Driscoll Trial: Sixth Day

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Trial: Sixth Day

" You’re so funny. You think I’m smarter than I am.”
~ Prosecutor Jody Vaughan, talking to Defense Attorney Ted Coran.

Indeed Jody, perhaps we did.

The morning started a little late. There were high school kids from some sort of field trip filling the courtrooms. Stress was at an all time high. I guess I should have known today would be a day to remember… but I just had no idea. The defense started by showing the jury the video of Melissa’s original statement to Detective Chris Wick. Laughter filled the courtroom, and no, it wasn’t from the kids… it was Melissa herself, on video. Believe me; it is as ridiculous in person as it sounds in writing. Jody of course objected a few days ago, when Mr. Coran made it known he wished to show it, but the judge allowed it as long as we removed any mention of her previous sexual “bad acts”. Fair enough, consider it done. After giving the prosecution a copy of the video, Jody asked the defense to please make a few more changes… she wanted us to remove the part Melissa says her and Patrick Murphy are just friends… and all the laughter. I know most of you haven’t seen this but it is 90% of the video. It shows Melissa laughing about her description of her “attacker”, Melissa laughing about how she got a ride from one bar to another by a complete male stranger she’d met that night before meeting up with Dennis and heading to Kevin’s. It shows her laughing about her “rapist” telling her he will never let her leave. She laughs about telling Kevin she has a husband and a boyfriend…the list goes on and on, but I think you get the picture.

The jury left the room, and the judge asked both sides what their plans were, Jody told the judge she had 3 witnesses left to rebuttal our witness Dr. Terri Haddix, and to talk about rape & sexual assault victims. Mr. Coran said he wanted to ask Melissa a few more questions after seeing the video to clarify her statement… then the defense will rest. Jody’s jaw dropped. Literally to the floor. I knew it was coming and I was staring at her waiting for her response. Her brain short circuited. She’d already subpoenaed witnesses from out of town to rebuttal Kevin taking the stand; she’d been waiting to tear him apart. She wasn’t getting that opportunity. Regardless of what you read, please trust me that this was the best part of the day.

In the interest of saving us tax payers money, and not keeping a hired witness waiting. Jody called Dr. Richard Fixott to rebuttal our forensic pathologist Dr. Haddix. Dr. Richard Fixott, is a dentist and a forensic odontologist in Redmond, OR. He has an extensive resume and frankly, I expected him to have something to say in regards to the “bite mark” on Melissa’s chest. Detective Wick found him at 8:00am yesterday morning. He wasn’t made aware of the case. He said the cluster of bruises could be the size and shape of teeth, but could not be certain on any level that it was indeed a bite. The only thing he would say for certain was that he could not exclude the mark as a bite. He knew that when Melissa claimed she was repeatedly bitten in the same place, she and Kevin were face to face (however, he did not know they were in the middle of sex), he also had no idea the height difference between Melissa (5’3-5’4) and Kevin (6’5) and came up with a way that the bite could have taken place; Melissa, flat on her back, Kevin turning his head to the side and biting with the side of his mouth. (again, the difference in height… Kevin would have also had to have somehow bent his body in half to shrink himself down to that level. Even he didn’t buy his own concocted story. I kind of felt bad for him, he seems like a very smart guy, just got roped into a bad situation. But then it went from bad to worse, Jody had the guy demonstrate on her, how Kevin would have had to been positioned to bite her in that manor!!! (they were standing of course, BUT STILL!!!) The entire room laughed at the sight. Oh dear me… this day just keeps getting better.

Okay, back to the defense, after some arguing and disputing, it was decided that Mr. Coran would be able to recall Melissa to the stand to ask her 4 questions regarding her interview with Detective Wick on March 31, 2009.

1.)Did you tell Det. Wick that you left several things out of your initial report in January? YES

2.)Did you tell Det. Wick it was because you thought the information left out would possibly be brought up in trial at a future date? YES

3.)Did you tell him that you were dating Patrick Murphy at the time of the report? YES

4.)Did you tell Det. Wick you were embarrassed to tell Patrick Murphy that you had unprotected, consensual sex with another man that night? YES.

It is now clearly on record, Melissa is a liar. She lied under oath, and the jury knows it. It’s on record.

Defense Rests, your honor. But don’t be sad my friends, the fun is not over yet. It got better. In the words of Melissa in describing her “rape”, things got “way crazy” in the courtroom.

