Jason Smith case resolves in the middle of jury trial and yesterday's motions played a role

 

Yesterday, motions in limine were heard all day in the Jason Smith case. 

APD Detective Luke Scown testified yesterday.  Under cross examination, information about the suspect having a face tattoo and concerns about identifying the suspect by APD were raised.

There were some issues with the preliminary hearing, some mistakes made by Detective Scown and he rectified later. Those mistakes were discovered and only fixed after Deputy District Attorney Trent Timm asked Detective Scown to review audio recordings. There were inconsistencies in victim and witness statements.

In a nutshell, as Mr. Timm told Judge Kaleb Cockrum, Detective Scown made mistakes but they were not intentional and he rectified them. While Judge Cockrum ruled that there was nothing afoul or prosecutorial misconduct and that some evidence withheld at preliminary hearing  was irrelevant but other recordings would have made a favorable difference in Smith's case. 

If you read my previous coverage on the motions, I called this a Humboldt drama filled case. People involved in certain activity need to be forthcoming with the police and prosecution and tell the truth and in this case the victim, witnesses and co-defendant wasted a lot of time and resources as well as did a disservice to the criminal justice system. Smith has quite the criminal history but his due process, a fair trial and this plea was only possible because he had a public defender who investigated and fought for her client.

There are certain Humboldt private attorneys who take a ton of money and do a shitty job for their client.

Today Smith pleaded guilty to PC 211 for three years in prison and was sentenced by Judge Cockrum.

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https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-year-ago-attorneys-could-access.html?m=1