5.State Rests Rebuttal, Completion of Evidence, and Defendant Colloquy

THE COURT: Oh, no, I'm not going to tie you. I was just kind of ballparking it based on how long the openings were as well.

Are you going to be moving forward with surrebuttal, sir?

THE COURT: About the issue about the text messages as well. And remind me if I miss anything, please, both of you. And then we can bring the jury back in and kind of figure out from there, we can ballpark what else we need to address with the jury instructions and kind of give them a timeframe from when we want them back so we could start closings.

It's going to be an early lunch, but just -- if I could go back and redo it, I would say, show up at 11:00, but I wasn't thinking yesterday afternoon.

THE COURT: Members of the jury, we're going to go ahead and excuse you for a couple minutes. I've got some things I have to discuss with counsel outside of your presence. We'll bring you back in for additional instructions on where we think we're going to go after that.

Similar instruction that I have given you over the last couple of days. Please do not conduct any independent research or investigation with regard to the persons, places, things, or charge involved in this case. And do not have any discussions amongst yourselves or anyone else about them. And we'll bring you back in as promptly as possible. Thank you.

THE COURT: You-all can be seated. Thank you.

The State has rested. Mr. Owens, do you have any intention on putting on a surrebuttal in this case, sir?

THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.

All right. Ms. Boone, I've got a couple of questions to go over with you, ma'am.

You were previously sworn this morning. You've had the opportunity to review and participate in the trial. You've had the opportunity to review the rebuttal case as provided by the State. You've had the opportunity to review and listen to that evidence and witness any cross-examination as it relates to the State's witnesses in their rebuttal case. Are you satisfied with your attorneys' representation of you in this matter?

THE COURT: Now, your lawyers yesterday told the Court that they may want to put on a surrebuttal, which would be a limited rebuttal to the evidence presented by the State in their rebuttal, both yesterday and today. Your lawyers have indicated that they do not intend on doing that.

Similar to other conversations we've had, ma'tam, I don't want to know specifics, I just want to know if you and your lawyers have had these conversations.

Have you had a conversation with your attorneys about putting on a surrebuttal --

THE COURT: Yes. Thank you, sir.

Ms. Boone, at the conclusion of the State's presentation of State's Exhibit 21, Mr. Owens had approached and advised the Court of some objections, specifically, with regard to the co-ownership or co-usage of the phone. The Court is not permitted to comment on the evidence, and your lawyer was seeking an instruction from the Court to advise our jury that both you and Mr. Torres had access to that cell phone. I am prohibited from commenting on the evidence.

Now, that doesn't prevent your lawyer or the State from speaking about that in their closing arguments. Just as a matter of law, I am not able to advise the jury as to what that evidence is.

The second request pertained to the State moving from place to place in -- through those 108 pages moving from timestamp to timestamp. The State chose to present that evidence in that manner, which is why I gave that instruction to the jury, that not the entirety of the Exhibit 21 was provided to them as to what the State produced, and they will have the opportunity to review that in its entirety when they go to deliberate.

Do you have any questions about that so far?

THE COURT: Okay. The last portion, ma'am, pertained to the cadence or tone in which you and Mr. Torres communicated with each other. I have no knowledge as to how you and Mr. Torres communicated in text form as to what the tone was behind those words.

Your lawyer advised me that there was an objection and you had some concerns as to the way Mr. Jay may have read those text messages to the jury. I found that the way he read them was benign, ina flat tone, and did not exacerbate or excite any of the language that was in there. He had read them in as a monotone way as possible in presenting to the jury. And I didn't notice any changes in cadence or heightening or lowering in the volume or tense or tone utilized in presenting that information to the jury.

Do you have any other questions for me, ma'am?

THE COURT: Yes. So once we make all these changes, every member in the box will have a paper copy, you, Mr. Owens and your team, along with Ms. Boone will have a copy. The State will have a copy, Madam Court Reporter will have a copy, and I will. And I will read line by line all the way up to the 2.7 instruction.

At that point in time, I will stop. I will advise our jury that we're going to begin with closings. State will go, you will go, State will have an opportunity for rebuttal, and then I'll finish with the verdict and final instructions. Discharge our alternates at that time. I'll go back and thank them and give them their jury certificate forms, and then we'll release the jury.

