Asks Wife to Lie
Why only the night of the 9th?
Why only for a few hours?
Why only for a few hours?
Why not for other times?
Why does it match the time of the murder?
Why does it match the time of the murder?
**In regard to the excuse he gave Melissa to lie on his behalf:
The idea that McClish wanted Melissa to lie to the police about him being gone on the night of Saturday the 9th because of the implications (him driving on a suspended license) is bogus. He drove Sunday morning to the dump, and did not ask that she lie about that. So why would it matter if he was driving illegally less than 12 hours before, but not 12 hours later? Because he knew the time of death and was trying to Alibi up.
DAJR made it clear that there is coincidence, upon coincidence, upon coincidence in this case, all of which point at McClish being guilty. He met with Asha the night she died. He had motive. He had the tools of her death on hand. He had the temper required for such an egregious offense. He made threats to other females in the past that directly mirror the circumstances of Asha's death. He asks his wife to lie to police so he has an alibi for the time of the murder, before anyone but the killer knew it was a murder. He tries to distance himself from Asha by asking two of his mistresses to lie about his level of involvement with her. He tries to distance himself from the scene of the crime by calling the person that hired him for a job on Love Creek Road, less than 0.6 of a mile from where Asha was found, and canceling said job. He washed his car at a rate that would make anyone with severe OCD think he's crazy. He washed all of his clothes (hat included) that he wore September 9th just days after, when his entire house is littered with dirty laundry. Yeah that last one might seem a little shaky, but as DAJR stated, you must not look at each piece of evidence on its own. When you start to look at all of it in unison, it points to one conclusion: they are actions of a guilty man.
The Defense went out of their way to bring up the never found tarp and murder weapon. Let's talk about this. The first thing any murderer would do, as I have said before, is get rid of the murder weapon and anything the body came into contact with. McClish's dump run on Sunday COULD be coincidence, but it could also point to him getting rid of the weapon and tarp. McClish washing his truck could just be him washing his truck, or as the Defense tried to paint it, being a good father by engaging in a fun activity with his son. But if that's the case, it only explains him washing it on the 14th. What about the 12th when he washed it immediately after being interviewed by Brzozowski? What about the 13th? What about washing it TWICE, back to back, on the 14th? What about him using a power washer on it? Coincidence, Coincidence, Coincidence the Defense would have you believe.
And what about the Defense saying, "Look, Mr. McClish's answer to Brzozowski's question about the possibility of him being the father of Asha's unborn child was asinine, we can all agree about that." ~BUT it goes to show his innocence, because had he killed her don't you think he would have been prepared for such a question? ready with a better answer?~
**No, it does not show innocence. It goes to show he didn't think anyone else knew about his affair with Asha, or that he could be the father, or that she had told others that she planned to confront him about DNA testing to determine paternity. The Defense also went out of their way to say that the investigation focused on McClish because of a falsity, that he was the father (which he was not). What he doesn't say is that at the time, McClish THOUGHT he was the father, or at least the possibility that he was. Asha thought he was the father, a FACT proven time and time again by witness testimony from her pregnancy councilor, and her longtime friend whom she talked to about it frequently. Whether he was in fact the father or not is a moot point, all that matters is that both he and Asha thought he was (or again, could be). This lends credence to the idea that his motive in killing her was to protect his relationship with his wife and avoid public disgrace.
**This is really the most depressing facet of this case. He killed her because she was asking for child support, for a DNA test. Him undergoing the test would mean him admitting that he had an affair with her. With Melissa's clear stance on infidelity, it would mean the end of his marriage. So to protect himself, he killed Asha. Well it turns out that the child wasn't his. Had he not acted on his rage, Asha and her child, Richard's child, would be alive today. McClish might not still be married to Melissa, but he is divorced from her anyway.
Brandi and Angela
Two independent sources.
Not friends.
Don't hang out.
Didn't share info.
Everything comes out the same.
**Here DAJR went over how Brandi and Angela corroborated one another's information, and characterizations perfectly, all while having not conferred with one another. They had nothing to gain in the situation. But they both had a lot to lose, and yet they gave the information they did, and again both backed up the information given by the other, independently.
Angela
Before body found talks to her on the 13th.
Asks her to lie.
Deny connection to Asha.
Eliminate motive and opportunity.
Brandi
Before body found talks to her on the 13th.
Asks her to lie.
Deny connection to Asha.
Eliminate motive and opportunity.
