Schuster Trial, day 19, 11/16/07
The day started at 9:33 a.m. The judge advised the attorneys that juror #79 made a gesture when leaving the courtroom yesterday. They decided to bring the juror in the courtroom to discuss what happened. The rest of the jurors were not present. The gesture was made at the beginning of the afternoon break. She admitted to making the gesture. She said she was very impressed with Larissa Schuster’s intelligence. She wanted to let Larissa Schuster know she felt she was straight forward and intelligent. Her gesture was a thumbs up. She said she knew she couldn’t talk with her. The juror wanted Larissa Schuster to know she thought the defendant did a good job. The juror said after making the gesture, she realized she probably should not have made the gesture. Peterson reiterated the admonition from the judge. Peterson expressed frustration that she did it in front of the other jurors. Nuttall then asked her if she can wait until all of the evidence is presented before reaching a decision. The juror said she feels she can be a safe and impartial juror. Peterson then asked the juror if she was encouraging the defendant. The juror said she realized later in the evening, that she didn’t mean to convey something she didn’t necessarily intend to the defendant and the court. Peterson said he’s concerned the juror has already formed a decision. She said the “thumbs up” didn’t have anything to do with the evidence, just how Larissa Schuster conducted herself during testimony, “it was a foolish thing.” Peterson then joked, maybe at the end of the trial they’d get a thumbs up too. After the juror left the room, Nuttall said the jurors need to be reminded about the admonition regarding communicating with anyone. Nuttall said he was in the bathroom, and a male juror walked in the bathroom, and they said hi to each other. Nuttall said he felt uncomfortable about it because they were alone, but that’s all there was to it. Peterson said the record is clear she expressed an opinion and violated the admonition. He said he’s concerned about that, and asked that she be excused and a replaced with a substitute. Judge Wayne Ellison said there doesn’t seem to be willful misconduct, so he’s going to forego the decision, and take it back up Monday, Nov. 26.
Larissa Schuster took the stand again at 9:47 a.m. The jurors all walked back in the room to take their seats at 9:48 a.m. Before continuing testimony, the judge reminded the jurors not to form an opinion until all evidence has been presented. He also reminded them not to talk to the attorneys.
Dennis Peterson’s cross examination continued at 9:51 a.m. He went back to a $500 check written to Leslie Dobbs. She had testified the program that writes company checks makes notations. Peterson asked her if she wrote the check once she went back to the lab after the blue barrel was taken to the storage unit. She said she doesn’t remember. She doesn’t agree it was written on July 8, 2003, even though that’s what the check reads. “It’s suspicious wouldn’t you say? Yes I would say so. I don’t know how or why the check was dated for the 8th.” Larissa Schuster testified earlier that the check was in part for the truck rental, which didn’t occur until four days later 9:55 a.m. Larissa Schuster said the check was also for reimbursement for travel expenses. Leslie Dobbs testified that she didn’t do any traveling during that time. Peterson asked Larissa Schuster what the company policy was on travel reimbursement. The defendant said, since it was a small company, the procedure was fairly informal, but she would expect receipts.
Peterson moved onto the next topic. He asked her about feelings of grieving. 9:57 a.m. He asked her if she felt sorrow. “I was in a whirlwind of emotions. I felt horrible. I felt really, really bad. I almost can’t find the words. It was a horrible feeling.” He asked her if she cried before getting on the plane to go to Texas. “I was crying. I was very restless. I did shed a tear. I was grieving for the loss of his life.” 9:58 a.m. Peterson then asked if he considered taking a seat next to a person on the plane, neighbor Fitzpatrick, Peterson asked if that was inappropriate. At that time, she said her thoughts and emotions were irrational, and she thinks she might have made some inappropriate statements. She said she wasn’t thinking logically. She told Mr. Fitzpatrick that she went back to her office. She changed payment for the Security Public Storage. She said she doesn’t remember making that entry that morning. She said she went there to get her phone book for the company. She said she acknowledged that Mr. McFadden had said the entry was made on the 13th, but she said she doesn’t recall making that change. There was another check changed to Security Public Storage. She said she’s not denying making the change. She recalls that she did do that. 10:02 a.m. “Was that irrational thinking? That was goal-oriented thinking. I was experiencing different emotions and thoughts. I probably wasn’t thinking rationally when I made that change. I don’t recall what was going through my mind accept for chaos.” He asked her if she had a goal behind all of that activity. She said she was over at the lab paying bills. She said there wasn’t a thought process. She had to make sure payroll was taken care of while she would be away on a trip. This was 11 hours after she learned her husband was murdered, according to her testimony. “I don’t know what I was thinking.” 10:04 a.m. Peterson asked her about earlier testimony, during direct examination, when she said in 2003, she was most concerned about Tim threatening to take Tyler and take $1 million for her business. Those thoughts continued through June and July. “The child custody issue was a deeper, bigger issue, because of the evaluations, getting a new attorney, looking at a new evaluation, understanding how community property would end up in the divorce. I was coming to the realization the business was not going to be appraised at $2 million. It was still of a concern. It wasn’t as grave of a concern as the child custody issues that would pop up.” 10:06 a.m.
