Brock Dietz — Direct/Cross/Redirect
153 linesJUDGE HANKINSON: Your next witness, Ms. Cappleman. The State calls Brock Dietz.
JUDGE HANKINSON: I don't know who the juror was, but y'all did exactly right. If you need a break, just let us know. Oh, we'll take a break when you need to take one.
JUDGE HANKINSON: I forget the parking arrangements and so forth getting in. All right, court administration treating you okay? All right, let me know if there's a problem. We've made some county employees are having to park elsewhere, so you all get priority.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Say your name and spell your name.
BROCK DIETZ: First name Brock, last name Dietz. D-I-E-T-Z.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How do you spell Brock?
BROCK DIETZ: B-R-O-C-K.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How are you employed?
BROCK DIETZ: Excuse me. I'm a detective with the State of Florida's Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives Investigation.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How long have you been so employed?
BROCK DIETZ: Since 1994.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And as part of your duties there, do you look at video surveillance and attempt to clarify video surveillance?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, ma'am, that is correct. Since 2002, for the past 17 years, one of my job responsibilities is to perform forensic video analysis.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And what training and experience do you have in that area?
BROCK DIETZ: Can I refer to my notes?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Sure.
BROCK DIETZ: Over the past 17 years, I've had the ability to be able to go not only through private vendors that sell the equipment and the software, but other public agencies — the FBI is one of them — and also other forensic scientific organizations that I've received training up under.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And how many occasions have you had during the course of your employment there to attempt to enhance or clarify videos?
BROCK DIETZ: I've worked over 750 video cases since 2002.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And what types of things can you do with these videos?
BROCK DIETZ: The technique that I use is basically clarifying video.
BROCK DIETZ: The way I like to describe it is simply, the video has been recorded, and I clarify it so that the judge and jury can make an educated decision on what they're seeing. A good way to describe it is, if you turn off all the lights in this room and there's something being recorded, I simply just raise the luminance up so that you can see what's already there.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So you can make the images brighter?
BROCK DIETZ: Brighter. Identify objects or subject matter that needs to be identified by highlighting them.
BROCK DIETZ: Enlarge them is another one. Perhaps slow down the video so that the judge and jury could see the events that are occurring.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Are you able to clip out portions of the video — like, if you had, you know, 15 hours of video but only two or three minutes that are important, would you be able to isolate those images?
BROCK DIETZ: That is correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And what about drawing circles around things that, you know, the prosecution wants to highlight? Is that something you'd be able to do?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, ma'am. That's easily done in the software that's available to us.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. Were you asked to clarify some videos in reference to the case that we're here about today?
BROCK DIETZ: That is correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I want to specifically draw your attention to State's Exhibit 124, some clips from Premier Gym's surveillance from July 18, 2014, and State's Exhibit 125, some clips from some city buses that were taken from that same day. Are you familiar with those State's exhibits?
BROCK DIETZ: I am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And did you attempt to clarify or do any analysis on those State's exhibits, those specific clips?
BROCK DIETZ: In my terminology, I clarify them.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. Tell us exactly what you did. Let's start with the gym surveillance clip.
BROCK DIETZ: Okay, with the Premier Fitness and Health. And I'll describe the software that we use at the laboratory that I perform this analysis on. For this specific case, I was using Avid. Avid is a leading industry nonlinear editing software that gives us the capabilities to be able to take video footage or streams of it and make the edits that we need to do — such as, as the ASA had described, we can take out portions that extend too long.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What's an ASA?
BROCK DIETZ: Assistant State Attorney, I'm sorry.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay, carry on.
BROCK DIETZ: And it also has a forensic software suite, or a plug-in, called dTective that is made by Ocean Systems. Those plug-ins allow us to be able to highlight the subject matter, perform frame averaging, expand on a field of view that we need to concentrate on, such as magnifying it. And that is the software, again, that we use specifically for this case. And the footage from Premier, I re-digitized the original footage. When I say re-digitize, I took DVR decoder, which is part of the plug-in of the forensic software that we have. I took that — it's a pixel-for-pixel, records what you're seeing on the screen.
BROCK DIETZ: I can take DVR decoder.
BROCK DIETZ: This particular video was played in what they call a TVR player.
BROCK DIETZ: It's like a VLC player or Windows Media Player, but there was one that was specific for that type of software. The images that I received — it was called TVR player.
BROCK DIETZ: The video was playing in it, and I took the plug-in DVR decoder and outlined the video and recorded it pixel-for-pixel. When I say pixel-for-pixel, I'm not losing any information.
