Okay, back to this morning's testimony: defense's second witness, Jason Mack. Mack said he's 25 & works as a painter, having owned his business for about a year and that at age 17 he served some time in prison for burglary. Mack said that in August of 2005, he'd been living w/CP at CP's Orangetree condo #88 for about 3 months. During that time, he'd met Jennifer Cave and Laura Hall.
According to Mack, 2 days before Cave's murder, Hall came over to collect money she'd loaned CP the week before (that CP owed to some really bad guys.) Mack said that at that time, CP was really drunk and had run out of Xanax & was freaking out, but that "everyone there" was on something. Apparently CP had physically thrown LH outside onto the steps of the condo. Pitonyak said to Mack, (according to Mack) "this bitch is driving me fucking crazy" and then pulled his gun out of a (desk?) drawer. Mack tried to calm CP down--CP also mentioned that his mom was in town & that he had a test coming up--telling him to chill out. Mack said CP had been up for 9 days and that he thought CP would have used the gun on anyone at that point, that CP was delusional & crazy.
Mack said he finally convinced Hall to leave (CP's condo) w/him & that the two of them spent the night at a friend's place in south Austin, where they told Hall to stay away from CP or she was going to get herself killed.
Mack said he'd left his Texas ID/driver's license on CP's coffee table (because CP was so paranoid he insisted that Mack leave it) in order to briefly borrow CP's car. Mack said he'd reported the above incident to the Austin Police Department (APD) & was never contacted by APD.
Around 10:40 a.m., the jury retired to begin deliberations. Outside the courtroom, in the lobby, Laura Hall's mom approached me and said, "Are you Iris?"
I said yes, and she told me she's been reading my stuff. I kinda froze for a second, wondering what she thought. She told me she thought I was doing a good job in being objective. I told her I appreciated that because that's what I've been trying to do, present as fair & objective account as I can. She told me to keep up the good work.
In the next hour, I'm going to try to post some excerpts from the Cave family's post-verdict press conference. I'll also try to post some excerpts from both sides' closing arguments (sentencing phase) tomorrow, but it's tough to write down because they talk so quickly & continuously.
--Iris
According to Mack, 2 days before Cave's murder, Hall came over to collect money she'd loaned CP the week before (that CP owed to some really bad guys.) Mack said that at that time, CP was really drunk and had run out of Xanax & was freaking out, but that "everyone there" was on something. Apparently CP had physically thrown LH outside onto the steps of the condo. Pitonyak said to Mack, (according to Mack) "this bitch is driving me fucking crazy" and then pulled his gun out of a (desk?) drawer. Mack tried to calm CP down--CP also mentioned that his mom was in town & that he had a test coming up--telling him to chill out. Mack said CP had been up for 9 days and that he thought CP would have used the gun on anyone at that point, that CP was delusional & crazy.
Mack said he finally convinced Hall to leave (CP's condo) w/him & that the two of them spent the night at a friend's place in south Austin, where they told Hall to stay away from CP or she was going to get herself killed.
Mack said he'd left his Texas ID/driver's license on CP's coffee table (because CP was so paranoid he insisted that Mack leave it) in order to briefly borrow CP's car. Mack said he'd reported the above incident to the Austin Police Department (APD) & was never contacted by APD.
Around 10:40 a.m., the jury retired to begin deliberations. Outside the courtroom, in the lobby, Laura Hall's mom approached me and said, "Are you Iris?"
I said yes, and she told me she's been reading my stuff. I kinda froze for a second, wondering what she thought. She told me she thought I was doing a good job in being objective. I told her I appreciated that because that's what I've been trying to do, present as fair & objective account as I can. She told me to keep up the good work.
In the next hour, I'm going to try to post some excerpts from the Cave family's post-verdict press conference. I'll also try to post some excerpts from both sides' closing arguments (sentencing phase) tomorrow, but it's tough to write down because they talk so quickly & continuously.
--Iris
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2 comments:
Incredible. Sounds like Laura narrowly escaped being the victim. Also, the borrowed car, drivers license left as security is a classic drug scene escapade. Money is always in a state of being loaned out and collected. Insane, irrational violence and the threat of violence is the norm. What makes this crime unique is the "Evil be thou my Good" that is embraced by these scenesters. Laura Hall is starting to feel very...familiar. I wonder what caught her up in the Dark Side?
Wonder if Laura Hall's Mom has been posting here? Hmmmm ~
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