2021-2022 Mock Trial Championship Round and Awards Ceremony

001[Music] thanks for joining us online the program will begin shortly [Music] all right good afternoon to everyone here today um i first of all want to tell you how happy i am to see you all frankly i'm happy to see anyone nowadays but to see those of you here in this final round congratulations to all of you for getting here i'm judge ruben villalobos i've been a mock trial student a coach and i've judged it now for several years i also now serve been a judge for seven years and i'm on the criminal bench um if i could have our attorney scores just take a brief moment to introduce themselves and we will hear from them a little bit later all right and i'm just going to repeat that jeff legero assistant your title is

002assistant the assistant district attorney stanislaus county thank you miss ratliff deputy county council thank you for being here today and last but certainly not least chief deputy reed wagner public defender's office thank you all for taking time out of your schedules to be here today the court appreciates you and i know the kids do as well the kids the young folk and without further ado uh let's begin with introductions with the prosecution like to begin by introducing themselves yes your honor my name is hannah sahoda and i represent the people's pre-trial motion for today's proceedings please allow my co-counsel to introduce themselves please thank you across the tonight of danny and francis my name is angel please good evening my name is lilly kirk and tonight i'll be portraying deputies here coming here my name

003is london and today i'll be portraying terry edwards good evening your honor my name is celeste vargas and i'm of two minutes one minute 30 seconds and stop please allow our teachers to introduce themselves please thank you so much for the prosecution any other introductions that i missed thank you so much would the defense like to make their introductions uh yes your honor good afternoon your honor scoring attorneys and opposing counsel my name is jisa akwa and today i will be presenting the pre-trial motion on behalf of my client jamie kobe now may the rest of my team please introduce themselves good afternoon your honor scoring attorneys and opposing counsel my name is joshua schultz and i will be representing my clients jamie cobey good afternoon my name introduce is good evening your honor and

004scoring attorneys my name is celony bunsel and today i will be portraying jamie kobe now mayor bayless please introduce himself to the court please good afternoon your honor and scoring attorneys my name is brandon and today i will be the courtroom's bailiff your honor at this time man please address the room with the rules of court please may everyone please turn off all the trunk devices and refrain from talking while the trial is in session there will be no food nor any beverage with the exception of water all right and i just turned off my phone go ahead no may our ultimate time keeper please introduce themselves please my name is please introduce themselves and scoring please my name is scott mitchell and i am a teacher coach for team b good afternoon my name

005is welcome thank you all for being here today any other introductions okay uh i think that i think you were about to say no right council yes okay so before we proceed i know we're going to have the um pre-trial arguments in a moment before we do that do both sides waive formal reading the mock trial rules let me ask the prosecution first yes your honor thank you and defense yes your honor and just give me a moment here i'm going to let you all know that um i'm actually frankly just back from two weeks away i just got over the coronavirus i'm a little short of uh air um if i need you to speak up please realize that i'll ask you to do so i think i'm gonna be fine we're good to

006go with that i believe the defense it is your motion are you ready to proceed yes your honor all right thank you please proceed good afternoon your honor in october 2020 eric smith received a smart camera from deputy sheriff tony garrett as a condition of receiving this camera smith was required to send all footage directly to the cloud account shared between smith and the sheriff's department smith was given a quote state of the art camera end quote which was set up on the pull on the property had a motion detector and looked directly into jamie kobe's backyard without her consent garrett even instructed smith how to set up the camera onto the pole to look into jamie kobe's backyard by giving smith the camera telling smith where to place the camera and receiving constant access

007to the footage captured in jamie kobe's backyard office deputy sheriff tony garrett violated my client's fourth amendment rights wow council how your honor by putting up this camera onto the pull on the property and receiving constant access to the footage of jamie kobe's backyard which was on surveillance non-stop for over six months deputy sheriff had a extended access to my client's backyard that they otherwise would not have been able to access without this smart camera okay and the cases that you reviewed any of the cases support your premise yes your honor multiple cases support my premise such as the case of usb romero bustamente and the case of shaffer versus city of boulder okay please proceed with your argument the two-part test used to determine whether an unreasonable search and seizure has occurred is found

008in cats the u.s and looks at the subjective and objective factors first the court looks at whether the defendant has shown an actual expectation of privacy second the court looks at whether society finds that expectation as reasonable using a high-tech camera that was not easily accessible to the public to look into my client's backyard was beyond hers and anyone else's expectation of privacy without a warrant miss kobe was made uncomfortable by this camera and found it quote creepy and weird end quote she explicitly told eric smith that he did not have permission to film her backyard but this didn't stop the search from continuing thus kobe had a subjective expectation of privacy she would consider her backyard to be the cartilage of her home as she practiced her gardening privately inside the fence that surrounded

009so what what is curtilage your honor curtilage would be an enclosed space that is adjacent to the home and was this space enclosed yes your honor it was enclosed partially by a six foot tall wooden fence around most of the yard and in one part a four foot tall wire length chain fence so was it enclosed or was it enclosed partially it was enclosed completely okay please proceed furthermore the desert environment provided her with an expectation of privacy as it was rare for people to pass by and she lived far away from her neighbors the average person wouldn't expect the surveillance of their home to be transmitted to the police department every hour of the day especially if they live with a sizeable distance between their home and their neighbor's home certain factors can make

010surveillance more likely to violate the fourth amendment including the type of technology used and how many hours the surveillance takes place the high-tech camera which was set up by eric smith was in direct connection to the police department therefore making it an agent of the law and making this an illegal search in the case of usv romero bustamente the defendant's backyard was enclosed in part by a brick wall and in another part by a wirelink chain fence just like miss kobe's backyard the court found that because the defendant's backyard was enclosed adjacent to their home and behind their home that the search was a violation of their fourth amendment rights the same ruling should be held today in the case of shaffer versus city of boulder the defendant's backyard was under surveillance from a camera

011given to their neighbor by a federal agent 24 hours a day for 56 days and the court ruled that this constituted as a search under the fourth amendment similarly the high-tech motion detecting camera provided and set up by sheriff tony garrett was on surveillance non-stop for over six months in the case of people v weaver the courts were concerned that technological advances could lead to abuses of power by law enforcement and thus require judicial oversight and people be weaver the surveillance was for 65 days in the case of bart it was for over 203 days this was an abusive power that the courts were trying to prevent in people's weaver on april 29th 2021 the camera captured sn footage of snake feeding tanks on my client's property as this footage was not preceded by a

012warrant it was violating the fourth amendment rights of my client and should not be admissible at bar today for this reason the defense kindly asks that you suppress the video surveillance captured on that day or exhibit a from evidence in today's trial thank you your honor thank you very much and on behalf of the prosecution are you ready to proceed yes we are ready to proceed please do so [Music] may begin yes please do so your honor i am here to request the inclusion of exhibit a otherwise known as the picture of snake tongues to be used in court as evidence as it was obtained constitutionally and lawfully by the fourth amendment through the use of eric smith's personal camera located in his residence exhibit a the picture of the snake tongues was located let

013me let me interrupt you so you say it was his personal camera your opponent said that this was a high-tech camera directly tied to the police your thoughts on that yes this was a camera directly tied to the police but the surveillance was only accessed after may 2 following eric smith's death so it was not under constant surveillance it was provided by law enforcement but law enforcement did not access it until the incident with eric smith happened thank you please proceed exhibit a the picture of the snake tongs was located in kobe's backyard which was near a three four foot tall by three foot wide chain link fence gate in the back of the property that opened to a state park park that abutted the entire parallel thus the evidence was visible to anyone looking

014in from outside kobe's residence making it reasonable to be obtained after the incident with eric smith occurred as stated in the cats versus u.s case objects activities or statements that a person exposes to the plain view of outsiders are not protected because no intention to keep them to himself has been exhibited therefore making the photograph constitutional as anyone could see through kobe's channeling fence gate and see exhibit a the case versus kyle versus us emphasizes this notion as an investigation was deemed an unreasonable search because was not readily available for general public use and explored and i quote details of a private home that would have previously been unknowable without physical intrusion kobe by this statement did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy because the evidence could have been obtained without eric smith's surveillance

015camera as any law enforcement officer could have seen through the chain-link fence gate and obscene exhibit a the court took the fourth amendment statement of making a firm line at the entrance to the house which does not apply to kobe as the evidence was partially open to public land rather than being completely enclosed in kobe's residence furthermore in u.s vs caro in california versus cerrollo both federal cases established that both observations and searches were not unconstitutional because they and i quote did not serve any function that police could have not performed visually and had the sole purpose of making the process of the investigation easier with no interference with the defendant's interest and the possessions occurring the us versus the roller case was nearly identical to the kobe vs smith case with the only difference

016being that it was a warrantless aerial observation whereas the kobe vs myth case exhibit a was obtained through a surveillance camera in eric smith's residence this surveillance camera was placed and provided by the deputy sheriff tony guerrette after eric smith had reported a break-in with kobe being the main suspect due to their previous history on neighborly behavior such as kobe leading coyote feces on smith's yard and even throwing things into eric smith's backyard the camera had probable cause to be there after as after an investigation the sheriff found that kobe had extensive knowledge of handling snakes therefore accessing the surveillance camera and there was a large 24 by 36 inch sign that clearly stated smile you're on camera in bold big letters so that kobe was fully aware of its presence so the camera was

017very transparent and was in plain view with the consent of the homeowner eric smith in addition law enforcement only accessed the surveillance feed on may 2nd following eric smith's death which meant that kobe's residence was not under any circumstance under constant surveillance and the picture was only used to assist in this investigation kobe's backyard was open to public land that boarded the parel in which kobe's home was located and any law enforcement officer could have seen exhibit a through the fence in addition it was not under constant surveillance as it was accessed after may 2nd and law enforcement could see it clearly making the certs an exception to the warrant requirement therefore your honor it is respectfully submitted that the motion to exclude evidence be denied thank you thank you very much and does the

018defense have a rebuttal yes your honor your honor council sahoda states the cases of uh california v cerello as almost identical to the case at bar but that simply is not true in the case of california v cereal the police had a glance over a flight flyover of the defendant's backyard and they saw they were looking down from a navigable navigable airspace a thousand feet in the air in the case at bar the high-tech camera that was looking directly into every square inch of jamie kobe's backyard was on surveillance for six months non-stop and was placed on a 10-foot high pole which means council let me ask you a question as to the point that minnesota indicated as far as the sign being they're saying smile you're on camera how does that factor into the

019analysis of the case and specifically an expectation of privacy well your honor jamie kobe even if she had seen the sign that said smile you're on camera jamie kobe would assume that this surveillance was coming from her neighbor jamie kobe was unaware that office sheriff tony garrett was behind this surveillance so because of that she was not aware that she was being surveilled by law enforcement and might have just chalked it up to the um tense relationship that she had with eric smith okay thank you please proceed so for these reasons the case of california fornia fuserallo is not applicable to the case at bar council also states that um garrett had decided to place the camera over jamie kobe's land after finding that she had broken into earth after a suspection that she had

020broken in to eric smith's backyard but but officer tony garrett found that he found quote no evidence of that at all and after he had found continued to find no evidence of smith of kobe looking into breaking into smith's home garrett garrett's extensive filming of jamie cobby's backyard would become inadmissible and unreasonable and for these reasons the defense respectfully asks that you that you grant our emotion and find this video surveillance which was not preceded by a warrant in applic inadmissible at bar today thank you your honor thank you very much and does the prosecution have a rebuttal yes your honor please proceed okay the opposition states that all footage was sent to the sheriff's office and was under 24 7 constant surveillance which violated kobe's expectation of privacy however this surveillance did not defend

021the defendant's right to privacy in her home as it was solely used to make the process of the investigation easier there was a six foot high wooden fencing as the opposition stated but there was a chain-link fence gate which made it partially open to public land and put the snake tongs in clear view the police were very capable looking through this four foot tall by three foot wide chain link transparent fence gate without issue and seeing the snake tongs as shown in exhibit a the snake this chain-link fence gate was very large and made visible virtually anyone passing by kobe's house exhibit a in this case it is not a matter of who could look through the defense but rather the evidence being located in an open area revoking reasonable expectation of privacy as no

022intention to keep them to himself as stated in u.s versus cats has been exhibited in addition law enforcement only accessed the surveillance on may 2nd following the death of eric smith and by was it only used to assist in this case following the sheriff's investigation finding that kobe had extensive knowledge in handling snakes giving him probable cause to access the surveillance feed in addition kobe never took formal action to remove this camera she simply stated it was creepy and even forgot about it but it was in full view with a 36 by 24 inch sign saying smile you're on camera therefore revoking her right to privacy so therefore this does not need a warrant due to probable cause from the sheriff and kobe had extensive experience with handling snakes and is therefore a suspect the

