5.Gallery Conduct, Spectator Removal, Witness Arrangements, Scheduling, and Juror Childcare
157 lines(At the bench.)
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
MR. JAY: Judge, at the end of the session in the morning we already had some outbursts from the media. I don't know if you wanted to address that, but this afternoon, there's a lady in the back row on your left in the very far corner. She's already making outbursts. She's going to cause a mistrial if she's to remain in here. She's been going back and forth with the deputies --
MR. OWENS: I thought she knew the deputy.
THE COURT: Who might it be?
MR. OWENS: The black female on the far back --
THE COURT: My CO, Officer Jones? Okay.
Are we having an issue with somebody in the gallery?
COURT STAFF: Well, what happened was, when she first came in, I initially assumed that she had court herself, which I just told her to go to 19 alpha. And then when I came back in, she was, like, Officer Jones, you're fired. And Deputy Bruce talked to her, so I assume she wanted to watch Sarah Boone. They was inmates together. But she --
THE COURT: All right. So here's what I'm going to do -- thank you.
COURT STAFF: Uh-huh.
THE COURT: Mr. Jay, any further inquiry of Officer Jones?
MR. OWENS: Just the older man with --
THE COURT: JI recall him being on the phone.
MR. OWENS: He's older and he's hard of hearing. I've talked to him outside, so I think it was inadvertent that he needs to be --
THE COURT: Okay. Do you have any other inquiry of Officer Jones?
THE COURT: Counselor?
MR. OWENS: No.
THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.
I will advise them to please silence all their cell phones, that we're not going to have any outbursts. And if you cannot control yourself, I'm going to ask you to remove yourself now. And if I hear an outburst, you will be removed, okay?
THE COURT: Thank you very much. Anything else -- yes, sir?
MR. OWENS: We have a lay witness. Her name is Pearl Walker. She's an elderly woman. She lives here in the Orlando area. She's cared for by her daughter, Marlene Walker. She said this, I understand my mother would be a good witness for Sarah. I just have to care for my mom, and we have had significant loss in our family. Over the last year, my father, who she was married to for 60 years, passed away in May of 2023. My oldest sister and her daughter passed away within days of each other. We have a funeral for them in February of 2024. She wakes up most mornings crying due to the loss of her loved ones. She's 81. Her heart can only take so much. I just took her on Saturday to get shots in her knees to help with the pain of walking. Mentally and physically would be a lot to have our mother come into the courtroom. Is it possible she can participate via Zoom?
MR. JAY: You're looking at me, so I'm going to give a response, Judge. I believe testimony by video is something that should be addressed with a motion, so that the State can respond and the Court can issue a ruling.
Quite frankly, two out of the -- as far as I know from communications with the defense team, they narrowed it down to three civilians out of the plethora that we had, that they're going to call, and this is one of those three.
One of them I can kind of understand what the testimony is going to be based on the phone extraction, that's Debra Johnson. The other two, we have actually no idea what they're going to say.
And I understand that they have an investigator who has been in trial with us every day, rather than perhaps getting us affidavits to give us any help.
So we are going to require, unless the Court orders otherwise, an in-person deposition --
THE COURT: Are these one of the persons that were identified in your objections?
THE COURT: Who was it? Because I only have initials, unfortunately.
MR. OWENS: Pearl Walker.
THE COURT: PW. Okay. Got it. Based on the Court's ruling earlier in this case, that if you were going to call any of these people, they need to be subject for deposition first.
MR. OWENS: I think we've got some scheduled for -- as soon as we get out of here, 5:30, we've got witnesses coming to be deposed. But I'll get -- I think Billy Lane had actually interviewed her and he's got a summary of her testimony, and I'll get it to the State so they know.
But I do have Marlene Walker and Pearl Walker, some phone numbers, so that they can call. I just talked to them during the break, that's the reason I'm giving this information.
THE COURT: Sure.
MR. JAY: I'm not going to talk to witnesses on the phone and have unrecorded statements that I can't testify to. I need to take their depositions.
THE COURT: I mean, that was the Court's ruling.
MR. OWENS: JI understand. I understand.
MR. JAY: But if I had insight, then I could perhaps discuss the reasonableness of video testimony, but I don't have any insight of what these people are going to say.
MR. OWENS: Can I try to have them here at 5:30?
