The jury was brought in.
Judge Dixon told the jury that the court had to revise the verdict form to include second degree murder. She told them that in order to find that the defendant had committed first degree murder, they must find that the defendant willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation committed murder. She said that length of time in itself does not alone prove premeditation. Acting rashly or impulsively is not first degree murder, but the decision to act can be reached quickly.
Judge Dixon told the jury that Mr. Allison would be allowed to reopen his closing remarks so that he could speak to the revised verdict form.
Mr. Allison told the jury if you find the defendant guilty of murder, it is second degree murder. If you find three elements, then it is first degree murder. These elements are: willful, there was an intent to kill; deliberately; and premeditation. There is no set length of time to determine premeditation. We heard testimony that Patricia wanted Chris dead. Patricia and Amber texted and talked about it in the tent and then in the car. Patricia walked to the tent. All of these actions show premeditation.
In addition to first degree murder, you must also decide if three special allegations were present in this case: Did the defendant personally use a firearm? Did the defendant intentionally discharge the firearm with the intent to inflict great bodily harm? Did the defendant inflict corporal injury to her spouse?
Mr. Allison showed the jury the verdict form and where they would mark it for first degree murder and for each of the special circumstances.
Mr. Duncan's closing remarks
Mr. Duncan walked to the podium and told the jury, it has been a long trial and I appreciate your attentiveness. It has been an interesting experience, I am sure. Now you are faced with an awesome, important decision. You have listened to the evidence and the jury instructions and now you must follow them. Remember, to find my client guilty, the evidence must show that she committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
And now for the rest of the story. Some of the witnesses you heard during the trial were inconsequential. Their testimony simply showed that a person is dead. We all know that the campsite is on the other side of Jacksonville. Sgt. Randall said that he viewed the CD taken by the bank's ATM on November 17, 2012, and did not see Patricia's car. What about November 16, 2012? Sometimes people block the camera. In her testimony, Amber Lubbers said that she went to the campsite, but how did she get there? This is a murder case and the stakes are immeasurably high and there is no information whatsoever that Patricia went by that ATM on November 16 or 17, 2012.
My client chose not to testify, so all you have to go on are officer interpretations and transcripts. For example, when Deputy Biddle went out to the campsite (1) he saw nothing, based on his recollection. When someone in law enforcement misremembers, that is a mistake. When my client misremembers that is viewed as evidence of lying.
Saturday, November 17, 2012, Patricia went back to the campsite. Mr. and Mrs. MacCallum said that Chris had a habit of disappearing for a few days (2). There was a spat on November 16, hence no report was made until Monday. Deputy Biddle responded to the missing person report over the phone and Patricia described precisely where the campsite was. If Patricia was trying to cover up, why would she give such good directions and describe the tent? In addition, Patricia called back and said that Cora had found Chris' cell phone and wallet. She could have just thrown them away. This implies that Chris put his cell phone in the console so he could disappear for a while. Deputy Biddle said that Patricia returned home with a sick child. Actually, she went home to a sick child. That was just a misunderstanding or a miscommunication.
Sgt. Randall testified that Patricia told him she inspected the fire pit and that she saw ashes, but not wood, from previous campers. Patricia also said that she left firewood at the campsite. Sgt. Randall said that Patricia inspected the fire pit, but she was there looking for Chris.
It is an interesting group of people: Chris MacCallum, Patricia, Jeremiah Hills, Amber Lubbers, Kris Lubbers. Patricia was discharged from the army with a broken foot and left Texas with Cora and Eric. At all times, they had an open marriage and even prior to moving to Texas, they were free to date or sleep with others (3).
Samantha Adams called off the engagement and gave the wedding ring (4) back to Chris. Chris was happy with his life style. Chris wanted more time with his children and maybe there was an economic advantage to getting back together.
We spent days/weeks talking about social websites. The prosecution wanted to paint Patricia as a bad person. That was the real motivation regarding those websites. There was one computer in Patricia's home and two adults. Chris wanted to know what Patricia was up to and he sent a text message using Patricia's phone. We don't know who was actually using the phone or the computer.