**As said above and in other posts, but just to reiterate, McClish's actions prior to the body being found all point to guilt. Asking someone to lie to the police on your behalf in regards to an ongoing missing person's case should raise some red flags. All of his actions between September 10th and the 14th show a man desperate to distance himself from a murder victim, before anyone else knows a murder took place. His lies to Angela, Melissa and Brandi can all be explained by the idea that they are the actions of a murderer trying to eliminate himself from any opportunity to have committed said murder. Coincidence?
Washed truck
[September] 12, 13, 14, 14.
Mountain truck.
Obsessive level of behavior.
Vic's blood in truck.
Washed truck
Blood only found on inside of truck, not outside.
Washed hat
House filthy.
Why does this get cleaned.
Two items related to the murder washed.
Body found
Connected yb time and location
Woodcutting job near body
Defendant later distanced himself.
"the body was dumped in a familiar area, he had a short time to make critical decisions. You go with what you know" - DAJR
Major points:
Too many lies.
Cleaned too many murder items.
Too connected to the body location.
Acting guilty.
Can't be a coincidence.
Science
Killing without trace evidence difficult.
Every event will leave evidence.
Forensic evidence:
DefDNA on rope/noose.
DefDNA on Asha's steering wheel.
Asha's blood in Def truck.
Tarp particles in truck on / on body.
Locations of vegetation.
**DAJR talked a lot about how great it is to live in this day and age, when 20 years ago there was no such thing as DNA evidence. That Juries would have had to come to a verdict without it, and he made sure to stop before the Scientific evidence and say that ~there is enough evidence here to convict him, BUT we have scientific evidence to stack on top of all the other evidence~.
DNA rope:
DefDNA is on murder rope.
1 in 123,000.
STR 1 in 1600.
YSTR 1 in 95.
**DAJR went over the numbers/statistics with DNA. He said that according to the YSTR on the rope, there is a 1 in 95 likelihood that the DNA found under the tape on the rope would match anyone, and McClish did. This was untrue, as YSTR testing (Y chromosome short tandem repeat) can only be conducted for males, as females do not have Y chormosomes (well most don't, but we live in Santa Cruz and a sizable portion of the females here seem to). So it is 1 in 95 for males, but 1 in 190 for the general public, lowering his "slightly above 1%" (1.05%) probability to 0.53%. Granted, such a heinous crime is rarely committed by a female, however saying that only 1% of the population would match this DNA profile is untrue, the probability is half that. Following this logic, 1 in 123,000 only accounts for males. Accounting for the whole population, that probability (taking into account the ~24% the DOJ Agents for 'error') we reach 1 in 246,000 (very rough number).
**Ruling out females from the whole number goes against logic, in my mind. Yes we know the DNA found on the rope was male due to the presence of the Y chromosome. Therefore the pool for possible killers is only that of males. However it should have either been stated that the chance of any MALE having a match to the DNA found on the rope was 1 in 123,000, not that the chance anyone from the public would, as that number would have been somewhere around 1 in 246,000.
DNA Steering Wheel
DefDNA is on Asha's Steering wheel.
1 in 130,000
Asha Body Evidence
Tarp particles.
Bloody foxtails.
knot type.
Truck Evidence
Numerous bloody foxtails.
Asha's blood in truck.
Hair in truck.
Tarp particles.
Positive blood screens inside truck.
Foxtails and Vegetation
Six are matches for Asha's DNA.
~REG-15#6 A+B from vacuum of truck.
~LW15
~JMM-7#7, #9, #10
Additional bloody vegetation items:
~JMM-7#5, #1, #2.
Tarp Particles
Asha's body particles match truck tarp particles.
Independent link.
Asha's hair in truck
1 in 690.
Not Defendant's hair.
Contamination
Asha's blood in truck.
DefDNA to murder rope/noose.
DefDNA to steering wheel of vic's car.
**relevant quote said by DAJR quoting Dr Mason: "I don't know where all this God damn contamination talk is coming from, there is no contamination." **DAJR went over the photo composites provided by Lara Walker showing the same region of McClish's truck at 3 points in the investigation, focusing on the foxtails in order to show that even though they weren't collected immediately, they were present from the time they impounded his truck to the time they were collected. They weren't planted months into an investigation.
Combine all circumstance of death evidence
Combine all science evidence
Combine all relationship evidence
Combine all cover-up evidence
Reasonable doubt:
Not 100% certainty.
Doubt based on reason.