023backyard was part of kobe's curtilage but she did virtually nothing to cover up or shield the existence of the snake tongues from anyone on the outside or from the security cameras therefore she did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy it was not enclosed and the snake tongs were able to be viewed by anyone through the chain-link fence gate there thank you very much and so the court has heard from the prosecution and the defense before i rule i'll give the attorneys the opportunity to confer with their attorneys or teachers if they believe that there are any irregularities i'll ask the prosecution ready to proceed yes your honor we are ready to proceed defense yes your honor all right the court is now prepared to rule the court has heard uh frankly some of the

024best argument i've heard all day from these two attorneys and i was listening to really good real attorneys all day long you both did a great job the court is going to find that the motion is denied the evidence is not suppressed now um with that i think we'll take a moment for you to rearrange your teams at this point is that okay yes thank you your honor excellent and also if i could get a little bit of assistance here i'm going to distance myself a little bit more from the witness can i get some help moving this over a little bit thank you and everyone else can get themselves in line [Music] all right is the prosecution ready to proceed yes john the prosecution is ready to proceed however we have a few preliminary

025matters we'll get there defense ready to proceed yes your honor thank you you have some preliminary matters let's hear those council the honor of the state wishes to ask that eight that uh items a through e marked for identification and used in tonight's trial thank you any objection no well one let me go back a sec and you say marked for identification and used for today's trial what do you mean by that the the um exhibits be marked for identification and then we can introduce them in tonight's trial okay so they are marked for identification um and there is no objection any other preliminary issues on behalf of the prosecution no your honor the prosecution's ready to proceed thank you very much any preliminary issues for the defense yes your honor please proceed we would

026like to make sure that everyone participating in the trial tonight has a physical copy of the updated case packet dated january 10 2022. thank you i'll leave it to the parties to have the appropriate documentation thank you your honor and we'd also like to establish that witnesses be constructively excluded from the courtroom and although they may be present during the trial they may not testify as though they are thank you any comments on behalf of the prosecution no your honor not at this time that will be the order of the court thank you anything further for the defense nothing further your honor thank you all right thank you both so i have a couple of questions i think we've addressed the presentation of evidence for inspection uh do both sides waive uh formal reading of

027the charges on behalf of the defense yes your honor and on behalf of the prosecution yes your honor uh with that are we ready to proceed with opening statements the prosecution's ready your honor and you'll be ready yes your honor all right we'll start with the prosecution you have the floor and before we proceed i want everyone to understand the attorneys that from my perspective even though this is my courtroom it is your courtroom and feel free to use it as you see fit you don't have to ask my permission to approach or do anything i trust you to do what's appropriate please proceed thank your honor may proceed with my opening statement you most certainly can thank you over the course of the coven 19 pandemic business is shut economies faltered and people were

028evicted from their homes however one of the most tragic examples of the effects of this pandemic is the death of eric smith erisburg is a landlord who owned a property in which jamie kobe resided it the relationship between the two can only be described as toxic with continued minded fighting driving their relationship towards a down right hatred during one of these fights jamie koby's mother passed away due to a lack of oxygen because of a power outage at kobe's residence which could be blamed on eric smith over the course of this trial tonight the prosecution will tell you a story a story of revenge jimmy kobe is charged with murder in the first degree as well as voluntary manslaughter over the course of this trial the evidence will outline to you how the testimony findings

029of numerous witnesses will eventually lead to the conviction of jimmy kobe on the charge of murder in the first degree jimmy kobe was without a doubt a person with a fixation on the knowledge of rattlesnakes jamie kobe even knew so much about these rattlesnakes that kobe possessed tools to safely handle rattlesnakes such as snake traps snake tongs snake handling cages and even snake rattles as late are found and will be explained to you in sheriff garrett's testimony you will also hear how the relationship between jamie kobe and eric smith continue to evolve with calls to their department through the testimony of dr dunn you will hear how how the death of eric smith was solely as a result of the bite of the muhammad mojave desert rattlesnake you will also hear from dr dunn how

030the snake had to have been placed in the mailbox by a third party due to historical trends with the mojave desert rattlesnake the expertise of dr dundee will come to an understanding of how her autopsy of the victim eric smith corroborates with the testimony of angel russell who saw the event transpire on the morning of the attack angel angel russell witnessed a figure carrying a medium-sized wire cage tool bag and a humane animal trap to the mailbox of eric smith angel russell then witnessed this figure steer out the mailbox for a long time before leaving shortly after this air eric smith was bitten by the mojave desert rattlesnake which was placed in the mailbox by this figure the testimony of terry edwards you will come to an understanding of how jamie kobe had planned calculated

031and premeditated the murder through all listed evidence the state will prove that the defendant jamie kobe utilized their knowledge of rattlesnakes to knock revenge upon the victim for their property disputes and the death of kobe's mother the defendant was the figure who was seen by angel russell and upon examination of the mailbox placed a snake into the mailbox with the intent that it would put an end to the life of eric smith this aspiration the defendant came to fruition when eric smith was found dead the day following the attack as discovered by sheriff tony garrett the evidence in this case will tell you a story it will tell you the story of a tenant in a landlord who feuded over multiple property disputes and his detention continued to heighten and increase until the defendant finally

032ended the conflict by taking the life of the victim eric smith to announce vengeance for the death of his mother throughout the entirety of tonight's trial the evidence will show beyond a reasonable doubt that eric smith was murdered by jamie kobe thank your honor thank you very much would the defense like to proceed with their opening now or defer no your honor all right please proceed a tragic accident this is the only accurate way to describe the events of april 30th 2021. today the people will try to create some elaborate story about jamie kobe and that's all that it is a story on the morning of april 30th eric smith was found dead lying face down in the dirt of his front yard after being bitten by a mojave rattlesnake the previous day the sheriff

033was called immediately and when the sheriff arrived they performed a careless investigation which consisted of a quick glance at eric smith's body and a hasty visual search of the surrounding area before making a beeline straight to jamie kobe's house after a very brief conversation with jamie the sheriff suspected jaime may have killed eric through their history now don't get me wrong jamie and eric were certainly not the best of friends in fact eric wasn't on good terms with a lot of people in bernsley county being well known for being rude and selling drugs to children if having a bad relationship with eric smith is enough to suspect someone of murder a vast majority of the residents of burnsley county would be in the exact same place jaime is in right now jamie and eric had

034disputes over cars being the wrong driveway or loud music but jamie kobe who's described by her friends as a calm gentle person would certainly not resort to murder over some loud music today the people have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that jamie kobe killed eric smith in a manner that was willful deliberate and premeditated the people will not be able to prove their burden leaving the only option to find jamie kobe not guilty you're on our chair you'll hear from four witnesses first danny emiling a neighbor of jaime's and one of erickson's tenants will take the stand and explain that this whole thing is a mistake and that jamie colby has absolutely nothing to do with eric's death second francis yazzie a close personal friend of jamie's will explain that jaime is not capable

035of doing anything like this third dr tyler clay an expert in herpetology or more specifically snakes will explain that snakes squeezing to tight dark spaces like mailboxes on their own during the day is not an unusual occurrence in that most people who live in the desert are aware of this and thus wary of opening their mailboxes she will also testify that it is extremely rare to die from a rattlesnake bite due to widely available anti-venom making a snake in odd choice for a murder weapon if someone truly wanted to kill someone lastly jamie kobe herself will take the stand and explain that she did not kill eric smith nor did she put a snake in his mailbox she will testify that she's merely a gardener who loved her mother and has absolutely nothing to hide

036now after reviewing the evidence right in today's case it will be clear that the people's case is filled to the brim with reasonable doubt and the only reasonable decision will be to find jamie kobe not guilty please don't let this horrible tragedy destroy any more lives than it already has thank you your honor thank you very much council give me one moment to finish my notes here is the prosecution ready to call the first witness yes your honor the prosecution likes to call angel russell to the stand all right please proceed [Music] please raise your right angel russell r u s s e l l thank you council please proceed good evening miss russell good evening please provide the court with some background information about yourself i've been a line worker in burnsley county for

03715 years i've worked on just about every line in the town of burnsley and know many of the residents do you know the victim eric smith i recognize smith and have seen him around town as well as on april 29th and 30th when i was working on the power lines 100 feet down from his home thank you and now i'd like to direct the court's attention to exhibit c um miss russell please approach the exhibit yes and are you familiar with this exhibit yes i am and what is exhibit c exhibit c is an aerial photographic diagram showing the location of where i was working on raptor road on april 29th and 30th and are is this an accidentation of the area in the surrounding properties yes it is one moment while we get the

038exhibit don't think exhibit c is here thank you your honor the prosecution requests that exhibit cb and into evidence any objection objection your honor lack of foundation um your honor my witness just went through we didn't have the exhibit up at the time but she did answer the questions showing that she has knowledge of the area and where she was working at that time thank you submitted thank you your honor no hold on i didn't rule yet submitted means nothing more to say on that yes nothing more yes nothing more submitted um maybe heard your honor what was that maybe heard your honor you may this witness would have no idea about the placement of the camera or other the gate objection sustained you want to ask some more questions um maybe heard real quick

039your honor no okay well can um miss russell can you please describe what you're doing on the lines of april 29th 2021 at 8 30 a.m i just climbed the power line pool and i looked at the houses nearest to me which were 46601 and 46603 i saw someone emerge from 46603 which is kobe's residence and walked toward smith's mailbox which was 46601 with a medium-sized wired cage i later identified this person as jamie kobe and what did you notice next i noticed that they were also carrying gardening tools and they kept glancing at the cage i looked away and then saw them in front of smith's mailbox and miss russell who was the person you saw emerged from the mailbox of 46601 um they're here with us today in the blue blazer at the

040end of the table thank you mr russell uh your honor made the record reflect that the witnesses identified the defendant jamie colby the record will so reflect thank you your honor and now mr russell please describe the interaction you had with smith on april 29th at 12 p.m i saw someone emerge from 46601 i waved and then went back to work turning around when i heard a loud scream come from smith smith was stepping away from the mailbox with a snake attached to smith's arm thank you so so you may return back to your seat and what kind of snake attacked smith it appeared to be a rattlesnake but didn't have a rattle and what happened next smith walked away from the mailbox in a daze and screamed jamie objection your honor hearsay you're on

041i may be heard yes this would be an exception to the heresy rules this would be excited utterance this was just moments after the victim eric smith was bitten by rattlesnake thank you objections overruled thank you honor miss also did you get to finish no i did not um i told smith to stay still and smith just sat on the ground near the mailbox and what actions did after the attack did you take to help smith i hit the snake with a breaker bar for my truck and it died and what did the both of you do next smith stood up and insisted he was fine despite my suggestion to go see a doctor he said he would tough it out by putting eyes on his wrist so i packed up for the day and

042left and he went back inside of his home and thank you and when you returned to work the next morning what did you observe when i returned for work the next morning i was shocked to see smith lying face down in pajamas in the front of his home the front door was wide open as if he'd walked out in a hurry and then just fell over i went over and checked for a pulse but got nothing i then called 9-1-1 but got no response miss russell did the police ever arrive on scene yes at 8 40 am and what did you tell the deputy once they arrived i told the deputy that i saw someone emerge from 46603 kobe's residence the day before in the morning and that they stood in front of smith's mailbox

043thank you mr russell no further questions your honor well thank you cross-examination yes your honor please proceed good afternoon you've been working as a line worker in berlin county for 15 years correct yes and on the morning of april 29 2021 you were working on a power line on raptor road correct i was working there yeah you saw someone exit 4603 raptor road correct i did they appeared to be carrying a wired cage right yeah that's what i saw and you don't recall if there was anything in this cage correct like i've mentioned before i was a hundred feet down from where i was seeing this so i didn't really get a good look but i just saw the cage you also saw them carrying some sort of tool bag correct yes but you couldn't

044identify the items in this tool bag either correct because of the distance right i didn't see what was in it you this person you saw exit 4603 raptor road you didn't see them even touch smith's mailbox at all correct well i was looking away at the time because i was doing my job so i didn't get to see what they were doing i just looked away at that time now after smith was spent by mojave rattlesnake he screamed out the name jamie correct yes that's what happened and do you know why he did this no i don't that's just what i heard could it be that eric was merely asking for help objection you're on our calls for speculation maybe you heard your honor yes i'm merely asking the perspective the only eyewitness at the

