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Feb

2016

Week 2: The Grim Sleeper Trial. Monday February 22nd…

Posted by Victoria Redstall on 23 Feb 2016 / 0 Comment

February 22^nd. Monday morning

I arrived at 7.35am which was way too early but that’s usually when I get to talk to Lonnie’s friends and neighbours. I’d spoken to Paul and Ricky over the weekend to make sure that they would be ‘exclusive’ to me with regards to giving anyone else any information in the media. I am not ‘the media’ therefore they are starting to trust me, however I don’t want someone else taking what they have said (and continue to say) only to me before it goes in to my book. They both have promised me that they will not be talking to any media.

We all walked in at 8.35am, I held the door for Diana Ware who walked with her cane so very slowly as she has done for the past 5 and a half years. God Bless this dear lady who has come to the Court so diligently over the years to get justice for her step-daughter, Barbara Ware, who was so brutally murdered by the ‘Grim Sleeper’. Like most days, Ms Ware had been sitting outside the Courtroom on the bench right next to the door, just waiting to go in and see, who could quite possibly be, her daughter’s killer.

At 8.55am the Prosecution walked in and Beth Silverman went up to the family members, mainly the Alexander family, “How was your weekend?” To which they responded with their pleasantries.

At 8.58am Seymour Amster waddled in at the very fast pace he always does.

At 9.15am Lonnie walked in wearing a grey dress shirt and slacks. This time he looked straight at me and nodded a ‘hello’.

I certainly didn’t want to mention it here except for a reporter from the Daily Beast, who was sitting next to me that asked me, “Was he saying hello to you?”

I let him know that he was correct and he could see that I certainly didn’t respond.

I told him about the fact that Lonnie had/has trusted me with sharing with me his life story over the years and that might have been the reason he acknowledged me this morning in the way that he did. However, I really don’t know why Lonnie would acknowledge me today after so many years of just looking straight ahead.

I certainly didn’t respond with any reaction at all, as I don’t ever want to be thrown out of another Courtroom in my life.

At 9.17am Judge Kennedy took her seat at the bench.

There was some discrepancy with a person in the room by the name of Sonya Mogul (spelling?) she sat two seats away from me and had a very sour look on her face and made eye contact with nobody.

Seymour jumped in by saying that he wanted Margaret Prescod as a witness and the Prosecution retorted with the fact that wasn’t going to happen and she must be ‘excluded’! Prescod is the leader/spokesperson for the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders.

Seymour responded that she wasn’t going to be a witness for the guilt phase and would only be called upon during the penalty phase.

Amster: But I can make it without her”, Amster said with his very false sense of confidence.

Judge Kennedy addressed Ms Mongul (spelling?) and said in no uncertain terms that she can ‘leave the Courtroom now’.

At 9.21am the Jurors came in. It was rather strange as they all came in the regular door of the Courtroom, the one we all use, not the usual Jurors door which is by the Judge’s Chambers. The Judge apologized for keeping everyone waiting and how cold it was in the Courtroom today.

At 9.27am Dr Denise Herold took the stand. An elderly lady with what I would consider to be a Chicago accent (I’m not certain on this), with long brown hair.

Silverman opened with the first statement.

DA: Good morning Dr. Herold

Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book…….

Cross examination from the Defense.

Amster: Can you find blood type in hair fibres?

Dr Herold said: Not to my knowledge.

The Judge then interjected with a very important question. She asked: “Is that the correct word, Hair fibres?”

Dr Herold stated that the word ‘hair’ is the correct word to use and not ‘hair fibres. Amster followed suit by saying that he apologized and would start using the word ‘hair’ from now on.

So another blunder from Amster, many more are to come. Not to mention that, as usual, he dropped his paperwork all over the place and proceeded to laugh as he always does.

Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book…….

