At 9.16am Seymour Amster, the now sole defense lawyer to Lonnie Franklin (the 'alleged' Grim Sleeper) walks stumbles in the door.. always at approximately 75 mph looking as windswept and as out of sorts as ever.
Beth Silverman and Marguerite Rizzo, on the Prosecution side, had walked in and taken their seats only about 10 minutes beforehand. Silverman was in a loud altercation and making subtle threats to a lawyer from a previous case which was being heard in the same Courtroom. Detective Dupree was seated in the same seat he always sits in, quietly and respectfully just assessing the situation in the room.
I always sit next to the family members of one of the victims, she will remain nameless for now out of respect for the family. However this is the same family that all come to every one of these 'pre-pre-pre Trial Arraignments' which never seem to end and have been going on for 5 1/2 years.
I mentioned to the brother of one of the victims today how shocking it is that they have had to wait for over 5 1/2 years for justice for their sister and how sorry I am for them. To which he responded, "actually we've been waiting over 25 years for justice since he killed her" motioning over to Lonnie Franklin who had been led in to the Courtroom without me even noticing.
How devastating I thought, the two brothers, mother and father have been coming religiously over 1/2 a decade every single time Lonnie Franklin has these short Pre-Trial Arraignments. Yet never once have they had an outburst of frustration. I'm sure they'd like to jump up and do some real damage to who is delaying this Trial, but they all hold it together and just shake their heads in disbelief and mutter under their breath how unfair it is. I agree 100%. A total breakdown in the Justice system at the expense of these families.
Ms Ware, mother of Barbara Ware, was not in the Court today which is a concern as she has come every Arraignment without fail. She is a gentle soul and getting on in age, it also takes her a long time to take the public transport to get her to the Criminal Courts Building... I do hope she is ok.
At 9.17am Judge Kennedy called the Court to order and we waited for Amster to start ranting his usual unprofessional rant, as he always does.
Now the fact is that the lead defense attorney, Louisa Pensanti, in this case has just been suspended indefinitely by the State Bar, a new 2nd Counsel has to be appointed.
Amster starts with: "Norm Callen and the 987.9 Judge are having further discussions as of yesterday so it's out of my hands."
Judge Kennedy: "So I take it that the 987.9 Judge hasn't made her decision whether to appoint Mr Callen yet?"
Amster: "Yes, also Mr Callen is sick right now.. he is eating chicken soup.." nervously laughing "as we speak".. "I have just got the order yesterday authorizing the transcripts so I do have the dockets of the cases but will have to do a bit of work on that. I think by Tuesday I will have that and we can come back to Court on Wednesday of next week."
Silverman said: : "Well we are still giving out the questionnaires to the potential Jurors on December 15th."
Judge Kennedy agreed to all this going ahead and also said that after the questionnaires are given out, then we will all break for the Holidays and the earliest we can come back for Jury selection would be on January 4th, or 11th or the 19th (as there is a Holiday on the 18th).
After that, Silverman was telling everyone where she would be allocating seats for the victims families, the media and the public who win a lottery seat. It's a very small Courtroom so I'm not sure how everyone is going to fit in.
After about 15 minutes that ended the day... to be continued....
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
August 17th 2015. Another Tentative Date in the upcoming 'Grim Sleeper Trial'....... Really?
At 8.59am, Lonnie David Franklin was walked in to the Courtroom by the Bailiff, this time with his head turned towards the family members of the victims. Usually his head is firmly in a downward position but today it was strangely towards the Gallery.
He, like the rest of us, including the family members of the victims, have been coming to this Courtroom over the past 5 years, 1 month and 10 days. It is an absolute disgrace and yet another miscarriage of Justice in this 'so-called' American Justice System!
Always sitting next to me, usually all together on the same row, are the loyal families to each of their loved ones who were so brutally killed for no reason at all. Quite possibly by the very man whom they were/are sitting only feet away from. How I often wonder how much restraint they all have not to jump up and attack the man that has been charged with these brutal crimes. How they sit there silently never making any rude outbursts as I'm sure they wish they could. They faithfully show up like clockwork every time Lonnie Franklin appears in Court, some of them using numerous forms of public transportation, some in failing health and others taking time away from their jobs.
All this disruption and unnecessary chaos in their lives due to a person who chose to selfishly murder their loved one, for no reason at all other than who or what he perceived her to be. Combine that with the Defense using their 'never ending' shenanigans to stall/delay the Trial of the person charged, so far for 5 years one month and 10 days! How much more can these family members take? And what have they done to deserve this.... Absolutely nothing!
Today's Proceedings were the usual total disrespect to Judge Kennedy, mainly on the part of the Defense and then the Prosecution... the main woman on the Prosecution side, who is never at a loss for words, told the Judge, "You keep falling in to the Defense's trap!" To which she snapped back "I am not falling in to anyone's trap Ms Silverman!"