045scene okay could it be that is calling for suspect speculation objection is sustained thank you your honor now when you were working on the power line of raptor road about how far away were you from since house um 100 feet but those were the nearest houses and i had a clear view from where they were you were busy working at the same time right yes that's what was happening so it's possible that someone else could approach the mailbox when you weren't looking correct objection your honor calls for speculation overworld that is true but from what i saw there's only one person and i can identify them objection your honor non-responsive everything after but overruled the answer stance you weren't watching the mailbox the entire time you were working correct i wasn't but i did glance

046at it a few times because of the spot where i was working at thank you your honor no further questions thank you very much any redirect no redirect john i made this witness excuse yes thank you very much uh you are excused next witness please [Music] you're on earth this time the state calls sheriff tony garrett to the stand tony garrett please raise your right hand do you solemnly affirm the testimony you're about to give will faithfully and truthfully conform to the facts and rules of the mock drug competition yes please be seated please take your full name then spell your last for the court my name is tony garrett or my name is tony garrett g-a-r-r-e-t-t thank you thank you council please appreciate sheriff gary can you please state your name and occupation for

047the court my name is tony garrett and i've been a sheriff in bernsley county for 20 years thank you have you ever received any calls regarding a conflict between jamie kobe and eric smith yes i received multiple calls she brought me to their apartment complex and what did you how many times you see to call regarding the coffin between the defendant and the victim i have received and responded to about a half a dozen calls there was eventually a call in october where smith had accused kobe of breaking and entering into their house and what did you do following this accusation i decided to supply smith with the video camera in order to film kobe's backyard thank you what did you find when responding to your call on april 30th when i responded to a

048call i found smith lying face down i conducted an inspection of the body and found bottle snake bite marks on smith smith's left wrist the ambulance arrived shortly after i did and smith was soon pronounced dead and what did you do after eric's was pronounced dead i decided to return to the scene of the crime to further investigate it and question any potential witnesses what did you do upon arriving back at the scene i immediately questioned danger russell and what did you learn from angel russell i learned that smith had been bitten around 12 p.m the day prior russell had also seen a person holding a medium-sized wire cage ghost stand near smith's mailbox i think i now should direct the court's attention to exhibit b sheriff gary can please approach the exhibits thank you

049sheriff garrett can you see what has been marked as exhibit b yes i can what is exhibit b exhibit b is a photograph is a photograph that i took of smith's mailbox the slot opening at the top of the mailbox it is located in front of smith's residence of 46601 is this photo a fair and accurate representation of eric smith's mailbox yes it is either signed the prosecution request for exhibit b to be admitted into the evidence record okay thank you uh would the defense like to be heard any objection no objections received into evidence thank you what did you do after questioning angel russell i decided to investigate smith's mailbox and what did you learn upon examining smith's mailbox i dusted the mailbox for any potential evidence of latent fingerprints thank you please return

050your seat what did you do after examination of the mailbox i decided to search smith's home and i found envelopes that contained rent checks from smith's renters jamie cobis was not found amongst these what did you do after learning about these checks i decided to question all of smith's renters and what were your conclusions as a result of these interviews that none had anything to do with the death of eric smith with the exception of jamie kobe in your interview with jamie kobe what new information did you learn from her i learned that smith or i learned that kobe had been garning the morning of the attack kobe was also in possession of a humane animal trap which they had with them when they went to drop off their event check and dismiss mailbox thank

051you and now i should direct the court's attention to exhibit e sheriff garrett please approach the exhibit sheriff garrett can you see this has been marked as exhibit e yes i can what is exhibit e exhibit e is a photograph that i obtained from kobe during my first interview with them and it shows kobe's humane animal trap thank you is this photo fear and accurate representation of jamie kobe's mean animal trap yes it is at this time the prosecution request winner exhibit e into the evidence record thank you any objection no objections your honor thank you received into evidence thank you sheriff here what did you do after your examination of jamie kobe i remember the video camera that i helped smith set up so i decided to search that for any potential evidence i

052noticed to direct the court's attention to exhibit a sheriff gary can you see it's been marked as exhibit a yes what is exhibit a exhibit a is a vid is a photograph that i took from every a video recording of kobe's backyard and it shows snake tongs as well as a smaller item which i could identify as a potential rattle of a rattlesnake thank you at this time the prostitute's request went to exhibit a under the evidence record any objection no objections your honor thank you exhibit a is received in dividends sheriff garrett what information did you learn from your investigation of eric smith's camera i learned that kobe had snake tongs as well as a potential rattlesnake rattle in their backyard thank you please return your seat what did you do after reviewing the

053video evidence i decided to question kobe again and what was your result of this interview kobe did not provide me with any new information but they did permit me to take a look around their house and what was your what did you find in your investigation of jamie kobe's house from my investigation i obtained knowledge regarding books uh regarding venomous venomous snakes a bottle of anti-venom collected snake rattles from the hobby desert rattlesnakes animal handling gloves snake proof boots a large canvas tool bag and a long sleeve t-shirt thank you sheriff here whose fingerprints were found to have been on eric smith's mailbox danny emlings jamie kobies and eric smith's fingerprints were found on eric smith's mailbox well why was danny emily not mentioned as a potential suspect danny emling had an alibi and was

054not in town when murder occurred this removed them from being a suspect sure i just have one final question what were the end findings and conclusions of your investigation i'd come to the determination that jamie kobe was the sole suspect in the murder of eric smith and obtained a warrant for their arrest which was served on june 3rd 2021 charging the defendant with murder thank your honor no further questions at this time thank you very much cross examination you knew eric smith for 20 years correct correct eric smith was known throughout town for being rude to others correct yes and the fact that it was on the town council you believe that smith's only likable quality for those in town were the business policies that he promoted correct yes last october you responded to a

055call about a suspected break-in correct that is accurate and this is when you provided smith with a security camera to gather evidence based on the accusation that kobe was the culprit correct yes given their history i thought it was a necessary action to take kobe has made calls to your department regarding smith correct yes and so kobe is smith has also done the same however kobe was never provided a complimentary security camera to gather evidence on smith correct that is accurate but the the allegations weren't as severe as breaking into someone's house it was mostly noise complaints you lifted latent fingerprints off of eric smith's mailbox correct yes and whose prints were found danny m ling's eric smith and jamie kobe's fingerprints were found on eric smith's mailbox there is no method to determine the

056precise time when fingerprints were left at a scene correct that is accurate kobe gave you permission to search their home on may 2nd correct yes now during the search you conducted a glance into kobe's garage correct yes angel russell never saw kobe place a snake in smith's mailbox correct no but they were working at the time so they weren't paying complete attention to what was going on objection your honor non-responsive have you heard your honor yes you honor the question by opposing counsel acts ask for the witness to elaborate further more than a simple yes or no answer as there's more than a simple confirmation or denial to the question at hand thank you the court believes that the answer beyond no was non-responsive the objection is sustained you can ask more questions and of

057course counsel you can address it on redirect your honor the defense moves to strike testimony everything after no i think i just said that after no was stricken thank you your honor please proceed in fact all angel russell saw was kobe in the vicinity of the mailbox correct yes no further questions thank you very much any redirect yes your honor briefly please proceed sheriff garrett whose fingerprints were found to have been on eric smith's mailbox eric smith's jamie cobis and danny emiling's fingerprints were found on eric smith's mailbox could eric smith have any suspect in this case no could danny emling have any suspect in this case no she had an alibi so who is the only person who whose fingerprints were found on the mailbox who could have possibly been a suspect in this

058case jamie kobe thank your honor no further questions at this time uh thank you very much is this witness excused that's the excuse yes you are excused and you can call your next witness your honor the prosecution would like to call terry edwards to the stand my name is terry edwards spelled e-d-w-a thank you and before you proceed i should have said this to the other witnesses could you be so kind as to kind of turn your little tent there towards the attorney scores it might help them a little bit absolutely thank you so much uh council please proceed thank you good evening miss edwards good evening please uh provide the course on background information about yourself well i'm a retired lawyer and i moved to the desert just a few years ago you know

059to get away from it all and do you know the victim eric smith yes do you know the defendant jamie kobe yes and how long have you known jamie and eric for well i've known jamie and eric for a long time since we all live near each other and i've lived down raptor road from eric for about 10 years now eric and i were friends and i've been there since jaime and jamie's mom moved in thank you and what you observed how would you describe jamie and eric's relationship well from what i observed jamie could be a real pain but eric was also not the easiest to get along with and can you recall any certain instances that show the strain between jamie and eric's relationship well i saw jamie throw animal droppings on eric's

060porch once or twice thank you and now please describe your own personal relationship with jamie well i had jamie do some gardening for me about a year ago but jamie never finished planting and i'd see jamie around town but jamie always avoided me and now miss edwards how did you find out about the death of jamie's mother well i ran into jamie at the grocery store just a couple of days after jamie's mom passed and i decided i'd stop by the funeral and set aside our differences thank you and at the funeral did you overhear jamie say anything i heard jamie telling people that this was it and that jamie jackson your honor hearsay your honor may i be heard yes you may this would be an admission to the hearsay rules this would be

061admission by a party as this is what jamie kobe is saying himself here's what i'm going to do i'm going to take your objection under advisement we're going to hear the answer in full then make your objection okay can you ask the question let's get the answer yes your honor miss edwards can you please just um did you overhear jamie kobe say anything i heard jamie telling people that this was it and that jamie was finally going to do it your objection is hearsay your response was this would be admission to the hearsay was this admission by a party because this is what jamie kobe is saying thank you did you want to be heard on that objection withdraw on your own all right then the answer stands thank you next question and miss edwards

062did you see anybody else at the funeral i saw eric there as well and now please describe the commotion you saw and heard at the funeral i saw jamie round outside the church and yell at eric saying leave you weren't invited here my mother hated you and what happened next well i was concerned the situation would escalate into violence so i stepped in and suggested they discuss it at another time jamie said never and hurried off into jaime's car eric also drove off and that was the last time i saw eric and now miss edwards what did you do after the funeral i was concerned about jamie so i drove to jaime's residence to check up on jamie and i was surprised to find her gardening at dusk and what did you notice when checking

063up on jamie i noticed jamie standing in the front yard so i rolled down my window to talk to jamie when i heard jamie yell i am going to kill him i ignored the comment and suggested jaime get some rest but jamie said she'd head to bed only after she finished something important she was working on thank you miss edwards no further questions your honor thank you cross examination yes your honor you had a close relationship with eric correct yes eric and i were friends you believe that eric was a hard person to get along with correct yes he certainly had his ways about him and eric often expressed their dislike towards jamie kobe correct yes that's correct you were present at jamie's mother's funeral is that right yes i was in attendance now at

064this funeral you and multiple others in attendance witness an argument between kobe and eric correct yes i saw the confrontation occur after this funeral you went to check up on jaime correct yes i was concerned for jamie upon your arrival at the kobe residence you found them in their garden which you thought was odd correct yes i did find it odd to find jamie gardening at dusk you were aware of kobe's reputation as a gardener first hand due to the work that they had done on your own yard correct yes although jamie never finished planting i found it suspicious because well snakes are more active at dusk being myself objection your honor non-responsive sustained would you like me to re-ask the question um yeah you were aware of kobe's reputation as a gardener firsthand due

065to the work that they had done on your yard correct objection your honor relevance your honor this is relevant it is setting foundation and is going to prove that jamie kobe gardening at dusk was not an unusual occurrence thank you overruled the witness can answer although jamie had never finished planting yes i was aware jamie was a gardener you believe that jamie was gardening at this time as a way to possibly recuperate after an emotionally trying day well yes i was certainly trying to rationalize jamie's behavior so that's a yes yes you did not hear kobe say that they were going to kill smith specifically correct no just that jamie was going to kill quote him i have no further questions your honor thank you any redirect no redirect your honor made this witness to

066be excused yes and you have one more witness to call yes um yes at this time the prosecution would like to call dr charlie dunn to this stand at this time the prosecution would like to request a time check hold on one second let's do what we're doing here and then we'll do that next faith thank you now you want a time check yes at this time the prosecution would like to request a time check wonderful let's do that thank you thank you ready to proceed with your witness yes please do so good evening dr dunn please state your name for the court and provide some background information about yourself my name is dr charlie dunn i earned a bachelor's degree in biology at the university of central california and through this i became familiar