11.28 am Amster continued with the testimony of Dr Harold this time they started to discuss Alicia ‘Monique’ Alexander. I felt so sad as about 8 members of the Alexander family were sitting in front of me as they usually do, the parents and the brothers and I think even the daughter or son in law too. I prayed there would be no crime scene pictures of their daughter and there weren’t thank God. However we were told that her body was also so decomposed so had to be put in a decomp freezer. Tests were taken on the body and given to the LASO ~ The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office.

11.32am Heidi Robbins was sworn in. A very attractive lady with blonde hair, in her mid to late 50’s

She has been working as the director of Administration at the Sheriffs Crime Lab for 11 years. She runs the latent print and the CSI Unit for the County. Latent prints are prints that cannot be seen and therefore have to be lifted by dusting and analyzed back at the lab. She has 5 teams and has worked with the LASD for 31 years. She was a Criminalist with the Coroners Office in 1985 and then transferred laterally to the LASD 31 years ago. She works in the firearms and narcotics Unit. In 1980 she was a senior Criminalist at the Coroners.

She explained what ‘body dumping’ means.

Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book…….

At approximately 12 noon we broke for lunch and my friend Burton had invited me to his new office which is across the street from the Criminal Courts Building (CCB) in the Hall of Justice.

Burton had transferred from Crescenta Valley Station to SIB ~ Sheriffs Information Bureau ~ and had invited me to come over and see his new office in my lunch break. CCB, which is where I am every day, is located at 210 West Temple Street and the Hall of Justice, where SIB is located, is right across the street at 211 West Temple.

It was great to just walk across the street and see Burton plus numerous other people I know were also there today.

As I was waiting in the lobby for my friend, Chief Beck came down in the elevator with his entourage and in to the lobby area where I was standing. He said hello to me with a smile, however I’m sure he says that to everyone that’s in his path.

Right afterwards, I then bumped in to a Sheriff who used to be Lieutenant in West Hollywood when I lived there, over 14 years ago. Lieutenant Johnson. Now he’s promoted very high up the ranks to Chief. He remembered me from all those years ago which was nice and I congratulated him and his numerous promotions. We had a chat for a few minutes then he went up to the 9^thfloor where Headquarters is located. A Chief is 3 ranks above a Lieutenant in the Sheriff Dept. ranking system.

I told ‘Chief Johnson’ that I knew when he promoted to Captain and he transferred to Marina Del Rey station (after going back to the Jails first of course), then I had lost track of him when he promoted to Commander and now Chief. Anyway now he’s a working at the Hall of Justice which is the new Sheriff Headquarters and what a beautiful building it is.

After I spent most of my lunch break visiting with Burton and going around SIB an seeing the fabulous office, we then bumped in to one of my all time favourites ~ James Hellmold. It was nice to see so many people I know and that was only in my lunch break today.

We all went back in the Courtroom at 1.31pm followed by the Jury members who were coming through the main doors that we all walk through who came in about 1.34pm.

Cross examination from Seymour Amster:

Amster: So you obtained a sexual assault kit from the victim?

Robbins: ‘Obtained?’ I think you mean I ‘collected’ it? Yes I took nipple swabs, oral, anal and also inside the vaginal cavity area swabs.

Another blunder coming from Amster, ‘obtained’…Really?

Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book…….

Robbins was excused at 1.50pm

Miss Supria Rosner was then called to the stand and sworn in. A younger looking lady with long brown hair, about 38 years of age. She is a Criminalist with the LAPD assigned to testing DNA evidence in the forensic science Unit. She’s a technical leader and overseas all the training. She has 30 DNA analysts and 60 DNA technicians.

A person’s DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and consists of half of the mother’s DNA and half of the father’s. DNA is in almost every cell in our bodies, especially in muscles and other soft tissue. Everybody is made up of their own unique DNA except for identical twins.

Continuation of this Testimony will be in my book…….

Court adjourned at 4.04pm in the afternoon..

To be continued……

Blog

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Week 2: The Grim Sleeper Trial. Monday February 22nd…

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The Grim Sleeper Pre (X50+) Trial Arraignment… December 10th 2014

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