Thread by @MaxLewisTV

Delphi Murders Trial Day 16 Wrap Up:

Want to start with some really important testimony from one of the defense's witnesses this afternoon that calls the prosecution's timeline of the crime into question

-This afternoon the defense called Stacy Eldridge to the stand

-She is a digital forensic examiner and worked at the FBI for about a decade
-She is being paid by the defense team and was asked to do a review of the data that state police extracted from Libby German's cell phone

-She did not do her own extraction, just analyzed data state police had already extracted
-State Police did not do what's called a "Full File" extraction initially, but did one in October 2017
-Eldridge said the delay in doing that full file extraction caused issues

-She said you lose files every time the phone is turned on and off and older files drop off as time goes on
-Eldridge said main piece of evidence missing from the state police's extraction is the power log which tells when the phone turns off and on

-Eldridge said she generally agreed with the state police's timeline of the phone data
-She did a little more analysis of the data and found the last time Libby's phone connected to a cell tower was at 5:44 PM on February 13

-The next time it connected to a cell tower was at 4:33 AM on February 14th
-She said there is no explanation of why the cell phone didn't have signal during that time other than movement or the signal being blocked

-In their analysis of the phone data, state police found what's called an "audio output route" at 5:45 PM on February 13
-State police didn't know for sure what that was when they did their full analysis in 2022, but more research has been done now

-The data shows that something was plugged into the audio jack of Libby's phone at 5:45 PM and then it was unplugged at 10:32 PM that evening
-That's significant because the prosecution's theory is that Richard Allen killed the girls around 2:32 and left around 4 PM

-The prosecution appeared very caught of guard by this revelation
-Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland tried to go after Eldridge's credentials during cross examination
-He then asked why the phone didn't show movement

-Eldridge said just because it didn't log movement doesn't mean it wasn't moving
-She said there remains a lot of questions about how the Apple Health app registers movement
-McLeland never really went after the data showing the plugging/unplugging

-After that, the defense called First Sergeant Christopher Cecil to the stand
-He testified for prosecution and was state trooper who did the extensive analysis of Libby's cell phone data
-He testified he didn't know what that "audio output route" was

-During cross examination, McLeland asked Cecil about what other things could possibly affect the headphone jack
-Cecil said water damage and possibly dirt
-When asked where he got that, he said he Googled it during a 15 minute break

-Defense attorney Jennifer Auger went at him on redirect and asked him is he normally does his research on Google.
-He said no
-He didn't know if phone had water damage or dirt on it
-Auger said "You and ISP have had 7 1/2 years to figure this out?"
-Cecil said yes

-Auger then said you "come here after a Google search?"
-Cecil said yes
-After that, she called Brian Bunner to the stand
-He did the first extraction from Libby's cell phone on Feb 15, 2017
-He said he didn't know what the audio output meant

-Auger then asked if he did any Google searches during the break and he said no
-The phone was a big moment for the defense
-Defense Attorney Andrew Baldwin said the state's case would melt away with the phone data
-We'll see what the jury thinks about it

-We began the day with Betsy Blair back on the stand
-She says she saw bridge guy on the bridge the day the girls went missing
-She also described a car that was parked at the old CPS building where the prosecution says Allen parked that day

-She described the car she saw as a 1965 Ford Comet
-Says she saw the car as she was leaving the trails around 2:15 PM
-She told police in 2019 that the car she saw "could not have bene black"

-During cross, deputy prosecutor Stacy Diener said Blair gave a statement in Feb 2017 as well
-At that time she said the car she saw was parked strangely and was "not newer"
-She's certain the car she saw was parked at the CPS building

-After Blair it was Dr. Stuart Grassian who is a psychiatrist that specializes in the effects of solitary confinement
-He reviewed medical records, video from Allen's cell, his phone calls and other things
-Grassian said solitary is "lonely" and "toxic" to mental health

-He said the UN considers more than 15 days in solitary confinement to be a form of torture
-Allen spent 13 months in solitary
-Grassian was asked about false memories
-He said false memories can start by seeing photos or reading things

-They're then played over and over in someone's mind that eventually it almost becomes real to people
-During cross examination, Diener pointed out that the study of false memories was done with victims of sexual abuse, not those in solitary

-She asked Grassian if he understand that Allen was put in solitary for his safety
-He said his focus is on the conditions he's put in, not the reasoning for it
-Last up before lunch was Dr. Eric Warren who is a specialist in forensic firearms examination

-He worked at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for several years as a firearms examiner
-He acknowledged there are people in his field that are skeptical of the practice but he is not one of them
-Warren was hired by the defense to review the work of Ms. Oberg

-Oberg was the state police examiner who concluded that the unspent round found between the bodies of the girls was consistent with Richard Allen's gun
-He said there have been recent incidents of labs being shut down because of firearms identification issues

-He said the comparison Oberg did is comparing "apples to oranges"
-Oberg compared the bullet from the crime scene to a bullet that was fired from Richard Allen's gun
-Warren said there is more pressure exerted on a bullet when a gun is fired from the explosion that occurs

-He also pointed out that Oberg did not do any documentation of specific characteristics on certain parts of the gun
-He also looked at the photos from Oberg's report and didn't think there was "sufficient agreement" on the marks she referenced

-During cross examination, deputy prosecutor James Luttrell became quite angry with Dr. Warren at times
-Warren told him that Ober came to the conclusion on her own that she could compare a fired round to an unfired round

-Luttrell pointed out that Warren didn't review the bullet or gun himself, he only looked at Oberg's work
-The jury asked 15 questions about this testimony
-One that stood out to me was about asking why Warren didn't do his own examination of the evidence

-Warren said he was asked by defense to first look at Oberg's report and determine is she had a solid reason for her conclusion
-They determined she didn't and so they didn't need to do their own test to disprove hers

Court ended early yet again when the defense ran out of witnesses. We ended with the phone testimony. Still appears that things may wrap up in the coming days.

Court resumes at 9 am Wednesday.

#DelphiTrial