Thread by @DenverPratt

Alright everybody, this is it! Today is closing arguments for the Timothy #BassTrial. Bass has been on trial for more than a week for 1st-degree murder for the 1989 death of Mandy Stavik. I have been live-tweeting the proceedings for @BhamHerald and will continue to do so today.

Right now, the attorneys are discussing pre-trial motions with the judge, such as what specific instructions will be given to the jury. The jury is expected to be brought in around 9:45 a.m., with closing arguments to begin shortly after that.

The judge said that when members of the media will be informed that a verdict has been reached, they will have 1 hour to get to the courthouse for the proceedings. Jury will deliberate between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Judge Olson said.

Olson said both the prosecution and defense will get 90 to 120 minutes for closing arguments each. Prosecution will then get a 20-25 minute rebuttal.

The jury has been seated. Olson is reading their instructions to them about reaching a verdict. Prior to the jury entering, Follis, the defense, objected to members of law enforcement who are standing in the aisleways.

Olson overruled Follis and said that because LE is in charge of courthouse security, & they are in plain clothes, they are exempt from the order barring members of the public from standing in the aisles.

The jury can find Bass guilty or not guilty of 1st-degree murder. One of the ways to charge 1st degree murder in WA is if a defendant committed or attempted to commit the crime of 1st or 2nd degree rape or kidnapping and caused the death of another person.

McEachran has started his closing arguments. "You've been given this case to decide the guilt or the innocence of the defendant," he said. MC is using the jury instructions as aids to tell the jury they'll find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

"She was a very active young girl, an extremely good student, she played varsity girls basketball, softball, track. She really covered all things," MC said. MC is now relaying some of the witnesses testimony and that Mandy had a boyfriend and a small graduating class of 100 ppl.

MC is blowing through exhibits while talking about Stavik's running route, such as Bass' home and the view from his bedroom window. He's weaving in testimony that was heard from multiple witnesses, including Rick Zender, Stavik's boyfriend, and family members.

MC has created a timeline of Stavik's last day, Nov. 24, 1989, and when and where people saw her. He's switching between that and a map of the area showing Stavik's running route.

MC said Brad Gorum was on his way to the Bass house to meet w/Bass' brother, Tom. Tom testified that he was the only one home that day. "Tom doesn’t remember seeing his brother all that day. That's important because we’ve got to be placing people where they are."

MC is recalling testimony from yesterday from Nancy Brown, who said she said she saw Stavik running on Standard Road, a ways away from her normal route. MC said Stavik's brother saw her near their house at the same time Brown said she saw her on Standard Road.

"As exceptional as Mandy was, she couldn't be in two places at once. The people that saw her on her route knew her. Nancy Brown didn't know her at all," MC said.

MC said Bass would've had a clear view of Stavik running - a route she ran throughout high school. He also said Bass & Staviks were on a party line, meaning their shared a phone line. "The defendant certainly knew where Stavik's lived and he certainly was aware of Mandy Stavik."

MC said they know exactly where Stavik was taken - very close to her home on Strand Road, in between her house and a neighbor's. MC said a human tracker, Al Pratt, testified he found a disturbance in a ditch in that area. That ditch had silt in it.

When Stavik disappeared, her dog came home w/out her. When the dog made it back to the house, Al Pratt said the dog had silt on its back legs and was cowering. MC said there were no other tracks or disturbances found by Pratt and his team.

MC said in the area in the river where Stavik's body was found, the current was hardly moving. He said that former sheriff's Civil Chief Peterson, who also was trained in human tracking, found no footsteps in immediate area on the banks, but tire tracks were found.

The area Stavik's body was found was the old homestead area, where an abandoned farm was located and was frequented by high school kids so they could be out of sight, MC said.

When Tom, Bass' brother, testified, Tom said his brother told him he was in the old homestead area the day Stavik went missing exercising the hunting dogs they used. Tom said his brother never exercised the dogs and that wasn't normal for him.