Deanna St. Germain, a Physician at Kids Center (a child abuse center in Bend, OR) took the stand. She was going to prove that there is no way to date bruises. She spent 3 minutes talking about her qualifications… and it was funny because she never said anything about, I don’t know, GRADUATING MED SCHOOL. Basically, she is a physician and a glorified chiropractor. For the next 20 minutes or so, she regurgitated word for word what our EXPERT, Dr. Terri Haddix said on Friday. She then read excerpts from about 4 articles talking about bruise dating in pediatrics… She had a few posters with the literature written on it, I am assuming to let the jury know that someone actually wrote this and she wasn’t making it up… I don’t know, it was pointless. The most interesting thing that came out of her mouth during this recital was when she stopped reading to clarify to the jury that some of the research came from England, Brittan, Australia etc., and they spelled the word COLOR, COLOUR… and that is not how she spells it. Thank you Deanna, I’m glad you cleared that right up for us. She went on to say that yellowing of bruises has never been found in bruises less than 18 hours, and then read another article that stated 24 hours. HELLO… MCFLY… We are talking about 7-10 hours… and there was distinct yellowing on over a handful… SO, OBVIOUSLY, THOSE ARE INDEED OLDER THAN 24hrs. Jody then asked Deanna, to talk about the stages of a bruise and how it starts, her own witness replied I don’t know, I didn’t read that in an article. You can read that again if you want to, but I can assure you that you read it right the first time. She hadn’t read the answer in one of her 4 articles she submitted to the prosecution so she simply didn’t know the answer. BRILLIANT JODY. Great witness. (Dr. Terri Haddix, did a great job to explain this to a jury and if any of you are curious, I’d be happy to give details… as some of us are aware of the basic lifestyle of a bruise.) The first question of her cross exam was about her education… I mean, she was represented as a doctor when she was called as a witness, and as far as I know, doctors have to go to doctor school, but I guess if her credentials are good enough for Jody, then they should be good enough for the jury. She went on to tell the defense that she doesn’t think she has ever looked at a bruise on a cellular level and if she did it would have been 26 years ago while in college. She also made it clear that she has never testified on behalf of the defense, but has for the prosecution (in another town) around 300 times. Deanna went on to say that dating bruises is an outdated practice. She was quoting something from her “favorite” of the 4 articles, written in 2002, that just said you can’t date beyond a 24hr. increments. However, in an article that was written two years later, it seemed to give a thumbs up to dating bruises, even when not considering the other elements besides the COLOUR. I scratched my head after she was done on the witness stand… For a minute I thought maybe just testified for us?

Moving on, I wish, if just for a second, one of you MRA’s could have been in the courtroom for the next witness. I’m quite certain she is the poster child for all that you despise. I recorded the testimony, but it doesn’t do justice the 3 ring circus that broke loose late this afternoon. I’m still a bit mind boggled WHY ON EARTH Jody called Dara Pearson, of Saving Grace (a shelter for battered women & domestic violence) as a witness for this case. The relevance for what she had to say was ZERO. For some of you, I think that is enough said regarding her testimony, but I must fill you in on what happened… It’s definitely a “ya shouldda been there”, but I will do my best to highlight some of the finer points of the interview. The woman was bat shit crazy and a prime example of why you don’t do acid while pregnant. Every single word she spoke was looong and drawwwn out and followed with a facial expression that reminded me of a rat sniffing out some cheese. Jody asked her to talk about how a typical victim would act after a rape. Dara talked about fight or flight and “freezing” when the person’s brain shuts down and prevents them from functioning or thinking. Jody asked her a hypothetical question about what was her opinion of a victim… excuse me, a survivor… who is seen partying at the bar a month after their rape. I’m pretty sure Jody was doing her best not to jump the table and strangle this woman herself, after the 3rd time she had to re-explain the question… only to find out that Dara understood it the first time… just didn’t realize “survivors were not allowed to go out” was relevant. Jody asked her what her opinion would be if a “victim” was laughing and she said that unfortunately when women choose to go forward to the police too early, they are rushed from their process of healing and are likely to laugh. Laughing about an attack is a normal response. Laughing about being scared for your life is normal. Laughing about describing your attacker is okay. Good Grief. I would like to say that her testimony did not require a cross, but Ooh did she get one. In “essence”, she was ripped apart to the point of destruction and I don’t think Jody even cared. Mr. Coran asked her about her qualifications. She is an “Intern Counselor” meaning she is STILL IN COLLEGE AND REQUIRES SUPERVISION. She has NEVER testified in a rape case before and has only handled about 8 rape cases in the past 6 years. She has never read a word about this case, not the police report, not the interview with Melissa, Not anything. But somehow in all her wisdom and brilliance, Jody thought it would be a good idea for the jury to hear this woman speak. WRONG! She got in an argument with the defense about the pronunciation of a word in order to avoid answering his questions. And when she was allowed to step down from the witness stand, she glared at everyone and stormed out. I’m fairly certain that at this exact moment Dara Pearson is sitting at home poking needles in the eyes of a doll doing some weird séance with all her liberal lesbian friends praying for the demise of mankind. Kinda makes a girl giggle.

