What About that Missing GPS Data?

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Leander said at 9:10 am today:

“Obviously, when Dee Dee made her statement she had heard GZ NEN call. We would have a much better scenario concerning her statements, had SPD done it’s job and interviewed her earlier. On the other hand, they had troubles to get at the phone due to the password. That’s the crux.”

I do not agree.

I do not believe Dee Dee had listened to the NEN call before Ben Crump interviewed her. IIRC, it was not released to the public until much later. The SPD had a lot of investigative work to do interviewing witnesses and processing the crime scene. If they even thought about it, checking the phone log probably would have been a low priority item on the to-do list, until after Ben Crump revealed that Dee Dee had been talking to Trayvon when the defendant stalked and assaulted him.

While it’s theoretically possible that the GPS data for the day of the murder might help the defense, I doubt that it does because we would have seen the defense lawyers congratulating their client and we would have seen him smiling or smirking at the news.

Instead, we saw gloom, doom, resignation, desperation and a visible dislike for the client that is more consistent with bad news for the defense. I cannot imagine that MOM would have failed to mention that the GPS data exculpated the defendant, given his propensity to try the case in the court of public opinion. He would have mentioned it in support of his argument for a continuance, if it existed, instead of waving around an insignificant bar-chart during an extemporaneous and rambling plea for a continuance.

He did not give a coherent answer when she put him on the spot and asked him to provide a specific reason why he needed a continuance. The best he could do was to squeak about not having any experts even though the defense team’s mismanagement of funds is the reason why it has no money to hire experts.

If the GPS data did not exist, or if it were uninterpretable, I think BDLR would have disclosed that in open court to Judge Nelson, defense counsel and the public. He did not do that. Instead, he graciously offered “to connect the dots” for the defense, but they did not rise to the bait.

That tells me the GPS data hurts the defense, badly.

The only reason that I can think of to explain why no one touched this issue and the body language of the defense team, including the lawyers turning their backs on the defendant and leaving him behind sitting forlornly at counsel table as they left the courtroom, is that the evidence devastates his story.

To his credit, I think BDLR resisted the urge to play “Gotcha” and I respect him for that.

He has the trump card. He knows he has it, and the defendant knows it too.

Now, we do too.

The defense team is up the proverbial creek without a paddle, unless the skies suddenly open releasing a downpour of dollars into the defense coffers. I recommend not betting the ranch that will happen.

The defendant is indigent or soon will be. He cannot adequately prepare for trial without an investigator and multiple experts. They do not work for free and he cannot afford them.

Under these circumstances, his lawyers need to file a motion asking Judge Nelson to find him indigent and sign an order allowing him to proceed in forma pauperis.

The sooner the better.

Unless, of course, the defendant pleads guilty.