Photos courtesy of Benjamin Brayfield/The World
Before sharing what happened today a few observations may be of interest. The father and daughter defense team of Robert and Shawn McCrea are very competent in my inexpert opinion and seem to have instilled a sense of calm and confidence not only over the defendant, Nick McGuffin but also upon his parents, Bruce and Kathy McGuffin. As future witnesses the McGuffins are unable to attend court but are close by in the hallway throughout the day and have replaced the sharp and seemingly hostile demeanor they exhibited toward anyone seen as not supporting their son a year ago during his arraignment with warm smiles. The defendant is also at ease and appears to have bonded with his lawyers and their assistant who occasionally pats him on the shoulder reassuringly. He openly smiles and laughs with Ms McCrea, whispers and shows her the notes he takes and she was caught on camera last week picking a piece of lint from his hair during a break.
Another general observation I would make is that the social habits of teenagers, their general inattention to details and teenage love affairs do not appear to have changed all that much since I was in high school. Finally, eleven years is a long time and a lot of the cross examination centered around whether the witnesses would support earlier testimony they gave during a 2000 grand jury investigation.
Day two of the trial delved again into the tempestuous nature of the relationship between Freeman and McGuffin but primarily centered around timing most specifically beginning with the period when Freeman last left her friend Sherrie Mitchell’s house shortly before 9 PM and the different locations where she was seen by witnesses as she walked north along Central Avenue toward her home in Stanford Heights.
A possibly big hole in the defense timeline is that John Lindegren claims to have seen McGuffin and Freeman outside of Mitchell’s house shortly after the television program ‘Survivor’ ended at 9 PM. McGuffin maintains he never saw Freeman after leaving her at the house at 7 PM.
Another revelation came with witness and friend of Freeman, Melissa Smith. Smith testified she had sex with McGuffin sometime after the memorial service when they both became sentimental looking over photos of Leah. According to Smith the encounter was a mistake and only happened once and McGuffin told her that he was sure if Leah wanted him to be with anyone he was sure she would want him to be with one of her good friends.
Throughout the day, witness testimony didn’t always concur – was she wearing shorts walking down Central or was it jeans but most agreed she was wearing a white tank top, was walking quickly, arms crossed as if she were either cold or angry and she looked angry or possibly sad. Times differed by as much as thirty minutes between witnesses and most admitted to having smoked pot that day or been drinking. The defense was methodical about pointing out discrepancies in testimony between past and present and between witnesses.
Brent Bartley, close friend of the defendant at the time Freeman went missing, acknowledged having been drinking that day and consequently having a poor memory but said he later accompanied McGuffin on a search for Freeman. Bartley also testified that McGuffin’s previously dirty car trunk was cleaned the week after the teen went missing.
The defense team worked to sow seeds of doubt with the jury regarding the testimony of the witnesses, in particular, Austin Fisher and Raymond Lewis. Fisher, a former boyfriend, could have had a motive for killing Leah, at least that was the implication. District Attorney Paul Frasier sought to quash the implication on redirect firmly asking Fisher if he had anything to do with Freeman’s disappearance. “No”, said Fisher, “I did not”.
Raymond Lewis endured special scrutiny from the defense because he owns a pickup and a receipt from his vehicle was found in the vicinity of Hudson Ridge where the body was found. Robert McCrea asked if law enforcement forensic experts had ever processed his vehicle or searched his home to which Lewis said they had not.
This trial will be as much a condemnation of the police work done at the time under the former police chief, Mike Reaves, as it is an attempt to convict McGuffin of murder.
More tomorrow, I have some other projects to work on for now
Thanks. Re Robert McCrea – the body may appear frail but the man has a brilliant mind. In recent years he has been a winner in the appelate courts. Read some of his stuff (court findings) online. Ms. McCrea is no dummy either. Appearing younger than her 56 years, Her svelte body is perhaps thanks to the fact that she is a long distance swimmer – recently across Crater Lake. Her stuff may also be Googled. Don’t expect Mr. McGuffin to testify. Unless things have changed, the “Assistant” in the court room is Mrs. Bonk of Bonk and Bonk – investigators who may be known to your readers. To this reader who formed an opinion about some things in the case but not an opinion about Mr. McGuffin, there are and will be big differences in the statements of some who Mr. McGuffin considered to be his friends and now will distance themselves from him. Starting with Mr. Bartley.
Hard to say as witnesses saw her later walking alone along Central Avenue but the defense plans to show a timeline that Nick couldn’t have found Leah along the street at the time she was walking along the street, or something like that.
How significant is the testimony about seeing Nick and Leah at 9?