In her desperation to regain control of her case, Jody called Detective Chris Wick to the witness stand. She had him re-read Dennis Bakers statement to the police, the one that Dennis stated was inaccurate to what they said, and explained that they made several attempts to talk to him, but he was not forth coming with information and never spoke to them after the initial photo lineup. This was really brief… maybe 5 minutes in total. Team Kevin was left scratching our heads to the relevance of this. Yeah, it didn’t look good for the prosecution that Dennis basically said they fabricated his statement, but it was such a minute detail they were disputing (whether or not he said Kevin was 6’4 -6’5) that I don’t think the jury really cared about it… so why were they making it into a big deal? After some conversation on the matter, we think maybe Jody was trying to leave herself an out if this goes bad for her… maybe she was trying to point out that if Dennis would have given them more information, they wouldn’t have gone after Kevin the way they did. Now, we all know Jody isn’t going to give up… but it was a nice sentiment I guess… and a nice cover for her ass.

At this point, I half expected Jody to call her good friend “Tom Foolery” to the witness stand next, but fortunately for the sanity of everyone in the court room, the prosecution rested.

The defense was ready to go into closing arguments today, however, the judge for his own reasons decided to hold off on them and jury deliberations until next TUESDAY. That was the one shitty thing that happened today. If the jury would have gone into deliberations immediately following Jody’s last witness… I am confident of the verdict. The astronomical amount of smirking, eye rolling, and smiling was a good tell of what they were thinking… I think they were annoyed with Jody for wasting their time with useless testimony and I worry a little the 4 day weekend will give them time to forget what they’ve been hearing and cool off. I strongly feel that Ted Coran has done an incredible job handling this case and the shenanigans thrown his way and have 100% faith in him he will deliver a closing argument that will leave a lasting impression in the minds of the jury… but, I am not going to put the cart before the horse. Kevin is doing as good as can be expected. There was some definite disappointment with the judge’s decision to hold off on ending all this, but I do think some confidence was gained and for that I am grateful. It’s about time Kevin get’s his life back.

This will be the last update until next Tuesday, when I will hopefully be updating you with a simple & sweet NOT GUILTY. Please keep Kevin in your thoughts and prayers for the next 4 days. He can definitely use the support. Once again, and as always, thank you thank you thank you, for all your care and concern and interest. All of you posting, commenting and reading are truly helping Kevin to get through this one day at a time.

Driscoll Trial: Fifth Day

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Trial: Fifth Day

 
"Day 5: Devil in the Blue Dress

"The first person to take the stand was Dennis Baker. In my opinion Dennis was a great help to Kevin’s case today. As you remember, last week when Melissa took the stand, she was adamant that she got in the hot tub with both her bra & panties, and later stated that she put on Dennis’s sweatshirt when she got out in order to avoid getting her clothes wet. She also said that after going inside to check on everyone she “snuck” back into the hot tub by herself. Dennis informed the jury of a few details of the evening which our Deschutes County sweetheart left out. As suspected, they were both naked in the hot tub. This explains why later when Melissa realized everyone had left, she had to take her bra & panties off because her bra was frozen from being outside. I’ve been wondering how it was that her bra was frozen if she had been wearing it and a sweatshirt. So thank you Dennis, for clearing that up.

The other interesting tidbit of information Dennis was kind enough to share was that after they got out of the hot tub, Dennis handed Melissa her clothes—and she refused to put them on. She said repeatedly they weren’t her pants! Everyone else was dressed, but she was unable to recognize her own pants. Dennis finally got her to put the blue hooded sweatshirt on, which Melissa wore the rest of the night.

