Defense played surveilance footage from Ernie's bar and put Ernie's bartender Donna Hammer's on the stand. She was working on August 25, 2017 when both David Kobak and Fred Loftus were at Ernie's.
After her testimony, surveilance footage from Ernie's was shown again as well as surveillance footage showing Fred Loftus entering Little Red Lion bar and N & S liquors. This was during Public Defender Investigator Brian Grossman's testimony.
Hammers testimony was very specific and credible. It appeared during redirect by Deputy Public Defender Casey Russo that she might not remember who came to Ernie's first but after Deputy District Attorney's cross examination of Grossman, it is unclear if Hammer even made that one mistake.
In the footage,she recognized Kobak. Hammers described Kobak as an older man with white long hair.
She could not identify if the man Kobak sat next to was Loftus. Hammers said Kobak did not have any conflict with Loftus or anyone else at the bar.
She said Kobak "ordered a pint of PBR and drank it slowly. He ordered another pint, had about half," made a phone call to Loftus and "asked him to come down and he would buy him a drink." Hammers said Kobak arrived first.
Kobak told law enforcement he arrived at Ernie's after Loftus. Yesterday when he testified, he said he sips beer and drinks slowly.
During cross examination by Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm, Hammers said Loftus came to the bar after Kobak called. He bought Loftus a vodka cranberry cocktail. The two men were there for "30 to 45 minutes." Kobak was there for a total of two hours. They left together.
"David had three full beers.," said Hammer. "Fred had two cocktails." When they left, Hammers said her opimion was that they were not under the influence. "They were not slurring. There was no change in either man."
Hammers said she usually served peanuts in disposable bowls.
On the video footage, you see Kobak and Loftus leaving together. They are walking fine,not stumbling or swaying. There are bowls on the counter.
Grossman said Loftus entered Ernie's at 12:46 p.m.; Kobak entered at 1:21 p.m. They both exited at 3:49 p.m. He said Loftus entered Little Red Lion at 4:52 p.m., left at 5:15 p.m., entered N & S liquors at 5:16 p.m. On the video, you see Loftus buy a bottle of hard liquor.
During cross examination, Ms. Timm asked who obtained the surveilance video from Ernie's. Grossman said it was former Public Defender Investigator Max Hadley. When asked what time period, the clips covered, he was unsure. The surveilance played in court were snippets of larger clips. Ms. Timm pointed out that a white bag Loftus took with him when he left Ernie's was already there at 12:46 p.m. She asked, "Is it possible Mr. Loftus could have been there earlier? Is it possible Mr. Kobak could have arrived earlier?"
She also pointed out that on the video Kobak was eating peanuts.
We took a brief break.
On redirect, Mr. Russo said "Ms. Timm pointed out an error in our timeline on the video." Grossman corrected the time Loftus entered Ernie's to 12:42 p.m. The jury saw that he put the white bag on the counter.
"There is no indication what time these clips cover," said Ms. Timm. Kobak could have arrived first.
Sarabdeep Singh briefly testified after Hammers. All he did was identify the N & S liquor store surveillance footage. He worked at the store on August 25, 2017.
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