BROCK DIETZ: That allows me to be able to input that video file into Avid.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What's occurring these days?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: What's Avid?
BROCK DIETZ: Avid is the nonlinear editing software that we use to perform these clarifications on.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. So you're copying it out of its player that comes with it, that's prescribed with the surveillance system from the gym?
BROCK DIETZ: Correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And then plug it into some other format?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, ma'am. And we do that because these file formats will not import into Avid software. That is simply because every Monday a brand-new company comes up that has a codec that is specific, or that is unique. All these software programs — they're not able to read them. That's why they incorporate, a lot of times, their own little player, such as this one was TVR player. Again, so I'm not able to just import that file into my software. I have to, what I call, re-digitize it to be able to bring it back in, and at that point I can perform an analysis on it. Again, with this specific case, the State Attorney's Office identified a person of interest, the victim, that victim's vehicle, and the defendant's vehicle. Times were provided to myself by the State Attorney's Office, in which I isolated those times, and at that point, when those vehicles came of interest, I did clarification on — basically highlighting them, showing them for a period of time, a few seconds, and then letting the video play from that point.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So when, for example, we're talking about the green Prius — when that comes into view, you kind of pause the video for a second, draw a circle around it, and then let it play through, and then that clip ends and we go to the next clip where either the victim or the Prius are in view, and the same thing happens. Is that correct?
BROCK DIETZ: That is correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And are the times that are shown on each of those clips that you put into this presentation accurate and consistent with the times that were on the original?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, that is correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And you didn't alter or change anything, like adding or taking out vehicles or people or anything like that?
BROCK DIETZ: No, ma'am, I did not. I simply highlighted the interest, the vehicles, and the person.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And what about in reference to the city bus video, State's Exhibit 125?
BROCK DIETZ: Okay, that software, or that specific video file, I was able to play it in Windows Media Player, which most computers have. And again, I re-digitized it, brought that back into Avid, and applied similar effects to it — the highlight showing the vehicles — and then playing from that point.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: When you say highlight, what is that?
BROCK DIETZ: That is when I drew a circle around the vehicle of interest or the person of interest.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So we drew the circle around it, and we kind of paused it, and then we took the clips out where the different things are in view. But other than that, did you do any kind of enhancing, as far as — I don't know — turning on the lights, like how you described earlier?
BROCK DIETZ: No, I didn't. I've changed no luminance. Luminance is the value of darkness and highlights. The only thing that was applied to those was a highlight effect to be able to circle them.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So basically we do circles on these things.
BROCK DIETZ: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And that's the bus video and the gym surveillance?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No further questions.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Cross.
MR. ZANGENEH: Yes. Just give me one second, Judge.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Okay.
MR. ZANGENEH: Detective Dietz, good afternoon.
BROCK DIETZ: Good afternoon, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: When the prosecution asked you to make these, I don't know what the right word is here, to enhance or alter the initial videos, okay?
MR. ZANGENEH: Would it be fair to say that at that point, the prosecution had a target as to who they believed was involved in this case?
BROCK DIETZ: When I was clarifying those video clips, yes. The State Attorney's Office identified the vehicle and the person of interest.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, and would I be correct in assuming that — well, why don't you — do you remember the day you were asked to do this, the specific date?
BROCK DIETZ: No, sir. It was over a span of about a month.
MR. ZANGENEH: Well, do you remember when that month started?
BROCK DIETZ: August.
MR. ZANGENEH: Of what year, sir?
BROCK DIETZ: This year.
MR. ZANGENEH: August of 2019?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: So the government — I'm sorry, the prosecution — in this case approached you five years... would that be about correct? The incident took place in July of 2014. You're aware of that, correct?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, sir. The State Attorney's Office approached me at that point. Prior to that, I did receive portions of the video from Tallahassee Police Department.
MR. ZANGENEH: And do you know, when you received those portions, what the date was?
BROCK DIETZ: August the 5th, 2014.
MR. ZANGENEH: And you prepared the video that the government's shown you — what's been previously marked as government's Exhibit 124 and 125 — in August of this year?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: And how long does it take you to prepare these modifications?
BROCK DIETZ: Depending on the length of time that's being asked, anywhere from — I could accomplish it in a day to a week.
MR. ZANGENEH: So if the government would have come up to you a few months ago and said, listen, we need the modifications to be made from this original surveillance footage, it would take you a day to a week to provide what's been entered in the evidence as government's Exhibit 124 and 125?
BROCK DIETZ: That's correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: Do you have the original videos, the original footage?