Dennis also talked about how shortly after exiting the hot tub, he noticed Melissa had gone missing. He didn’t think much of it at first, but after awhile he went outside to have a smoke and look around… Melissa was not outside (in the hot tub where she claims to have been), and Dennis says he and Kevin walked through the house, opening up doors and checking all the rooms for Melissa, but could not find her. After an unsuccessful search and lack of desire to find her (she wasn’t his responsibility) he caught a ride home with a few others who were leaving as well.

Dennis also said with confidence and certainty that Melissa had told him several times that night, she had a boyfriend. This is a direct contradiction to what Melissa continues to say on the stand. Between Dennis’s statements and the 2nd police report, that Melissa doesn’t much like to tell the truth!

Jody’s cross-examination of Dennis was absurd. She just continued asking him the same questions over and over and over: How do you remember this? Why didn’t you talk to the police? What was so special about this night that you remember anything? How many times have you talked to the Defense Attorney about this case? Why do you remember that? Dennis never once wavered. He was polite and concise, and in my opinion came across genuine and sincere. OOH yeah… and HE SAW & ASKED MELISSA ABOUT THE BRUISES EARLIER THAT NIGHT IN THE HOT TUB… Melissa just laughed and looked away.

"Crystal Scott was up next. Crystal was the only other female at the house that night. She backed up Dennis’s story that Melissa was not wearing any clothes in the hot tub, and that she refused to put her clothes back on after exiting. She states that she was in the kitchen the entire time she was at Kevin’s house with the exception of going out to smoke. She remembers at one point Melissa passing her from the kitchen into the living room, but didn’t pay attention to where she went because she had no reason to care. Crystal also stated that she went out on the back deck frequently and never saw Melissa in the hot tub [again]. In fact, she never saw Melissa again for the rest of the night.

Jody asked her the same questions, how she remembered the night… it was so long ago. Who was at the party, did she know them, what cars did she ride in, why didn’t she go looking for Melissa if she knew she was missing from the party. Crystal didn’t really know Melissa, and didn’t have any reason to care let alone worry that she had disappeared. Jody also made much of the fact that Crystal had gone to the bars alone earlier that night, almost making fun of her for this. It was pretty rude. Crystal didn’t fall for Jody's antagonizing tactics and took the high road, sticking to the facts she knew.

"Cody Wood then came to the stand. He clearly remembered Melissa and Dennis in the hot tub, and Melissa refusing to put her clothes on. He also knew that at some point she went traipsing through the house in nothing but a sweatshirt and also didn’t know or care where she went. Cody also acknowledged that he along with 2-3 other unknown males were the last to leave the house that night. He hadn’t seen Kevin for awhile and left out the front door, assuming Kevin had gone to bed.

The MVP of the day definitely went to Dr. Terri Haddix, a forensic pathologist. I’d list her resume, but it is several pages long, so you will just have to take my word that she is an expert (to say the least) in her field. Of the approximately 20+ pictures Dr. Haddix reviewed, she was only able to comment on a handful, due to the poor quality of the pictures taken not only by the SANE nurse at the hospital, but by Redmond PD’s own Sgt. Chase. There was one in particular where she said she wasn’t sure the object in the picture was even a wound. On the handful she was able to analyze, she was able to say with medical certainty that the bruises were at least 24 hours old at the time the photographs were taken. [Editor's note: according to Melissa's timeline, the bruises would have been 10 hours old at the time the photos were taken. ] Dr. Haddix was able to tell this because of the yellowing of the bruises which indicates the bruise is in a healing stage.

As for the “bite” mark, Dr. Haddix stated with medical certainty that she does not believe the bruise on Melissa’s chest is a bite at all, however, she does not know what it is from. She said that due to the placement of the mark, it would be difficult if not impossible to create a bite mark with only the upper jaw and no marks from the lower jaw. Also, the position Melissa states they were in when the “bite” was made is also nearly impossible. Melissa said that Kevin was on top of her (he is over a foot taller than she is, mind you) and that they were face to face and he bit her. His head would have been angled 90 deg. right and also bent down for this to be possible. It is preposterous.

Jody’s defense will come tomorrow when she calls her family practice doctor to dispute the expert testimony Dr. Haddix gave today. Jody did try to call her training into question, but was quickly shut down when Dr. Haddix went into a lengthy history of her contracted employment for the prosecution in California. Jody moved on to say that her experience is with dead people, and again she was shut down because Dr. Haddix has has worked literally thousands of cases with “living” patients as well.