In one of the text message conversations, Patricia says I will be faithful, I never was before. These conversations were only a selection of a thousand texts. We don't know anything about the phone calls in between the texts.
Amber Lubbers testified that she and Patricia are like sisters, like two peas in a pod. Yet Amber and Patricia only saw each other a week or two a year when they were growing up. Amber said that after Patricia came back from Texas, that was when they really spent time together. Amber said that she knew Patricia had the collar, but never saw her with it on.
Jeremiah Hills was an interesting character on this stage. He had a ball during direct testimony. Maybe that ended with the cross examination. He said that he and Patricia were together for for months, when it was really just two months. He said that he had a sub/dom relationship with Patricia for only a week when he collared her (5), but they had been role playing for five to six weeks. Jeremiah said that supposedly Patricia asked him about a contract killing. He collared Patricia and then he uncollared her and said that he no longer trusted her. He said that Patricia told him I can't see you any more and so he left for the sake of the kids. He also said that Patricia was also promising to not do BDSM. But Chris and Patricia still had an open marriage (3).
I want you to look at jury instruction 226 on page 11. If you decide that a witness lied about anything in they case you should consider disbelieving everything that witness said.
Amber said that Patricia did not like being collared and that Chris did not like Patricia being collared. Jeremiah said he did not force her to wear a collar. Remember the selfie showing Patricia wearing the collar that Patricia sent to Jeremiah? Jeremiah said that picture was to make sure Patricia was still wearing it. Jeremiah denied that Patricia would be beaten up if she took off the collar.
Patricia supposedly told Jeremiah the he knew people who could kill Chris. Then Jeremiah and Patricia broke up and never saw each other again. Then why would Patricia contact Jeremiah and discuss contract killing? (6) Prior to September 7, 2012, supposedly Patricia told Jeremiah that she wanted Chris gone. What does gone mean? Do you think he could have killed her? (7) During his testimony, Jeremiah said that when Detective Moser interviewed him and asked what he meant by gone, Jeremiah said I believe that means dead. Clearly, if Jeremiah was concerned for Patricia, why would he say what he did about her?
Jeremiah said that Patricia told him Chris had life insurance, but during his interview right after November 16, 2012, he could not say why Patricia would kill Chris and he did not mention insurance.
Jeremiah said that Patricia and Amber were like two peas in a pod, but he also said that he met Amber only one time. How could he know?
Sgt. Fagan testified about Chris and Patricia's cell phones. He couldn't give an answer less than a paragraph long. He could give no indication whatsoever whether Chris' or Patricia's phones had been restored. Moreover, he didn't know what it would do to the information on the phone. He also had no knowledge about overwritten information on the phone. Moreover, he did not get to examine Amber Lubbers' phone.
The saved information on Patricia's phone was consistent with it being a new phone, on or about November 6, 2012. Patricia's texts to Chris were retained on Chris' phone. Amber's phone would also have retained messages between Patricia and her. Wouldn't it be lovely to have Amber's phone?
Brian Inman said that Patricia's texts only went back to November 6, 2012. Maybe Patricia deleted earlier entries. Brian Inman is not Sgt. Fagan.
Motion in limine
After lunch and before the jury was brought back into the courtroom, Mr. Allison presented a motion to Judge Dixon. Although it is not in my notes, at times Mr. Duncan had addressed individual jurors by name during his closing statement. Mr. Allison pointed out that is improper. Judge Dixon admonished Mr. Duncan to address the jury as a whole and not to address individual jurors or groups of jurors.
Mr. Duncan's closing argument, continued
In regards to Amber Lubbers, all the corroborations presented were minor details that we all agree on. Amber talked about Plan A and Plan B. She said that the river was two feet wide, narrow enough that it was OK for her children to play along the bank. She talked about Chris going across or coming back. Mr. Allison was confused when it came to feeding the line out.
We tell our kids not to lie, it is too easy to get tripped up. Amber Lubbers was tripped up again and again. For example, Amber said that the gun was in the trunk but Patricia said she shot one round when they got to the campsite. Why would Amber say the gun was in the trunk if it wasn't? Most people's memories get worse with time, but not Amber's.