MC is walking jury back through Whatcom Medical Examiner Goldfogel's autopsy. Goldfogel testified the scratches found on Stavik's arms and legs happened before she died and it was as if she was running through blackberry bushes. Stavik was found naked, except for her shoes/socks.

MC said Goldfogel looked at Stavik's stomach contents. and determined she was a vegetarian due to the vegetable matter found. Goldfogel did not know she was indeed a vegetarian. MC said GF said the digestion can be used as a time stamp if it's known when Stavik last ate.

MC said we know when Stavik last ate because of her family's testimony. MC said GF said that the digestion showed Stavik died within 3 to 4 hours of last eating, which MC said was very important for the jury to remember.

The court is taking its mid-morning recess and closing arguments will resume at 11:15 a.m.

MC has resumed his closing arguments. He said Goldfogel indicated in his testimony that a sexual assault had occurred within 1-6 hours of Stavik's death. But the food that Stavik ate, which happened 3-4 hours prior to death, becomes a limiting factor on when the assault occurred.

MC talked about the DNA taken from Stavik's body. In 1989 the only lab doing testing was the FBI lab. The first case in the US where FBI testified about identifying a suspect via DNA happened here in Whatcom County in 1989.

MC said Bass lived on the same road as Stavik. He didn't go to the memorial held for Stavik after her death. He also forbade his then girlfriend, Gina, from attending. Gina wanted to go because there were about 100 kids in each class, and everyone knew each other, MC said.

Bass and Gina were going to be married after she graduated in June 1990, but Bass moved the wedding up to Jan. 5, 1990 and the two soon moved out of the Acme area to Everson.

MC said detectives contacted Bass in October of 2013. MC said Bass' worst fear - that someone w/a badge would show up at his door and ask what happened to Mandy - was realized that day.

MC said Bass at first didn't recall Stavik, then later said he remembered she lived on the same road across the highway from him. He also said he attended some of basketball games. Bass also corrected the deputy to tell him he did not search for Stavik, but his brother & dad did.

MC read the jury their instructions about determining credibility again and asked if Bass' statements about not remembering Stavik seemed truthful - when the community was so small and her disappearance/death was a huge event.

MC said deputies contacted Bass again in Feb. 2015. That 2nd contact stirred him up, MC said. Bass went to his brothers house where he told him he had a consensual relationship w/Stavik, and then asked his brother twice if he believed him.

Bass then asked his bro to say he too had sex w/Stavik, but the bro declined. The next day, Bass had a convo w/his mom and Gina where he asked if they could blame Stavik's death on his late father.

"These things are all critical when you're trying to put the puzzle together of what happened," MC said. He then asked the jurors to use their common sense and asked them repeatedly why they thought Bass was asking his family to lie for him.

Kim Wagner, a fellow coworker at Franz Bakery where Bass was a delivery driver, collected a cup & Coke can Bass drank out. The DNA profile created from the items matched the DNA suspect profile created from evidence taken from Stavik's body.

Bass was arrested in Dec. 2017, and a cheek swab was obtained. The cheek swab also matched the suspect DNA profile and the cup/Coke can DNA profile. MC listed numerous witnesses, including Bass' brother, who all said they had never seen Bass and Stavik together.

MC went back through Bass' brother Tom's testimony. Tom and their mom visited Bass in jail. While there, Bass held up a sign asking his mom and bro for an alibi and to say they were Christmas shopping the day Stavik went missing. The brother declined.

MC said Bass took steps to cover up what he'd done - not attending the memorial, asking to blame it on his dead dad, asking for his brother to lie and say he had sex w/Stavik & asking for an alibi or he was going to prison. MC is reading jury instructions about rape & kidnapping.

"The evidence is very, very clear. There was no contact between these people. She was abducted, she was raped an she was killed. I would ask that you hold this man accountable. That's what trials are for," MC said.

"Hold this man accountable for what he did which was an atrocious thing. I ask that you find him guilty of murder in the first degree," MC said.