Jody also tried to use a pediatric bruise analysis report to disprove her ability to put a timeline on bruises. Dr. Haddix acknowledged that “pediatric” studies are generally to 18 years old, and Jody asked if there was much difference between the healing time of an 18-year-old to a 30-year-old. Dr. Haddix said no, but said the study was done on 16 ½ month-olds to 14-year-olds, and Jody asked the question again: is there a big difference between a 14 year old and a 30 year old? Dr. Haddix was polite, and suggested there was quite a difference between a 16 ½ month-old and a 30-year-old, and everything in between, since the skin of a toddler or young child is thinner than that of an adult. Jody was grasping at straws especially when she started talking about a chart used to determine the age of bruises. NO one knew what she was talking about. I feel very confident about it.

Jody wore a blue dress/suit thing today, and she was particularly rude and irritating. Detective Wick wore the same exact blue suit he has worn every single day of the trial, and Melissa wore 5” stiletto heels. She was dressed like a nun from her neck to her ankles, but added some spice with a pair of FREAKING HOOKER HEELS! I cannot get enough of this train wreck! Thanks for listening and I’ll keep this going. Hopefully only 2 more days!

Driscoll Trial: Fourth Day

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2009

Trial: Fourth Day

"Patrick Murphy:

"Patrick started the morning off telling the Jury that he and Melissa were not in an exclusive relationship at the time of the alleged “attack”. He said that it would have been no problem for him if Melissa would have had sex with someone else that night. Assuming that’s true, think he would’ve minded if Melissa would have had sex with multiple men in one night? He just hurt his own credibility with this statement because the jury had already heard about the police report that Melissa filed in May where she admitted to withholding that information from the police originally to protect her new relationship with Patrick Murphy. He went on to talk about Melissa’s bruises. He said that due to her job, it was common for her to get bruises from work. Lifting clothing fixtures, racks etc. she would often get small bruises in clusters... WOW! Is it just me, or are those the exact bruises Melissa claims were caused solely by Kevin??? He went on to say that the bruises she had that next day were large, and inconstant with what she gets from work… Once again, that is not true! The pictures of the bruises show clusters of small “finger” sized bruises… Which leads me to my next interview…

Sergeant Corey Chase – Redmond PD:

If this guy has a job on Monday, I will be surprised. He is the other officer heading up this “investigation” (and believe me, I use the term loosely). The day Kevin was arrested, Sgt. Chase made a call to Kevin’s fiancé (at the time) on his cell phone to ask about her relationship with Kevin. When he stated this in court, Ted asked to hear the copy of the phone call… “What?! There isn’t one” Sgt. Chase said he was unable to record the conversation because he called her from his cell phone at the police department. He went on to say during Ted’s cross-examination of him that the police department didn’t have the technology to record phone calls until later— months later. But what?? You guys had just recorded a pretext phone call between Melissa Leahy and Kevin a few minutes earlier, and she used her cell phone. He had no answer for this, so Ted moved on. One of the things that he brought to the jury’s attention was that there were several people at Kevin’s house that night, and it doesn’t seem like the police department had talked to a single one of them. Ted asked Sgt. Chase if he’d talked to any of the other people there that night; his statement was that they have 129 cases, they don’t have the [resources / ability] to follow up and/or hunt down every lead. He, like Chris Wick, also admitted they had already made up their mind to arrest Kevin before they’d even questioned him. The burden of proof to arrest is opposite of the burden of proof to convict. Basically, no proof or investigation is required to arrest someone as long as the police think the crime could have happened, according to Detective Chris Wick and Sergeant Corey Chase. Again, they had decided to arrest Kevin with several charges before even talking to him."

 [Editor's note: Think about this: the police can arrest anybody for no reason.]

"Jessica Mondt:

"Another witness the prosecution called was Jessica Mondt, the Loss Prevention Manager of Sears, where Melissa works. I’m not sure what the jury thought of her—I couldn’t get a reading. I however, thought it was a ridiculous testimony. She told the jury her job at Sears is to watch what is going on in the store VIA CAMERAS, keeping an eye on the customers as much as the employees. She stated that she and Melissa aren’t friends, but that she noticed a real change in Melissa days following the “rape” in January. She said that Melissa was often outgoing and friendly, dressed in short sleeves…then immediately after the incident, Melissa became very withdrawn and began wearing long sleeve shirts, etc. (Winters in Central Oregon get very cold, and I would strongly suggest that a long sleeve shirt in January would be the appropriate attire.) She would often have to leave the sales floor to go sit in someone’s office and talk. This woman claims to know this much about Melissa and noticed a change in her over night to such detail it was ridiculous to me. She claimed they aren’t friends, so why would she pay this much attention to Melissa???

