Full Update
Aug. 15th, 2009 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omimouseThis is gonna be long.
(Note: Paul Alexander Montgomery III will be shortened to 'Ebon' throughout this)
So, myself and Louis drove down on Monday, because Assistant District Attorney Eddie Barnard was wanting to do pre-trial stuff with us on Tuesday. We talked over some of the stuff in our statements, and he clarified some things. He asked me if I'd had sexual relations with Ebon, and then asked me if Ebon was circumcised or uncircumcised. I got asked some fairly detailed questions about Ebon's anatomy. We both talked about the baby monitor setup that was in place at the house. Baby monitor went in when Phouka was moved to her own room. It started off in her room, and then moved into the hallway (3 feet from Cub's door) when she started messing with it. The receiving unit alternated between Catchild and Ebon's bedroom and mine and Warin's. There would be times when Catchild would complain about the unit in her room being off, and Ebon's answer would be, "You needed your sleep, so I turned it off and kept an ear out." There were also nights where Catchild flat out *demanded* that the unit be in her room.
He asked us questions about Ebon taking Cub out for walks. There was a point where Louis started to explain something by asking, "Okay, when I say 'multiple personality disorder', what do you think of?" Answer from the ADA: "Lying bitch." I know there's stuff I'm missing there, but Louis and Warin can fill it in via comments.
So, we did our best to sleep that night, and got up bright and early Wednesday morning. There was a flurry of getting dressed in nice clothing, make-up, hair, nails, and jewelry swapping. As an aside here, I apparently look *really* good in pearls. We packed ourselves and cross-stitching, crosswords, sudoku books, and a few decks of cards into vehicles and headed on out.
Jury selection started at about 9:00, and went on until around 10:30. We got trooped down into a different room (one of the other courtrooms) and sat around nervously. The detective that's been on this case (Bob Johnson) came in to tell us that the jury had been selected, and that from here on out, we were to completely and utterly ignore anyone with a 'Juror' sticker on. A few minutes later, the ADA walked in to tell us that they'd finished their opening statements, and there was now an hour break for lunch. He also let us know that we were now under the rule, which meant that until the trial was over, we could not talk about the case in front of each other. It also meant that we were not permitted in the courtroom unless we were giving testimony.
This is where I note that both Louis' mom and Warin's mom were in the audience of the courtroom. This is also where I note that Warin and his mother have reconciled, and ask that people please be at least civil, because the woman has been an unexpected godsend this year. Well, the judge makes a standard announcement that at this time, all witnesses need to clear the courtroom. Ebon looks around a little bit, looks at the pair of moms, and says something to his lawyers. They approach the bench and say something to the judge, who says something to the effect of, "I'm going to repeat myself here: All witnesses need to leave the courtroom." Around now was when the ADA got to explain that there were no witnesses in the courtroom.
The prosecution cannot pull the 'surprise witness' tactic, at least not in this state. The defense would have had the full list of witnesses that the ADA was looking at calling on. Therefore, our best guess is that Ebon was trying to get the only support Cub would have had while she was on the stand removed.
Cub was on the stand for about 3 hours, all told. She got a 5 minute break, and then the defense questioned her for about 15 minutes. The doctor that did the physical on her for DCS went on right after her, since the medical reports showed no damage. The doc was there to explain why it's actually not all that uncommon to have a rape victim that still has her hymen intact.
The next witness that I know was called to the stand was myself.
So, first off, I got to hustle up 5 flights of stairs, and then go *directly* to the stand. As in, the door to the stand was to the immediate right of the top of the last flight. So I'm well aware that I was out of breath. And my heart rate was up, and not just from the stairs either. I've never been in a courtroom before, let alone taken the stand.
Got sworn in, and no, they don't make you put your hand on a bible anymore. Sat down, gave my name, had to identify Ebon, (I was able to do *that* only by process of elimination at the defense table, and a quick squint at the man's face. Yup, it was Ebon. With a bowl haircut, 'geek' glasses, clean-shaven, vivid blue dress shirt, 'used car salesman tie', and slouching with a facial expression best described as '3rd grader with his hand caught in a cookie jar'.) had to confirm that I was married, and that it was to Louis. Went over how I met the group, romantic relationships, (he made sure to ask if I'd been a virgin when I met Ebon, and it is now on record that my first sexual experience was with both Ebon *and* Catchild) Ebon's talking about wanting to found a religion with himself as both the High Priest and God, the fact that he wanted 3 wives, each of which would wear a specific ring/jewel, and that he was wanting to give Cub the Ruby. And that I heard him asking Catchild for permission to court Cub.
The defense asked me if Ebon "really thought he was a god". ("Those were his claims, sir".) and asked me about the gaming and how much we talked about it and whether we talked about fantasy books and movies and the like. And there there were lots of questions about the small house, how furnished it was, what some of the furnishings in there looked like, when it was vacant and when it wasn't.