067with venomous and poisonous animals thank you can you please elaborate on your forensic toxicology interest yes being a desert resident myself and around the animals i became the current chief medical examiner for bernstein county i have seen three deaths due to venomous bites thank you and when you on may 31st when you performed an autopsy on eric smith what were your findings i observed that smith had two visible puncture wounds on smith's left wrist the area was red and swollen and it was clear that smith had been bitten by a snake at this site i also found that smith had acute tubular necrosis and epicardial hemorrhaging both of which are a direct byproduct of the snake's venom that bit smith were you able to examine the snake that bit smith yes i was given the

068body of the snake to examine please turn your attention to exhibit d permission for the witness to approach the exhibit please thank you are you able to identify exhibit d yes i am is it a fair and accurate description yes the snake is two feet long and two inches wide at its widest point thank you at this time the prosecution would like to request that exhibit d be admitted into evidence any objection no objections your honor all right will be received into evidence were you able to observe from what were you able to observe from the dead rattlesnake from the dead rattlesnake i observed again that it was two feet long and two inches wide at its widest point as well as the snake was missing its rattle this snake's venom is 16 times more

069potent than any other animal venom and is it normal for a rattlesnake to be in the desert without its rattle based on my studies it is extremely unlikely for rattlesnake to be without its rattle it would take an extreme amount of pressure to cause this thank you dr dunn you may return to your seat where is the mojave rattlesnake usually found the mojave rattlesnake can usually be found in a cool accessible area such as a rock or crevice is it possible that smith died from factual just one second does that say stop no oh okay i saw stop i i got that wrong no that's okay please proceed my apologies cancel yeah it's all right is it possible that smith died from factors outside of the snake fight no no underlying health conditions would have

070changed the fact that the smith that smith's bite was lethal without immediate access to the anti-venom thank you and dr dunn in your professional opinion what was the cause of smith's death smith died from the bite directly from itself um the bite in the venom caused by the snake bite is what killed smith thank you your honor no further questions at this time thank you very much cross-examination yes your honor on may 31st you began eric smith's autopsy correct yes and when performing this autopsy you discovered the wound on the wrist and immediately determined it was a snake bite correct that's correct and i'd like to direct your attention to what has been entered into evidence as exhibit d deputy sheriff tony garrett informed you that this snake was inside eric smith's mailbox correct that

071would be correct and in your witness statement you mentioned that it is possible for snakes to squeeze into tight shaded spaces correct i do mention that i also mentioned that it is extremely unlikely for a snake to actually crawl into a mailbox on its own however however you do believe that it could be possible for a snake to squeeze into a mailbox correct that is incorrect as i've just stated that is i believe that that's not possible now you're familiar with tools such as the wire humane animal trap correct that is correct and you believe that jamie kobe could have been capable of using this tool to lure the snake out of the trap into the mailbox using a combination of tools accompanied by the usage of food correct yes i do mention that luring

072food with a snake is a possible way to get in a new email box yes yet in your witness statement you mentioned only ever seeing professionals such as reptile specialists perform such an act successfully correct correct with the help of other tools such as gloves snake tongs and animal traps all of which kobe had access to would you consider a small town gardener on the same level of expertise this question is speculation i didn't hear your objection um objection this question is speculation overruled thank you your honor would you consider someone who is a small town gardener on the same level of expertise as a reptile specialist i mean i feel like i would have to speculate on that however um i would say that jamie kobe had access to all of the tools that

073reptile objections uh sustained move to strike testimony stricken would you like me to re-ask the question sure would you consider someone who is a small town gardener on the same level of expertise as a reptile specialist no now you have no snake specific experience correct that would be correct but i am familiar with them and you've only ever seen one case where someone has died from a snake bite correct yes would that case happen to be today's case no i've mentioned that i have seen one snake bite not a specifically rattlesnake bite and you've never studied herpetology like dr tyler clay has correct i have not i have my degree in biology so that's a yes it is a yes to i have my degree in biology not in herpetology so this would make you

074about as experienced with snakes as a small town gardener collecting rattles in the desert correct jamie kobe has his degree in biology as well and i have my degree in biology so sure now you have no specific professional experience analyzing snake behaviors that would make your objectives this question is argumentative as was the last one sustained next question and you have no professional experience analyzing snake behaviors correct no i am a desert resident and i have seen multiple snakes and there are objections are non-responsive well let me get the answer first of all can you give me can you ask the question one more time very specifically and you have no professional experience analyzing snake behaviors correct analyzing snake behaviors no but i am familiar with snakes is there an objection um no there is

075no objection thank you next question that'll be all your honor thank you and uh any redirect no your honor at this time the prosecution would like to um rest her case thank you very much you are excused thank you very much doctor [Music] and the prosecution indicated that you rested yes thank you very much is defense ready to call their first witness [Music] the defense calls danny emily to the can stand suddenly affirm the testimony you're about to give faithfully and truthfully to the facts and rules of the mock competition you say your full name then fill your life danny e m l good afternoon good afternoon can you tell the court a little about yourself i am a resident of bernie county and write a one-bedroom house across the road from raptor road i

076also ran a convenience store in town which thankfully was able to stay in business during this tough and sudden pandemic what was your relationship with jamie kobe jamie and i are tenants of eric a while ago i was able to hire jamie to reorganize my garden into a drought tolerant garden jamie being the very talented xeriscape artist that they are was able to use a variety of characters honor the witnesses falling into a narrative you sustained you can ask another question what was your relationship like with eric smith eric wasn't a good landlord eric would take forever to make money and says to my house we had a few arguments in the past and would often offer rude and critical opinions that no one asked for did you ever witness arguments between eric and his

077other tenants i have witnessed quite a few arguments between eric and his other tenants yes where do you drop your rent checks off every month my rent is always deposited in eric's mailbox just like his other tennis does are there any physical obstructions that you can observe for this mailbox well the mailbox was out in the open with no lock locking it or anything protecting it from being accessed by anybody what was the relationship between eric and jamie eric and jamie lived very close to each other i often witnessed arguments between them mostly about rent or one of eric's shenanigans that disrupted jaime's life were you present at jamie's mother's funeral uh yes i was was eric there too yes eric showed up to the funeral uninvited which i just really couldn't believe especially after

078what happened is snake safety considered common knowledge amongst residents of bernstein county that you have interacted with of course the residents that i've talked with all have knowledge that rattlesnakes like to crawl into tight spaces and would generally be on the lookout for them in public which is something i also do did you observe jamie interact with nature yes while working on my garden i noticed that jamie loved animals and xeriscaping too they especially for snakes they were always careful and very respectful of them relevance objection on relevance do you want to be heard are you ready for my ruling on that maybe heard your honor yes this question is relevant because the defense is establishing that jamie kobe is incapable of using a snake as a murder weapon thank you objections overruled the answer

079stands next question what were your perceptions of jamie's relationship with nature well like i said jamie really loved animals and loved doing xeriscaping work and especially for snakes and they were always just objection your honor opinion testimony objection what opinion testimony opinion testimony uh would you like to be heard on that your honor whilst it is an opinion testimony is admissible because this um witness is testifying to the defendant overruled uh excuse me objection is sustained and next question thank you your honor i have no further questions thank you cross-examination yes your honor to please proceed good evening danny you are a neighbor of damian era correct that is correct i live across the street from them and eric is your landlord as well right yes eric is my landlord and you said that the

080rent was cheap as you were a tentative eric too correct of course they were it's cheap and i love the desert so it was the perfect combination thank you and all the tenants put their checks in eric's mailbox correct that is correct yes and jamie's mailbox is right next to eric's yes or no that is correct yes and you went to jaime's mother's funeral correct oh yes i attended and immediately after the funeral you left town to visit family yes or no yes i left outside of the county to visit a family member and you were gone for a couple of weeks correct oh yes i was gone for a couple of weeks and while you were gone you received a call from deputy uh sheriff tony garrett about the death of eric smith yes

081or no yes i did objection your honor argumentative uh you want to be heard yes i would like to i'm just simply asking the witness if she received a call while she was gone on vacation your question the question as phrase was argumentative and and so the objection is sustained the reason why is it's not for you to tell her how she has to answer the question yes or no if you believe that she's being non-responsive or you have another uh objection feel free to make it objection sustained next question thank you honor did you receive a call from deputy uh sheriff tony garrett while you were gone on vacation uh yes i did receive a call and eric smith was found dead june 5th and you know you were returned home june 5th and

082eric smith was found dead april 30th correct that is correct so you were gone and out of town the day that eric smith was bitten by a rattlesnake and killed correct objection your honor relevance overruled the witness can answer would you like to answer the question can you please repeat the question um you were gone out of town and returned home on june 5th and eric smith was killed uh april 30th correct yes i had to go out of town to visit family members thank you you're uh you're on enough for the questions thank you any redirect yes your honor please proceed were there any physical obstructions that you could observe two eric's in this mailbox uh there were not it was really out in the open there was no locks no gate blocking from

083it and it seemed that anyone could have accessed it i have no further questions genre may this witness please be excused yes thank you thank you very much and please call your next witness the defense calls francis yazzie to the stand please raise your right hand do you solemnly affirm the testimony you're about to give will faithfully and truthfully confirm to the facts yes please receive please say your full name francis yazzie y-a-z-z-i-e statement can be found on page 47 good afternoon what do you do for a living well i used to own a restaurant called the blue agave that celebrated my culture and cuisine sadly it was closed to the pandemic so now i sell landscape watercolor paintings hand me jewelry and belt buckles to make a living how do you know jamie kobe

084i know jamie because around 10 years ago or so she moved in half a mile away from my house ever since she moved in we become really good friends especially during the pandemic how often would you see jamie um i see jamie fairly often she usually comes over to my house at around 4 4pm after her mother has been cared for usually when she comes over we talk and have some tea did you ever go over to jamie's house on a couple of occasions yes and while at jamie's home did you ever witness anything out of the ordinary well on two occasions the power was shut off by eric i told jamie that this was probably harassment or illegal but nothing really came from it did this type of incident happen often yes this incident

085happened often even after confronted eric about the fact he continued to shut the power off and demand jamie verratt was eric involved in any way in the distribution of marijuana yeah it was pretty one around brinsley that he was checking your honor this is improper character evidence do you want to be heard yes your honor this is an exception to the character evidence objection as it shows a pattern of the victim's character and would you like to be heard on that yes i'd also like to add that there is um this is a objection on multiple challenges there is no evidence that the witness actually knows about this and this is also improper character evidence as um the victor eric smith is not on trial today thank you i'll sustain the objection next question thank

086your honor what did you do after you learned that eric wasn't going to stop shutting off jimmy's electricity well i knew that jamie's mother was sick and i wanted to make sure she was okay so the first thing i did was offer for jamie's mother to stay at my house until jamie could figure things out jamie did end up declining my offer because i didn't have the proper things to care for her was jamie close with her mother yes jamie cared for her mother and was pretty close how did jamie act after her mother's funeral after her mother's funeral jamie was a bit quiet and upset to be expected but after an hour or so of talking because she came over to my house after the funeral around four um she calmed down and even

087left my house laughing about how absurd an argument she had with um the witnesses falling into a narrative thank you i'm going to sustain that objection the answer stands please ask a new question over the time you've known jamie have you gotten a good judgment of her character of course i have i've known jamie for many years now so how did you react after hearing that jamie was charged for eric's murder well jamie's a really kind and gentle person that i i don't think would be capable doing anything of the sort so when i heard the news i was just left in complete shock thank you your honor no further questions cross examination yes your honor please proceed good evening good afternoon and you live on after road the same street as jamie air correct

088um yeah i live around half a mile or so away from jamie's house and jamie was extremely knowledgeable the desert in his environment correct um yes that's correct and based on your observation did jamie and eric have a contentious relationship um yeah and from what you observed did it seem to get progressively worse um they did have a bunch of arguments but usually after they did calm down but um yeah yeah thank you is it correct that you're present on two occasions when jamie's electricity was shut off oh yes i was present at his house on two occasions when the power was shut off and you and jane both agree that was probably illegal and unfair for harassment correct yes i told jamie that yeah and jamie said that jamie was handling the situation correct

089that is correct jamie did say that but you did offer to let jamie's mother stay with you until jamie's figured things out correct um i did offer for jamie's mother to stay at my house your honor relevance your honor may i be heard yes i'm trying to lay the foundation to say that jamie kobe had other ways that he could provide care for his mother but he had other methods that he wanted to use thank you objection overruled thank you honor answer stance next question and you just and jamie decline saying they would be fine correct um jamie did decline my offer because she wanted to stay close with her mother and make sure she did get the proper care she deserves you and on the day of the funeral jamie came over to her

