This trial started November 24, 2003 and is ongoing.

May 4, 2004
by
dll

8:50am - Haslett sitting in the press area reading over some papers. 48 Hours guy talking on cellphone about selling his house. Bob the court clerk is missing, replaced by a younger guy with a moustache.

8:53am - Jeff and Song enter. Song sniffling and sneezing. Marc and Veronica enter. Shyril busy up front. Now goes to the jury room. Veronica and Jeff talking.

8:54am - Bob Thompson comes in. Veronica pours some water and spills it. She asks Marc if he thinks her shirt is too small.

8:58am - Roger comes in with some witness. Mertel is wandering around the courtroom with his cup of tea. Veroncia is talking to the witness about what she is going to ask him about on the stand. Tech guy boots up computers. And a nice little Microsoft song plays over all the speakers in the courtroom.

9:02am - Roger is getting fitted with a mic. Jeff jokes with him. Veronica still talking to witness. SB and AR brought in. Now Veronica getting mic'd up. SB and Jeff talking about some Seinfeld episode.

9:06am - Judge officially enters courtroom and says all jurors are present. Song is standing at the podium.

9:08am - Jury enters. Song continues her cross examination of Haslett from yesterday. Song asking if the target says something and it's contradictory to the evidence, would that concern him. Haslett says only if the target said something like they stabbed someone when really the person was beaten. 

9:15am - Song says she'd like to play some video clips from July 18th and 19th.

First clip: She plays a clip where Sebastian says Atif didn't help with the murders. 

Second clip: Haslett asks SB why AR didn't help with the murders. Sebastian says because Atif's a "little guy." 

Third clip: Haslett asking where Atif was during the murders. Sebastian telling where Atif was during the murders. 

Fourth clip: Atif speaking says, "during murders he was ripping out the VCR from the wall." 

Fifth clip: July 19th - between Haslett and SB about Basma, said killing the father was nothing, but the sister was walking around and took a little more "bat work."

Song asks Haslett if he was aware that Basma didn't walk around but fell out of bed and crawled behind the door. No. Song asking Haslett if he suggested the motive to SB before the 18th of July. Haslett says SB talked to him about it at the Royal Scott.

May 6th - Four Seasons Scenario - "When are you getting the money for the shit in the states?" "I can't figure out why you did that for sixty fucking grand."

June 28th - "Why did you guys do this? Money? For money or what?"

Song is questioning Haslett about when exactly the first time SB admitted the crime was about money. Haslett says, without going through the whole set of transcripts he can't say. Song says, well you can admit he never admitted to the killings before July 18th, so he couldn't have told you what his motive was before July 18th.

Other things Haslett said that were suggested to SB like the baseball bat was washed off in the shower. Song gives three examples of this. Roger objects and says that the tapes stand on their own and that nothing was suggested to SB. Judge overrules objection.

June 28th - Haslett suggested twice to SB that a box found at the crime scene was tipped over to make the murders look like a "B and E" (breaking and entering). Song says so you suggested this to SB before July 28th.

Now moving on to Haslett suggesting to SB that the murderer showered after the killing.

9:36am - Song says she wants to talk to Haslett about, "Holds back evidence." Holds back evidence is something only the killer would know. Song asking Haslett if he ever said that hold back evidence can be of great importance. Haslett asks her when did he say that? She asks him if he said this or not, ever. He says I don't remember, but I'm assuming maybe I did, since you're looking in that binder like that. She is now showing him a transcript from a pre-trial hearing where he said, "In false confessions, hold back evidence can be of great importance."

Song asks if he is aware of all the media coverage about the murder. He says not really. He says he thinks SB told him there was a lot of media coverage.

Song plays an audio tape of a phone conversation between SB and "an unidentified female." She has called him to tell him that in yesterday's newspaper there was a story about them. He asks if he can come by and read it. She says everyone is asleep, but she will put it under the front mat and he can come by and get it.

Song now talking about newspaper articles. Going over various facts that were printed in newspapers that SB used in his confession, i.e. what kind of weapon.