During her interview with Detective Moser, Amber said that she counted ten rounds and then five more. But the magazine holds seven rounds. Later that same night, she told Investigator Perrin it was eight shots and then five shots. At the preliminary hearing, Amber said she counted seven and then eight shots. Here at the trial, she said it was seven and seven shots. Amber got closer and closer to the magazine capacity. I wish my memory improved with time.
Amber said that she never saw Patricia actually do the shooting. She said she was hiding. Amber was taken out to the scene in May 2013. She said that Patricia entered the tent. That was the first time she said that. Maybe Amber learned things by being at the site or maybe she learned things from Kris Lubbers or others. We don't know. Why did Amber decide Patricia was inside the tent at the trial for the first time. It is because she now knows that shell casings were found in the tent.
Amber told Detective Moser that Chris was drunk and then told Investigator Perrin that Chris was not drunk, that he was about a three out of ten. She also told Investigator Perrin that she was tipsy and buzzed. Later, Amber said that she consumed water or largely water. After she was arrested, she did not tell Detective Moser or Investigator Perrin about consuming water. Amber didn't say anything about water when she was interviewed on December 7, 2012, and then at the preliminary hearing she said that her and Patricia's drinks were largely water.
On the ride home from the campsite, Patricia's father was at her house babysitting her two kids. She and Amber went right into the house expecting John Singley to be there. They did the laundry later. There is no explanation as to why they just walked into the house wearing their clothes from the camping trip, if they were so worried about them that they had to wash them right away. As it turned out, though, Mr. Singley was not there.
Next Patricia and Amber watched movies, went to Jack-in-the-Box, and kept the receipt.
Of the camping equipment, the sleeping bags, the sleeping mats, and the tent belonged to Chris and Patricia, while the cots belonged to Kris Lubbers. Why clean the sleeping bags when they were in the car?
As for the glove that was found at the campsite, Patricia told detectives that she couldn't find the gloves to pack. She also said that it was a black glove. The glove that was found at the campsite was multi-color blue. It could have been tested for DNA, but it was not. There may have been flakes of skin inside the glove, but no testing was done.
Investigators found Chris' body on November 21, 2012, (8) and Jeremiah Hills was interviewed the following day. Jeremiah was never a subject of interest, even though Chris' body was found the evening before. There is no information from Jeremiah's cell phone and there is no testimony that he was at work.
As for Kris Lubbers there was no investigation of him whatsoever and also, no cell phone records. Dungeon and Dragons ended at 12:30 to 1:00 AM or maybe 3:00 AM, we are not sure.
The bullets and shell casings found at the scene were .40 caliber, a very common round used in a very common gun. It was not expositive that Patricia's gun did the shooting. All we really know is that he was shot.
Amber Lubbers knows Chris was shot, put in the tent (9), and rolled over the side. It could have been Jeremiah Hills, Kris Lubbers, or others who may have come out and shot Chris with a .40 caliber weapon.
The Prosecution did not get cell phone tower information. None of that information was presented but the prosecution.
As for Social Security benefits, Patricia would have been eligible, but there is nothing to show that Patricia ever inquired about those benefits. Amber did say that Patricia told her about benefits, but Amber was unsure of the difference between Social Security and insurance. In addition, Amber never spoke about insurance until the preliminary hearing.
Amber said that on the way home from the campsite that night, Patricia was emotionless, but she also said that they were terrified.
Kris Lubbers went out to the campsite with Amber about two weeks before, so Kris knew the way to the campsite. Amber moved into Kris Lubbers' home a few weeks before Chris was killed. Amber and Patricia borrowed cots from Kris, so he knew they were going camping. Detective Morlet mentioned four people out there. Who was that fourth person?
In regards to the alleged rape, Amber said no, she didn't lie. You may make of that what you will as to whether she was lying or not.
Judge Dixon called for a sidebar.
Mr. Duncan continued: In respect to Thomas Zedowski, Amber denied she was raped (10). We submit that we have evidence that she falsely testified in order to protect herself.