090residence at around 4 p.m seeming to be agitated correct um yes after the funeral jamie did come over um so he can talk and she did appear to be a bit upset just one second that's the third time that happened um if you believe that the witness is being non-responsive you say objection non-responsive you don't shut her up by saying thank you okay well then objective non-responsive sustained next question thank you honor and jamie left at around around dusk saying you wanted to go to their garden correct um yes jamie did leave her my house around us thank you your honor no further questions thank you very much any redirect yes your honor how did jaime act after her mother's funeral um when jamie came over she was a bit quiet and upset and what

091was your perception of jamie's character um well i knew that jamie was a really kind and gentle person and creative too thank you your honor no further questions thank you very much is this witness excused yes thank you please call your next witness your honor before proceeding the defense would like to respectfully request a time check on behalf of both sides please let's do that now thank you before proceeding i would also like to respectfully request that the bailiff have permission to oh i'm sorry your honor never mind the exhibit is already shown um the defense would like to call dr tyler clay to the stand let's do it please raise your hand again you strongly affirm the testimony you're about to give will faithfully and truthfully conform to the facts and rules of the

092montreal competition yes i do please say dr clay could you please tell the court a little about yourself good afternoon my name is dr tyler clay i am the director of the southland zoological museum in california i earned my bachelor of science degree from the university of central state in the year 2000. i also later on went to receive my masters as well as my phd in biology with a specialization in herpetology which is basically a branch of zoology mostly concerning reptiles or in this case snakes and what is your experience in the field well for many many years i did work as a naturalist at various national parks and even now as the director of the zoological museum i've seen plenty of snakes and specifically snake bites at this point i may even call

093myself the snake whisperer which is also the title of my newest autobiography what is your involvement in this case well i have examined the medical examiner's report as well as the mojave rattlesnake specimen itself with this i can concur that it was indeed a mojave rattlesnake that has been eric smith now i'd like to direct your attention to what has been entered into evidence as exhibit d do you know what this is yes it appears to be a photograph of the mojave rattlesnake with a missing rattle how come or how often do individuals die of a mojave rattlesnake bite it is actually not a very common occurrence for any individual to die of a rattlesnake bite including a mojave rattlesnake and what might happen if the bite were to go untreated well after a few

094hours the person may experience symptoms such as difficulty breathing loss of vision muscle spasms and in some rare cases cardiac arrest may even be a result what exacerbates a mojave rattlesnake bite well moving around causes the venom to course the person's bloodstream a lot quicker as well as wasting time attempting to look for or grab the snake now i have seen other cases where the person has attempted to have somebody try to suck the venom out of the wound now what this does is it creates a false sense of security when in actuality all it does is put the poor person sucking the venom out at risk of poisoning as well witness has fallen into a narrative may have you heard your owner yes this witness just finished their answer and the last portion of

095it was a narrative um the court is not going to strike any of the testimony it was another narrative objection sustained i'll ask that the witness be more concise next question thank you and what is your stance on this snake's missing rattle a missing rattle is actually a lot more common than some may think the rattle is made up of a material called keratin which is the same material that makes up a human fingernail so it is definitely not that sturdy especially considering that snake shed twice a year by running up against hard surfaces and could you describe the nature of the mojave rattlesnake yes it's truly a fascinating snake the most venomous one in north america even um there are most active between the months of april and october and the mojave rattlesnake is

096not particularly aggressive unless it is destruction the witness has fallen into a narrative do you want to be heard yes your honor this is an expert witness and they were simply describing the nature of the mojave rattlesnake which requires a brief description thank you objection overruled the answer stands you can finish your answer briefly thank you was there more you needed to say on that briefly no i finished my answer thank you next question um permission for the bailiff to approach the exhibits and rearrange it so exhibit e is showing sure thank you your honor thank you now how do you feel about dr dunn's theory that the rattlesnake was dumped in the mailbox i find dr dunn's theory highly unlikely as it would be a very difficult task and very dangerous as well for

097somebody who is not a professional in this field even considering the tools used including the humane animal trap now looking at exhibit e would this tool make handling the snake possible in this situation no as i've stated it's a very difficult task and would be very very risky for somebody who is not a reptile specialist how common is it for snakes to squeeze into tight shaded spaces it's actually a very common occurrence for snakes to squeeze into tight shaded spaces they do this for a number of reasons either to get out of the sun wait till it's darker out and how do individuals usually react in these situations well a person can very easily reach unknowingly into their mailbox which would agitate the snake and cause it to attack permission for the bailiff to approach

098the exhibits and rearrange so exhibit b is showing sure thank you your honor do you know what this is yes it appears to be a photo of eric smith's mailbox in your professional opinion how could the snake have gone into the mailbox well the snake could have easily squeezed through the slit at the top of the mailbox which i believe was one and three quarters inches wide or if somebody were to have left the door open it could have easily obviously slipped through inside what were the dimensions of the snake while the snake was around two feet long and at its widest point it was two inches wide with these dimensions could the snake still fit through the slot oh yes easily snakes can sort of maneuver their bodies to squeeze into really tight spaces

099and even at its narrowest point it was much smaller than two inches so definitely could have gone in through the slit at the mailbox or even in smaller spaces that'll be all at this time your honor thank you cross-examination yes you agree with dr dunn that the mojave desert rattlesnake is the most venomous rattlesnake in north america correct yes that is a well-known fact you said in your witness statement that the mojave rattlesnake is most active between april and october correct yes that is correct and smith was bitten in april yes i believe so and you and doctor dr don disagree that smith's cause of death was from lethal and venom nation well i can concur that it was the rattlesnake that has been eric smith but i'm not too sure as to what the

100cause of death was okay and smith did not seek the anti-venom because of trends in the bite of delayed symptoms correct yes a lot of people seem to think that the bite is not severe and they wait very long so yes and yes or no this is someone was that someone with extensive your honor argumentative as to yes or no sustained can you rephrase the question yes thank you your honor this is some this is something someone with extensive knowledge of these species would have known no not necessarily many desert residents know that the anti-venom is widely available as well as to be precautious when um putting their hand into their mailbox objection the witness is being non-responsive i asked if they would be able to testify that someone with extensive knowledge of the species

101would know that the snake has trends in the bite of delayed symptoms thank you overruled the question was responsive next question is it possible to die from a snake bite alone well i would it is possible however it is extremely rare as there could be various contributing factors like other underlying conditions did you ever personally examine eric smith's body no i only examined the medical examiner's report as well as the mojave rattlesnake specimen thank you please turn your attention to exhibit a i believe we do not have the snake tongs oh never mind okay are you familiar with this exhibit yes they are the snake feeding tongs please point to the item located near the tongs in your witness statement you said that this item is consistent with the size of a rattle correct yes

102that is correct you agree with dr dunn saying that the best way to handle venomous snakes is to use snake feeding tongs and gloves to avoid injury correct well i wouldn't say that would be the best method but yes usually these tools are very commonly used by reptile specialists thank you and these items were found in kobe's residence correct i'm afraid i cannot testify to that i'm not objection according to stipulation 5 it states that they would have the expert witnesses would have reasonable knowledge of the fact stipulation and considering that they have testified to using these tools as an animal specialist they should know that from this from this fact simulation these would be located in kobe's residence your honor this witness did not was not a part of the investigation into kobe's residence

103so they would have uh they may not have proper knowledge of where exactly in the residences was found or that this was indeed found in the residence thank you the court is going to open i got it the court is going to overrule the objection as it was phrased if you believe that you can properly impeach this witness with uh something in the packet feel free to do so objection overruled thank you your honor okay are you unable to answer the question yes i am okay then thank you no further questions your honor thank you very much any redirect um yes your honor did you examine dr dunn's report yes i examined the report and did you agree with dr dunn's theories on how the snake ended up in the mailbox i disagreed with dr

104dunn's theory that the snake could have been dumped in the mailbox for various reasons like it was very dangerous and it could have squeezed in on its own would tools such as the snake feeding tongs make snake handling possible only for reptile specialists somebody who is not a professional in this field could very easily get injured thank you nothing further your honor may this witness be excused yes thank you very much [Music] thank you doctor and council do you have a final witness to call yes but before proceeding the defense would like to respectfully request a time check on behalf of both sides thank you let's do that right now okay i'm gonna have the two of you chat that out and then you can tell me what's going on and while they're doing that

105uh i want to just let everyone know i think we've all been doing a wonderful job with our masks i am responsible for the health and safety of everyone in this room right now so if we could just take a moment to check our our masks and make sure that our mouths and noses are you know not with us thank you have we resolved the uh discrepancy and so what is it um and you agree all right thank you i commend you both for working that that out that's exactly as it should happen next witness the defense would like to call jamie kobe to the stand thank you [Music] c-o-b-e-y can be found on page 42 miss kobe could you please tell the court a little about yourself yes my name is jamie kobe and

106i'm currently a resident of burnsley county i've lived in one of eric smith's properties with my mother for about 10 years now what was your relationship with eric smith well eric and i weren't necessarily the best of friends sometimes we got into arguments but we always ended up calming down eventually how would you handle these arguments well sometimes the police would get involved and other times i admit that i did act childlessly however i always realized the extent of my mistakes and obviously never repeated them again were you your mother's caretaker yes she was old and had pre-existing health conditions so i was responsible for taking care of and supporting her at this time what was your occupation well i used to work for a restaurant called the blue agave but unfortunately it shut down

107due to the pandemic so instead i tried to step up my work as a service objection your honor this witness has fallen into a narrative overruled if you could briefly answer the question thank you your honor thank you so i as i was saying i had tried to step up my work as a sur escaper but unfortunately people couldn't afford my services so that didn't really help either could you afford your rent often i couldn't afford my rent but whenever i did have any extra money to pay eric in whatever amount i could i did just to show that i was still appreciative of him did you ever hear of any illegal activities taking place on eric smith's properties yes i was aware objection to your honor uh relevance uh may i heard your honor

108no overruled on those grounds the witness can answer your honor we also like to raise some objections to improper character evidence okay now we're now we're in the ball field do you want to respond to that yes your honor this is an exception to the improper character evidence objection as it goes to show a pattern of the victim's character and their reputation within the community as well as their interactions with others within the community do you want to be heard yes your honor the victim is not the one on trial here jimmy copia jb cobias as well as a the um the phrasing of the question as to a pattern of illegal activity uh is vague and ambiguous and does not go to show anything about the objection sustained next question did you blame eric

109smith for your mother's death i didn't blame eric smith for my mother's death because as i had said she was old and had pre-existing health conditions i had known it was honor this witness has fallen into a narrative no the witness hasn't the witness can answer overruled thank you your honor as i was saying um she she had pre-existing health conditions and i was aware of the fact that it was only a matter of time i just hadn't expected it so soon so she was really the top of my priorities and how did you react when you saw eric smith at the funeral when i saw eric smith at the funeral i was surprised because we weren't friends so i hadn't invited him and i didn't expect him to be there after the funeral where

110did you go after the funeral i went to my neighbor francis yazzie's house because we're friends so i trusted her to help me calm down before i went back to my house to do some gardening which is always really relaxing for me too is gardening a main hobby of yours yes i've been gardening for quite a while so i'd say i know quite a bit about different techniques which is also why i own a variety of tools why did you purchase these tools i purchased these tools because i'm also a member of various animal rights organizations and it's always been my priority to handle the things i interact with with the utmost care and respect now i'd like to direct your attention to the morning of april 29th did you go anywhere the morning of

111april 29th yes the morning of april 29th i went down to my landlord's mailbox eric smith to drop off my rent payment which was an envelope containing 48 cash at this time did you touch the mailbox well it was a while ago so i don't remember touching the mailbox in specific i'm sure i have at some point in the past all i know is that i definitely dropped off my payment and did you put a snake in the mailbox of course not now did you do anything of note on april 30th during your honor vague ambiguous says the term of note sustained i can rephrase your honor please did you go anywhere the morning of april 30th yes on the morning of april 30th i went down to our local town hardware store and put

112up a sign saying that i was selling my gardening tools why did you sell your tools i sold my tools because i needed money to pay for my mother's funeral funeral expenses i didn't have a stable job so really anything at that point helped and did you kill eric smith of course not honor this calls for an opinion testimony may further elaborate okay the phrasing the question is the term kill is requires a medical testimony as for the actual cause of death as smith has been contested by the defense in today's trial thank you overruled the witness can answer thank you your honor of course i didn't kill eric smith just because we had our differences it doesn't mean that i would ever wish harm upon him let alone imagine to do it myself that'll