BROCK DIETZ: No, sir.
BROCK DIETZ: May I expand on that?
MR. ZANGENEH: Yeah, I was going to follow up on that.
BROCK DIETZ: Okay. When I receive the evidence in, it's either through a CD, DVD, or a thumb drive.
BROCK DIETZ: And at that time, I'll take the original, what's being submitted to myself, go ahead and put it on the hard drive, and then return that back to the submitter.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, so you take what's given to you, download it on your hard drive, and then give the original back to — I assume — law enforcement or the State Attorney's Office, correct?
BROCK DIETZ: Correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: But would it be true to say that you would have a copy of the original footage on the hard drive of your work computer?
BROCK DIETZ: Correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: Do you do or make any kind of presentations where you do side-by-side analysis, where you do the original footage versus the altered footage, so a jury could see what you received versus what you're presenting to them?
BROCK DIETZ: I have, yes, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: Did you do that in this case?
BROCK DIETZ: No, sir, I did not.
MR. ZANGENEH: Give me one second, Judge.
MR. ZANGENEH: Detective Dietz, you indicated that you conducted the enhancement or the alteration — or let me rephrase that — for what's been previously entered into evidence as government's Exhibit 124, 125: when did you provide the prosecution with that?
MR. ZANGENEH: You said August of 2019?
BROCK DIETZ: The last copy was presented last week.
MR. ZANGENEH: Last week. And when you say last copy, is that a different edit versus the one previous to that?
BROCK DIETZ: Correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: So you're constantly — or you've made multiple edits to the original?
BROCK DIETZ: I've added things to the — I had the original video, and at the request of the State Attorney's Office, new — not new footage, but new awareness of the location of the vehicles or the person of interest — have come about.
BROCK DIETZ: And they've asked me to add that to my other clarifications.
MR. ZANGENEH: And what was the most recent awareness, or what did they ask you to do most recently?
BROCK DIETZ: There was additional — may I refer to my notes?
MR. ZANGENEH: Of course you can, sir.
BROCK DIETZ: Okay, I'm ready, sir.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, go ahead, Detective.
BROCK DIETZ: They wanted to add some more information from camera two at the 9:24:19 mark, where the Prius comes into the screen.
BROCK DIETZ: At that time, they also asked me to eliminate some of the victim sitting in the car, because I believe the victim stayed in his car at that point for five minutes. So I basically deleted some of that time frame, from when he entered the car and then exited the parking lot in his vehicle.
MR. ZANGENEH: And this is the Prestige footage — the Prestige, Premier —
BROCK DIETZ: I'm sorry, yes, sir. Did I say Prestige? I apologize.
MR. ZANGENEH: No, it's — it's long of the day and I didn't get coffee for lunch. So from the Premier Fitness, that is what you're referencing to. And from August 5th in 2014 to August 1st, the latest alteration that you made to the surveillance how many times do you think that you have gone through the original footage and made alterations to it?
MR. ZANGENEH: Take your time, look at your report.
MR. ZANGENEH: Let me know when you're ready.
BROCK DIETZ: Five times.
MR. ZANGENEH: Five times, sir?
BROCK DIETZ: Correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: And would it be correct of me assuming that the — or whatever work that you have done has been at the direction of the State Attorney?
BROCK DIETZ: That is correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: And it would be — would it be fair to say that the work that — well, strike that question, Judge. I'm not going to ask the question I was going to ask. Give me one second, Your Honor, if I may.
MR. ZANGENEH: Thank you, Detective. No further questions.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Magbanua?
MR. DECOSTE: No questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Redirect.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So just to clarify, Detective Dietz, the — the what is being referred to as alterations, were drawing circles around items of interest in these videos?
BROCK DIETZ: That is correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And pausing the videos at certain points so that you can see what it is you're drawing the circle around?
BROCK DIETZ: Yes, ma'am.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And also editing the videos so that portions of the video where the subject vehicle is not present are not going to be shown to the jury?
BROCK DIETZ: That is correct. At no point — at no point was the original ever worked on. I always work on a working copy.
BROCK DIETZ: So the clarifications that I made are just a working copy that's been provided to the State.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And is this something that you do in the ordinary course of your business, to make the presentation of surveillance images more efficient for a jury to view?
BROCK DIETZ: That's what I believe, as you know, a forensic video analysis is — is to make it clarify to the point so that the judge and jury can make a good decision when they deliberate.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Nothing further.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Does any juror have a question of this witness?
JUDGE HANKINSON: You can step down. Remain with us please, sir.