Amber said that she took her boots and Chris' jacket to St. Vincent de Paul, but Amber doesn't drive. At that time Amber was living with Kris Lubbers, which is nearby St. Vincent de Paul. She could have walked or Kris Lubbers could have driven her. She said that the coat was too long or she would have kept it.
Misty James testified that she took Chris home and that Chris told her he might take the night off on Saturday, November 17.
Item #158 was the letter from Patricia to Jeremiah Hills. In that letter, she wrote read between the lines. She was referring to words along the right hand column on page 2. She just ran out of room.
Amber Lubbers was arrested about 6:00 PM and charged with murder. Detective Moser said he told her, I think they showed it to you before. Amber was shackled to the wall and Detective Moser unlocked her handcuffs. On the tape, Amber had to go to the bathroom. She had no questions about the agreement. Detective Moser told her she had to think about herself and her young children. How they would graduate from high school and be married, while she would still be in jail.
We know that the murder was committed on November 16 or 17, 2012, but the autopsy could not pinpoint exactly when it happened.
Where was Amber from November 17 until December 7? Where could she have found out about the murder?
And we have two guys, Dungeons and Dragons players. It is strange to have an alibi for someone who didn't testify.
Then there is the issue of the gun. Sgt. Gilley testified that the gun will stay inside the pool under the waterfall. We all know that magnets repel each other (11). Sand and gravel would be filling the pool at a slow rate. The gun, if it was in the pool, should have been visible, should have been easily retrievable with a magnet. Amber didn't give a complete story. If the gun was thrown into the pool, it should been found.
You have to decide if my client is guilty of murder. To do that you have to ignore 20-30 things Amber Lubbers did. Was there alcohol, no alcohol, etc., etc., etc. You must have an abiding conviction of the verdict you choose. Amber lied about so many things, even after being granted immunity. She said she wasn't under oath when she gave her statements to Detective Moser and Investigator Perrin. She had spent the last three weeks living with Kris Lubbers.
You have a heavy decision to make. Can you cast out all those contradictions? An abiding conviction means that you have to sleep with this tonight and for the rest of your life.
There are tons of reasonable doubt. You must be faithful to yourself, you must be true to yourself. Don't be influenced by the minority. There are lots of discrepancies you must evaluate. Remember reasonable doubt and vote not guilty.
Mr. Allison's final remarks
What does it say on the doors of police cars? It says community safety, it doesn't say to convict. It doesn't matter what Sgt. Randall said about the ATM videos, #28 and #29. You can look at those videos yourself.
As for the collar, Jeremiah Hills said no when he was asked if Patricia will be beaten up if she took it off. When the collar went off, didn't the relationship between Jeremiah and Patricia continue? The trust was still there in the letter that she wrote to him after she was arrested.
What did Chris think about Patricia having sex with other people after they reconciled on September 7, 2012? Although BDSM ended with Jeremiah, Patricia liked wearing the collar, as you can see from the selfies on the social websites.
Patricia is a real person, a member of our community.
Jeremiah Hills didn't mention insurance because the question wasn't asked.
Jeremiah's statement about peas in a pod most likely came from Patricia herself, who he was sleeping with.
As for, "I do believe", people just talk that way.
As for all the points of corroboration, can they be dismissed? No, they cannot.
As for Plan B when Chris crossed the river to the other side, the rope was being played out. When he returned, it was being pulled back.
As for the number of rounds that were fired, a few days ago, on Friday, December 6, 2013, Amber said that Patricia emptied the clip. At the time of the shooting, it was a very stressful situation. Was she really counting? Was she really trying to deceive?
Were the girls drinking alcohol or water? There was no evidence the question was ever asked during the interviews that were conducted after Amber was arrested.
As for going back home, there was no need to avoid John Singley, but if Patricia owned the sleeping bags, there was no need to wash them either.
The defense went after Amber Lubbers about making a false report. Amber said no, she did not. Then Amber was still asked if she was raped or molested. Mr. Allison was very angry, pounded the podium and nearly shouted, is that fair?