113be all at this time your honor thank you very much cross-examination easter honor good evening jimmy kobe good afternoon your attendant on one of what was eric smith's properties correct in burnsley county yes i did live in one of eric smith's properties and on april 22nd your mother passed away yes yeah that that did happen you now know and knew at the time that eric smith shut the power off causing your mother's death objection your honor compound question can you read the question tell me ask the question one more time you now know and knew at the time that eric smith caused your mother's death thank you your honor break it up you now know that eric smith caused your mother's death due to a lack of power due to oxygen correct well that was

114really a circumstantial occurrence i mean objection you honor this witness is non-responsive may i be heard hold on i'm just going to play this back in my mind the objections overruled the witness can briefly answer the question thank you your honor well the my power being shut off that day was just an unfortunate occurrence really anything could have caused my mother's oxygen machine to shut down and of course she had health conditions so as i said i knew it was a matter of time it just hadn't expected it at that moment on page 44 line 32 and 33 you said i did not blame eric entirely for my mom's death she had been very very ill so it would be fair to say that you did partially blame her correct well of course my situation

115with eric was difficult we had gotten into arguments in the past but really my objection witness is non-responsive may i be heard your honor yes they're asking my witness if they blamed someone for their mother's death this is a question where my where the defendant or miss kobe should be allowed to elaborate on their answer as it is not so black and white thank you so here's my ruling you very appropriately impeach the witness with with some other testimony the witness is able to answer you and so the objections overruled thank you your honor the witness can briefly finish their answer uh as i was saying um our my situation with eric was difficult at the time my mother was at the top of my priorities eric wasn't really at the front of my mind

116at your mother's funeral you had a confrontation with eric smith yes uh yes that is correct and in this and after this confrontation when you returned home you said quote i am going to kill them yes um when i had said that i was referring to um some small snails i had found in my garden it was an emotional day it just kind of slipped out of course i didn't actually mean it but i wasn't referring to a person but the words that you're going to kill them did leave your mouth yes objection your honor asked and answered overruled it was asked and it was very circuitously answered and so it's appropriate for the attorney to ask the question again please answer it as i had said yes the words them did leave my mouth

117but it wasn't in reference to a person you owned the tools to capture a rattlesnake correct i'm sorry could you repeat that please you own the tools to capture a rattlesnake correct i'm sorry could you repeat that you own the tools to capture a rattlesnake correct well of course any person who would need to handle a rattlesnake would need to have just gone or non-responsive sustained i suppose so thank you please please direct your attention to exhibit a the snake tongs in this exhibit are yours correct yes that is correct please direct your attention to exhibit e the humane animal trap in this exhibit is yours correct that is correct uh please return your seat you do own a hunting knife correct among various other tools yes okay it'd be safe to say that you

118know a great deal about the mojave desert rattlesnake yes well i had to have some knowledge as to different things i could encounter in my work in the desert objection honor this witness is non-responsive may i be heard your honor yes this witness had not yet finished their answer and this witness has been not responsive in finishing the answer objections sustained move to destruct the testimony of stricken please answer the question uh yes that is correct i did um have a humane animal truck no i so do you know a great deal about the mojave does a rattlesnake yes uh as i had said yes i do have some knowledge of the mojave rattlesnake because i would need to know of joshua this witness is non-responsive she's she's getting it out but get it out

119quickly please okay uh as i was saying i do have some knowledge of the mojave rattlesnake because again i wouldn't i it is a possibility i interact with them during my work so i have to have some knowledge as to how to proceed then you know just how deadly and potentially lethal a mojave does a rattlesnake is yes of course many snakes are deadly and a mahvi rattlesnake is widely known so various people would know that and you did know that eric smith had a pre-existing condition which left him vulnerable correct well i had some basic knowledge of his health conditions but nothing too in depth well you didn't know that eric smith suffered from high blood pressure had a kidney condition and suffered from congestive heart failure correct objection honor compound question overruled there

120are three parts to that question but it is one uh as i had said i had some knowledge of them but nothing as to their specifics so you didn't know that ericsson had those specific conditions yes of the conditions but not about them yes thank you you were at the mailbox the morning that eric smith was attacked yes i had gone to drop off my rent payment and you were carrying a canvas uh tool bag and a humane animal trap when you're at the mailbox yes i was returning from my garden i was carrying some materials that i use on a daily basis thank your honor no further questions at this time thank you very much any redirect yes your honor before proceeding i would like to respectfully request a time check sure thank you

121please proceed why did you own your gardening tools i own my gardening tools because obviously i'm azure escaper so i needed different materials i could use in my work as a desert and again i'm also a member of animal rights organizations so as i said it's always been my goal to treat the different things that i interact with with the utmost care and respect hence the tools to ensure both of our safeties honor this witness has fallen into a narrative overruled next question thank you your honor and did you blame eric smith for your mother's death i at the time of course as i said our situation was challenging i mean my mother was at the top of my priorities she had just died i didn't have a job i i needed money to pay

122for her funeral expenses and i had to handle all of that i just yeah are you a reptile specialist oh no i'm just a zero escaper i've earned some certificates for my plants but not i don't really have an all-encompassing knowledge of desert life that'll be all your honor may this witness be excused thank you very much [Music] go ahead and have a seat you are excused and at this time the defense rests thank you very much uh i think at this point we are going to be ready for closing arguments but before we do that just give me a moment i want to look at my notes here [Music] is prosecution ready to proceed with closing argument um yes we are but before we would like to proceed um i would like to request

123a time check let's get it for both sides please there's a remainder of five minutes thank you very much please proceed with your closing thank you the people's burden of proof is to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that one jamie kobe committed a murder in a willful deliberate and premeditated manner and two jamie colby acted with express malice tonight the people have met their burden we must first ask what motive would jaime kobe have to intentionally kill eric smith with a mojave desert rattlesnake planted in her mailbox well the answer lies in 10 years worth of a building feud between the tenant jamie kobe and landlord eric smith the tension at its breaking point when jamie after repeatedly failing to pay her rent had her electricity turned off resulting in her mother dying of cardiac

124arrest jaime was distraught and furious over eric's accused involvement and after years of built up grievances this was the act that towed the line leading jaime to one solution to utilize her environment and plan an attack on eric smith after arriving home jamie took the opportunity and harbored a venomous rattlesnake and planted it in eric's mailbox lying in wait the next day when eric went to get the mail she was attacked resulting in her body being found dead face down on her lawn the following morning according to california penal code 189 degrees of murder a murder conducted using poison is defined as murder of the first degree considering the defendant obtained and utilized a venomous rattlesnake and eric smith's cause of death was from lethal and venom nation the prosecution argues a verdict of murder

125to the first degree according to calcram 521 there are three requirements for a person to be guilty of first-degree murder one the murder was willful on april 29th angel russell testified to identifying the figure walking towards the mailbox carrying a humane animal trap and canvas tool bag as jamie kobe jamie is an avid animal lover and gardener knowing extensively about snakes and having the knowledge that a bite from the mojave desert rattlesnake is deadly if left untreated from a prior relationship jamie was knowledgeable about eric's health and pre-existing kidney condition which would only be exacerbated by a lethal bite further from her mother's death jamie knew that the nearest hospital containing the anti-venom used to combat the snake's poison was 45 minutes away two the defendant acted deliberately in a video obtained from deputy garrett

126um smith security system the system was triggered by movement in kobe's backyard at 7 00 am just hours before eric was bitten on deputy tony garrett's way out of eric's house she discovered snake protective gear gloves boots and a shirt sitting together on a table in smith's garage jimmy's snake tongues main traps and other tools were bought only after the attack in a further investigation jamie cobby's fingerprints were the only viable ones found on the mailbox the defense would like you to believe that at this time jaime's reason for being at the mailbox was to merely drop off her rent check yet after inspecting eric's residence deputy garrett did find rent checks but none of which belonging to jamie jamie even admitted that she would only pay rent a little but scarcely during the pandemic

127three the defendant acted with premeditation first on april 28th after the argument at the funeral jaime was seen visibly angry at her residence by terry edwards from terry's observations jamie was emotionally drained and even stated i am going to kill him before specifically stating her need to finish something important second in jamie's testimony it is stated that during this time he was merely gardening at dusk yet jamie was intentionally obtaining a rattlesnake during dusk their most active time planning to use it to kill smith third the video of jamie's backyard obtained from the sheriff's department features snake tongs and an object located near the tongs that appears to be the missing rattle this would indicate that the rattle was removed prior to the attack leaving no question of premeditation the defense would like you to

128believe that the mojave snakes rattle merely fell off while slipping into the tight mailbox yet after inspecting the scene sheriff garrett found no evidence of a rattle or anything indicating one was ever there moving on to the second count according to california calcram 520 20 there are um a person committed expressed malice if they unlawfully intended to kill this requirement has been proven through the charges of first-degree murder the prosecution argues that the judge finds the defendant guilty of first-degree murder however if it is not found we argue find the defendant guilty of manslaughter because of the passionate a fight that occurred before the attack jamie colby desired to avenge her mother by taking the life of eric smith and yet today the prosecution has found that revenge is not a foolproof plan tonight the

129people have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that jamie kobe is guilty of first-degree murder with malice of forethought thank you thank you very much does the uh is the defense ready to proceed with their closing argument yes your honor please proceed good evening your honor my name is shanne mcgee and tonight i'm defending my client jamie kobe tonight my team and i have called four witnesses to the stand to testify to jaime kobe's innocence these witness testimonies along with our cross-examination of the prosecution's witnesses has shown that the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that ms kobe is guilty of the charges being brought against them tonight eric smith and jamie kobe did not get along this is ms kobe's motive according to the people while they had their arguments and disagreements

130jimmy kobe was not the only one who had this relationship with eric smith as danny emily testified tonight eric smith could often be seen arguing with all of his other tenants when they would stop by his residence 46603 on raptor or 46601 on raptor road eric smith had a reputation for being rude as the prosecution's own witness deputy sheriff tony garrett testified tonight in fact the only redeeming quality of eric smith that the deputy sheriff could list was eric smith's business policies smith also had a reputation for dealing drugs to residents of bernstein county including minors i think we can all agree that being the county's resident drug dealer for children is sure to create some enemies so if disagreement and dislike are the motives we are searching for tonight then you would have to

131put a majority of burnsley county's residents on trial now the prosecution would like to paint jamie kobe as some sort of snake expert with extensive knowledge on snakes the only expert in this courtroom with extensive knowledge on snakes is dr tyler clay the prosecution's expert witness dr don presented a bunked up theory that jamie kobe a small town gardener lured the mojave rattlesnake into a cage cut off its rattle and then once again lord it this time with food into eric smith's mailbox of course dr dunn who has no snake specific experience believes this absurd theory to be possible as they have no expert knowledge on the behaviors and capabilities of the mojave rattlesnake only a professional such as a reptile specialist could perform such an act successfully which dr dunn agrees with tonight now

132according to dr tyler clay what happened on april 29th was most likely an entirely naturally occurring event not only have they seen multiple cases where a snake has stuck has snuck into a tight space such as a mailbox but they also testified tonight that it is very common for snakes to naturally lose their rattles in the desert they've also seen multiple cases where snakes have snuck into someone's mailbox and attacked the person reaching inside because they felt threatened and multiple residents of bernsley county testified tonight that snake safety is common knowledge amongst the residents and that many practice caution when reaching into tight spaces such as mailboxes your honor according to calcrum 224 before you may rely on circumstantial evidence to find the defendant guilty you must be convinced that the only reasonable conclusion supported

133by the circumstantial evidence is that the defendant is guilty according to dr tyler clay the most plausible conclusion that can be drawn from the prosecution's circumstantial evidence is that the snake entered into eric smith's mailbox entirely on its own what happened on april 29th and the death that followed while unfortunate was an entirely naturally occurring event that had absolutely nothing to do with jamie kobe and could have been completely avoided with both proper caution and proper medical care like the widely accessible anti-venom from the lack of thorough investigating like the deputy sheriff's quick glance into jaime kobe's garage to the multiple plausible conclusions that can be drawn from the people's circumstantial evidence this is anything but a clear-cut case of murder miss kobe was a kind and caring member of this community who wouldn't hurt