-The court has taken its lunch recess and closing arguments for the defense will begin at 1:30 p.m.

Shoshana Paige has started closing arguments for the defense. She said that Bass is presumed innocent, even sitting in courtroom today. That can only be overcome if evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt he was responsible for Stavik's death.

The only physical evidence that connects Bass to Stavik is the presence of his semen found during her autopsy, Paige said. There was no foreign DNA under her fingernails and nothing puts him in the area of the river where the government says Stavik was abducted, she said.

Paige said the science tells a different story. Paige said there were no defensive wounds, no restraints, and that even a strong swimmer can drown in a cold river. "The credible science in this case leaves you w/a reasonable doubt," Paige said.

Paige said that based on Goldfogel's analysis of when Stavik last ate, there was a very narrow window that Bass could have kidnapped, raped and killed her. She also said that not every sexual assault results in semen being left behind.

Paige said Goldfogel acknowledged that the semen could have been deposited 12 hours prior to Stavik going into the river, which could leave a reasonable doubt. Paige is now telling the jurors why they should believe Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, the defense's expert witness.

Paige said that the state tried to attack Johnson's integrity, saying she was paid for by the defense. Paige said Johnson once lost her job because she pointed out errors in science in a lab she worked in, and that's indicative of her integrity.

"Her opinion and science is not for sale. Her conclusions were based on actual science, not just on how she's always done it or what she remembers some article saying from however long ago," Paige said.

Paige said Goldfogel testified exactly the opposite to what Johnson said about how sperm color when they're stained on microscopic slides.

Paige said Goldfogel said the slides degraded, but Johnson said they looked as if she could've created them yesterday. Paige said Johnson wasn't there in 1989 to see what slides originally looked like, but Goldfogel didn't take a picture of them to compare them to.

Johnson did take pictures, so she could show her work, Paige said. Paige also said the cells are glued in place and air is excluded on the slides. They wouldn't disappear into nothing, she said. Paige said the science, and common sense, don't support degradation of the slides.

Paige said Goldfogel got the slides wrong. "His mistake affected crticial decision after critical decision made by law enforcement in eliminating suspects in this case over the past 28 years," Paige said.

Paige said the WCSO and everyone working to solve the case relied on bad science to eliminate suspects - suspects that law enforcement got probable cause from a judge to search their homes and take biological samples from.

"All of them were eliminated based on DNA analysis showing semen did not belong to them. They were all eliminated based on bad science," Paige said. She told the jury the science leaves them with a reasonable doubt and then rested her portion of the defense's argument.

Starck Follis has now started his portion of the argument. Follis said 3 things came from Goldfogel's bad science:
-The misdirection of law enforcement for 28 years
-The disregard for suspects whose semen did not match that found in Stavik's body

-The blind focus on Bass as killer because his DNA matched the semen found in Stavik's body

Follis said the fundamental flaw in this case is solely believing that the donor of the semen was the killer.

Follis said not one tip ever came in about Bass as a suspect to the sheriff's tip line. No one said they saw Bass' distinctive red Datsun pickup in the area the day Stavik went missing, Follis said.

"Just because someobdy didnt see them together doesn’t mean they weren’t together at some point," Follis said. There's nothing that connects him to this case, Follis said. "He was not on their radar for decades" he said of law enforcement.

Follis started talking about the burden of proof. Follis said McEachran didn't present any evidence of how the semen was deposited into Stavik. He said the jury can't guess how that happened.

Follis said it's McEachran's burden to show where, when and how that contact happened and that there's a complete lack of that evidence in this case. Bass never fled and got up and went to work every day, Follis said.

Follis said the conversation where Bass disclosed to his brother he had a consensual sexual relationship with Stavik happened two years before Bass was ever arrested.

He also said that the conversation Bass had with his brother and mother in the jail can be taken a different way. He said who can account for where they were the day after Thanksgiving in 1989.

Follis said if you're in jail, scared, alone and worried about what the future holds, when your family comes to visit you, you ask them for an alibi because you need to figure out where you were that day.