THE COURT: Yeah. Okay. So bring up the other issues. Are there any other issues?
MR. OWENS: Yes. The assistant to Dr. Brannon, you know, he lives down in West Palm.
THE COURT: Right.
MR. OWENS: Good afternoon -- this is at 1:36 p.m. Reaching out to see when you anticipate meeting Dr. Brannon. I have kept his schedule open for Wednesday, October 23rd, but I need to know if he'll be needed that day as soon as possible, please.
So that's something we need from the State, to know whether or not he can testify on Wednesday.
And then the other thing is I got something from Dr. Harper. She's in a Bay County homicide -- or sentencing on a death row case. The prosecution is still on today. They asked me to be in Bay County tomorrow, which would be Wednesday, and will send me an update at 5:00 tonight as to what time I need to go on tomorrow. If it's late, last witness, I would expect cross to be Wednesday a.m. I'll text you as soon as I hear anything at 5:00.
So I'll know something from her at 5:00 today -- Central, 5:00 Central Time.
THE COURT: Okay. Tomorrow is Tuesday.
MR. OWENS: What's today?
THE COURT: Today is Monday. So she's set to testify on Wednesday in Bay County?
MR. OWENS: That's what she says here.
THE COURT: Okay.
MR. OWENS: She said they asked me to be in Bay County tomorrow and will send me an update at 5:00 tonight as to what time --
THE COURT: Excuse me. I would very much appreciate it if you-all could keep your comments down. Thank you.
MR. OWENS: Here's the --
THE COURT: I have no reason to doubt what you've provided to me, okay. I don't know the order of proof, if you intend on putting on a case. I don't want to pre-state anything, but it seems like --
MR. OWENS: Sarah Boone is going to have to go first.
THE COURT: Correct.
MR. OWENS: And so that's going to be probably -- if you-all finish --
THE COURT: I would assume it's going to be the majority of Tuesday. I'm just -- listen, we need to get the jury in here on how late they can go.
MR. OWENS: Okay.
THE COURT: Assuming we can go to 5:30, 6:00 o'clock tonight, that still leaves your cross-examination of Detective Koepsell tomorrow morning, which you said would be 30 to 45 minutes. Assuming worst case scenario, we start promptly at 9:00 o'clock, you're at 9:45. Approximately 15 minutes for rebuttal -- for redirect, just being worst case scenario, 10:00, State rests. We have JOA and I colloquy your client on a couple of things we've got to go over, which means we kick off your case at 10:30. I don't know how long your inquiry will be. I don't know if it's two hours or longer than that. Assuming two hours, that takes us to 12:30. We take an hour and a half break and we come back 2:00. Two hours for cross-examination. Basically, Tuesday is Ms. Boone's testimony, which then leads us to Wednesday. Now, if Dr. Harper is testifying in Bay County on Wednesday, I don't know your order of proof on who you want to present when, where, how.
MR. OWENS: We would probably have to try -- Brannon is available Wednesday, so we probably want Brannon.
MR. BECK: Just got off the phone with Dr. Brannon's office. He is scheduled to come in Wednesday, although I have to let them know because he scheduled a doctor's appointment anyway, but I think he's available Wednesday morning, first thing, early in the morning. He's three hours away, so maybe 10:00 o'clock is a good estimate for his arrival and testimony.
Julie Harper told us originally that she would be testifying on Tuesday. We got an email from her over the weekend saying her testimony was going to be Tuesday or Wednesday morning. That's okay. I think that --
THE COURT: I think the text updates that Mr. Owens has provided looks like she's going to be testifying Wednesday --
THE COURT: -- in Bay County.
You know, I think we may have to be malleable with this. I don't want to press too hard this afternoon. I want to try to get as much as we can get done. I'd like to have a clean break. I don't want to be in the middle of an examination and have to pick up where we left off.
MR. OWENS: Judge, of course, we'd love to be finished by Thursday or Friday and have the jury with the case.
THE COURT: Okay.
MR. OWENS: That would be our goal.
THE COURT: Fabulous. All right. We may have to just revisit scheduling stuff either at the close of business today or tomorrow to figure out where we are.
