I thought we might need a place to discuss the trial today. I do want to know what you think about the attorneys. Do remember that I am not a fan of hateful personal attacks on the attorneys. It seems like we are still going through a series of first responders to the scene.
I hope you will comment often as you watch so that those that cannot watch during the day can get caught up in comments. Thanks.
To get caught up, you can read about the victim here.
I have the 911 transcripts here with lots of discussion in comments.
And some history on Martin MacNeill and his crazy life of lies here.
I hope you read it all. Lord knows you will have time if you are watching on HLN with me. 🙂
Oh I just realized the white top under the black top was the traditional Mormon underwear. I’m slow.
Traditional Mormon underwear? I’m an East Coast Jew, I never knew such a thing existed. What does it symbolize/what’s the meaning? I’m curious. I guess I will venture to Google.
Dlister, they receive special undergarments after the adults complete an endowment ceremony. They’re supposed to wear them day and night, as a reminder of their religious vows. Some true believers think they endow spiritual and even physical protection from evil. Others simply think that the cut of the garments reminds the wearers to be modest in their outer clothing.
Ok I didn’t realize Mormons did this, I thought it was an FLDS thing.
Thank you so much, JustSaying! Very enlightening post. I appreciate you answering.
WHY isn’t HLN starting trial coverage at 10:30? I hate how they run 20 minutes of news over and over and over especially when they could just run the live feeds. SIGH
I wish it would start already ! I’ve eaten 2 BLT’s and bought 7 WRAPTASTICS.
Nope, not just FDLS, it really affects what they wear, so that’s why their clothes are more modest. Wedding, dresses, etc.
First I wonder if Mormon’s have way to strip a person of wearing Mormon garb or being Mormon in the manner Catholic’s or the military can do?
I followed this case a few years ago when he sent his adopted daughter back to the Ukraine in order to use her ID for Gypsy, his girlfriend.
I recall a sister going to the Ukraine to get her adopted sibling back home.
This man is a fraud and killer. I hope he will never be out of jail again. I hope this jury gets it right.
Yeah, they can be excommunicated or kicked out of the church, or lose their “priesthood” if they are men. There are rumors of them taking care of “bad seeds” on their own…
the Mormons call it “pulling your temple reccomend” … which is a card you must carry in order to participate in the Morman sacraments.. They can and do excommunicate members (usually for much lesser charges,like not tithing the correct amount).
I don’t think there was any blunt force trauma to Michele’s head mentioned in the autopsy(s).
In other news, the judge has ordered no one is to call Michele “the victim” during the trial. Which I think was a big win for the defense pretrial.
I am just watching now for the first time. I keep forgetting it is on. The lawyers seem a little ponderous and boring. The witness( fire chief) that is on now seems to be more alert and animated than the defense attorney.
OOOH now we know where the blood came from. Her eyelids ripped open as she was being drowned. Um, allegedly. I figured that out from the DEFENSE cross. Bad move.
I love juror questions! I am not sure why they are asking if glucose was restocked. I have missed a good bit of the testimony today doing other things.
It is interesting to hear that the fire chief responded when he would not normally “due to the circumstances.”
thank you TT. I cant watch today and wondered why the water was red
The attorneys on both sides are very monotone and boring. Such interesting facts to the trial with such poor entertainment value for us. lol. It should heat up with the daughters and mistresses testify. I hope. We need to watch anyway for the foundation of the case.
Could they push Nancy Grace’s show any harder ?
harvest time, no tv but quick glimpses til late
whatcha harvesting, Steve?
Read the link with his background outlined. Where did the money come from ? They certainly seemed to live well.
He was a physican and an attorney with a job at a …. medical facility where he used both degrees. Medical law maybe? Hospital lawyer? Plus it seems he was taking vet benefits inappropriately for decades.
The summary of today so far is that the prosecutors have called a few people who arrived early on the scene. They all keep talking about how bizarre and irritating Martin’s behavior was. They had to pull him aside to keep him away from the treatment on site. Martin gave soliloquies as CPR was going on, as if speaking to God, yelling he has been faithful to his church and this is how he is repaid? WHY OH WHY did she have to have the plastic surgery and trying to direct the medical personal as they were trying to save his wife. He offered any amount of money if they would just save her. etc. etc. This strange behavior was testified to over and over.
The defenses response is basically, so he acted strange, but no one at that time found him suspicious or treated him like a suspect, right?
The rest of the testimony has been about the clothes. This testimony varies according to who was tells the story. To me this means that some clothing was removed over time. She was wearing a long sleeved black shirt over a Mormon issue white undertop. Some some the black some saw the white. One guy thinks she might have had on pink swearts. Prosecutors inferred that was a pink towel covering her nude lower half.
The testimony has been very repetititve with little new interesting facts for us other than the guy who said that the eyelid incisions both top and bottom were ripped out.
I caught some of this today on my day off and all I can say is BORING!!! For such a dramatic and twisted story, the lawyers, judge and witness at this point are too boring for me. So monotone and almost lazy in their speech. I’ll have to rely on you, Tamara because I won’t have another chance to watch for a week or so!!
even the witnesses are very monotone, but it is getting better now.
