January 16, 2007
Miracle
of miracles, the trial is FINALLY underway.
I knew that they were selecting the jury, but I didn't think they were
going to be ready until the 18th (I was obviously wrong).
Because
of miscommunications, I missed the 1st half of today's hearing: opening
arguments & the first witness for the prosecution; it was the maintenance
man that found Gary's body. From what I gathered, I did not miss much
(the prosecution establishing what the maintenance man saw, and the defense attorney
trying to make some point about the delivery of bake goods – in order to raise
doubt about the time-line laid out by the prosecution). There was a break for lunch, and the trial
resumed, which is when I showed up.
The
next witness called was Mr. Patel, the former owner of the Dupre
Hotel. Mr. Patel confirmed that: 1) cash had been taking from the motel
(about $750); 2) that the defendant
(Moloi) had worked there for a brief time (months earlier) & had been
fired; 3) that the murder weapon (a
champagne-like bottle of cider) had been purchased after Moloi's employment ended;
4) that the recording device for the
security camera was not hooked-up. Assistant
District Attorney Howard Gundy also asked several questions about the working
procedures of the motel – presumably to lay the foundation for further evidence
in the case. The defense attorney asked
several questions about delivery of bake goods to the Dupre,
again, to [presumably] call into question the state's time-line. The bake goods were to be laid out sometime
between 5:30 & 6:AM, in the breakfast room, by the
night auditor (i.e. Gary); photos show that they had been laid out, yet it is
the state's belief that Gary was killed in the 4:AM hour of that morning. The defense also asked several questions
about Mr. Patel's memory of events & procedures; I believe that this was done
to cast doubt onto the accuracy of Mr. Patel's memory. I don't think the defense scored any major
points.
After
a 15 minute break, the final witness of the day was called – Ms. Perez (the
cleric that Gary relieved on the night of
the 22nd, and the last person known to have seen Gary alive). According to Ms. Perez, Moloi had been at the
motel twice that evening. The first time
was around 8:PM; according to her, he said that he was out jogging, and that he
wanted to ask her some questions about a car being sold by a relative of her's. She found it
odd that he said he had been jogging, yet was wearing jean-type shorts, a
backpack & white-cotton gloves (hardly appropriate work-out clothes). He left about 20 to 30 minutes later, but
returned later on that evening. He was
making her uncomfortable, so she made up some story about the manager being on
property, and insisted that he leave – which he did. Also, according to Ms. Perez, Moloi had been
at the motel several days earlier (the story he gave then was that he was
looking to speak to another motel employee); during this visit, he had gained
access to the back office, and became aware that the security cameras were not
recording anything. In so many words,
Ms. Perez laid out that Moloi was casing the
place. The defense's main tactic with
here was to try and call doubt into her memory of events (e.g. Why hadn't she
mentioned in the white gloves in earlier statements to police? Are you sure those where tennis shoes you saw
the defendant wearing? Could those have
been basketball shorts you saw the defendant wearing? Etc.).
Ms. Perez got a tiny bit nervous under cross examination, but she held
her own, and I believe came across as credible.
Anyway,
the trial resumes tomorrow at 9:15AM.
