JULY 14, 2020 - TRIAL DAY 4
The Trial Continues With Witnesses and Experts
On Tuesday, July 14, the trial began after 3:00 PM and lasted over 4 hours. Two investigators were questioned regarding their investigations and actions. Many areas were covered including questions regarding police station videos. Were the cameras working, were the videos available, and why were they not included in the case? An expert witness (government expert) testified about analysis of the 4 traffic camera videos and how they showed the car didn’t swerve or slow down. In fact, he said the police vehicle sped up in the area that police officers had said the dangerous event occurred. An expert witness testified about a torn police uniform that was on display in the court. The expert described the damage to the uniform and how it appears to have occurred. The expert described the tests conducted with role players in a car to recreate the situation described by police officers. The expert said that the uniform would not have been torn in the manner described by police if persons were sitting in the vehicle as described in the reports. A government expert testified regarding their review of the investigator's “expert” report about the police vehicle included in the prosecution’s case file. The police study indicated that the police vehicle may not have swerved due to mechanical or other physical reasons. The defense believes the reason for this report was to try and counter the defense traffic videos that show the car didn’t swerve. The defense expert said that the “expert” report used by the investigator should not be called and “expert” report because it appeared that a drunk person had written it. He went on to make even more derogatory remarks about the report including the terms being used are not real terms. He said that it is against Russian law, to claim a report is made by experts when they are not. The judge and others in the court smiled and quietly laughed during some of his statements. Trevor did not look well.