So with regard to Ms. Walker, PW, look, I already ordered that she's going to have to give a deposition before she testifies. Now, if there is investigative summaries or something that Mr. Lane can give to the State, they can make a decision on what they want to do, they can waive that right for a depo, that's their decision.
With regard to a virtual appearance, I need you to file a motion and explain to me what you've told me and anything else, and if the State is provided a summary that may assist in their response in that matter.
And then the last thing to address is just discussing with our members of the gallery as to the silencing of cell phones and controlling themselves in that regard.
MR. OWENS: And then you can ask the jury about how late they want to go today --
THE COURT: I am.
MR. OWENS: -- and based on that, we'll try to coordinate depositions --
THE COURT: Correct. So the only issue is we may have to send them right back out because the one juror, whose number I cannot recall but where she's situated, has a minor childcare issue where she can't go past 6:00, so we've got to vet that out.
Now, if she cannot get coverage or if it's me and me only, I'll bring you back up here and we'll figure out where we want to be break, because I don't want to derail anybody's presentation in any way. Okay.
All right. Anything else, State?
MR. OWENS: No, sir.
THE COURT: Okay. Thank you very much.
(In open court.)
THE COURT: All right. Thank you-all for letting me know the lay of the land with regard to those specific issues.
We're going to bring our jury in momentarily and inquire to staying after 5:00 o'clock.
Members of the gallery, good afternoon. The State is going to continue with their evidence presentation. I know this morning some cell phones were going off or there was chattering in some cell phones this morning. I'm going to please respectfully request that you turn off your cell phones and not have any correspondence or communications orally amongst yourselves or anyone else in the gallery.
I'm not going to allow any outbursts. If you cannot contain yourself, I'm going to ask you now to remove yourself. This is your one and only opportunity. If you cannot control yourself with outbursts, I will ask the courtroom deputy to remove you.
Does anyone have any questions with regard to the Court's instructions?
If you're wearing sunglasses, I need you to remove them. Thank you.
All right. With that, State, anything we need to address before we bring in our panel?
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Yes.
(At the bench.)
THE COURT: Yes, sir?
MR. JAY: According to my victim advocate, the defendant keeps on turning around and smiling at the woman in the last row that's going to be the potential problem. I am really, really concerned that she's going to say something to derail this trial.
MR. OWENS: I'11 tell my client not to turn around and talk to people in the audience --
THE COURT: I just saw her --
MR. OWENS: -- or make comments to people. Unless you want to do it, Judge? I'll let you do it.
THE COURT: I just saw her turn around and make eye contact with somebody in the gallery and it was not your staff.
MR. OWENS: I'11 tell her or if you want to tell her?
THE COURT: I would prefer you to tell her. And I would inquire of her specifically as to if she knows anybody and how she knows those persons and I need you to come back and report to me what it is.
(Pause.)
MR. HENDERSON: Is it the same woman before?
THE COURT: Can you -- the same woman before. I don't understand.
MR. HENDERSON: Who made the comments to --
MR. OWENS: Sarah Boone says she doesn't know anybody in the gallery, but because of all that that we just said, she was just looking to see who it was.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Jay?
MR. CACCIATORE: At this point, I think she's forfeited her right to be in here.
THE COURT: What exactly have you seen her do specifically?
MR. CACCIATORE: I believe it was like a loud conversation going back and forth. And just given the sensitive nature of this, we picked eight alternates for a reason. We won't be able to unring any of these bells. She doesn't have any business here other than the fact that she's a member of the public, and she's forfeited her right to continue to stay in here.
MR. OWENS: It is being streamed live --
THE COURT: I know that.
MR. OWENS: -- so people can watch it --
MR. CACCIATORE: I think defense is in agreement that she should -- she should leave.
MR. HENDERSON: I am in 100 percent agreement because of this. If something happens now, we've been into this thing --
THE COURT: I know. Okay.
MR. HENDERSON: -- all the safeguards, Judge.
THE COURT: Politely, any thoughts from either the State or the defense as to how to ask the woman in the back left to excuse herself?
MR. OWENS: Just the fact that when the security officers walked in and she said something to her ina loud voice, Oh, here comes deputy -- whatever her last name is -- here comes -- even though it was off the record and you weren't on the bench, it's still inappropriate in a courtroom. Some people don't know how to act in a courtroom. It was just inappropriate.