"It was clear, on July 18th, that you wanted him to say he committed these murders."

"No, I wanted him to tell me the truth." 

She has him look at a previous transcript where he says yes to the same question she just asked. Song says and when SB talked to you, he thought you were the head of an international crime ring. She goes on to detail all the violent things Haslett had told SB including that he only trusted SB because he was a murderer.

10:02am - Song ends her questioning of Haslett. Judge calls morning break. Judge says the redirect of Haslett will happen when James returns tomorrow.

10:05am - Veronica makes a motion for a mistrial because she says Haslett has been consistently been allowed to testify to his personal opinion rather than the evidence. Judge denies motion.

10:20am - Jeff talking about some skit on Mad TV where they had Andy Griffith parodying the ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs. Song and Marc discussing mortgage brokers.

10:27am - SB and AR brought in. SB whispers for a very long time to Song.

10:30am - Judge enters jury enters. Judge explains to jury that they are interrupting the state's case until James comes back tomorrow. Today the defense will start presenting their case.

10:34am - Jeff presents an 18 minute DVD of the questioning of the Canadian Consulate in Seattle. This video is dated October 2nd, 2003. It's of Cindy Taylor-Blakely. Voice of Song questioning Cindy about how she got in contact with SB and AR. She says Sebastian's mom called her and said she was unable to find her son after the murders. Cindy called the Bellevue police department and asked about the whereabouts of SB and AR. She was told they were in a hotel of their choosing and due to privacy concerns, they would not give her the name of the hotel. Song ends her direct.

Roger starts his cross examination. Roger asks when she had any contact with SB and AR. She says only briefly at the Greyhound Bus Station on the morning of July 15th. She wanted to make sure they had the proper ID to cross into Canada.

Roger asks if Cindy told the BPD that SB and AR left for Canada. She says she told officer Mott before they left that SB and AR were planning on leaving. Roger asks if SB or AR told her to give the BPD their contact info. She says they did not.

She seems to READ all her answer from a piece of paper. Mondo bizarre. DVD ends. Jeff, as if reading my mind, tells the jury that because of her position, they had to submit all questions in writing, and she had to prepare her answer in writing.

10:50am - Veronica calls corporal Patrice Gelinas, he is a younger-looking man and has a heavy French accent. He works in the RCMP. Veronica asking about a tip from a confidential informant that Gelinas received about the Bellevue homicides. How did you get this tip? 9pm, and informant calls him about a triple homicide in Bellevue. Veronica puts a copy of his report on the big screen. The report states that a contract was put out on an East Indian family residing in Bellevue, Washington, by the Dosanjh Group. Source says Jessie Brar was offered 20k for the murders.

Veronica says that isn't it true that this information was received by the informant before the homicide. Yes. Veronica asks if the informant received any compensation for this tip. No. Were there any criminal charges pending against this informant? No.

Corporal looked up Jessie Brar on the computer and found a report stating that anyone with info on the Bellevue murders should call the BPD. So he called them. BPD came up to Canada for a face to face meeting with him the next day. They had a private meeting and Gelinas gave them a binder full of info. Bob Thompson was one of the Bellevue police officers present. Veronica asks after receiving this report, did the BPD ever contact you again. He says he was not contacted again until 2000 when he was informed that the trial was going forward, that the defense had his information, and that he might have to testify.

11:30am - Defense ends questioning. Roger crosses for the state. Roger asking about how Gelinas verified the information from the source. And whether or not he could verify the information was true. No. Roger asks if the informant was a member of the RCMP. "Of course not." Roger asks if the nature of this informant was consistent with the nature of who they were informing on, i.e. another criminal. Yes. You don't know what his-slash-her motive was for giving this information? Like did they have a grudge against Jessie Brar or the Dosanjh Group? No. Asking why this informant wasn't paid. They are only paid if their information pans out, right? Yes.

11:45am - Judge breaks for lunch. A juror passed a note to the judge asking what is the Dosanjh Group?