Real Evidence that undermines reasonable doubt.
Must relate to an element.
Homicide
1st degree
2nd degree
Voluntary manslaughter
Homicide:
1st degree:
Death of another.
Malice-express.
willful, deliberate, premeditated.
2nd degree:
Death of another.
Malice-express or implied.
Murder
Malice of aforethought:
Express: intent to kill
**DAJR was getting very emotional at this point when he talks about intent to kill in regard to this case. He went over that the murderer beat this pregnant woman, and THEN and only then placed a noose around her neck and choked the life out of her and her child. It seemed genuine, but as we have not seen any emotion like this from him before it really caught me off guard. I could see some of the Jurors felt similar by their reactions. I think he is genuinely disgusted that anyone could do this, especially to someone they had a relationship with, and who wouldn't be. He used this to illustrate that the crime MUST be murder with express intent to kill, as the killer put a noose around Asha's neck after she had already sustained what were fatal injuries, and the person placing/tightening said noose knew they were taking two lives with that action. Disgusting.
Murder
Malice of aforethought:
Implied- Intentional act,
Dangerous to life,
Knew act is dangerous,
Did it anyway.
**DAJR's example to illustrate this is a person with a gun shooting at a passing train. You know it's a dangerous act. You know people are inside that train, and are subject to danger by you shooting at it. If one of your bullets killed a person inside, the shooter did not pick that person out for death, but they died due to actions that any sane, rational person knows could and would result in death. Clearly Asha was singled out. Clearly she was the intended victim and the murderer knew their actions would end her life. Obviously this case falls under murder in the first degree.
Caused death of another
A fetus is a human being.
8 weeks is enough.
Doesn't have to know fetus exists to be punished.
**It was obvious that McClish knew Asha was pregnant, as that was his motive. But DAJR was covering what California state law says on the subject. The killer does not need to know the woman is pregnant to be prosecuted for its murder, but the fetus must be at 8 weeks or later, Asha's child was 7+ months. She was visibly pregnant. DAJR was just covering his bases here, this aspect of the case was a no brainer.
First Degree Murder
Willful: Intent to kill.
Deliberate: Weighed considerations.
Premeditated: Decided before death.
Premeditated:
Decided before completing the acts that caused death.
Willful, Deliberate, Premeditated
No specific time.
Can be quick.
Varies from person to person, circumstance to circumstance.
Extent of reflection not time.
**This case cannot be anything other than 1st degree murder because the act of placing a noose around a fatally injured person and choking the life out of them is premeditated. Premeditation does not require that the person plan acts over the course of months, weeks, days or even hours. The time he took between beating her, and going into his truck to grab a rope to choke her with is premeditation. He had to think about getting the rope next. He had to go get it. He had to walk back to her with it. He had to put it around her neck. He had to tighten it. Several considerations took place during this time, and none of them stopped his actions. Premeditated indeed.
If you do not find evidence of planning and premeditation...
2nd Degree Murder:
Malice aforethought.
Express: Intent to kill
Implied intentional
Voluntary Manslaughter
2nd degree murder but in the heat of passion.
Heat of Passion:
-Def was sufficiently provoked AND
-Provocation caused Def to act rashly AND
-Provocation caused intense emotion AND
-Obscured reasoning or judgment AND
-Would have caused the same reaction in the average person
--ALL MUST BE TRUE FOR IT TO BE CONSIDERED THE HEAT OF PASSION
**You mistress confronting you about taking responsibility for your child is not sufficient provocation. It would not illicit the same reaction in the average person.
Heat of Passion:
Does he get a break?
DAJR: "As a society, are we going to give a break to a married man when he kills his pregnant mistress?"
**Nope. And I know Santa Cruz County is full of hippies, but pulling the death penalty off the table was nonsense, and is giving him a break. I wish Jury nullification could work in the opposite direction! If I were sitting on this Jury, and watched this case unfold, my time spent in the deliberation room would be used to convince the other Jurors not that this was murder in the 1st degree, because such a conclusion is obvious, but rather that we wanted to see the death penalty exacted for such a heinous and deliberate crime. It is not that some people deserve to die, it is that some people do not deserve to live.
Heat of Passion:
Can't set up his own code of conduct.
Slight or remote provocation not enough.
Consider the average person.
Provocation: Asha provoked her own death?
Blinded by Emotion
Provocation caused Def to act rashly and under influence of intense emotion.
Average person:
Objective standard.
Average Law Abiding Citizen.
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