⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ discussing with colts lawyer (mr. allen) , the judge of today's hearing has come to the conclusion the most likely candidate to hold colts trial would be in the columbia county courthouse. the state has not objected to changing venues.
the media from here is collected from augusta (GA), opposed to atlanta (GA).
the chief judge from this jurisdiction has stated that it is more than likely they will be able to accommodate, as well as accepting having a trial in said venue.
⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ the trial discussed is scheduled for the fall , between the months of september - november. they are looking to fit it in between mid october, and end in the first week of november.
it has been anticipated that colts trial would last about 2-3 weeks, without completing the third week— it is only there if needed. it would not last as long as colin's trial did.
mr. allen is looking to have between 3-5 witnesses, one of those witnesses would take a substantial length of time- preferably at least a day.
⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ a scheduling order was discussed — the potential time frame was based on a scheduled trial week, 45 days before trial. they could fashion a proposed order based on october 10th, giving them a better idea of an actual schedule.
back to speaking about 45 days, 45 days before trial motions would be filed , witness list would be 40 days until trial , the opposing sides witness list would be served 30 days prior to trial , then they would serve voir dire questions 21 days prior to trial.
judge says he may not review voir dire questions.
voir dire = the jury selection process where judges and attorneys ask questions to uncover bias.
⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ both lawyers don’t anticipate there being a ton of motions. two motions that ARE mentioned , and are seemingly planned to happen are the jackson deno hearing, and a motion to suppress.
mr allen anticipates somewhere between 2-4 maximum motions.
there was no pending / occurring motions discussed.
⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ the judge put in order a plea deadline for the last week of july, in any circumstances that colt decided he wanted to take a plea deal.
later on in this hearing, mr allen brings up that after speaking to the court prior to, he objects the plea deal having a deadline. he speaks about how it could end up being a due process argument. the only problem is if the court refuses to allow him to enter in a plea.
the judges response was:
- "a defendant does not have a constitutional right to enter a guilty plea. They have a right to a jury trial"
⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ the judge hopes that in chances colt does take a plea, they could just get victim impact testimony one time and separate everything else.
mr allen objects this, arguing, "i understand wanting to be mindful of the victims families and having them come back and relive testimony. but by the same token, judge, i think there are some due process issues that that would create. i would want to make sure that anything related directly to colt, were related only to colt and not to any spillover from colin-- and definitely i wouldn't want them in the same room or in the same hearing."
⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ after stating this , his question to the court was : "if you're setting a deadline for a plea, are you also wanting that to be the sentencing date, if we decide to plea, or are we bifurcating? my request would be to bifurcate the plea date from the actual sentencing date, so that i can pull together all of my mitigation witnesses and have them targeted for one day."
in response to mr.allen’s question, the judge responded on behalf of the court : "I would— so the problem with doing a plea, apart from sentencing is of course it can just be withdrawn as a matter of right.. so if we needed to split that week up, everybody...if people were objecting to the arrangement of just the victim impact testimony once, then we can do colin gray two days and we can do colt gray the next two days. and again, this is just in the event he changes his mind and doesnt want a trial. so, you would.. you should anticipate doing the plea and the sentencing, whether it's the second two days of that week.. or whatever."
notes: hi everyone !! ^.^ this was all based off of my own note taking after rewatching the trial 4-5 times over. If I made a mistake, please correct me!! but everything here is what was stated during the hearing. I hope this is helpful for those who did not want to watch it :)
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