134a fly and she blamed absolutely no one for her sick mother's death she was aware of her mother's old age and health conditions and knew that unfortunately her death would eventually come to pass she made peace with this fact long before the events of april 22nd and just wants to mourn her mother's death and celebrate her life in peace she's a caring member of this community who is a part of multiple animal rights groups and would never harm a snake let alone a human being your honor according to calcium 224 before you may find miss kobe guilty you must be convinced that the only reasonable conclusion supported by the people's circumstantial evidence is that miss kobe is guilty the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that ms kobe is guilty of both

135first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter they have failed to meet their burden of proof what happened on april 29th was an entirely naturally occurring event it was a tragic accident that was caused by mother nature and a situation out of our control i ask you your honor to not let jamie kobe become yet another victim of this tragedy and find miss kobe not guilty on both charges of first degree murder and voluntary manslaughter thank you for your time your honor thank you very much does the prosecution have a rebuttal yes i do please proceed opposing counsel has presented a story of speculative facts and improper character evidence about what they believe to have occurred with this case today however let's look at what we do know from the facts provided today angel russell identified the figure

136holding the wired cage which was large enough to transport the snake walking to the mailbox and standing around it standing around it as jamie kobe and jamie's fingerprints were the only ones found on the mailbox that could have been a culprit the other belonging to danny emily who was out of town and the other fingerprint belonging to the victim eric smith who was deceased and finally it is unreasonable to assume that a snake would naturally seek solas in a mailbox the slot was barely bigger than itself and it was not cool and it was not easily accessible and there are no witnesses who have testified to seeing the snake slither up and go into the mailbox for these reasons the pros the prosecution respectfully requests that you find jamie kobe guilty of first-degree murder since

137all four requirements have been met with express malice thank you thank you very much and does the defense have a rebuttal yes your honor please proceed the prosecution's only eyewitness angel russell testified tonight that they were unable to see jamie kobe interact with the mailbox at all they never saw jamie kobe touch the mailbox and even testified tonight that they were too far away to see the details like what jamie kobe was holding and the expert witness tonight dr tyler clay testified that it is very common for snakes to squeeze into tight shaded spaces such as mailboxes they have seen multiple cases in fact where this has happened where the snake has even attacked the person reaching inside because they felt threatened and they testified tonight that this behavior would be very similar to the

138behavior of a mojave rattlesnake now your honor the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that ms kobe is guilty of both first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter they have failed to meet their burden of proof the events of april 29th and april 30th have already taken one victim do not let jamie kobe become yet another victim of this tragedy and please find her not guilty on both charges of first degree murder and voluntary manslaughter thank you for your time your honor thank you very much so the court has heard the evidence in this case the court has heard the closing arguments as well i'm going to give the attorney scorers a little bit more time to fill out their forms i'll check in with you on that in a moment um in a

139moment i'm also going to give the the teams some time to come up with their mvp names and whatnot but i don't want to hear those yet either to allow for the attorney scorers to have a little bit more time before my verdict i would like to thank everyone in this room in this room first of all what a round of applause for all the the participants tonight phenomenal job great job and i mean my lawyers the witnesses the bailiffs um you know our scorekeepers everyone excuse me our timekeepers everyone um to our coaches our attorney coaches uh our teacher coaches uh can we give them a round of applause great job because um as i recall that the attorney coaches probably don't get paid anything and the teachers certainly don't get paid enough so

140i really really thank you all for what you've done i don't know if we have any parents in the room or that are watching are going to be watching it later but these young folks are here with us today because of the supportive family you know whatever that means mom's dad you know older siblings grandma's grandpas round of applause for all of them because we have [Applause] we have some wonderful bright people here and i would be remiss if i didn't think the stanislaus county office of education back room back of the room over there for all the work that you've done over these years to make this what i consider to be the crown jewel of your programs round of applause for them and frankly when i got an email oh i don't know

141about a month ago three weeks ago saying would you be willing to do this in person um i really wanted to be here in person but i i was kind of like i don't know right because we are doing things over at the courthouse that in any other time would be considered to be cruel and unusual as far as continuing trials and keeping people detained and doing things remotely so i'm still of the perspective that less is more right now so and then like i said a little bit after having that conversation i literally found out i was positive myself and i only tested negative for the first time a couple days ago so to me this was a gamble to do this but it was a gamble that was well done um i think

142we're all safe and frankly it's just great to be in the same room with all of you let me check in with my attorney scores and see how they're doing you were last let me ask you first got a thumbs up miss ratliff you're still you're still calculating we got a thumbs up mr legero thumbs up okay they're good to go and i just got a piece of my mask and i'm having a mask malfunction give me a moment okay so i am now going to render my verdict um i will let you know that uh again my verdict isn't the score it is however my verdict uh i am profoundly of the opinion that closing arguments matter i believe that in mock trial competition i believe it in real court i i've done both

143a lot as a lawyer and as a judge i think we had great closing arguments here today however this is an exception to the rule let me tell you why i i was very impressed with the defense closing argument frankly i thought you did a phenomenal job but i want to go back to one piece of the evidence and that was the redirect of i believe it was sheriff garrett and so then you know could this person have done it no could this person have done it no could that person have done it no so it really could have only been the defendant i mean that was so effectively done and and having considered all of the evidence the court uh finds the defendant guilty of first-degree murder remand her take her into custody we'll

144see her in what 25 years something like that okay i'm kidding of course you're not actually going to jail um and so i am finding the defendant guilty as charged okay now at this point what i'd like to do is hear from the attorney scorers if you could briefly introduce yourselves and give us some comments and we'll pass a microphone and because we started last we're going to start first with mr wagner because we had them last earlier so i think both i think both sides here did a a great job in this i really appreciated seeing it and and i had some specific comments and some of these may be things that are this is my first experience with mock trial so i never did this when i was a student i probably should

145have um i've never scored it before and so i i really liked seeing um how this works and i i'm not sure if this is a thing or not but it did seem with with the leading questions which obviously being a defense attorney is something that i focus on a lot of you are asking them with the word correct or yes or no at the end of it and in the real world and unless there's a mock trial rule that i'm not aware of that's not something that you have to do and so i want you to think about going forward because obviously one of these teams is going on to a statewide competition correct yeah you don't actually have to do that you can ask the question and leave that there and it leaves

146a little more room and the fact that that's my first takeaway from this in terms of a critique means that you all did exceptionally well because that's talking about the nitty-gritty of how you ask a question which is something that i deal with in terms of training our new lawyers after they've been doing this for some time i really liked the defense opening particularly because the first two sentences of it are an opening that i've given or the resident i wrote i've given this opening um that that was kind of cool to see and i also thought the prosecution did a great job with their opening as well and with their closing it it really is all about closing and opening because the facts are what they are so i think you all did a

147great job and i'll pass this along thank you and before you pass it on i want to say mr wagner was recently within the last year or so made like one of the numbers like the number two guy over there right right yeah so he um is a high-ranking person at the public defender's office so if y'all are look i'm thinking okay you know four years for college and then law school if you're still there and you know eight nine ten years you got a good group of people here who might be looking for work um thank you for those comments on that note um i think both of our offices and i think county council take the microphone but i know the da's office in our office and i think county council as well

148does takes college interns as well as law school interns so if that's something you're interested in i have cards with me today i'm sure mr legero has his information and i would imagine great great point and also um before i pass it on to miss ratliff i don't want to make light of what i just said mr wagner was and is a great lawyer but now he is a great supervisor and his comments were very well received by the court i hope you listened to him because i think he was spot on ms ratliff i also agree that this competition is it's very nice to see the young people in our community step up and really take this on it showed that you're really well prepared and excited to do this and took it very

149seriously i'm a native of modesto i was born and raised here and then i did go off to law school i went to hastings but i came back here to practice and i've been here my entire legal career and i think you all did an excellent job i did agree with judge villalobos that i was really impressed by the defense's closing i do mostly bench trials so i am well aware of having to focus on the judge and making sure that objections are made correctly and being able to respond to them i think both sides did a well did that well and responded to them and moved on because your objections aren't always going to be sustained and it's just something that happens and i think just being able to move on with questioning is

150really important and you all did that well so good job and before we move on to mr legero i have to make a comment about that miss ratliff was assigned to my department for the better part of five years and frankly is one of if not the best attorney that practiced in front of me and i was constantly overruling her and she had to look at me and you know the beginning it took us some time to figure it out but she figured out what worked for me she zealously advocated on behalf of her client and i have some notes here about demeanor that i'm going to talk about in a little bit what she said was spot on great comments thank you mr lejeune thank you your honor great job everybody the witnesses were

151fantastic by the way and they can come across as very robotic or they can come across as very relatable and you were all very relatable the difference between the two teams is like fractions you know um i think both teams did an amazing job i've coached mock trial for years i've scored mock trial in the past every year i'm impressed with the talent and hopefully that talent will join our ranks whether it's the public defender's office county council or the da's office we want local talent we want to hire you as attorneys so please when you go to law school and you successfully pass the bar we want you to come back and join our ranks we prefer to have people that are local and you're all as talented as most attorneys that we see

152in the courthouse right now you guys do a great job making your arguments there's some tweaks some nuances some things that each one of you has that with time you polish those out and some of them if you are following up the question with a yes or correct you know like reid said you don't need to do that there's a more effective way to do that but that just takes time and learning how to ask a question that's loaded and gets the information that you want out of your witness so great job everybody and good luck to whichever team goes on and if you have specific questions of any one of us i'm sure we're happy to hang around and talk to you about those so thank you and i i have several comments i

153want to make but the first thing i want to do first of all i forgot to say thank you to these three attorney scorers in particular for being here for this final round uh thank you to your offices for having attorneys come and score previous rounds but very specifically thank you for the district attorney's office because year in and year out you know i don't know if y'all make them do it you force them to do it you highly encourage i don't know what i do is that i do know is that every single year there's a whole mess of deputy district attorneys that are uh scoring these rounds so thank you for that um i want to address the comments that were made by the lawyers and then i want to go over my

154comments here first of all i want to talk about what ms ratliff and mr um legero just said as far as uh we want you um i'm sorry i just have a bit of mask issue here okay um so my advice to you is go away as far as you can you know take take this uh career of yours to high school and law school as far as you can do the best you can for yourself but then come back we need you um when i was on the school board that's what i said in my graduations what these lawyers just said is 100 spot on and i want to give you an example of that i left and was a federal assistant federal public defender in the district of nevada i was an okay

155lawyer i did a good job um when i was in reno i i didn't know what it was like to be a nevadan right i didn't i didn't get it i didn't understand the mindset i came back and i was a deputy public defender here in mr wagner's office before his time but in his office i was doing a suppression motion just like the pre-trial motion that you did today an officer got on the stand and said that he pulled someone over because of their proximity to prescott estates prescott estates is a not so wonderful east at the time was a not so wonderful neighborhood off prescott okay the person was pulled over at the tony roma's tony roma's is gone it's where nothing bunt case cakes is right now y'all probably know where that

156is since i'm from here i knew that it was just as close to dutch hollow which at the time was one of the nicest if not the nicest neighborhood in town as it was to prescott states i would have never known that but for being from here so that's something that you can serve your clients by doing please come back now i have a whole bunch of positive comments to make about individuals and about the group as a whole i do have some constructive criticism and i want to tell you why i'm giving you this constructive criticism one of you will be going on to state i had the privilege of going to state three times and all of those three times we got eliminated right in the first round we were good enough for

157here not good enough for there all right and it is i think all of our goals for you to go forward and be excellent and so because of that some constructive criticism i'm going to offer but it's it's in a spirit of making you better let me start with this one mr legero i want to ask you in your mind think about the best birthday christmas hanukkah whatever present you ever got in your life think about that you got it in your mind what was better that or you as a district attorney realizing that the defendant is going to testify in a case right defendants don't testify they rarely testify in real life and if you're a d.a you're like okay i got i can ask them just about anything reason why they say that

158is think holistically about your case there was when you were crossing the d.a the the defendant you made some very good textbook objections right but the more the defendant talks the more they're going to get themselves in trouble so so that is an advanced way of looking at the case so just a thought um some comments um i thought your opening statements were both phenomenal as far as laying a story this is a story of revenge this is a tragic accident i think the defense did a better job of linking that opening down into their closing but you both did a phenomenal job as far as your openings um i already told you what i thought about that redirect of of the of the sheriff i thought it was phenomenal um okay some technical issues

159now um several of you said that you uh direct the court's attention to x y or z um i would ask that you never say that again and let me tell you why um i'm the boss here right and and when i say that it's not because i like to be the boss it's because since i wear this robe i have to be in charge so i don't like anyone to direct me to do anything and is it fair to say that most judges are like that right and so you say the same thing differently i invite the court to look at exhibit a i invite the court to look at listen uh to exhibit b when you all go to state trust me the attorney scorers are going to get that and it will