HLN showed some home movies of little Ada and she had the customary hand drawn picture of her family. She almost ran out of room on her paper. LOL. I’ve see a lot of those pictures in my career and there is usually lots of white space. Not on a Mormon family portrait I guess.
Ada is supposed to testify on Thursday. Defense is having a meltdown over it trying to stop it. They have BEEN trying to stop it but so far no luck. Their position is she has been living with Alexis for five years (she took in all the younger kids and raised them) and she has “poisoned” them against their father.
The guy testifying now says his toe problem was neuropathy, lose of nerve endings in the peripheral appendages. He says Martin came back before his bereavement time was exhausted which surprised him. He seems fine. He told him he pulled her out of the tub and gave her CPR. He said he was wearing a new wedding ring when he returned to the office.
What a creep about the ring!!! Some criminals are so stupid. If you’re in it for the long haul, play the grieving widow for a year or two FFS! Ugh. This friggin guy boils my blood!
How does this trial start at 10:30 ET? What is the time difference in UTAH? Do those Mormons really get up and start at 8:30
Yes it is somewhat dry. I need to get out of the mountains more. I vaguely remember Mitt Rowneys wife getting chided over her Mormon ‘garmmies’ other than that I was clueless. I know the victim had on her top but i missed if she had on her bottom?
most everyone says no by the time they got there. But the six year old that found her said she did when she saw her.
were taking down the last of corn and soybeans. Then bale stalks. We had flurries this morning. The apples in my backyard are softball size this year and sweet. 🙂
I don’t understand the ‘Mormon undergarments’ thing. I thought we talked about magic underpants in the Travis Alexander trial and said it wasn’t true. All the morning shows are covering the trial, too. Greta Van Sustern has coverage of it each night on her 7:00 PM show. I get more information in a 15 minute segment than an hour of Jane Valez or Nancy Grace without the yelling. Please explain the white top to me. He’s one strange dude.
Hey, peachteachr! Missed you around here!
LOL over Nancy Grace complaining about the defence attorneys ‘bad hair’. I’ve had meaningless conversations over Nancy’s hair in the past so I found it ironic. Thanks TT for filling in the blank. I believe the young daughter she had on her skivvies
Nope she said sweatpants. And Jen, I don’t think you have been in a trial comments here before, it works a little differently, there is more, off topic talk, because so many of us went through Jodi Arias together for 8-10 hours a day and got to know each other.
BUT there LESS “I think” or it “it seems like I heard” in these as we want everyone to have only accurate information!
Welcome, I think you will fit right in!
Im more curious about how her eyelid sutures were ripped apart. Post surgery bruising would cover if he hit her too?
Wondering out loud ~ would it be possible to have stitches pulled out if Macniel pulled her hair or head back as her poured the liquid pain meds down her or possibly held her head down?
I think she strained her eyes when he was drowning her. I would assume you would not want to bug your eyes out or shut the really tight with two rows of stitches on each eye. Or maybe when he wrestled her into tub….Or when he waterboarded her under the faucet… I think all the stiches popped a different guy noticed blood behind her ears from the facelift stitches that popped open.
Ok thanks for the schooling. I meant to say I believe Ada.She even drew a picture of the position and clothes her Mother was in. Sorry for any confusion from my previous post.
Calipatti..if he pulled her head back then the stitches in her scalp should have ripped too it would seem. Thats why i was wondering how if it was just around the eyes. The more i learn about this case the bigger a-hole he is.
I think they all ripped, Steve. see my post above. I heard the ones behind her ears did first but today they kinda described the eye sutures ripped open and it was ICKY to even think about.
things were odd enough the fire chief showed up? So there is a woman not responsive in the tub a dr dude alternating giving orders and talking to god many people at the scene and why wasnt this looked at harder at the time? Because the 1st med-ex ruled natural causes? Or cuz he was a good dr mormon? Like we said in GZs trial we need better scene analysis.
Word! He played them all.
The witness on the stand now is the ER doctor who treated Michele. He knew Martin in a professional sense. He has said he thought Martin was a bit odd in his professional dealings with him. After he had exhausted all life saving procedures, Martin said he would give the ER doctor $10,000 to keep the CPR going on Michele. The ER doctor testified he found that very odd since, as a doctor, Martin knew she was already dead.
OH WOW! Remember when I told you his only son was the one who got rid of the pills at his father’s request and later killed himself? (he was the only sibling that didn’t believe his father killed his mother BTW and Martin was supposedly as devastated as a sociopath can be. Well I was thinking how convenient yet another suicide connected to Martin was and how now the son could not testify. Well now his girlfriend who was there the whole time is testifying. YAY. And she is a lawyer so she seems very credible.
Sorry I am a bit behind,.me and Banjo ran out to pick wild flowers. 🙂
Rachel MacNeill is on the stand on HLN right now. She is very distraught! Go watch.
She may be on something she is having a hard time answering questions.
The defense lawyers showed proof of Rachels mental illness, one being a bipolar diagnosis. I don’t think she is stable enough to lie and stick too it. I believed everything she said. She wasn’t easily swayed. She reminded me of Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend, but more spaced out.