"Megan Elliott:

"Jody Vaughan called her to the stand. I found this woman being on her witness list very curious. We had originally subpoenaed her and then released her because we thought she had nothing to add to the case either way. She is the apparel manager at Sears, and was Melissa’s supervisor/manager at the time. The one interesting thing this woman had to say was in regard to Melissa’s attire. She stated that prior to the attack, she had several conversations with Melissa in regards to covering up and dressing more appropriately (hence the long sleeves?) She also said that Melissa has slowly but surely gone back to the borderline inappropriate way of dressing."

[Editor's note: I am told that Melissa has resumed her customary partying and pub-crawling lifestyle in the months since the alleged attack, with a variety of male companions.]

"There is no court on Monday, and Wednesday of this week. Tuesday, the prosecution should get their witnesses wrapped up, and the Defense will begin calling their witnesses. Tuesday the Forensic Pathologist should take the stand. As always thanks for your support and we will keep you posted!"

Driscoll Trial: Third Day

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2009

Trial: Third Day

"Thursday’s Theme: I’m pretty sure her pants are on fire!

"Before I get into the events of the day, I first would like to take a second and refresh your memory of all the men of Melissa. I talk about these people every day and I still get confused… here is a quick rundown:

"Ryan Rossow – Melissa’s husband. While they were “separated” at the time, they were still living in the same residence. Patrick Murphy – Melissa’s boyfriend at the time of the alleged event. Dennis Baker – A mutual friend of Ryan & Melissa’s, also the guy Melissa had sexual relations with earlier that night. Detective Chris Wick – The guy who took Melissa’s statement. Kevin Driscoll – The last person Melissa slept with that night, and the true victim in this case. Ted Coran – Kevin’s attorney. He is doing a GREAT job by the way. Jody Vaughan – We all know who she is, I just couldn’t resist listing her with all the other “Men of the case” ;) [Editor's Note: I'm surprised that Angela neglected to mention Mike Dugan, the District Attorney.]

"While the Rape Shield law prevents Kevin’s attorney of bringing up Melissa’s sexual history and past, there are bits and pieces that are relevant and allowed to be heard. This is what happened today. Melissa neglected to tell Detective Chris Wick that she had a sexual encounter with Dennis Baker earlier that night. Then in March, Melissa went to the police and told them she needed to clarify a few things. In this 2nd report, Melissa stated that she indeed did have sexual relations with Dennis Baker that night, but to protect her new relationship with Patrick Murphy, she declined to offer up that information.

"She had also stated in her original report in January, that when Kevin started having sex with her it was weird because she told him that she had a husband and a boyfriend, and he didn’t want to mess with all that… Today in court, Ted asked her about that… He asked her to clarify saying she had a husband AND a boyfriend. She said that she did not have a boyfriend, she was not in a relationship with Patrick Murphy, she said that he liked her, but she was not in a position to be in a relationship and they were in no way dating.

"This was a direct contradiction of what she had stated in a previous report. Since she LIED on the stand under OATH, the judge allowed Ted to question her about this… While that itself is not a case breaker, it proves that she has lied on the stand and in turn has shown character. Ted said this was HUGE. It will also be brought up again, in greater detail during his closing argument.

"There were several other inconsistencies that were brought to her attention, such as, where her clothes were, why she didn’t use her cell phone to call a cab to take her home, why she sat on Kevin’s couch (while Kevin was in the bathroom/bedroom) with her phone for 45 minutes the next morning after being brutally raped and called no one or made any attempt to leave. Of course Melissa had no answer. She also had no answer why she sat in the car making conversation with Kevin after he took her back to her car, instead of making a mad dash to the safety of her own vehicle.

"She was dressed like a nun today, it was ridiculous, and the tears she cried were out of the worst of the worst lifetime movies… I have to admit, she had me nervous in the beginning of the morning… but as soon as Ted called her out on the lies regarding Patrick Murphy, her tears turned to glares and copped a MAJOR attitude. In my opinion, the jury has had enough of her…. And to be honest, so have I… I was glad she is done, I don’t think anyone in the courtroom (with the exception of her victims assistance advocate) could handle another minute of her bullshit.

