an unbiased juror in the case.

http://www.starherald.com/news/loca...cle_5c46dcbd-ade3-59be-8e63-eec3e62fbbc9.html

 

[MsFacetious]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Juliette/163622797027340?ref=br_tf


After six years, 'Justice for Juliette' case being brought to trial

“I can’t believe it. It is finally here,” Monica Hall, the aunt of a 2-year-old girl killed in July 11, 2008, said as a jury was selected in the case of a man accused of killing the girl.

------------------------

A jury of nine women and three men was seated Monday to hear the case.
Two alternates, a man and a woman, will also hear the case that has been pending since Hall, working with local citizens, lead a petition drive to bring the case to a grand jury.

http://www.starherald.com/news/loca...cle_987060d3-0253-591a-b40a-4288f68849bb.html


Jury selected, Opening statements Tuesday morning in Dustin Chauncey trial

Opening statements in the trial of Dustin Chauncey, the man accused of killing Gering toddler Juliette Geurts in 2008, will take place at 8:30 Tuesday morning.
A twelve person jury, the majority of them women, plus two alternates, were picked from a jury pool of 125 people after a full day of questioning Monday by attorneys on both sides.

http://kneb.com/regional-news/125-potential-jurors-in-pool-for-chauncey-trial/

 

[MsFacetious]

Opening statements are expected to be given Tuesday in the Gering trial of a man accused in the death of a 2-year-old girl more than six years ago.

http://journalstar.com/ap/state/ope...cle_c6e353c8-5cc4-594e-bfdb-001b7991774b.html

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

http://www.starherald.com/news/loca...cle_8d11c0ca-bc56-11e4-b24a-37a9e309adc6.html

Zimmerman said that the girl, who suffered a febrile seizure in the hours before her death, had walked in on her mother, Charyse Geurts, while the couple were having sex after they had earlier taken the girl to the emergency room. Evidence will show that Chauncey kicked the girl in the stomach and took her to her bedroom, Zimmerman said.

The specific acts that occurred in the bedroom are unknown, he said, but the girl suffered bruising around her head and stomach area. She suffered blunt force trauma to her head and her stomach. The girl died of the injuries to her liver, which Zimmerman said “literally was blown up” and she “bled out.”

“This little girl is sick, she wants her mommy and the defendant punished her in a way that is so brutal that it caused her death,” Zimmerman said.

 

[MsFacetious]

I am going to post this without comment or I will be banned.

http://www.kotatv.com/news/nebraska-news/justice-for-juliette-trial-updates/31451626

UPDATE: (2:46 p.m.) Charyse Guerts taken into custody after refusing to testify in trial.
Brandon Townsend to take the stand after 15 minute recess.

Guerts is being transported to Torrington where she will be held in their prison for the duration of the trial.

 

[MsFacetious]

'Justice for Juliette' TRAIL UPDATE:

Charyse Geurts refuses to testify in trial.
She is currently being transported to a prison in Torrington for the duration of the trial.

https://www.facebook.com/KOTANOW/posts/842657509124526


“This is a case about a little girl that was savagely beaten to shut up. So severely beaten that her liver was literally blown up.”

Zimmerman added that Juliette was beaten around the head and suffered blunt force trauma- an injury that likely caused her death.

-----------------------

After opening statements, Todd Lancaster called for a mistrial based on information about Chauncey’s sperm being found on Juliette that was mentioned during Zimmerman’s opening statements. The defense was concerned that the jurors would associate that with sexual assault. Zimmerman said he would have been able to clarify the matter had he not been objected to during his opening statements.

http://kneb.com/regional-news/in-depth-day-one-of-the-dustin-chauncey-trial/

(I am guessing he would have clarified that Juliette interrupted them having sex.
So when he beat her/kicked her his sperm was transferred to her.)

 

[MsFacetious]

He also said that Juliette Geurts had been previously injured in the weeks before her death, having received stitches on a head wound, when only her mother and twin sister were present in the home.

-------------------

During Moreno's testimony, the first photos of the girl after she died were shown. The girl had been taken to the living room, where she remained as law enforcement began their investigation. Photos showed lividity in the girl's back, which Moreno testified indicated that she had been lying down when she died. Photos also showed the bruising that had been in the girl's abdomen area.

Moreno also displayed a broken portion of the girl’s crib. The crib, which had been set up as a toddler bed with an open side, had been damaged so severely that the metal bed frame had been broken through and was also bent.

http://www.starherald.com/news/loca...cle_8d11c0ca-bc56-11e4-b24a-37a9e309adc6.html

 

[MsFacetious]

I am well aware that Brandon is not a saint or a model citizen.
However, I would like to thank him for having the guts to testify.
It is nice to know that SOMEONE got emotional about Juliette's death.
It's nice to see someone talking about this rather than hiding behind it. :twocents:

So thank you Brandon. I think you were the only innocent adult in the house that night. :twocents:


'Justice for Juliette' TRIAL UPDATE:

Jurors recessed for the afternoon. Brandon Townsend last witness to take the stand.

Townsend became emotional when describing how he found Juliette the morning of her death, shed tears.
"I fell to my knees, because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
I had to touch her skin to make sure what I was seeing was real."
BT also visibly upset when photos of Juliette's body shown on screen.

BT testifies upon finding Juliette, he carries her into the bedroom of Dustin Chauncey and Charyse Geurts.

Brandon Townsend testifies Chauncey held up Juliette and said,
"Oh my *advertiser censored***** G**, she's dead. I need to *advertiser censored***** leave."

Defense will cross examine Brandon Townsend tomorrow morning.

https://www.facebook.com/KOTANOW?fref=nf


Testimony in the 'Justice for Juliette' Trial started this morning, marked by a key witness' refusal to answer questions.

The mother of Juliette Guerts had been brought in from Texas and held under house arrest as a material witness in the case of Dustin Chauncey.
Family of Geurts says Charyse refeused to testify, and has been tansported to a Torrington prison.

http://www.kotatv.com/news/nebraska-news/Guerts-Refuses-to-Testify-in-Chauncey-Trial/31458170