Thread by @MollyAndAMic

Back in the courtroom today. I'll play a bit of catch up with you all now that I'm back down in the media room. A medical examiner finished up on the stand and then Bates's youngest daughter testified. I'll tweet out the notes in this thread. @KVUE kvue.com/article/news/l…

When court started up, the defense cross-examined the medical examiner we heard from yesterday. She testified that there were substances (meth) found in Bates's blood and clarified that her job is not to tell who committed the crime, just what was done.

Remember, yesterday she testified the cause of death was blunt force trauma and the manner was homicide.

Defense passed the witness and then prosecutors showed pictures to the courtroom. We saw some supplies she had on her when she was found and a blood-soaked scrub top.

The medical examiner also went into detail about the severity of Bates's injuries--sever bleeding on the lining of the brain, brain tissue torn by impact of object, etc.

She was passed again and quickly excused.

The younger sister took the stand. She first discussed with the prosecutor about what the truth was and what a lie was. She currently lives with family.

She identified a picture of the Round Rock duplex saying "me, my mom, my sister, and Terry" lived there. She pointed out Christmas decorations outside the front door.

She identified Miles in court as he gave her a little wave. At this point it looked like he was wiping his eyes.

A picture is shown of her room and she immediately gets embarrassed and hides her faced because "it's messy"

In the picture you can see light pink chairs and a table. Her older sister referenced these yesterday saying Miles once threw one of the chairs at her.

We're at the night they left for Colorado. "Terry and my mom were fighting." She said she felt "scared." She did not see anyone hit each other and says she doesn't like when people fight.

She remembers going inside her bedroom closet. "I sat there and then my sister made me dinner and then gave it to me."

The prosecutor asked her how she felt about Miles before that night. She answered, "I was scared"

Prosecutor asked why she was scared. The girl answered, "because he was fighting with my mom."

The girl said she was scared the night they left "because I didn't know where we were going."

She said she remembers being in her mom's room and eating ice cream. Her older sister testified to this yesterday. She says her older sister took her to the car and says she doesn't remember her mom in the house that night.

Prosecutors asked if she was always on the floor of the front seat when they went to Colorado (her sister said this yesterday). She said "sometimes I was in the back."

She says "we went to the gas station" and said Miles got out of the car while the girls stayed inside the car.

Prosecutor asked who was in the car. She answered, "Terry, me, (my sister)."

Prosecutor asked where her mother was. She answered, "I don't know."

Prosecutor asked her why she went. She answered "because I had to."

Prosecutor asked who told her to go? She answered "Terry."

Pausing so I can take notes on this next witness's testimony. Will keep live tweeting when I can!

A picture is shown of her art supplies. She talks about liking art and also explains to the jury how to make slime. And, yes, you can include glitter in it.

A picture of a towel is shown to the courtroom. She says, "my sister likes pineapples and she like blue." The towel now has various stains on it that she says she doesn't recognize. Yesterday the teenager said she used this towel to clean up "the mess" after having sex with Miles

In Colorado: "There was already a fire place there so we made a fire and cooked soup."

"We slept in the tent." She said "(she) had (her) own sleeping bag." She said her sister slept in a sleeping bag and so did Miles. She said she didn't remember if they shared a sleeping bag.

She points their cat, Henri, in a picture of the tent. "That's my cat. Well, actually, it's my sister's, but I'm taking care of him." She said the cat came with them to Colorado.

Prosecutors pass the witness. Defense asks the girl, "you doing ok?" She responds, "yes, are you?" The courtroom got a good chuckle out of that.

During questioning, she has a stuffed animal with her on the stand.

Defense is asking questions about when they were found in Colorado and about the interviews and doctor's visits she went through. She said she doesn't really remember these or what she talked about.

Defense asked if she talked to prosecutors about what happened. She said no.

She's talking about her sister now. She says they've been apart for about a year but they talk on the phone. She says her older sister took care of her--got her fed and ready for school, but assures the jury that "(she) could do that" by herself.

She says her step-dad would sometimes fight with her mom and with her sister. Defense asked if she would hide in the closet. She said "I lived with him when I lived in my apartment, and I don't think we had a closet."

She doesn't remember what time of night she left for Colorado.

Defense asks her if what she told police when they found her was the truth. She responded, "I don't remember what I said, but I think it was the truth."

She's off the stand and then Darian Dasco is up. I'm back in the media room for this one, and the mic is really muffled so bear with me. He was a sergeant with Las Animas County Sheriff's Department.

A citizen called about a suspicious vehicle in the campground area. He says they knew about the amber alert/kidnapping out of Texas. "The information she gave me matched the description for the amber alert."

"There was still some snow in the area," he said the campground was really cold. The teenage daughter testified to this yesterday. He says it is "very remote" with "heavy trees."

He was the first deputy on the scene and says he parked at the entrance.

He says he stayed parked because he was alone and needed more than one person to search the area.

He says it was about 5 p.m. and dark. He said he turned off his lights while waiting at the entrance and saw headlights. He says the car parked in front of him and when he opened his door, the car drove off. He says he was in a marked car.