"After the lunch break, Jody showed the video tape of Kevin’s interview with the police, minutes after being arrested. I was not present for this half of the day, so I will do my best to relay what happened, and will ask for someone who was there to help fill in the blanks. I guess the whole thing was pretty hard to watch, Team Kevin was shocked that the DA even chose to play this video, as Kevin clearly admits to having consensual sex with Melissa, but is absolutely shocked and very emotional about the allegations she is making towards him.

"They also played an audio tape of a recorded phone call Melissa made to Kevin later that day, trying to get him to admit to raping her. In the recording, Melissa makes statements like “WE shouldn’t have done that” “I don’t usually do that” “What did WE do?” etc. She then went on to say that she had bruises on her ass… Kevin was basically speechless (this was prior to his arrest, and his first and only contact with Melissa after dropping her off to her car after staying at his house).

"She then dropped the bomb “I told you NO”, Kevin was pretty angry, and stated that she initiated the sex the 2nd time, she did not say no, and who did she think he was… someone else while she was pursuing him? ARE YOU READY TO HEAR HER RESPONSE… YES, I (guess/think) I did. I thought you were someone else. Why Oh Why, dear Judge Tiktin, is this case NOT being dismissed. This is absurd. Jody Vaughan questioned Detective Chris Wick about the interview and phone call with Kevin; Ted will cross-examine tomorrow.

"Once again, we are all left scratching our heads at Jody’s tactics. The video of Kevin’s interview and the recorded phone conversation really seemed to be positives for the defense and didn’t seem to offer any type of help for the prosecution… I know that it is hard to read the jury, and we shouldn’t be counting our chickens, but we haven’t even started to present our side yet, and to me… it’s feeling pretty alright.

"Sorry this update took so long to get to you, I have been working hard to help Kevin to prepare for what tomorrow will bring. As always, we thank you for your support and dedication, and will update you as soon as we can.

Driscoll Trial: Second Day

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2009
Trial: Second Day

"What a day it was in court today. The county started off their day by calling their first witness: Ms. Wade, the SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) nurse at St. Charles Hospital. She reviewed the photographs she took of Melissa’s “injuries” i.e. bruises, as well as reviewing Melissa’s statement. Most of the pictures of the bruises were entered into evidence, with the exception of a few. The county withheld one of them that is obviously very yellow… Kevin’s attorney mentioned trying to get that one in as well. The reason being Melissa is adamant that all the bruises on her body were a direct result of her attack with Kevin, the yellow one they are withholding to submit as evidence goes to show that may not be the case. The nurse also explained why they (Nurses) are educated NOT to date bruises because everyone’s body metabolizes them differently. When going over the report, she confirmed Melissa admitted to being extremely intoxicated. She also said that Melissa told her she had been “bumped” in the anus by Kevin, but there was no attempt or penetration, except vaginally.


"The second witness, who was called to testify, was Pete. This is the friend that Kevin went out to the bar with originally. He really didn’t have a lot to say… He went over the night to the best of his ability and best of his recollection, but was pretty off on his time line. He also said he saw Melissa and Dennis “French Kissing” in the hot tub. We don’t think he hurt the case, but he didn’t really offer anything either. In all honesty, he seemed like a pretty useless witness, and no one is sure why the prosecution would call him to testify.
"The one and only Ms. Melissa Leahy-Rossow herself also took the stand. Finally things are getting interesting. During her time on the stand, she was calm cool and collected. Then she would burst into tears for a few seconds, and then again be fine… there were even a few bursts of smirks and smiles. Totally ridiculous.


"The testimony started talking about the timeline of the night, she says she went out to meet up with some friends at the bar for a birthday party, where she met up with a guy… he took her to the next bar where she ran into Dennis. She said that she didn’t know how she got to Kevin’s house. (she reported in her police report she arrived in a cab, however, video surveillance showed different.) She knew she rode in the back seat of a car with Dennis and Kevin was in the front seat, but she didn’t know if it was a cab or private car.


"She then went on to say that Pete unlocked the side gate into Kevin’s yard and got into the hot tub. She claims she wore her bra and panties and Dennis wore his boxers… She admitted again to kissing Dennis (but never admitted to stripping down naked) She claims she never took her undergarments off. She now states she was highly intoxicated (not interested in conversation.)