Peterson moved on to ask her about statements she made to her manicurist Terry Lopez, who testified earlier in the trial. She said Lopez misinterpreted Larissa Schuster’s comment about feeling good about the custody situation, as though there was some remedy. She reportedly said she was comfortable about going on the trip at that point, without worrying Timothy Schuster would mess up the plans.
Peterson then asked about the attorneys representing the Schusters during the divorce. He asked her about the couple’s finances. He said she was a smart business woman. The big concern of her’s was this $1 million claim? “It was a concern, but it wasn’t the primary concern.” She said she understood at some point it would have to be split. In the July 11, interview with Clovis Police, Peterson asked her about the statement she made, feeling confidant the assessment of her business would come out to much lower than $1 million.
They moved to their next topic. They talked about a night of activities where they watched a movie, and Tyler went to a youth group. James Fagone came over and watched the movie. Peterson asked10:19 “I had no reason to consciously avoid mentioning his name.” Wed, July 9. That was the same day she saw Terry Lopez and went to a tanning appointment. The July 11 interview with Clovis Police, the defendant was asked about. “I only had three hours of sleep last night, so I’m, you’ll have to repeat.” 10:20 a.m. When Nuttall asked about her phone calls to Timothy Schuster, Peterson asked her about the phone call she did make. She said she didn’t remember making that call when first asked, but then said she was there for several hours, she was afraid they would blame things on her, and under the circumstances, she knew she couldn’t disappoint her son Tyler. On the 11th, the stipulation regarding this trip with Tyler was already signed, so Peterson asked her why she was worried about not being able to make the trip with Tyler happen. “There was a trust issue there. I didn’t totally trust him.” She said she doesn’t remember telling Terry Lopez that she was finally feeling comfortable about taking Tyler on the trip. She said she only remembered talking to Terry Lopez about going to the divorce care group, and hoping to resolve some of the hostility. She said during the interview with police, she got scared they might think that her phone call had something to do with the disappearance. She said she noticed a good cop/bad cop approach. She said one was more forceful, and the other was more sensitive and kind. 10:26 a.m. Peterson continued to ask why she was afraid a 22 second phone call she made to Timothy Schuster at 2 a.m. would jeopardize her trip with her son. She asked for a recess, she said she can’t even think, she’s very tired. 10:28 a.m. The judge called the morning recess. Larissa Schuster then apologized to the judge. Nuttall asked to make the record clear, on some of these nights, she gets very little sleep. She told him earlier that she only got three hours of sleep. They wake her up at 3 a.m. He said that’s just the way it is. He said she is noticeably tired. The judge said he’s not making any finding in that regard. Peterson said he doesn’t believe cross examination will be complete today.
Testimony resumed at 10:58 a.m. Peterson said he’d slow down for her. He talked about Larissa Schuster’s conversation with police when Timothy Schuster’s was still being investigated as a missing person’s case. During that conversation, Larissa Schuster admits to lying to police about calling her estranged husband in the middle of the night. 11:00 Again, she said she was dishonest about that. “You held that being something so important, you stuck to your guns. I was focused on the trip. I was afraid if I had told them about this, I would be detained and not be on the plane Sunday morning. That’s how I felt at the time. 11:01 there wasn’t something else going on, guilt feelings. She said she wanted to get on the plane, and that was her primary goal. She didn’t want him to be disappointed. 11:03 a.m. She said she felt like she might be detained. She said the police started talking about phone records.
Dennis Peterson showed a clip of the interview with police 11:08 a.m. At the end of the clip, she says she’s upset. Peterson asked her, 11:09 “you didn’t know your husband had been killed at that point? No I did not.”
She admitted to making comments that she wished her husband was dead, but she says she didn’t really mean it. 11:24 a.m. She said she didn’t say she wanted him dead. She said she wished.