Stray Bullet Page #3

[people chattering]

[woman laughs]

[Judge] Statement 15030149.

We conferenced this case in chambers,

and it's my understanding there were still

some open discovery issues.

Defense Council, any other issues right now?

With regard to discovery?

Or any other issues in this case?

-I'd like to raise an issue-- -[Judge] All right, sure.

The last time we were here, I most vociferously

requested a trial date of April 1st.

-That's correct. -There seemed to be

some resistance from some of the parties on that.

I am respectfully requesting that the court put down

September 20th, Tuesday, as a real trial date.

There should be no reason why myself and co-council,

all co-council, the state as well, cannot be ready

by that time to try this case.

These are three young men who've been incarcerated,

been denied their pre-trial liberty by a massive,

excessive bail that nobody in this courtroom could make,

they've waited long and hard for a trial,

they deserve a trial, the state deserves a trial,

and we're sitting here again not able to do that.

I would love to set a trial date and say,

"That's the day and we're gonna proceed on that day."

But the state has to make its final plea offer

and the defendants then have to make an informed decision

as to whether they want to try this case

or they want to take the plea, so we're getting closer

to that point, but we're not there yet.

And Judge, if I may, I appreciate that,

and again, just as a practical matter,

if this trial doesn't go in the very beginning

of October, at the latest, this case will not

go to trial in 2016.

The earliest we can hope for

is a mid-January 2017 trial.

I agree with you. And just, you know,

we talked about this in chambers, just being practical,

there's still some more work to do in this case, obviously.

-Not much. Not much. -Well, that you feel

that way, your co-council don't necessarily feel that way.

[Judge] All right, anything else?

-No, sir. -[Judge] All right then.

-[Paul] Thank you. -[Judge] You're welcome.

[Harley] Look, everybody has an interest.

The prosecutor has an interest in preserving justice,

the other attorneys have an interest in ensuring

that their clients get a fair trial,

I have that same interest.

But we need to get things done.

And sometimes when people are getting paid by the hour

or they're on salary even, one has a different motivation

than the other.

And that's creating, I think, a partial conflict here.

Mad, upset.

Sad, confused, lost.

Like, what the f*** is going on?

Like, what is going on?

From day one, it was said, yeah, hey, yeah,

we got 'em, we this, we that, yeah, we got all this,

we got all that.

And then today you have nothing to say.

You late.

You're not even prepared.

What's going on?

Now, it's at the point where,

are these guys really who did it,

or it was just randomly picked out from the street?

They wear you down.

It's a war of attrition.

Well, guess what?

We don't tap out.

We don't submit.

We're going to trial.

If they want to delay this trial

one more year, two more years,

three more years, that's on them.

But we're going to trial.

My client wants a trial.

And one day, one day, there will be no more delays.

That jury will come up the elevator, walk through

the hallway, walk into that courtroom,

and take their rightful seats.

And then the prosecutor will have to get up

and prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt.

That day is coming.

One day.

[melancholy theme playing]

[people chattering]

[digital shutter clicks]

[Golda] We left everything behind.

We left Genesis' tombstone behind.

We left my family behind.

We left a lot of things behind.

I feel confused, happy, and upset.

Because like, I don't know, like, confused,

confused, I don't even know what to feel.

I'm happy that we left, but like, I don't want to leave.

I don't want to leave my dad, my brothers, my cousins.

She hasn't cried. She didn't cry.

She cried with me the first time, and that's it.

The first day. Never cried again.

Okay, hi everybody, it's Genesis, and I'm gonna be--

[Janny] I don't know, she doesn't want to make friends.

It's like hard for her to make friends.

She says, how can she make friends

if the only friend and best friend she had

was her sister, Genesis.

He's still on level two.

Okay, now he's on level three. Which is a scary one anyway.

[Golda] I want it to be over.

Yeah, I want them to plead guilty.

I don't want them to be going to trial anymore,

or others, I want it to be done.

It's just too much now.

We've been at this for two years almost.

And it's still going.

It's ongoing.

All right, good afternoon. Please be seated.

All right, we're here for the pre-trial conference

and matters of Jhymiere Moore, Marshae Anthony,

Jeffry Ellerbee, indictment 15030149.

Judge, do you have everybody up there?

-I think you do. -[Judge] Yeah.

[Judge] All right, why don't we start out

with Jhymiere Moore?

[Paul] The charges include murder.

They include weapons offenses.

These three defendants, the state's allegations

are that they were part of a crew that was hitting back

and looking for, specifically, maybe, Mr. Shakeen Ricks.

Mr. Shakeen Ricks, as we know, is a defendant now

in Burgham County for the murder of Nasira Bug,

another young girl, and he will be going to trial,

just like his co-defendants, sometime in December.

So this matter has been not able to resolve

by way of plea or cooperation,

and there is no further negotiations.

[Judge] What was the state's final plea offer in this?

The state's original plea offer was 40 years

for Mr. Moore, 40 years for Mr. Ellerbee,

and eight with four for Mr. Anthony.

[Judge] The maximum sentence we expose,

if convicted on all counts in this case,

Mr. DeGroot, can you set forth, what that would be?

-[Paul] Life in prison. -[Judge] Right.

All right, Mr. Moore, you understand all that?

-[Jhymiere] Yes. -Mr. Moore. You had enough time

-to think about it? -Yes.

-Talk to your attorney about it? -Yes.

[Judge] You understand that after today,

there will be no more plea offers.

You okay with that?

-Yes. -All right.

So, what do you want to do?

You want to go to trial in this case?

-Yes. -Okay, fine.

[Judge] Anything further?

-[man] No. -[Judge] All right, very well.

[Judge] Set it for September 7.

All right, thank you.

-[lawyers] Thank you. -You're welcome.

[chattering]

[Niechia] Nobody really is considering the fact that

what if these boys are innocent?

Y'all just ruined their lives.

Like I told my child, their life is forever ruined.

Whether you get found innocent.

Whether you get found guilty.

Whether it's a mistrial or dismissal,

whatever it is, your life is forever ruined.

Jeffry never even got a ticket, let alone now

the first crime he commits is a murder, that's ridiculous.

So yeah, it's a shock.

It's been very depressing.

It's been hard on the rest of my kids.

To explain to them that their brother might not

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