"She also reviewed the pictures of her bruises and identified each of them as being caused directly from her contact with Kevin. Melissa states that Dennis was talking to the other girl at the house, so she snuck outside to get back into the hot tub herself. She noticed that the Kitchen lights were off but she didn’t think anything of it (like the fact that it was 4am, and people had left.)


"She then says she was still in the hot tub and Kevin came out and had her come in. She was shocked and upset everyone left. She asked Kevin to take her to her car, but refused because he’d had too much to drink. Offered her to stay in a guest room and take her to her car in the morning. She had a cell phone, her friends just left. She didn’t know where she was. Why did she not call her friends back to get her, or better yet, call a cab! When asked about this she said that Kevin offered her to stay in a guest room, she didn’t think any further. She was also still in her wet panties from the hot tub and Dennis’s sweatshirt.


"She described how Kevin led her to the bedroom (this is where the tears turned into crocodiles) She said he left the room, she took her panties off and fell asleep. Then he came in the room and began to kiss on her neck and stuff… she was trying to tell him no and telling him to stop… She had a husband and a boyfriend. She claims that she was laying on her back, and Kevin was working his way down her body, face down on top of her. She says she was yelling to stop, and hitting him with her fists in the chest. We don’t understand how this is possible. Think about it. Kevin was face down on top of her… his chest was not in a position for her to get at it like that.


" Melissa also stated that at one point she jumped up the bed, and Kevin tried to enter her anally. She says she screamed for her life. This was much different than the accidental “bump” she reported to the SANE nurse.


"After describing the rest of the alleged attack, Melissa states that she begged Kevin to take her to her car so she could take her kids to school. He went into the bathroom for 20 minutes or so, while she wandered around the house looking for her clothes and purse. She then got dressed and sat on the couch for “A LONG TIME” while she waited for Kevin to get ready to take her. She then waited inside some more because he went to start the car.


"She says she didn’t run because she thought it was best to act like everything was okay, and she didn’t know where she was and didn’t feel like running and screaming in the cold. Because it didn’t occur to her to run to the nearest street sign and call a friend? Or better yet knock on one of the 50 doors in the neighborhood?


"She then went on to say that Kevin took her to her car, they sat and talked, and he asked her if she was okay… she expressed concern about STD’s and Kevin gave her his phone number. Why she wasn’t concerned about contracting STD’s from her unprotected sex with Dennis is beyond me. Kevin’s attorney started to question her… here is the long and short of it:


"Why didn’t you leave when Kevin was getting ready? She didn’t have all her stuff. She had to find all her clothes and purse. It took her awhile to find all her stuff.


"Where were your clothes? She didn’t know.


"When you got to the house, you got in the hot tub… what did you do with your clothes? She didn’t know.


"You were wearing shoes… did you put them in the grass? No. So did you put them on the deck? Yes, over by the fire pit. Okay, so where did you put your pants? With my boots. (This went on and on and on for each piece of clothing. Turns out, all her clothes were in a pile on the deck… she did know where they were the whole time… so now… why did it still take her so long to collect all her belongings?) Turns out her purse was in the livingroom… she knew where that’d been the whole time too.


"Her testimony and cross examination will continue tomorrow. These were little lies, but between this and her fake tears and bursts of laughter… jurors were rolling their eyes by the end of the day.

Driscoll Trial: First Day

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2009
Trial: First Day

"Deschutes County Circuit Court, Judge Steven Tiktin presiding. Aside from Prosecutor Jody Vaughan, Detective Chris Wick was in court today sitting beside Jody, helping her to make jury selections.

"Yes, the trial is being held in Bend. Out of 27 potential jurors I believe 6 raised their hand when asked if they knew anything about the case prior to coming to court. I thought that was pretty good... I wonder how many didn't admit they've heard stuff.

"The address is 1100 NW Bond, Bend, OR 97701 :)

"Pretty much the day was spent making jury selections. At around 4:00pm, they gave their opening statements. Each of them had approx. 30 minutes. As I think I told you yesterday there was a hearing for Kevin's attorney to get in information about Melissa's previous bad acts. The judge chose to disallow for certain things to get in... one of the things was the fact that Kevin gave Melissa his phone number when he dropped her off at her car. (I'm not really sure why this couldn't be allowed in...) Anyway, it was about the first thing out of Jody's mouth in her opening statement...So then Kevin's attorney in turn brought it up... Why would he give her his number if he had just brutally raped her?!"

"Tomorrow should be much more eventful! I'm sure I'll have more to report."