Video Transcript
all right here to discuss along with you
at home is our guest for this hour I
want to bring in from Phoenix Arizona
Trey Gober you are a trial attorney and
then friend of the program joining us
from Los Angeles California we have
Marie Pereira former prosecutor
registered nurse and criminal defense
attorney so trade to you now on your
thoughts on all of this how many times
can the Judge send a jury back is it
unlimited is it dependent on on the case
and the charges your thoughts yeah it's
it's certainly there there's no uh fine
black and white number of how many times
a judge can send somebody back of course
every time the jury comes out and says
we're deadlocked and the judge sends
them back with an Allen charge Dynamite
charge uh it makes a future appeal for
the defendant if the defendant is later
found guilty uh all the more likely at
succeeding because you have jurors who
have stay their conscience who have said
I've heard the evidence who have
presumably said I find Reasonable Doubt
and the judge is going back and telling
them you're going to keep working till
you get this figured out so there's no
limit other than just being
reasonable so um there's a lot for this
jury to weigh including all of the
charges that Melody Ferris faces let's
put those on your screen this is what
the jury is thinking about as they
deliberate this case the charges include
malice murder felony murder aggravated
assault concealing the death of another
and making false claims so trade to you
on this um can they be split or hung on
some of the charges and not on the
others and would we ever
know absolutely and that's very likely
where where they are uh that list of
charges starts with obviously the most
severe on top and the least severe on
the bottom and so absolutely everybody
could for example agree that they would
find there's Reasonable Doubt and not
guilty as to the malice murder charge
but then as you start dropping down you
might have more and more jurors that are
coming on and saying no I I think I want
to find that she's guilty of this
particular charge eventually we could
know what those results are especially
talking to debriefing the jurors
afterward we've seen that in some recent
trials uh I think the Reed trial for
example and So eventually we will hear
that and there would be an argument of
whether there was an equites to that
charge or not all right still with us
joining us this hour is our attorneys
Trey Gober and Marie Pereira Trey how
much do you think that the jury is
weighing his testimony looking at him
perhaps as the person who did it or
perhaps maybe the investigation was
flawed your
thoughts well there's certainly a lot of
weight going into his testimony that's
the Brilliance of the defense pointing
the finger back at him
so that to the extent that the jury
feels like he has very compelling
convincing testimony that's just growing
that seed of doubt that well that's
exactly what he would say if he was the
the actual uh murderer uh so that was a
great play on the part of the defense to
to sew that seed of Doubt within the
minds of the jury um and that that's
possibly part of the reason why the jury
can't make a decision is apartment above
the barn
was a wreck according to uh the defense
team right it was completely dirty
except for the shower clean and bleached
so there was also in one of his drawers
there was found 38 caliber bullets the
father died of a 38 caliber bullet um
there's a lot going on here and then
something to the nature of it kept being
brought up during the trial there was a
trail camera that he was in charge of
and when they were searching for the
father right before his remains were
found it was discovered that this
witness the son Scott deleted the trail
cam video take a listen to
this she asked me she she asked if I
still have that trail camera down there
I was like oh yeah let me you know I'll
go check it so I uh I don't remember if
I hopped on an RTV or I walked down
there but uh I went down there and
checked the trail camera
and all no indication of my dad being on
me did you delete the things off the
camera I did cuz it's just you know
natural habit um this like like I said
this is prior to us discovering my Dad's
remains so every single time I ever went
to go check my troll camera you know I
always delete just kind of free up the
the SD
[Music]
card now with everything that's going on
you're searching for your dad and then
few minutes later his body is discovered
on the burn pit Trey I mean I really
think that that might be something that
this jury is weighing right now if they
have to weigh his truthfulness in his
testimony and him as possibly a suspect
that he deleted video feet away from
where this crime took
place absolutely there there's just so
much going on it was a brilliant move on
the defense to point the finger back
because the reality is what we do know
is that a very very uh
esteemed uh gentleman is dead as a
result of all of this so uh in all
indications are that it was Foul Play
that somebody did it and so for the
defense to give an alternate Theory to
say there is somebody responsible for
this is
absolutely great move on the defenses
part and to be able to point at all
these little things that this particular
potential alternate defendant did is
going to seed and grow grow that doubt
in the minds of the jurors yeah let's
dive into that a little bit more Trey so
part of the confessions the defense is
really trying to hunker down in what
Marie just said and you know saying that
they're false confessions including the
fact that he admits to murdering the
girls by shooting them they were not
shot and also he says that he sexually
assaulted them they were not sexually
assaulted um how does that help with the
defense case uh going on piggyback of
what Maria was
same I I've tried in one two false
confession cases and this is exactly
what you have to do as defense counsel
you have to explain why we shouldn't put
any weight why we shouldn't believe
these confessions uh unfortunately a lot
of times defendants especially
defendants with mental illness think you
know what I need this to be over I need
some resolution they're going to keep
treating me like this I'm going to be
here until I just tell them what they
want to hear and so especially when
somebody is in a susceptible or weak
mind State they may be more likely to
give a false confessions so the defense
is doing a good job to establish why the
jury should disregard these confessions
and instead look at all of the other
evidence and determine if there's
Reasonable Doubt based on all of the
other objectively available evidence not
the defendants
words yeah just a fascinating case and
one that has rocked this country and
went
unsolved um for several several years
we're going to be checking in with
Barbara McDonald throughout the day so
be uh stay tuned on court TV yeah and
speaking of Optics I mean this is a
defendant that many of our viewers have
noticed has been very um non-emotional
in the courtroom except when Amanda was
on the stand and maybe a few other
people like Rusty um Trey so they had to
have noticed
that AB absolutely uh you know for the
defendant to see her daughter truly
suffering in this way having had this
experience showing that human connection
that emotion that's that's powerful for
the defendant you know having been on
the defendant side on these kind of
cases I I can certainly explain that the
defendant has lived through this and
this case and the facts for over six
years and so to a certain extent she's
she's numb to that emotion but having
the daughter come in and give that
compelling emotional testimony which
then pulls in the defendant with her is
going to be powerful for the jury and
it's certainly one of the things the
jurors are struggling with as they
continue their
deliberations all right Trey thank you
so much for being with us and you Marie
Pereira as well um don't go anywhere
folks we have a whole lot to get through
um coming up on court TV live I'm going
to head back into the courtroom as we
continue this verdict watch in the burn
pile murder trial the jury is still out
folks that clock is still ticking plus
uh more testimony out of San Diego
California in the killed in the
crosswalk murder trial this is Court TV