From the article:
[…]
Now her attorneys are suggesting that police lied in the probable cause affidavit required for her arrest. On Wednesday, August 17, they filed motions to suppress evidence and to call for what’s known as a Franks hearing, a court proceeding wherein Armstrong’s council will seek to “traverse” the warrant by proving to a judge that the information establishing probable cause is false. In this case, the judge is
Brenda Kennedy, who’s set to retire in December.
The
Chronicle has yet to receive copies of the newly filed motions, but one to examine and inspect evidence related to a “test fire” suggests that attorneys believe gun evidence is misleading. Monday, Cofer told the
Chronicle he planned to file motions that would “address serious issues in the case against Kait.”
As for Armstrong’s trip to Costa Rica, Cofer said she was in a state of shock. “Imagine waking up on May 13th and you’re Kait Armstrong. Your partner and lover of three and a half years had just spent nine hours at the [police] headquarters being interrogated for murder.”
On May 12, the day Strickland was interrogated, Armstrong was also arrested on a
2018 warrant for allegedly failing to pay for Botox services. Cofer said police took Armstrong from her home in handcuffs in front of her neighbors, interrogated her briefly, but then told her that bringing her in was “all a mistake.” Per court documents, on May 12 police confronted her with a video that showed a black SUV (like hers) pulling up to the home where Wilson was killed, but had to release Armstrong when her birthdate on the 2018 warrant and in APD’s system did not match up.
After this interrogation ordeal, as Cofer tells it, Armstrong awoke the morning of May 13 to find
vandalism at her home, which was very disorienting. Cofer asks the public to imagine living through these two days, “Not knowing you were safe; not knowing what role, if any, the people in your life may have played in the death of Mo Wilson. Imagine the fear and terror, but most importantly the shock, that Kait Armstrong had to feel. It makes a lot of sense that she would want to be with family [in New York].”
[…]
An expat surfer in Costa Rica,
Teal Akerson, told the
Statesman he went on
several dates with Armstrong and that she was going by the name “Ari.” He also said she’d described going through a “traumatizing breakup” recently. The
Chronicle reached Akerson, who offered an interview for $5,000, which we declined.