I'll have a final colloquy with your client and then we'll review all the evidence to send back, with the exception of the baseball bat.

THE COURT: I know. And I would prefer them to work late into the evening if they're on board with doing that, rather than coming back Monday.

Okay. All right. If you-all would be so kind to give me a moment so I can go back up to chambers, get with Ms. Berrios and I'll give paper copies of everything from the revisions that we made this morning.

Let's go ahead and bring back in our jury.

And I agree with Mr. Owens. I'd rather us waiting on them, than them waiting on us, so I think 1:30 is the way to fly.

Let's go ahead and bring back in our jury.

THE COURT: Thank you. You-all can be seated.

Members of the -- Juror No. 2 in the back. He's ready. He gets it. Can you raise those hands one more time for me? All right. The record will reflect hands have been raised as compliance with regard to the Court's instructions.

Members of the jury, all the evidence and testimony sought to be provided by the State and the defense have been provided to us over the last week.

At this point in time, the State and the defense and I need to discuss the law to be given to you in instructions. That's going to take a little bit of time.

So we're going to go ahead and excuse you at this point in time for a longer lunch break than what you've had previously, and we're going to ask you to be back here at 1:30. At that point in time, the Court will begin to instruct you on the law that you are to apply in this case.

Then the parties will begin with their closing arguments. The State will go first, then defense, then the State will have the opportunity to rebut any of the defense's arguments.

After hearing the closing arguments, the Court will provide you final instructions before releasing you to deliberate in this matter.

We may work past 9:00 tonight, we may go late into the evening, so if there are any plans or things that you need to reach out to, as we discussed last week during jury selection, that we can work until as late as 9:00, and we may work later than that this evening.

If there's anyone that has any concerns as to working that late, please raise your hands at this time. All right. Court sees no hands.

I would also ask of you, if you could, please reach out to any family members or friends to, one, advise them that you're on the jury and will be deliberating this evening. And if there's any accommodations or issues with minor children or family that need to be taken care of, I would ask you that you take care of that during our lunch break.

THE COURT: Yes. We will provide you -- the court deputy will provide you the emergency phone number when we get back from lunch so that you could provide that during a break that we'll have this afternoon to any friends or family or loved ones if they need to get in contact with you.

I will give you a similar instruction that I've given you over the last couple of days. I know you're probably tired of it, but I've got to give it to you one more time.

Jurors, you must not conduct any investigation on your own. This includes reading newspapers, watching television, or using a computer, cell phone, the internet, any electronic device, or any other means at all to get information related to this case or the people and places involved in this case. This applies whether you are in the courthouse, at home, or anywhere else. You must not visit places mentioned in the trial or use the internet to look at maps or pictures to see any place discussed during the trial.

Jurors, do not watch local news or read local newspapers. Jurors must not have discussions of any sort with friends, family members, or even your fellow jurors about the case or the people and places involved. So do not let anyone make comments to you or ask questions about the trial.

I want to stress again, that just as you must not talk about this case face-to-face, you must not talk about this case by using an electronic device. You must not communicate -- excuse me, you must not use phones, computers, or electronic devices to communicate. Do not send or accept any message related to this case or your jury service. Do not discuss this case or ask for advice by any means at all, including posting information on an internet website, chat room, or blog.

With that, members of the jury, I thank you for your attentiveness, service, and sacrifice and we'll see you at 1:30.

Juror No. 2 in the back, yes, sir?

THE COURT: Could you do that, Officer Jones?

I've been advised by -- rather than double speak, can you just tell me -- say it for the record what it was.

THE COURT: And I'll approve that.

So, State, anything else we've got to discuss other than the jury instructions?

THE COURT: All right. Court's going to run upstairs, put the finishing touches on what we agreed to this morning and I'll bring back paper copies for everyone, and we can continue the charging conference at that time.

Court's going to be ina short recess. We'll be back as promptly as possible. Thank you.

THE COURT: You-all can be seated. Thank you.

We're back on the record, 2020-CF-2603, State of Florida vs. Sarah Boone.

Let me get appearances for the State.