160be well received i want to talk a little bit about non-responsive versus this question is becoming a narrative or falling into a narrative from my perspective non-responsive is hands down the if you imagine your objections to be a tool belt right like a hammer a chisel a screwdriver non-responsive appropriately used is the absolute best objection that you can ever do and from my perspective here's how that works and i wrote a note down about some of the testimony um when we were talking about the exhibit with the snake and you know how's the snake and it's two feet and two inches at its widest point or whatever and then there was a comment and it's six the sixteenth most deadly snake in the world or it's 16 times more deadly than whatever that was not

161responsive and the reason why was because the question is what did you observe what did you observe about the state the snake the answer was very responsive except for that part that objection would be sustained every single time by every single judge the narrative is more like you know is it is it not i prefer uh black and white imagine baseball you got a foul line it's either in or it's out with the non-responsive objection you can really easily get that in and also before i move on from that tensions got a little high at some points today and i mean that with the lawyers and i mean that with the witnesses okay i want you to realize that as a judge i will always protect my witnesses always 100 percent of the time without

162fail okay so that means that if people are getting city with each other the uh witness will always win the lawyer will always lose so how do you deal with that if you're a lawyer above the fray stay above the fray okay i'm going to talk about an attorney who's no longer here there was a gentleman by the name of tom brennan who prosecuted gang cases he did a bunch against me sent a bunch of my clients to life for a very very long time he was the nicest sweetest guy that you would ever deal with as he was putting your client away for the rest of their life all right he's a sweetheart am i wrong about that he was a sweetheart and so as lawyers you always got to be above the fray

163and if you feel yourself kind of getting into it the emotions of it just take a moment just take a moment that's totally good one of you withdrew an objection after you heard the response i think that was you sir i frankly think that was one of the most lawyerly things i saw today yet tried something it didn't work the other side very appropriately responded to it you're like i'm good judge let's move on this is this doesn't make a break by case i thought that was phenomenal great job let me just take a a oh one more thing any because this happened several times the first question hey please tell us a little bit about yourself never works in real life okay um when you're talking to an expert tell us your qualifications uh

164the second question that was asked was tell us your experience in the field totally appropriate the question hey how you doing tell me about yourself what's going on we can't start questions that way that would be it's not relevant calls for a narrative there's there's a bunch there and i think both sides did that um i'm wrapping up here one that i wanted to say the pre-trial both sides phenomenal use of the cases could have slowed down a little bit um great job relating the the cases to the facts here so to our pre-trial attorneys phenomenal job um one thing and i think this matters um you all look great you really do i mean the lawyers i mean the witnesses uh our bailiff our timers you all respect the solemnity of these proceedings you've

165taken the time to get yourselves ready in here and in past years you know we've had like powerpoints and pictures and i and i see all like in jeans and pizza parties and i know that that's what you do that's who you are but today you are attorneys today you are doctors today you're on trial for your life and you all did a phenomenal job on that uh i think i'm gonna leave my comments at that because we're getting to the end of the hour here i think we have to do a couple of things do at this point is it the right time for the schools to announce their mvp is that good can we do that now yes so for the prosecution have you decided on a mvp for the defense sure yeah

166just you know chat it out talk to each other uh then let us know who the mvp is on each side and and if you all need to come and join feel free to do it yeah go to your coaches is what i'm hearing over there i am thank you this is awesome thank you appreciate it okay are we ready on behalf of the prosecution our and hold on drum roll please got it our mvp is for the defense uh shannon mcgee your honor all right good job okay and for the defense who's our mvp uh for the prosecution all right round of applause great job now uh i don't know what do we do next we're gonna take a break okay this is a great time for a break [Music] so [Music] do [Music]

167so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] this [Music] do [Music] so [Music] so [Music] do [Music] so [Music] do [Music] do [Music] all right good evening i am scott kykendahl county superintendent of schools and it's my pleasure to welcome you to the awards ceremony for the 38th annual mock trials this year's mock trial people versus kobe is the trial of jamie kobe a horticulturist living in the community of burnsley california a semi-rural town in the high desert kobe is charged with the homicide of kobe's landlord and next door neighbor eric smith the prosecution argued that kobe should be convicted of first degree murder or the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter this competition sponsored by the county the stanislaus county office of education that's us offers students from our high schools

168an opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding of the link between our constitution and the substance of the law as applied by our courts and legal system this event is a true collaboration effort between schools and the legal profession we are so grateful for the more than 50 attorneys and judges who presided as either judges or scorers at this year's competition at this time i want to acknowledge team coaches attorney coaches every parent grandparent family member friend and guardian to these students your commitment is a key element in their success and your support makes all the difference in their lives i also want to congratulate every student who participated in this year's competition we know from past participants that mock trials has had a significant impact on the lives of many of them and i can

169personally attest to this because my own son who graduated from gregory in 2020 was part of mock trials students not only increase their skills in reasoning listening and speaking but many of them do go on to pursue careers in the legal field at this time i would like to introduce one of my favorite people mary ann sanders sco board member and education foundation board member who will assist with the presentation of awards but before we begin with the awards did you wave marianne did you wave everybody okay there you go before we begin with the awards let's give a warm welcome to the following schools that participated in this year's mock trial [Music] are we back all right now we're live okay um to the individual awards what uh what many of the spectators here

170in the room maybe didn't see but we just had a powerpoint presentation with all the different schools um listed as well as their team coaches is to give them recognition all right so we're going to do something similar so individual awards we would like to recognize each coach and their selected top performers for each role and we include best pre-trial attorney best prosecution attorney best prosecution witness best defense attorney and best defense witness from each team [Music] so all right here tonight to present the ryan dickerson award for excellence and leadership in mock trial please welcome ron and lynn dickerson thank you very much we really appreciate stanislaus county office of ed giving us a few minutes every year to present this award in memory of our son ryan we were mock trial parents too

171like many of you participating and watching tonight both of our sons participated in mock trial and it was a great experience for both of them in fact our son ross won a statewide award the year that he one of the years that he participated so it's a special event to us and our son ryan went to modesto high school and was a mock trial star in his own right so he tomorrow would be ryan's 33rd birthday but he died the summer that he graduated from high school he drowned while lifeguarding at a summer camp in the summer of 2007 and to say that it was a loss you know was such an understatement because he really was just an extraordinary human being and i say that because i'm his mom but everyone who knew him

172would tell you that and so we were just sort of intent on figuring out ways to keep him from being forgotten because when someone that special dies you just really worry about that happening so one of the many things we did was to establish this award and we asked the stanislaus county office of ed to work with the coaches to ask every team to choose sort of the outstanding leader on their team every year and then they submit those nominations to us and we review them all and then we choose one sort of grand prize winner of the ryan dickerson excellence and mock trial award and that person gets a really beautiful crystal uh trophy and a 250 dollar cash prize so we're gonna tell you who the the winners of the individual schools are

173and who the big winner is so okay since you guys are here we're going to start with with turlock and the uh you're going to get the certificate for the turlock team is going to go to martin verteo [Applause] come on up yeah this is a real difficult time for us because every one of you guys are just outstanding and so it's really a difficult choice and then from modesto high we have shannon mcgee [Applause] okay so we'll get go through these from patterson high school it's evelyn hernandez [Applause] johansen high school is carla eraza houston high school is tori kelly [Applause] from enoch's danielle ruiz or daniel ruiz i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm trying to be fancy from downey is james swanson [Applause] from davis it's grace ascension [Applause] and from buyer it's sarah

174nunnelly [Applause] and the recipient this year of the ryan dickerson award from gregory high fallon woofley thank you very much ron and lynn now i would like to introduce judge linda mcfadden to introduce the ray ladine in of court spirit of stanislaus county mock trial award thank you scott i echo all the comments were previously made by everyone uh applaud yourself for being here and for participating in this program so for some of you an end of court sounds a little odd because an end means you check into a hotel right well the concept of the end of court is similar to that in england the people who want to become attorneys actually live in an inn with other attorneys and are mentored by attorneys and this produces professionalism and ethics in the practice of

175law and that's the concept of the american ends of court is to improve professionalism and ethics within the practice of law and there are thousands of chapters of ends of court our local and of course is the ray ladine american inn of court it is named after judge ray ladine who was instrumental in starting the inn of court program in our community and i believe his son was a participant in the mock trial programs the mock trial programs does produce several outstanding attorneys and judges we have judge ruben villalobos here tonight he reminds me of how old i am because i was his mock trial judge when he was in high school so thank you judge villalobos i appreciate um feeling old [Laughter] but that's uh that just shows you what you're able to accomplish

176and so tonight we had a difficult decision uh the coaches have given us names and descriptions of students that have participated in this year's program and our committee from the ray ladinian of court uh had a very difficult decision this year but we are awarding the spirit of the stanislaus county mock trial award and scholarship to lucy liang and i don't know she's here tonight but it's a 500 check here [Applause] lucy in here you'll find the check for 500 and congratulations to all of you thank you all right thank you judge mcfadden um now i would like to bring up our very own mary ann sanders to introduce the hall of fame award [Applause] thank you very much um i wanted to take my mask off because i think it's a lot easier for

177people viewing from their homes hearing me pronounce things differently so it is such an exciting honor for me to be the one that will be presenting tonight's hall of fame award the hall of fame award recognizes a coach for his or her commitment and leadership in mock trials program teams cannot exist without a coach and we're grateful for all those coaches it takes a tremendous amount of time passion and effort and they do not get enough credit this year's hall of fame award goes to a coach that has been involved in with mock trials for 17 years plus and led his 2019 team to the state finals a former student grace sanders has this to say about her mock trial coach the main thing i would say is that he always believed in me a

178little more than i believed in myself i remember i went into mock trials auditions for the first time in my junior year with no idea of what i was getting into and he said that he wanted me to be an attorney this immediately terrified me but the confidence he had in me to do well made me have confidence in myself he was always there to provide a constructive remark but was also always ready to make us laugh and keep us engaged as only a second-year mock trial participant i never dreamed i would have have the opportunity to go to state and i would love to say that i was that it was all the participants doing but it wasn't it was mostly our coach with his endless support and helpful critiques to our materials that

179made uh made it the best it could be i could never have asked for a better mock trial coach judge rick desasso became an attorney coach eight years ago when his son participated in this year's hall of fame coaches team he said this coach constantly encouraged students and helped them succeed he's able to bring the best in each individual student no matter what their previous experience is with public speaking or performances perhaps the best example he can give of his impact on students is that he is the only teacher who has now adult son and his friends still keep in touch with him constantly throughout each year also due to his direct influence a number of students from his mock trial program have gone on to law school and become attorneys judge disasso personally sworn

180into the bar one of these students this past december drum roll our 2022 hall of fame award goes to coach mike richards by our high school you bet [Applause] well i honestly hope that mike richards is is watching tonight and congratulations such a great guy does he know already okay all right and now we would like to are we good brandon okay and now we would like to recognize the journalism and courtroom artist competition winners for the journalism portion of this competition students experience a courtroom setting from the perspective of a news reporter they learn about the american legal system observe the action in the courtroom and then write an article based on the case this year's winner of the journalism contest is and i love this name rana bananka modesto high school congratulations the

181mock trial program also allows artistically talented students the opportunity to participate in the courtroom artist competition the courtroom artists observed their mock school their school's mock trials and created a drawing of the courtroom scenes and the winning courtroom artist is catherine aquino as a veto of turlock high school [Applause] so hopefully catherine's watching too so congratulations both rana and so sorry both rana our journalism winner and catherine our artist winner are eligible to compete at the virtual state mock trials final in march it is now time to announce the awards for the championship teams the winner of the stanislaus county competition will represent stanislaus county at the state mock trial finals next month so in anticipation of declaring this award can i have the defense team kind of come and stand over here can i

182have our prosecution team kind of come stand over here okay scoot in see follow the instructions at the guy with the camera okay there you go a little more being on camera is a good thing all right so turlock high school modesto high school competed earlier today in the championship round after a fierce trial great presentations on both sides the 2022 stanislaus county mock trial championship team is modesto high school congratulations to turlock the mock trials runner up again congratulations to all of our participants thank you so much for being here and again a huge thank you to the attorneys the judges and coaches who invest hours into prepping these teams of students thank you and we will see you again next year congratulations [Applause] so [Music] you