"What happened here is a big question mark. This case is a big mystery," Follis said.

The court has taken its afternoon recess. Closing arguments will continue in about 20 minutes.

Follis is back, talking about the human trackers. He said that there was no testimony that suggested the trackers found evidence that Stavik went into the river near where her body found. He also took offense that MC said trials were to hold people accountable.

"The purpose of the trial is to try and decide what the truth is ... and to give him the benefit of the doubt. Passion, prejudice, closure is not what your role as a juror is in this situation. It's offensive and not what we are doing here," Follis said.

Sorry everybody!! I had an extremely tight deadline for print production so I had to pull my focus away from live-tweeting. I'm working updating the thread now.

Follis said there was a problem with Craker's testimony. Craker was in the area delivering papers w/his wife and saw Stavik running. Craker was familiar w/the Bass boys and hunted w/their father, Bud.

Craker said he saw Stavik running and a large truck w/a distinctive canopy and light bar behind her with 2 men in their 30s inside. Follis said if this had been Bass, Craker would have recognized him. Follis said it was likely whoever was in that vehicle was the person involved.

If they weren't, then it would have been extremely difficult for someone else to abduct Stavik while she was only a few yards away from her house, while a vehicle was right behind her. Follis said this alone proves there's reasonable doubt caused by questionable lack of evidence.

Follis reiterated that evidence of sexual contact is not evidence of rape, evidence of sexual contact is not evidence of kidnapping and evidence of sexual contact is not evidence of causing someone's death. "We don't know anything of the manner in which Ms. Stavik disappeared."

Follis said there were no injuries to the back of Stavik's body, only the front. There were no offensive injuries Goldfogel pointed out, and it's pure conjecture how the scratches got there, Follis said.

"This is a terribly sad situation. It's a terrible way to end up, but that can't be your focus when you're deliberating this case," Follis said.

Follis said jurors have to do 3 things:
-1-require the state prove what happened in the case, not the defendant

2- Hold the state to the burden of proof, and in doing so, realize that they must find Bass innocent
3-That they cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that Bass raped, abducted and murdered Stavik

-Follis then asked the jury to find Bass not guilty of murder in the 1st-degree

McEachran got a rebuttal for the last 25 minutes of the day. He was very animated during this portion of his argument. MC asked the jury if they believed the theory that Stavik went running without all of her clothes and then jumped into the water and drowned

MC said he accepts the burden of proof and that's why there's a trial and why law enforcement got involved. MC said the science involved in the case was extremely good, partly because Whatcom was ahead of the ball on DNA evidence

"There's no question his DNA is in there, there's no explanation as to why it is other than that he was involved in the abduction, rape and the murder. No other explanation," MC said.

MC said the jurors know where Stavik was and how her death happened. He said no evidence was found under her fingernails because she was in the river for 3 days. "We've all been underwater, we know what goes on. Don't be misled by these arguments," MC said.

MC said Bass moving his wedding up, moving out of the area and asking his family to lie for him is consciousness of guilt. MC said that Craker was likely paying more attention to delivering the actual papers than looking at the occupants of the vehicle.

MC said the injury to Stavik's head was no inconsequential and that it could have caused unconsciousness if it happened prior to her death. MC said Goldfogel testified that the injury had to have happened before, during or immediately after her death.

MC said the case comes back to one thing: How Bass' semen got into Stavik. MC said he had the burden to show that and that the evidence he's presented overcomes Bass' presumption of innocence.

"Nobody ever saw them together, ever. There was not time for them to have a secret relationship - it was so secret even Mandy didn't know about it," MC said.

MC again asked the jurors to hold Bass accountable and find him guilty of 1st-degree murder.

Closing arguments concluded a few minutes after 4 p.m., and the jury was sent back to pick a foreperson. They will return tomorrow morning to begin deliberations at 9:30 a.m. Media will be notified a verdict has been reached.

And here is @BhamHerald's story on today's closing arguments: bit.ly/2HN1bPh