Then she called out, Hey, does anybody got a pair of eyeglasses I can wear? I turned around and I said, What number do you need? Somebody in front of her gave her a pair and she tried them on and gave them back. But just too relaxed -- she's too relaxed for the seriousness of these proceedings.
MR. JAY: I think perhaps even before Mr. Owens got in here, when she first came in, the female deputy -- or Orange County employee, told her to go up to 19A, I know who you are from the past. I don't know if she's another defendant or -- because I couldn't hear what she said when she was up here, I was behind her.
THE COURT: She said that she supposed that that woman was here for court and directed her to 19 alpha, and that was when the squabbling had began, so --
MR. HENDERSON: What about as request of counsel. You can even put my name in it. I don't care.
THE COURT: All right.
MR. JAY: She had another outburst where she said she is the mayor of Orlando or in charge of Orlando, the entire city or something like that, too.
THE COURT: I got it. All right. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to say, At the request of both the State and the defense, ma'am in the back left, last row, I need you to excuse yourself. You are able to watch it live. The Court's link is streaming. You can go up to the 12th floor and call my JA and she'll give you instructions on how to watch it from a streaming device. Is that acceptable?
THE COURT: Okay. Thank you very much.
(In open court.)
THE COURT: All right. Ma'am, in the back, left, last row. Ma'am in the back left, last row, good afternoon. After conversing with the State and the defense, they have agreed and asked me to excuse you from this room. I understand that there may have been an outburst by you with courtroom personnel before the judge arrived on the bench this afternoon. If you would like to watch the trial, it is being streamed live. You can head to the 12th floor, get off the elevator, and head to the south side of the building and see the sign where it says Judge Michael Kraynick and it will tell you which direction to go. You can pick up the phone, call my judicial assistant, Anita Berrios, and she can give you instructions on how to watch this trial virtually, okay?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay. Thank you so much.
THE COURT: Thank you, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: God bless you guys. I'm still the boss of the city. So we got to work together and try to figure it out.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So they got her arrested -- have a good one.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
(The unidentified speaker exited.)
THE COURT: To restate the Court's prior positions, if there is anyone going to have any outbursts or cannot control themselves, again, I'm going to ask you to remove yourselves at this time.
State, are we ready to bring in our jury?
MR. CACCIATORE: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Defense, are we ready to bring in our jury?
MR. OWENS: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: All right. Let's go ahead and bring in our panel.
COURT STAFF: Jury entering.
(Jury entered.)
THE COURT: State, do you recognize our jury?
MR. CACCIATORE: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Defense, do you recognize our jury?
MR. OWENS: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Thank you. You-all can be seated.
Members of the jury, good afternoon. I hope that you enjoyed your lunch break. Welcome back.
We're going to pick up with the evidence and testimony presentation by the State this afternoon. We may have to work after 5:00, possibly between 5:30 and 6:00. As I recall with speaking with some of you, you have minor children and may need childcare to pick them up. Is there anyone here who has any concerns with regard to childcare staying until, between 5:30 and 6:00? If you have those concerns -- okay. Juror in the first row, third seat from the right, yes, ma'am?
JUROR: As long as we get a break between now and then and I can call someone, I should be fine.
THE COURT: I would absolutely give you that opportunity right now to do that.
Is there anyone else who has concerns about childcare?
If you're able to have childcare, ma'am, is that going to affect your ability to listen to the evidence this afternoon?
JUROR: No, sir.
THE COURT: Okay. Can the parties approach for a moment?
(At the bench.)
THE COURT: Any issue with just sending her out as opposed to the entire panel or do I need to send the full panel out?
THE COURT: You okay with that?
MR. OWENS: Yes.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you.
(At the bench.)
THE COURT: All right. Ma'am, just you, not everybody, if you could step out back to the deliberation room and make those phone calls, take your time. And once you come back in, we'll pick up from there and just let me know if you're able to get coverage, okay? Thank you so much, ma'am.
(Juror exited.)
THE COURT: You-all could be seated. Thank you.
(Pause. )
(Juror entered.)
JUROR: I'm all set.
THE COURT: Excellent. Thank you very much.
If you can, members of our panel, show me by a show of hands you've complied with the Court's instructions prior to the lunch hour. All right. Record will reflect all hands have been raised.
With that, State, you can call your next witness.