No one saw Amber when she dropped off the items at St. Vincent de Paul. But why did she get rid of her shoes if Kris Lubbers did it?
You don't need to read Happy New Year between the lines.
The promise the District Attorney made to Amber Lubbers was to tell the truth at the preliminary hearing. Here at the trial, there was no reason for Amber to lie. She is immune from further prosecution.
As far as the search for the gun is concerned, Sgt. Gilley used a metal detector. The gun would not have been visible as Mr. Duncan said. The magnet wasn't found either.
The number of people who were there was three. Morlet asked and Amber said yes. There is no evidence that there were any other than three people at the campsite.
Mr. Allison brought over a white file box with a lid. He said that the box represents the evidence in the case. He said that in their deliberations, the jury must deliberate only on those things that are in the box. They cannot consider anything that is not in the box.
Mr. Allison continued, there is no evidence that Kris Lubbers had knowledge of a firearm or that he was at the campsite the night of the murder. There is no evidence that Jeremiah Hills owned a car or had other transportation or that he knew about the camping trip. That is guessing. Since there is no evidence, those are not in the box.
Did Chris and Patricia have an open marriage? There is no evidence that they did. It is not in the box.
Was there a contract to kill Chris? There is no evidence that there was. It is not in the box.
Was Patricia wearing a gun at the campsite? There is no evidence that she was. It is not in the box.
There is no DNA evidence. It is not in the box.
Patricia saw ashes from previous campers in the fire pit, but did not report tent pegs and a tent pole. She was given three chances to change her mind. That is in the box.
This case comes down to the testimony of Amber Lubbers. There is no evidence that anyone other than Chris, Patricia, and Amber were there. When confronted with a lack of morality here in the courtroom, Amber broke down. Was that real? Remember, she had no reason to lie.
Next, Mr. Allison replayed the video of Amber Lubbers and Detective Moser, right after Amber was arrested. The video shows a distraught Amber telling Detective Moser that Patricia killed her husband.
Mr. Allison resumed his closing statement. Remember that Amber testified that Patricia said that she better change her story. That statement was not challenged by the defense.
The People of the State of California believe that the defendant, Patricia MacCallum murdered her husband consistent with murder in the first degree.
On that note, the trial of Patricia MacCallum ended.
The jury left the courtroom for the deliberation room. Judge Dixon told the two alternates that although they would not be involved in the deliberations, they were still on call in case they would be needed to replace a juror who could not continue. She told them to not talk about the case and to not make a decision about it.
Mr. Allison gathered up the withdrawn evidence. Mr. Duncan told Judge Dixon that he had a matter in Redding on Monday morning and wouldn't be back in Yreka until 1:00 PM.
Notes from Mr. Duncan's closing statement
(1) Deputy Biddle did not go out to the campsite.
(2) This came from Deputy Biddle's testimony. I did not tell him that Chris had a habit of disappearing for a few days. Perhaps Chris' mother did.
(3) There was absolutely no testimony supporting an open marriage. The cell phone conversations from Chris and Patricia's phones indicate quite the opposite: Chris wanted a normal marriage, but Patricia did not.
(4) Chris did not give Samantha a wedding ring.
(5) They had a sub/dom relationship for more than just one week.
(6) According to Jeremiah's testimony, the discussion about killing Chris took place before he and Patricia broke up, not after.
(7) I have no idea what Mr. Duncan was trying to say.
(8) They found the body on November 20 and recovered and identified it on November 21, 2012.
(9) It must have been obvious to anyone that considering the condition of the tent, Chris' body inside it, and the lack of any blood outside the tent, that Chris was not killed elsewhere and then put in the tent.
(10) During her testimony, Amber denied she had filed a false police report which said she was raped.
(11) Actually, similar magnetic poles repel each other. That is, north repels north and south repels south. Magnets do not repel steel.
From the Clerk's Docket and Minutes
9:20 - In session
10:50 - Recess
11:05 - In session
12:00 - Recess
1:30 - In session
2:15 - Recess
2:35 - In session
4:15 - Recess
End of day 15
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