When I left, Louis was already on the bench outside the courtroom. I'll let him describe his testimony in comments. After us was Mikah. I don't know if there was anyone else after her. ADA came down at around 5:30-6, practically dancing in place. He asked Cub if it would be okay for him to ask her father if he could hug her, and we all laughed. He was *incredibly* proud of her, and told us all that we'd done fantastic that day. He then told us that the defense was calling witnesses tomorrow, and they were Catchild and Catchild's mom. He then asked some fast questions about the chat logs, namely where they'd come from, and I raised my hand.
Next day, we got in, got put in one of the jury rooms, and started going through the deck of cards from a Star Wars Trivial Pursuit game. The jury went into deliberations before lunch. We all went off for lunch, leaving Mikah behind with Louis' mom to wait for the verdict.
The jury deliberated for all of an hour, and that's including where they all had to read the charges off to each other. Guilty, all nine counts. Ebon and Catchild looked pissed, determined, stubborn. Then the *defense* wound up telling the judge that unfortunately, bail was not applicable in this circumstance. They had to pull the actual law books and read over them. It wasn't until the bailiff came up to Ebon, and asked him to start emptying his pockets that the two of them started crying. We rather suspect that they had intended to be in Mexico before the end of the day.
They put Ebon in cuffs, leg chains, and according to Warin's mom, belly chains and led him out of the building. Mikah says he was snuffling.
We all gathered at Warin's house to compare notes, since we could now all talk about stuff. And that was when we heard about Catchild's testimony.
She stated she had over 100 personalities. She stated that it was Andara today. She asked 'which one' when asked if she had ever heard about Ebon having a demon. She described the ritual they used to pull the demon out of Ebon and kill it. She admitted that the chat logs with Nonny were indeed hers. Note that these logs are where she stated that it wasn't unlikely that Ebon had raped Cub, and that Puppy was safe around him because she wasn't his 'type'. She also tried to throw Cub under the bus, claiming that she was trying to manipulate everyone so she could get her sister living with Warin.
From the news article, part of the closing statements from the defense,
"What she has said is fantasy," Collins asserted. "The victim did not grow up with a firm grasp on reality. This group (of five or six adults, including the defendant) had difficulty understanding where reality ends and fantasy begins. No one had a normal life."
In that light, having Catchild take the stand makes *perfect* sense.
So, I'm pretty sure that I'm still missing stuff, but at this point, I"m going to ask the other folks that were there to please fill in the gaps in the comments for me, as my fingers are trying to leave my hands.
(Note: Paul Alexander Montgomery III will be shortened to 'Ebon' throughout this)
So, myself and Louis drove down on Monday, because Assistant District Attorney Eddie Barnard was wanting to do pre-trial stuff with us on Tuesday. We talked over some of the stuff in our statements, and he clarified some things. He asked me if I'd had sexual relations with Ebon, and then asked me if Ebon was circumcised or uncircumcised. I got asked some fairly detailed questions about Ebon's anatomy. We both talked about the baby monitor setup that was in place at the house. Baby monitor went in when Phouka was moved to her own room. It started off in her room, and then moved into the hallway (3 feet from Cub's door) when she started messing with it. The receiving unit alternated between Catchild and Ebon's bedroom and mine and Warin's. There would be times when Catchild would complain about the unit in her room being off, and Ebon's answer would be, "You needed your sleep, so I turned it off and kept an ear out." There were also nights where Catchild flat out *demanded* that the unit be in her room.
He asked us questions about Ebon taking Cub out for walks. There was a point where Louis started to explain something by asking, "Okay, when I say 'multiple personality disorder', what do you think of?" Answer from the ADA: "Lying bitch." I know there's stuff I'm missing there, but Louis and Warin can fill it in via comments.
So, we did our best to sleep that night, and got up bright and early Wednesday morning. There was a flurry of getting dressed in nice clothing, make-up, hair, nails, and jewelry swapping. As an aside here, I apparently look *really* good in pearls. We packed ourselves and cross-stitching, crosswords, sudoku books, and a few decks of cards into vehicles and headed on out.
Jury selection started at about 9:00, and went on until around 10:30. We got trooped down into a different room (one of the other courtrooms) and sat around nervously. The detective that's been on this case (Bob Johnson) came in to tell us that the jury had been selected, and that from here on out, we were to completely and utterly ignore anyone with a 'Juror' sticker on. A few minutes later, the ADA walked in to tell us that they'd finished their opening statements, and there was now an hour break for lunch. He also let us know that we were now under the rule, which meant that until the trial was over, we could not talk about the case in front of each other. It also meant that we were not permitted in the courtroom unless we were giving testimony.
