Video Transcript
let's bring in our guest to a standing
by trial attorney Trey Gober see what he
thinks about this expert witness who
seems to be changing on several things
even as she's testifying at one point
she said she's leaning towards anxiety
disorder and adjustment disorder but not
even giving a definitive answer meaning
you almost can't know what she's going
to say when the jury comes in Trey have
you ever had an expert witness change
their opinion once they get on the stand
versus deposition
oh yes it it definitely happens it
happened in the last trial that I had um
on the other side uh this was really
really good work on the part of the
defense attorney and unfortunately this
is something that happens all too often
because of the difference of professions
of the Precision that we require in the
law with our language versus like a a
mental health professional uh for for
this exact witness Dr Werner uh she's
following her standards and the the
court the jury the judge the lawyers are
expecting consistency as though this is
all black and white in reality it's it's
more of a gray the defense has done a
great job in establishing this witness
and flipping this witness for batter's B
syndrome and really poking holes in her
dispute as to the PTSD issue because she
didn't get answers to a catchall
question which seems to be her
complaint great point about the
different standards in the way that
these attorneys versus a psychiat is
going to be approaching this case we
have to get to that break tray standby
coming up we have more testimony in the
suitcase murder trial the jury is on
their way in so they can hear this
rebuttal witness plus we'll also bring
you an update in the latest in the
burnpile murder trial for defendant
Melody
Ferris it seems like this is going to be
a difficult witness to get through
another objection another sidebar let's
bring in our trial attorney who's
standing by Trey Gober Trey this witness
agreed with the defense expert on
several points including that she saroon
is not someone who has a narcissistic
personality disorder but that she does
display narcissistic traits she agreed
that she had alcohol use disorder all of
those commonalities can sometimes really
weigh in favor of the defense can it
not yeah exactly this isn't somebody who
went out with malice and you know to to
try to hurt and kill this person uh
there's a combination of factors and
underlying conditions and traits uh that
this defendant has that's going to
soften the blow uh if there's a
conviction and it gets to the punishment
face yeah so with this case being a
second deegree murder case we don't know
if manslaughter or voluntary
manslaughter is going to be on the
verdict form it likely will but the
defense could argue that it not be on
the verdict form can you think of some
reasons why either side may try to keep
those lesser included charges off of the
verdict sheet for this
jury well the prosecution will want to
keep the Lesser includeds off so that it
doesn't confuse the jury and if the jury
feels that something has happened that
was wrong and needs to be wred the jury
will convict the defense would often
want to have a lesser included there to
give the jury an opportunity to pick
some lesser charge the jury isn't
instructed it's a lesser charge but to
to pick one that might be a softer blow
to the defendant however the defense
might opt to not ask for a Lester
included charge uh in this case if they
feel like they have enough to to for get
a not guilty on the big uh the big
charge the second degree murder then
maybe they can walk with a a clear clean
not guilty verdict and not risk a guilty
on a luster included so there is a
significant strategy there to discuss
with the defendant we'll be playing
close attention to it Trey stand by we
understand that the jury has been sent
out of the courtroom that means more
arguments we'll get to those after this
quick break stay with us you're watching
Court TV
live let's bring back in trial attorney
Trey Gober Trey what do you think about
this ultimate issue question imminent
fear she's opining as to whether or not
Sarah Boon felt imminent fear at the
moment is that to you an ultimate issue
in this case that uh witness isn't
supposed to get into
it definitely feels like it to me uh you
know the the judge is is a a very good
judge he's he's basing his rulings off
of the law uh he he's not shooting from
the hip so we can't fault the judge at
all for his opinions if that's the law
that's the law but certainly feels like
an ultimate opinion to me when the
witness is telling the jury how to fill
out the verdict for him oh yeah I would
agree with you on how judge cranck has
run this courtroom it has been very
measured he has ruled for the defense at
times for the state at times and he's
always very clear about why he is ruling
how he's ruling Discovery issues can
sometimes derail a case but in this case
he is keeping it on the rails and they
are continuing to move towards those
closing arguments uh Trey this witness
though we still haven't gotten really a
smooth run of hearing from Dr Werner and
I don't know how much you got to hear
from Dr Julie Harper who was testifying
for the defense but how would you
compare the testimony or just analyze
how she's doing on the
stand this can this can be a really
frustrating process for the jury uh you
know a lot of jurors just want this
thing to be over with and they keep
having to come in and leave the room
come in and leave the room get up sit
down and we're not really moving the
ball forward and so that's going to be
really frustrating for a jury and they
can hold accountable the side that they
think is slowing it down uh if they
proceed receive its defense objections
that can come bite the back come back to
bite the defense uh I don't know on this
particular case what the jury's going to
do especially given that it's obvious
the witness is also being difficult to
on the stand in answering the questions
yeah I want to ask you more about that
because do you think that she's a
difficult witness we have experts
sometimes there are objections and it
does seem like she has changed a bit in
her thinking but you said that that
happens but would you consider her a
difficult Witness or is she being asked
difficult questions from these
attorneys it probably depends on which
side which side you're on uh my my
reason for saying that is uh it seems
that she is the type of witness who will
go out of her way to expand upon an
answer when answering for her side the
prosecution but she's very limited and
reserved and holding back with anything
that she's going to provide when
answering questions for the defense for
example during that deposition portion
with outside the presence of the jury
instead of just saying yeah I think she
has PSS the defense had to ask her and
come at it from three different angles
to get her to finally concede yeah I
think she has BSS yeah you are so right
uh it seemed that she was almost
changing as she was being asked but they
got the answer that they wanted on the
end last question Trey it sounds like
this witness agrees that SRA Boon
suffered from different things including
batter spouse syndrome but she's not
willing to say that that impacted her on
that day is that a distinction that the
jury is supposed to
make I I think so that's this ultimate
question uh situation that we're in
right now is what was the the precise
State of Mind of the defendant in that
moment the defense is going to argue
once you have a battered spouse syndrome
then it's it's persistently present uh
and that's going to be difficult it's
it's going to be a matter of reading the
definition uh to the to the jury that
jury coming back into the courtroom
we'll pick it up right where we're
leaving off with the cross of Dr Tanya
Warner stay with us