Thread by @meghanncuniff

It’s the 10th and likely last day of testimony in trial over Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit against LA County. @ciara and @MonicaDenise were in court yesterday with Vanessa and Kobe's oldest daughter, Natalia. What's going on in court today? Follow this thread for updates. ⚖️🧵⚖️

Vanessa hadn’t updated her Instagram at all during trial,
but she posted this this morning. It’s Kobe’s birthday. 🎂

Testifying today is to be @LASDHQ Lt. Hector Mancinas, Deputy @LACOFD Chief Dennis Breshears (whose been at the defense table for all this testimony), Chief Andrew Smith and the defense expert psychiatrist, Mark Cohen.

After hearing about these four witnesses and the possibility of a rebuttal witness or more testimony from Vanessa and/or Chris Chester, Judge Walter actually said yesterday that we might get to closing arguments this afternoon. I'm dubious.

One defense witness we apparently won't be hearing from: Commander Scott Johnson, who filed a declaration under penalty of perjury back in November 2021 that @LASDHQ "has not deleted or destroyed any documents or materials related to the subject matter of this litigation."

You could have slept through most of the testimony and still know that is not true. There's even going to be jury instruction about the photos being deleted. But here's the full declaration from sheriff's Commander Scott Johnson saying otherwise. bit.ly/3AF2jRx

Speaking of listed witnesses we won’t be hearing from, there was an interesting trial twist in the last-minute axing of Kristin Pelinka as a witness for Vanessa Bryant. Pelinka is a pediatrician who is married to @Lakers #LakeShow GM Rob Pelinka.

Pelinkas are very close with Vanessa (Vanessa testified that Kristin stops by her house on Wednesdays to spend time with her and the kids), and Kristin was to testify about the emotional effect the crash photos scandal with LA County has had on Vanessa.

HOWEVER, LA County counsel Mira Hashmall said something in her opening statement that may have prompted Vanessa’s team to pull Kristin has a witness. Hashmall told the jury that Rob Pelinka directed his @Lakers staff to scour the Internet for photos of Kobe’s remains.

Rob Pelinka clearly refuted this in testimony. Said that would be a devastating and horrifying act in which he would never partake. It came during his 2nd day testimony when he wasn’t as devastatingly grief-stricken as the day before...

...but Pelinka still quite emotionally and emphatically testified that no way no how did he ever direct his staff to do anything like that.

Hashmall followed up by asking Pelinka if he knew that his wife had said something in deposition about a staff member looking for photos, but Vanessa’s lawyer cut off the question with an objection for assuming facts not in evidence, and Judge Walter sustained.

So it kind of reiterated the earlier embarrassment - Vanessa's lawyer Luis Li asked Rob about Hashmall telling the jury in her opening that he'd had his staff scour the internet. Rob absolutely denied it, and the county got shot down while trying to salvage something from it.

Hashmall obviously planned to follow up in her cross-exam of Kristin Pelinka, but in a move that solidifies that early-in-trial embarrassment, Vanessa’s attorneys decided not to call Kristin.

So Hashmall said something in her opening that was apparently based on the deposition of a witness she didn’t have under subpoena (and that opposing counsel says Hashmall misinterpreted) and now she has no way of even trying to ask that witness about it. Oops! #lawtwitter

Hashmall mentioned this Friday in her cross of Vanessa, said something about how she thought Kristin was going to be a witness then tried to ask Vanessa about Kristin saying something about a staff member looking for photos.

But like before, Vanessa’s lawyer objected as stating facts not in evidence and Judge Walter quickly sustained and sounded not happy with Hashmall. So I'm betting Kristin doesn't come up again, but I'd be surprised if Vanessa's lawyers don't mention Rob's denials in closing.

It *is* a bit of a bummer that Kristin won't be testifying. I wonder if she at least gets kind of annoyed being an accomplished pediatrician with degrees from two top universities and still sometimes being described only as
"Rob Pelinka's wife."

One small thing: Judge Walter basically asked me to tweet about the fact that he admitted to making a mistake yesterday. After the jury left, he was scolding the attorneys for "violating the double-sided copy rule." ("Stop with the double-sided copying!") …

… and apparently confessed to a typographical area somewhere, because he asked the attorneys to not tell "the young assistants over in the U.S. Attorney's Office" that he'd made a mistake. "Although, members of the press are out there," the judge said, and can inform prosecutors

So, for the record, @USAO_LosAngeles, U.S. District Judge and Confessed Twitter Lurker John F. Walter, who said yesterday that he likes to point out that a "typo" is actually a "failure to proofread," made a mistake. And admitted it on the record in court. You read it here first.

