"I don't think this is an implied malice case, it's express malice case"

Deputy District Attorney Zachary Curtis basically recapped the events and his opening argument. He went over elements of crime but very little testimony. His delivery was very clinical and precise. He did his best to triage his key witnesses whose credibility was brought into question during cross examination during the trial.

At a very crucial point in his power point presentation about two shots, he had Angie Eller's name typed instead of the victim Angel Tully and he said that and then corrected himself. He kept saying Arreaga shot Hammers and Tully but no one actually saw Arreaga shoot either victim. One witness conflicted himself about seeing the actual shooting and one person saw Arreaga with a pistol in his hand.

Mr. Curtis brought up where Jerry Bachus lied about being let in Mr. Hopkins house after the shooting and then said Bachus was not lying, "his memory was just wrong. He was hysterical. He is a drug addict. He was doing drugs that day."

While going over the elements of the crime, Mr. Curtis said, "I don't think this is an implied malice case, it's express malice case, said" but then went over the elements of express malice and how they fit the crime.

He showed photos of Angel Tully and Harley Hammers wounds. He brought up that Arreaga said he had drugs in the lockbox and then showed a photo of the gun and holster in a lockbox, saying there is an imprint of the gun but no drug scale.

Bringing up the video of Arreaga's interview with law enforcement, "Mr. Arreaga says Shavonne Hammers did the shooting, lets see what he told law enforcement." He then played some select clips.
The video is the strongest evidence the People have against Arreaga.

None of the statements he played in the inetrview included Arreaga confessing to the crime and Arreaga explained why he said what he did to law enforcement on the stand when he testified. He was afraid of snitching and afraid for his family, if he pissed Shavonne Hammers off.

Mr. Curtis acknowledged that Rodney Coombs was defensive and Ms. Holmquist was not aggressive in her cross examination yet he said Rodney Coombs memory on the stand was affected "because he was intimidated by the defense attorney." 

One of the most credible witnesses in this trial was Carly Michaels, given immunity by the DA for her testimony for the People. Mr. Curtis tore her testimony apart implying that Michaels still had feelings for Arreaga.

The fact that Mr. Curtis spent so much time discrediting Michaels and defending Shavonne Hammers, Rodney Coombs and Jerry Bachus, the key people implicating Arreaga speaks volumes about the People's case.



http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2015/10/it-was-best-of-closing-arguments-it-was.html