Day 8 - October 8, 2019

The court addressed closing-preparation expectations, the upcoming charge conference, and the jury's 9 o'clock return.

Magbanua's counsel challenged Agent Sanford on Rivera's role, investigative gaps, the undercover bump, and the unrecorded Rivera proffer.

The State briefly clarified the Club Fate check's memo line on redirect as the court ruled on two objections.

Sanford agreed that eight April work nights would equal about $123 per night; the court overruled an objection during follow-up about the Club Fate check.

Sanford addressed cash records and Magbanua's claimed employment; after a sidebar ruling, the court admitted a text-message exhibit.

Sanford said the caller never used the name Katie, and the court declined to revisit its ruling on three calls.

Sanford addressed communications, Rivera's residence information, and investigative follow-up; the court upheld rulings concerning Magbanua's arrest procedure and Call I of State's Exhibit 138.

Sanford confirmed the wording of State's Exhibit 185, and the court barred speculation about its meaning.

At sidebar, the court and counsel reviewed juror questions about financial records, employment, searches for the gun, an arrest, and calls to an undercover number.

Sanford answered juror questions about tax, employment, bank, gun-search, and undercover-call records.

Sanford clarified the dates and approximate times of calls to the undercover agent.

Sanford said the April 28 call record did not establish who made the call from a handset associated with Garcia.

Sanford answered Magbanua's follow-up questions about nightclub records, an undercover text, and arrest-related matters.

Sanford identified Mr. Garcia in admitted call LL and placed it about nine minutes after an unverified hang-up call to the undercover.

FBI agent Louis Bronstein authenticated and identified the participants in a poorly audible surveillance recording of Charlie Adelson and Katie Magbanua's restaurant meeting; the court admitted State's Exhibit 154.

Bronstein said he did not make investigative decisions and described the laptop-sized messenger-bag device used for the surveillance recording.

Bronstein could not say he saw Charles Adelson show Katherine Magbanua a paper consistent with Government's 120.

Craig Isom testified that crime-scene tape was not visible from Centerville Road and described an arrest-related call from Charlie Adelson's attorney before a hearsay objection.

The parties disputed whether testimony about an attorney's call after Magbanua's arrest was admissible to show how arrest information was conveyed.

The court sustained an objection limiting proposed cross-examination about Luis Rivera's 2016 meeting.

The parties discussed how to address a juror's question after an objection to a follow-up question about a call from Charles Adelson's attorney.

The parties discussed proposed summary exhibits of Katherine Magbanua's tax information and defense objections concerning late disclosure and potential prejudice.

The judge addressed a juror's seat-belt question and clarified that attorney questions and unanswered objections are not evidence.

Hull authenticated Magbanua's tax returns and compared reported income with cash deposits; she also described Garcia's tax filings.

Hull acknowledged she did not retrieve Garcia's closed-account bank records and said they might possibly have been obtainable from archive.

Hull acknowledged gaps in the reviewed records and limits on whether they could rule out Magbanua's nightclub employment.

Hull said two Club Fate checks had bounced and were checks, not cash tip payments.

The State rested, and the court denied Garcia's and Magbanua's motions for judgments of acquittal before the defense case began.

Sergeant Stephen Downing identified Rivera on a 2014 speeding citation, described no impairment-related incident report, and explained the patrol car's dash-camera capability.

The State highlighted the limited retention of traffic-stop video, Downing's lack of independent memory, and an automatic default in the citation's passenger field.

Downing said the citation's passenger field defaulted to “no” unless he entered a passenger number, then acknowledged related deposition testimony.

Defense expert John Sawicki described limits in iCloud, call-detail, and cell-tower records, including messages absent from Charlie Adelson's backup.

Sawicki explained that phones do not necessarily use the nearest cell tower and may communicate from miles away.

Sawicki agreed his message total could include non-text notifications and that phone activity could be consistent with Jessica Rodriguez's house.

Sawicki said he lacked all of Luis Rivera's contact information and agreed that deleted FaceTime activity or disposable phones can limit phone-record comparisons.

Corbitt addressed limits in cell-site evidence, a stipulated preschool schedule, and competing explanations for Magbanua's July 19 handset activity.

Corbitt clarified GPS and phone-record evidence about rental-vehicle locations after the court overruled a scope objection.

Jason Newlin described a gun search based on limited information, acknowledged an improper approach to questioning Juan Marcos Vega, and faced defense questions about unrecorded interviews.

Newlin said he did not interview other Latin Kings from Luis Rivera's RICO indictment.

Newlin said the first meeting about Rivera's cooperation led to a gun search, was not memorialized in notes, and involved no observed coaching about a deal.

Newlin agreed that only Rivera and Rivera's attorney knew what occurred in the referenced room.

DeCoste recalled Isom to test what Luis Rivera did—and did not—say in the unrecorded September 30 meeting.

The record notes that an off-the-record sidebar conference occurred.

The court admitted an Apple subscriber-information record offered to impeach Luis Rivera, but barred counsel from calling it a phone record for the listed number.