She does seem mentally “off ” maybe enhanced because of stress and meds. I don’t think she is lying either. But I would very much like to punch the female defense attorney in her smirky fucking mouth.
I am watching now and think the Defense attorney is doing the best she can with the witness. I don’t think bipolar is her only problem. If she was on bipolar meds she should be more, “normal” for lack of a better word.
Her testimony triggers my anxiety.
I am just watching the cross, also. This attorney is my favorite in terms of technique. Rachael is making me uncomfortable at this point. I don’t think she is coming across very well. It is almost like she is trying to play the role of a whack-a-doodle. Her craziness seems forced in a way (as opposed to natural crazy)
I am just watching this now, and Tamara, I can totally sees how she is giving you anxiety! She is really emotionally all over the damned place! I am not trying to say that she is not being honest, because I absolutely think she is, but every time she starts crying, at least do far, I haven’t seen any tears. And then when they objected! Good Lord! Her facial expression! She is kind of scary, and I feel awful saying that, because I’m sure this is extremely difficult, but I have never seen anything like this. I’m waiting for fire to shoot out of her eyes and her head to spin around on her shoulders. God forgive me!
I also want to add that I can’t believe what the father out this poor girl through! It is absolutely awful! I think I would probably have to over medicate myself if I had gone through all of this! Not saying that that’s what she is, but if she were, I wouldn’t blame her.
Rachael is struggling emotionally with reliving that time period. It has to be devastating having her father sitting right there also.
He has been in prison for years and gone from their lives. That would be really hard for me having the man who was my daddy, my hero and protector to being the man who murdered my mother.
What a mess!!
Does anyone know what time (eastern) televised testimony starts tomorrow? Don’t want to miss the “Nanny”.
I believe things start at 10:30 ET. (not that I usually see morning…:) ) If you miss anything, Croakerqueen on You Tube has all of the trial broken into pieces by witness. She’s awesome.
Can this post be moved to ” newest” or head if the line.
I don’t know how a blog works but this post gets daily comments.
Selfishly, for me it would be faster to read new comments.
Is it just me, or does Macneill look a lot like Dr. Drew?
@lori…..I don’t see it (yet) so I am going to give Dr Drew a pass….for now. LOL!
Maybe it’s the glasses….?
He does NOT look like Dr. Drew! And can we zip through this medical stuff? I AM READY FOR THE MISTRESS!
He does to me. He looks like an old Dr. Drew. And I swear listening to these bozos talking on hln all day long makes me want to jam fiery sticks in my ears or jump out a freaking window! It puts me so on edge, it reminds me of some sort of Chinese torture. Their voices make me so anxious I feel like I need a xanax just to make it through. That should be Jodi’s punishment… to have to have them playing in her cell at all times. I know if it were me I’d find a way to execute my own death.
I felt so sorry for the daughter yesterday. She looked at the defense lawyer and said I don’t know if you can make stuff up and give it to me as the truth. It might have helped immensly if the judge had said a simple no to her question. The whole time she was testifing I kept hearing Judge Judy saying ‘Don’t try to figure out where I’m going just answer this question’.
Goodness gracious!! Come on already HLN. Bring out the mistress
Ok I hate being THAT person…. ( I remember this question being asked a kazillion times during Judy Aries’ trial and it kind of got annoying) But anyone know where I can catch the live feed
Tamara, wildabouttrial.com has it I think
Here is a brief of this mornings proceedings. Dr. Dawson was called by the state to discuss the drugs found in Michele’s body post mortem. It was by all accounts from the courtroom extremely boring. One of the female jurors in the front row continued to close her eyes and yawn.
Even worse, the defense tore the witness up on cross. Apparently his methodology is high questionable and the entire long drawn out testimony did nothing to help the prosecution. We are currently on lunch break I believe testimony will resume (with Gypsy) at about 3:30 ET.,
GYPSY FINALLY TAKES THE STAND!
Just prior to Gypsy taking the stand, MacNeill turned to his attorney and said he had a bad headache, Poor thing.
Aneurysm! Aneurysm! Yeah, we wish.
He would not look up at his daughters but he can’t seem to take his eyes of the Mistress…
Gypsy seems to be very happy go lucky for someone testifying in a murder trial that she likely had a hand in planning.
There’s something very inhuman about the mistress. Just like MacNeill himself. They really don’t think they’ve done anything wrong.
So just when Gypsy hit the stand I had an overwhelm need for food. I paused the trial, and went to my favorite hole in the wall Mexican place to grab a quick taco, quesadilla and Mexican co-cola. I get home, get all settled in and restart the trial and before I finish the first taco, they STOP FOR THE WEEKEND! Sigh.
Just bought 20 bottles of Mexican co-cola this a.m. On sale for $1 a bottle at Stop&Shop. Love the stuff !
All I know is this had prosecutor better step up his game come Monday. The whole thing sounded like a friendly job interviews, or two acquaintances meeting for coffee and a little chat. I think she’s actually flirting with him.
The prosecution has a VERY HARD ROW TO HOE.. I’m afraid this psychopath will get off and live happily ever after with Gypsy. There is so much the jury is not going to be told…and forensic evidence is nonexistent.