3.State Rests Its Case — Jury Dismissed for Evening
41 linesJUDGE WHEELER: Does the State have another ones?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: May I have one moment to confer with the clerk, Your Honor?
(Pause in proceedings.)
JUDGE WHEELER: Is there an exhibit remaining up here? There's an exhibit up here. Ms. Dugan, could you get that?
MS. DUGAN: Yes, sir.
JUDGE WHEELER: I think that's 135.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Judge at this time, the State rests.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. The State has rested its case. That means they've presented all their testimony at this time. we're going to break for the day. All right? I apologize, I know that we've gone over, but I wanted to finish this one witness and not break it up. I will be more mindful of that tomorrow, we won't go over tomorrow, and so we won't have any issues with that. Okay?
In the morning, we'll start with the Defense case, and we'll move as quickly as we can, and we'll know -- we'll have a better estimate of how we'll be proceeding once we have some discussions here in the courtroom. Okay?
So, please again, no discussions amongst yourselves or with anyone else. No searches on the internet or any press reports. We'll see everybody back here tomorrow morning at 8:30. Okay? Thank you very much.
(Jury exits courtroom.)
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. Jury's out of the courtroom. The door is closed. Please be seated.
The State has rested its case. Any motions on behalf of the Defense?
MS. KAWASS: Your Honor, I didn't know if you wanted me to do that now or if you want me to do that first thing in the morning.
JUDGE WHEELER: Is it going to be a lengthy motion?
MS. KAWASS: No. It's just -- I just want to just be able to cite cases, but I will be very concise in my argument.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. You can go ahead and do it now then.
MS. KAWASS: Oh. No, I was asking if we could do it first thing in the morning, Judge, just so I can --
JUDGE WHEELER: Oh, because you want to get cases?
MS. KAWASS: I want to add just the citations for case law.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. Okay.
MS. KAWASS: But it will be no more, Judge, than I would say, tops, less than ten minutes, if that much. Five minutes maybe.
JUDGE WHEELER: Are you on Mr. DeCoste's same timeline?
MS. KAWASS: No. NO, sir.
MR. DECOSTE: That clock is broken. All right?
MS. KAWASS: No, sir. NO, Sir.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. Sorry for calling you out on that, Mr. Decoste.
MS. KAWASS: And it's only because it's the three counts, Judge, I just want to have the case law.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. 1I'11 allow you to make any motions in the morning.
MS. KAWASS: Thank you, Judge.
JUDGE WHEELER: And so, as I stated before, you know, we have a timeline that we're trying to deal with. If I could have a list of witnesses -- have all your witnesses here tomorrow, please -- and then based on what you give me, then we'll see when we need to do an inquiry with Ms. Magbanua in regards to her testifying. we'll get through tomorrow as efficiently as possible, and as we know, we're going to break by 5:00 tomorrow. Okay? And then we'll see where we stand.
Anything before we break?
MR. DECOSTE: we do have one issue that we can handle now that would be helpful. So, Steven Downing, who is a sergeant with Florida Highway Patrol is our witness. It was -- you know, the government has them listed, but he testified for the Defense in the previous trial. He's testifying again for the Defense. while I was cross-examining Agent Sanford, or right before it, ASA Dugan emailed that she had a conversation with our witness, that he went back in his records, and now his testimony is perhaps changed, and we've received a new document. So we've received now a document right before the State has rested their case. That is a new document. And the relevance of it is this: Trooper Downing testified in a deposition and at trial, consistently over the course of years, that when he pulled over Luis Rivera he was alone in the car. Now all of a sudden his testimony apparently has changed after a conversation with ASA Dugan, that there is perhaps now an indication that there was a passenger in the vehicle.
JUDGE WHEELER: What's the document that has been provided to you?
MR. DECOSTE: It's a screenshot from a database.
JUDGE WHEELER: Okay. And so, Ms. Dugan, was this just provided to you by the trooper today?
MS. DUGAN: Yes, sir.
JUDGE WHEELER: So, as far as a Richardson hearing, I mean, I don't think that there was any intentional hiding of this. It was just presented to the State today. And so I think that in regards to the prejudice, I know that it changes the testimony that you were expecting, but the trooper will be here, he'll be here in the morning, and it will give you an opportunity to speak with him in the morning or whenever you choose to call him.
MR. DECOSTE: The issue that I want to make for the record is this -- and I don't -- Your Honor, I don't say this lightly. This trooper, with other pros-- Ms. Dugan is new to this case. with previous prosecutors, and there's many that were involved, we sat down for deposition. we did not, you know, beat around the bush with these questions. We were very detailed in the questions. Same thing in the trial. Same thing in the prep. How, during trial, there was a conversation with a new prosecutor and all of a sudden it's, oh, the testimony changes. I cannot help but think that this is an attempt to change his testimony, because it's so harmful --
JUDGE WHEELER: I'm not even going to hear that. You're going to have to talk to the witness about that. Only the witness will know that, if you're making any type of accusations. I'm going to say that it was inadvertent, it's -- in the scope of things, it's not -- it's important to you, I understand that, and so it certainly can be substantial, because I know that this is an issue in regards to whether he was traveling -- two people or one person in the car, but you can talk to the trooper about it tomorrow. And I think with the quantity of his testimony and what he is testifying to, you can get whatever information you need to get from him tomorrow morning, and so I'm going to find that you're not prejudiced by that because the State didn't even know about it until today also. And I don't have any indication that the State is feeding this witness -- they're entitled to talk to the witness just as you are. So the witness will know that. Certainly if there's any indication from the witness of that, then it's a different issue. Okay?
MR. DECOSTE: Understood.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. So we'll be in recess then until tomorrow. 8:45 we'll meet back and start with the Defense case. we'll hear motions first, and then proceed accordingly. Okay?
MS. KAWASS: Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE WHEELER: All right. Everyone have a good evening.
(Court in recess.)