STATE V OFFICER ALEDDA

UPDATE IV NOT GUILTY ON ONE COUNT...HUNG ON THREE OTHER COUNTS...more to come.

UPDATE III: FRIDAY MORNING-  The jury deliberated Thursday night for a few hours, which we view as a positive sign for the defense. The state has not yet asked for additonal rebuttal this morning, but you never know.  The legal community is buzzing with the decision to keep ASA Reid Ruben on the bench. 
Rumpole says verdict by 1pm. Antyhing past that you are looking a a jury that rhymes with "sung".  The herald's intrepid crime reporter will be tweeting all the action during deliberations 
@davidovalle305. Some possible tweets:
"jury arrives...three have coffee -three have tea. People view that as a bad sign"; "jurror shows up wearing MAGA hat. Prosecutors frowning." 
and things of that nature. 


UPDATE II: Kolsky finished the defense closing and then Don Horn rose to give the prosecution's final closing. With all due respect to Mr. Horn but keeping Reid Ruben out of closing is like keeping Lebron James on the bench for the last quarter of game 7. It's a mistake to leave your best player out of it. A tactical error and we shall see how this plays out. 
No doubt we are headed for a Friday jury verdict unless the jury wants to work tonight, and if they do that would be a very positive sign for the defense in our opinion and we are more knowledgeable than most. 

UPDATE: Perhaps showing the rust, ASA Don Horn closed the state's first closing argument by asking the jury to find the defendant guilty of "attempted murder". Uhho. Aledda is charged with attempted manslaughter. Defense objected and Horn apologized. 
Next up: Doug Hartman for the defense in closing. 

There was a bit of legal maneuvering this afternoon in courtroom 4-1 in the trial of officer Aledda charged with attempted manslaughter in the firing of his weapon at an autistic young man. 
After both sides rested Wednesday, the prosecution after a good night's rest decided to call a rebuttal witness. What were they rebutting after they rested? The negative press coverage. 

That being done, it was Chief ASA Don Horn, dusting off his trial suit, for the state on the first closing argument. You can follow all the details on @Davidovalle305 's twitter feed. 

The weakness of the prosecution's case is evident in this: Horn told the jury that Officer Aledda wasn't a bad man, he just did a bad thing on the day of the shooting.  The jury's sympathies will be with the officer on this one we think. 

After Horn concludes, the chatter is  Jay Kolsky, an old pro who is a former prosecutor and PD will close for the defense. Kolsky is trying the case with frequent police lawyer  Doug Hartman. 

Then perhaps Reid Ruben, who we have opined in this pages previously is as good as it gets for the SAO, will get rebuttal and then the jury will be charged. Once again, very experienced lawyers have disregarded Rumpole's #1 rule for jury trials: AVOID FRIDAY VERDICTS. 

Even so, the courthouse rumor is that the officer is ahead on the judges' scorecards and the state needs a knockout punch in closing.

Stay tuned. Bulletins as proceedings warrant.