He says he followed the car onto the highway. He says the car wasn't speeding but would stop and start again. He says the driver was driving "erratically"

Again, he clarifies he did not have his lights on at this point because he says he only had a matching vehicle description--he didn't have anything else and was still waiting for backup.

It sounded like he said he put a call in for help from another county.

Fast forward a bit: he orders the vehicle to stop. Says he detains Miles and the ID him in the back of a patrol car using a Louisiana ID from his wallet.

He then said he ordered anyone else out of the car. He says their guns were drawn. "At which point the passenger door flew open, and two younger females came out."

"They were crying, upset," he said. He ID'd them as the girls.

Pictures of the girls are shown in the courtroom, and he identifies them again. He then identifies Miles in the courtroom. Next we see pictures of the car.

The front license plate is missing and the back of the car is extremely dirty. He says he had to wipe the license plate with his hands to check that it matched.

From the campground to the car stop, he says it was about 5-7 miles.

He notes that when he first saw the car (near the entrance of the campground), the driver did not try to talk to him, ask for help, or let them know they were in danger in any way. Prosecutors asking this.

I'm guessing it's because defense said in opening statements that Miles kidnapped the girls in order to protect them.

Alright, you're all caught up! We're now in the afternoon recess.

Going to step into the courtroom for a bit. As usual, I’ll tweet out notes when I’m outside. Should be starting back up soon!

Ok prosecution just passed the next witness and defense is taking a few minutes. Back down in the media room, so I'll get you caught up.

Andrew Masters, a FBI special agent, took the stand. He currently works in Hawaii, but for this case he was in Laredo. He works on public corruption cases and is a CAST agent--that means he's part of the cellular analysis survey team.

Basically, his job is to get phone records and use them to help locate where a phone was during a particular period of time.

He's worked a few high-profile cases, including the Austin bomber case.

He discussed google tracking phones and the different ways it can do so.

He tracked a few target phones, including Bates's, both daughters', their step-dad's, and another woman's, named Christine.

(her name has come up a few times. In opening statements I believe defense said Bates took money from her. I'm guessing she and the step dad are included in this list to show where they were at at the time of Bates's death.)

He goes into more detail about cell towers and how phones are constantly scanning cell towers for the best signal.

There's now a powerpoint explaining all of this. (I'm still confused)

Ok--he's showing us some phone analysis now. First up: Bates's phone.

12/29/17: Shows her phone traveling from work to her house in Round Rock. From 7:29pm to 11:36pm there are 97 readings from the phone when it was at her home.

11:45pm: "that phone started moving again."
11:58 pm-12:24 am: it was near Walmart

12:24 am: "was the last reading for this phone"

This is consistent with earlier testimony from Bates's teenage daughter when she said Miles destroyed the mom's phone and threw it in the grass behind the Walmart.

The younger sister's phone is next: from 12/30/17 at 9:02 am to 12/31/17 at 11:41 pm it had multiple incoming calls. The phone was believed to be at the Walmart location during this time frame.

The teenage daughter's phone is shown now.

12/29/17 at 7:34pm: incoming call at her home in Round Rock.

12/30/17: "that phone had traveled quite a distance."
--outgoing call--location: near Post, TX (for reference, a quick google search shows Post, TX is about 300+ miles away from Round Rock)

^that outgoing call was at 5:43 am

Same day, 10:58 am (CT...they're now in MT)--the phone was in New Mexico and he said it continued in a Northwest direction until 10:04 am. Outgoing calls mapped this out for him.

He showed Google info for this phone too.

12/29/17:
7:01-11:45 pm: at or near their home in Round Rock
11:46 pm: starts moving
11:56 pm: north of Walmart
11:58-12:40 am: at or near Walmart
12:40-12:44 am: traveled more

12/30/17:
Now in Trinidad, CO

Next they looked at the step-dad's phone.
12/29/17:
6:46 pm: in New Braunfels
7:49 pm: at or near his home in Austin
8:26 pm: at or near HEB in Austin

He notes that this phone was (at a minimum) 20 miles away from the crime scene in Round Rock.

Next they looked at Christine's phone.
12/29/17:
7:11 pm: in Dripping Springs

He notes this is the only thing that showed up for this phone and says (at minimum) it is 30 miles away from the crime scene in Round Rock.

They passed the witness. They're clarifying that he can't track an EXACT location of a phone--just what it is near.

He's been excused. Next up, Jonathan Miner, officer with the City of Round Rock. He says he was a K9 handler at the time.

Ok--sorry--had to step away and make a phone call. Sandra Roman is on the stand now. She's with the FBI.

She's talking about chain of custody logs.

Was working on some scripting. Just walked back into the media room and heard the phrase "fecal swab"...

On that note... I'm heading out to get ready for the 5 pm live shot. See you in a few on @KVUE

While I was outside for the live , court went into recess. They’ll start back up again on Monday. Not sure if I’ll be covering it or not—manager’s decide that one!

Hearing that the judge scolded the lawyers for wasting the jury’s time and wasting his time with some of the testimony today. Not gonna lie, I was confused why we needed to hear from some of the folks today. But maybe that will be cleared up later in the trial 🤷🏻‍♀️