This is where I note that both Louis' mom and Warin's mom were in the audience of the courtroom. This is also where I note that Warin and his mother have reconciled, and ask that people please be at least civil, because the woman has been an unexpected godsend this year. Well, the judge makes a standard announcement that at this time, all witnesses need to clear the courtroom. Ebon looks around a little bit, looks at the pair of moms, and says something to his lawyers. They approach the bench and say something to the judge, who says something to the effect of, "I'm going to repeat myself here: All witnesses need to leave the courtroom." Around now was when the ADA got to explain that there were no witnesses in the courtroom.
The prosecution cannot pull the 'surprise witness' tactic, at least not in this state. The defense would have had the full list of witnesses that the ADA was looking at calling on. Therefore, our best guess is that Ebon was trying to get the only support Cub would have had while she was on the stand removed.
Cub was on the stand for about 3 hours, all told. She got a 5 minute break, and then the defense questioned her for about 15 minutes. The doctor that did the physical on her for DCS went on right after her, since the medical reports showed no damage. The doc was there to explain why it's actually not all that uncommon to have a rape victim that still has her hymen intact.
The next witness that I know was called to the stand was myself.
So, first off, I got to hustle up 5 flights of stairs, and then go *directly* to the stand. As in, the door to the stand was to the immediate right of the top of the last flight. So I'm well aware that I was out of breath. And my heart rate was up, and not just from the stairs either. I've never been in a courtroom before, let alone taken the stand.
Got sworn in, and no, they don't make you put your hand on a bible anymore. Sat down, gave my name, had to identify Ebon, (I was able to do *that* only by process of elimination at the defense table, and a quick squint at the man's face. Yup, it was Ebon. With a bowl haircut, 'geek' glasses, clean-shaven, vivid blue dress shirt, 'used car salesman tie', and slouching with a facial expression best described as '3rd grader with his hand caught in a cookie jar'.) had to confirm that I was married, and that it was to Louis. Went over how I met the group, romantic relationships, (he made sure to ask if I'd been a virgin when I met Ebon, and it is now on record that my first sexual experience was with both Ebon *and* Catchild) Ebon's talking about wanting to found a religion with himself as both the High Priest and God, the fact that he wanted 3 wives, each of which would wear a specific ring/jewel, and that he was wanting to give Cub the Ruby. And that I heard him asking Catchild for permission to court Cub.
The defense asked me if Ebon "really thought he was a god". ("Those were his claims, sir".) and asked me about the gaming and how much we talked about it and whether we talked about fantasy books and movies and the like. And there there were lots of questions about the small house, how furnished it was, what some of the furnishings in there looked like, when it was vacant and when it wasn't.
When I left, Louis was already on the bench outside the courtroom. I'll let him describe his testimony in comments. After us was Mikah. I don't know if there was anyone else after her. ADA came down at around 5:30-6, practically dancing in place. He asked Cub if it would be okay for him to ask her father if he could hug her, and we all laughed. He was *incredibly* proud of her, and told us all that we'd done fantastic that day. He then told us that the defense was calling witnesses tomorrow, and they were Catchild and Catchild's mom. He then asked some fast questions about the chat logs, namely where they'd come from, and I raised my hand.
Next day, we got in, got put in one of the jury rooms, and started going through the deck of cards from a Star Wars Trivial Pursuit game. The jury went into deliberations before lunch. We all went off for lunch, leaving Mikah behind with Louis' mom to wait for the verdict.
The jury deliberated for all of an hour, and that's including where they all had to read the charges off to each other. Guilty, all nine counts. Ebon and Catchild looked pissed, determined, stubborn. Then the *defense* wound up telling the judge that unfortunately, bail was not applicable in this circumstance. They had to pull the actual law books and read over them. It wasn't until the bailiff came up to Ebon, and asked him to start emptying his pockets that the two of them started crying. We rather suspect that they had intended to be in Mexico before the end of the day.
They put Ebon in cuffs, leg chains, and according to Warin's mom, belly chains and led him out of the building. Mikah says he was snuffling.
We all gathered at Warin's house to compare notes, since we could now all talk about stuff. And that was when we heard about Catchild's testimony.
She stated she had over 100 personalities. She stated that it was Andara today. She asked 'which one' when asked if she had ever heard about Ebon having a demon. She described the ritual they used to pull the demon out of Ebon and kill it. She admitted that the chat logs with Nonny were indeed hers. Note that these logs are where she stated that it wasn't unlikely that Ebon had raped Cub, and that Puppy was safe around him because she wasn't his 'type'. She also tried to throw Cub under the bus, claiming that she was trying to manipulate everyone so she could get her sister living with Warin.
From the news article, part of the closing statements from the defense,
"What she has said is fantasy," Collins asserted. "The victim did not grow up with a firm grasp on reality. This group (of five or six adults, including the defendant) had difficulty understanding where reality ends and fantasy begins. No one had a normal life."
In that light, having Catchild take the stand makes *perfect* sense.
So, I'm pretty sure that I'm still missing stuff, but at this point, I"m going to ask the other folks that were there to please fill in the gaps in the comments for me, as my fingers are trying to leave my hands.
