Day 2: Key Prosecution witness in Brown case decimated on cross by defense

It is only the second day of the jury trial in the Matthew Brown case. Today, Scott Johnson's girlfriend, Johanna Hames continued her testimony. She was upstairs in an office near the bedroom where Neil Decker was shot.

Mr. Greg Elvine-Kreiss decimated her on cross. Confronting her with inconsistencies in testimony between what she told the pilice and now; making her back pedal when she changed what she said in direct and cross within minutes this morning, her testimony today proved the defense's opening argument.

DDA Neel did a brief redirect which did not help because Hames dug a ditch with her own testimony.
Ms. Neel clearly asked her, "You have taken an oath to tell the truth here today?" and Hames said "yes" and about relevance to which Mr. Elvine-Kreiss asked on re-cross. "So you only tell the truth when it is relevant?"

Hames was clearly frustrated and knew Mr. Elvine-Kreiss had suceeded. On her way out of the courtroom, she told Decker's family members her frustration with the questions and expressed her disdain for Brown,. "He is sitting there in his black shirt and his pointy hair"

Hames testimony was a lot of opinion and her dislike of Brown. She even admitted that on the day of the shooting, she told "Kai", the huy who was dating Brown's ex-girlfriend Kara Williams to saty even though he was drunk so Brown would get annoyed and leave.

She gave details about being in an office next to the bedroom where later that evening, Johnson and Brown talked about issues he was having with people and that Decker went into the bedroom twice when his name was mentioned. Brown was telling Johnson that Decker sold some tools that Brown was supposed to make sure were safe. Han]mes said that she did not hear Decker threaten Brown but the second time he went into Johnson's bedroom, he told Brown, "Why are you talking about this?" which referred to Brown mentioning a welder Decker had sold that belonged to Johnson. Hames did admit Decker was annoyed but insisted he was calm. She said Brown was warning Johnson about Decker and again Decker said to him, "This is none of your business."

Hames testified that she heard Brown cuss at Decker but did not hear what he said. She said she thought "Brown was brave because he was cussing at Neil."

After some conversation, she heard a gunshot and heard Johnson say, "Did you just shoot him?"
She said she heard Johnson get angrier and angrier and Brown saying, "What are you doing Dad? Why are you taking the gun away from me?" Hames said she saw Decker lying on the floor and she ran to call 911, could not get a dial tone and thinking "Neil is going to die"  but got through  and went upstairs and that "Ray" was there and "Lion" was there. There was no mention of these people before or how they got there. Ms. Neel showed Hames a photo of a blanket and she said,"that's Neil blood all over it."

Ms. Neel asked her if at any time she saw anyone else besides Brown with a firearm, if she saw anyone threaten Brown and if she saw any firearms in that bedroom and to all questions, Hames said, "no."

Hanes said she, Decker and Brown used meth but that Decker did not change on meth and that he was not "overly aggressive." She said that Brown never told her that he was afraid of Decker and she kept saying that Brown and Decker's disagreements were "over stupid things" like the gates being left unlocked. She also said she never talked to Decker about his behavior with Brown.

On cross, when Mr. Elvine-Kreiss asked her again if Decker's demeanor changed when he was on meth, she was adamant it did not. Earlier she said Brown was fired because he did not do his job and look after the property and tool shed but on cross, she said that "one of the reasons he was fired because he did not show any interest in helping with the marijuana grow."

Hames was hostile and short in her responses on cross and when Mr. Elvine-Kreiss would press further, she would reluctantly answer. Mr. Elvine-Kreiss asked her if she read any articles or talked to anyone about her testimony since she she testified yesterday. She denied it. Please see post where she had just walked out of courtroom and was talking with family members in the courtroom and they referred to my post about the Alderpoint 8.

Another instance where Mr. Elvine-Kreiss questioned her about guns in the house, she said yes but not in the house, out on the property; yes but not in the bedroom that day. Mr. Elvine-Kreiss pointed out that she had previously said that there were guns in the house but today she was stating differently. Today she said Johnson asked the police if he could have his guns back in the house or on his property.

He followed that up with, "You are recalling today something that is new, that Scott got his gun back in the bedroom after Matthew Brown fled?"

"You told the police that when Neil entered the bedroom he was angry" and today she was saying he was calm. Hames was backed in a corner When he offered to show her the police report, to refresh her recollection, Hames responded, "I'll take your word for it." She then said, as she can recall today, "he was calm."

Kreiss mentioned another statement she made before today, "At some point you told Matt he didn't need to carry a gun. If Neil wanted to hurt him, he would regardless." Hames denied the second part of the statement in court today.

Other inconsistency he brought up that was that earlier she had testified she was not aware of bad blood between Decker and Brown but now she said she was aware of a "mutual dislike." Just earlier this morning on direct, she said that Brown was brave to cuss at Decker but on cross, she said Brown was apologetic and that it surprised her that he cussed. When he offered to show her the police report again, she refused and responded to him with "i don't recall. I was traumatized" when she made earlier statements.

She said that Decker never called Brown "bitch boy" and that he never threatened to "butt-fuck" Brown but another witness, Brown's ex-girlfriend who is a close friend of Hames later confirmed this to be true. Hames went back and forth on who did meth. "You referred to Matt as a wussy and that is why he carried a gun? You said Neil could have got him at anytime." She denied this statements.

She said Decker was not a violent person and that she only knew about the Alderpoint 8 from the Lost Coast and she was only familiar with a man named Quentin from the "papers."