Here’s last night’s article. Sgt. Travis Kelly is back on the stand this morning. After some pressing from Judge Walter, Vanessa’s lawyer Craig Lavoie said he has about 20 minutes of cross left.

Walter: “Well, you’re not going to have 20 minutes.” bit.ly/3QHrVTr

Confirmed: Mark Cohen, the @UCLA psychiatrist who was to testify for the defense about Vanessa Bryant and Chris Chester’s emotional state, won’t be testifying. That means no @Stanford rebuttal expert and no more testimony from Chester and Bryant.

It’s quite understandable that these experts were cut. Didn’t seem to fit, and as Judge Walter’s friend down the freeway Judge Carter likes to tell attorneys, “If you think jurors are paying attention to your expert witnesses, then you’re smoking dope.”

1st break of day almost over. Deputy @LACOFD Chief Dennis Breshears is testifying now. Before him was @LASDHQ Lt. Hector Mancinas, who startled some people awake in the gallery by testifying firmly that Deputy Doug Johnson told him he took 100 photos of the crash site, not 25.

The number of photos Deputy Johnson took has been a point of dispute in trial - Reserve Deputy David Katz testified Johnson told him he took 100. But Johnson says it was only 25. This goes to Chris Chester and Vanessa Bryant’s argument that investigation wasn’t thorough enough.

Incredible - We breezed through the witnesses and the defense just rested. Instead of dismissing for the day and doing closings tomorrow, Judge Walter gave us the last 15-minute break and says closing start this afternoon.

Judge Walter asked about estimates for closings yesterday, and he indicated I may have some competition for my assumed presidency of the Jerry Jackson fan club, calling Jackson “the most reasonable attorney in the room…who knows right how to get to the point.”

Jackson (Chester’s lawyer) says 25 minutes. Vanessa’s lawyer Craig Lavoie estimated an hour and 15. Walter said that must include rebuttal. No, rebuttal estimated at another 30. Walter today tells Jackson he’s up first. Lavoie says no, we understood that Lavoie goes then Jackson.

“Well I don’t understand where that came from,” Judge Walter said, because the judge wants Jerry to go first because of his short time estimate. Not sure what’s quite in store but I don’t see how we finish all closings today before 2:30 pm.

Big thing to look for in closings obviously will be any dollar amount floated by the plaintiff attorneys. How much are they going to ask for or what general $ ballpark are they going to recommend? We’ve really heard zero indications in trial about the amount they’ll be seeking.

Not sure what happened during the 15-minute break, but Judge Walter must’ve realized that 75 + 25 = 100 and 25 + 75 = 100, because he let Craig Lavoie go first, followed by Jerry Jackson. County’s closing will be tomorrow at 8 am.

Jackson said Chris Chester and Vanessa Bryant each deserve $2.5 million for emotional distress already suffered. Then $100,000 to $1 million (Jackson recommended $1 million) for each year of future distress, with Chester’s life expectancy at 30 more years and Bryant’s at 40 years

Jerry Jackson said Craig Lavoie’s detailed closing made his job much easier, then proceeded to drop a bunch of fiery 🔥 lines all over the courtroom, including saying that @LASDHQ Chief Jorge Valdez’s “whole lot in life” appears to be “designated liar for the sheriff.”

Waiting for everyone to leave the courthouse. (@MonicaDenise was in court again today.)

Vanessa Bryant leaving court a few minutes ago with @MonicaDenise and her lawyer Luis Li of @wilsonsonsini.

Video gives a nice view of how Vanessa’s security handles these media scrums.

Bryant's lawyer Craig Lavoie began his closing: "44 years ago today in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kobe Bryant was born."
"Today is his birthday," Lavoie told the jury of nine. "And it's an honor to be standing here asking for justice and accountability" for him and his daughter.

Here’s my first @lawcrimenews draft for today. A lot more to say, will post the write through when it’s up. bit.ly/3R3PO7t

Here's my final write through on today's closing arguments. Los Angeles County's closing is tomorrow at 8 a.m., then Judge Walter will instruct the jury, then deliberations begin. bit.ly/3R3PO7t

Article spells out how the damages request went, though the headline does not. Vanessa’s lawyer didn’t name a dollar amount. The dollar amounts came from Chris Chester’s lawyer after Vanessa’s lawyer passionately detailed the evidence in an aggrieved tone. bit.ly/3R3PO7t

A clarifying headline would probably be “recommendation” instead of “request.” Here are the details. lawandcrime.com/celebrity/jury…