It was clear that the Defense was up to his usual games and even the Judge admitted that he is using his 'gamesmanship' to delay the case as much as he can. She then asked the Prosecution 'Why don't you call his bluff'. Call his bluff? What kind of professionalism is going on here? None in my humble opinion. The only professionally behaved people in the Courtroom seems to be those of us that are sitting in the Gallery. In all the Trials I've sat in on, never have I ever seen such childish behaviour which makes a mockery of the already broken Justice system here in the US. Why is the Judge letting this happen? Is this a game by all of them at the expense of the tax payers and the victims family members? Or is it to gain publicity for this Case or what? Judge Kennedy seems like a very nice lady, she has a good reputation of being strong too. However, there is nothing strong about the way she is dealing with the main person who is speaking on behalf of the Defense, Seymour Amster.
Judge Kennedy does her best to stand up to him but as soon as he spits and splutters and screams and shouts, she completely backs down and waits to get a word in. Surely she should be the one ruling the roost.
As the morning proceeded, it was established that the Defense feel that they will be 'ambushed' by the Prosecution during the Trial, so they want to keep their cards close to their chest. The words 'ambushed' was thrown around quite a bit today, which was Mr Amster's stalling tactic of the morning, so that he could be cagey about the witnesses that he may or may not use. The Judge was looking back and forth in horror, as she always does, at both the DA and Amster like a tennis match that never seemed to end!
The hate between the Ms Silverman and Mr Amster is so apparent that you could cut the atmosphere with a a knife. Apparently there was another 'Death Penalty case' that they were on together and Ms Silverman eluded to another Defense Counsel having to step in.. to which Mr Amster lost the plot.....again.
It concluded with Judge Kennedy saying "Well apparently there is no love lost between the two of you." Amster responded "I will stipulate to that one". Ms Silverman said "And I will agree with Counsel for the first time." Amster again responded "Well at least we can agree on something".
So, yet again, as of today there is now another Trial date set for October 14th 2015. That will be exactly 5 years, 3 months and 7 days since the day that Lonnie Franklin was arrested for being the 'alleged' Grim Sleeper. Let's see if this date is the real date for the Trial to begin.... we will see, because I highly doubt it!
Please stay tuned.....
He, like the rest of us, including the family members of the victims, have been coming to this Courtroom over the past 5 years, 1 month and 10 days. It is an absolute disgrace and yet another miscarriage of Justice in this 'so-called' American Justice System!
Always sitting next to me, usually all together on the same row, are the loyal families to each of their loved ones who were so brutally killed for no reason at all. Quite possibly by the very man whom they were/are sitting only feet away from. How I often wonder how much restraint they all have not to jump up and attack the man that has been charged with these brutal crimes. How they sit there silently never making any rude outbursts as I'm sure they wish they could. They faithfully show up like clockwork every time Lonnie Franklin appears in Court, some of them using numerous forms of public transportation, some in failing health and others taking time away from their jobs.
All this disruption and unnecessary chaos in their lives due to a person who chose to selfishly murder their loved one, for no reason at all other than who or what he perceived her to be. Combine that with the Defense using their 'never ending' shenanigans to stall/delay the Trial of the person charged, so far for 5 years one month and 10 days! How much more can these family members take? And what have they done to deserve this.... Absolutely nothing!
Today's Proceedings were the usual total disrespect to Judge Kennedy, mainly on the part of the Defense and then the Prosecution... the main woman on the Prosecution side, who is never at a loss for words, told the Judge, "You keep falling in to the Defense's trap!" To which she snapped back "I am not falling in to anyone's trap Ms Silverman!"
It was clear that the Defense was up to his usual games and even the Judge admitted that he is using his 'gamesmanship' to delay the case as much as he can. She then asked the Prosecution 'Why don't you call his bluff'. Call his bluff? What kind of professionalism is going on here? None in my humble opinion. The only professionally behaved people in the Courtroom seems to be those of us that are sitting in the Gallery. In all the Trials I've sat in on, never have I ever seen such childish behaviour which makes a mockery of the already broken Justice system here in the US. Why is the Judge letting this happen? Is this a game by all of them at the expense of the tax payers and the victims family members? Or is it to gain publicity for this Case or what? Judge Kennedy seems like a very nice lady, she has a good reputation of being strong too. However, there is nothing strong about the way she is dealing with the main person who is speaking on behalf of the Defense, Seymour Amster.
As the morning proceeded, it was established that the Defense feel that they will be 'ambushed' by the Prosecution during the Trial, so they want to keep their cards close to their chest. The words 'ambushed' was thrown around quite a bit today, which was Mr Amster's stalling tactic of the morning, so that he could be cagey about the witnesses that he may or may not use. The Judge was looking back and forth in horror, as she always does, at both the DA and Amster like a tennis match that never seemed to end!
The hate between the Ms Silverman and Mr Amster is so apparent that you could cut the atmosphere with a a knife. Apparently there was another 'Death Penalty case' that they were on together and Ms Silverman eluded to another Defense Counsel having to step in.. to which Mr Amster lost the plot.....again.
It concluded with Judge Kennedy saying "Well apparently there is no love lost between the two of you." Amster responded "I will stipulate to that one". Ms Silverman said "And I will agree with Counsel for the first time." Amster again responded "Well at least we can agree on something".
So, yet again, as of today there is now another Trial date set for October 14th 2015. That will be exactly 5 years, 3 months and 7 days since the day that Lonnie Franklin was arrested for being the 'alleged' Grim Sleeper. Let's see if this date is the real date for the Trial to begin.... we will see, because I highly doubt it!
Please stay tuned.....
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