The defense is now making a motion for directed verdict and judgment of acquittal. 

Prosecution resists. 

Judge Anderson denies the motion. Prosecution has presented sufficient evidence for this to go to the jury.   

 

The jury will start deliberations as soon as closings are finished.

Thanks for following today and throughout the trial. We are nearing the end.

See you all 9 a.m. Tuesday! 

Judge is telling the jury that all the evidence is in. He and the lawyers are going to work on the instructions and closings will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday. 

Prosecution has no other rebuttal. 

Holst is excused. 

Holst: He can't say Ring app was never on phone.  

Holst: Two different warrants were made for Ring app. Nothing came from second warrant. It was offline. They tried to get information from backyard camera because it didn't show police on June 15, when they responded.  

The first warrant - received info. from Ring, so it was online at that time.  

All the cameras - garage, front door and backyard -were offline on June 17, 2021. 

He doesn't know if all cameras were online June 15.  

Holst under cross: Ring said there weren't any other video. 

No evidence that Ring app was on Sabrina's phone. 

 

 

 

Holst: Certified forensic computer examiner. He is trained to look for digital evidence. He recertifies every three years. 

He also investigates Crimes against children. 

Cell bright company - hardware to do extraction from electronice devices and software that helps looks at data. They also provide apps. 

When he finds something of interest in the data, he tried to validate the data. He checks software work. Can display things incorrectly.

He looked at the Jackson's phone. No evidence to show if the Ring app was downloaded on Jackson's phone or if it wasn't. He didn't locate any evidence. He can't say it was or wasn't.

He also looked at the other family members' phone. Evidence shows the Ring app was accessed June 12 and 13 on each parent's phones. 

Looked at computer that seemed to be used for gaming.

Laptop found in home - it appeared to belong to Alex. He couldn't get into it. It was encrypted. He would need the decryption key. .  

The defense rests. Jackson will not testify. 

CRPD Investigator Jeff Holst takes the stand. He is a rebuttal witness for the prosecution. 

We are back.

Judge Anderson said rebuttal from the state will be after lunch. Closings will be Tuesday morning.

Be back at 1:15 p.m.  

Lyon: The data he received came from CRPD. 

Testing is best way to show if app was ever deleted. 

He is excused. 

Lyon: Ring app on Melissa's phone. Last time she used it - 8:53 a.m. June 12, 2021. 

The data didn't show the Ring app had been installed on Alex's phone. 

If they recently deleted app, he would have expected to find it. Generally, there would be some trace of it. He can't say definitely say without doing more testing.  

He didn't see any files commonly related to Ring app. 

He reviewed Ring data sent to police. 

Lyon under cross: Looked for related files with "com" prefix. 

He can't definitely say that Ring app has never been on phone. It wasn't there at time the data dump happened. 

He is former West Liberty Police department. Worked there part time, only a few onths, in 2018. Chief of police for University Heights - he was fired in 2018 - received vote of no confidence.   

Kristopher Lyon, public defender in Iowa City, take the stand. Certified cell bright analyst. Program to download data and information from phones - phone dump. 

He reviewed cell bright downloads of phones belonging to Alex, Jan, Melissa and Sabrina.

The Ring camera app was on Jan Jackson's phone. Last time it was used about 6 p.m. June 13, 2021. Screen shots of activity that day. Likely motion activity notified Jan and he looked at it. 

We are back. 

We are back. 

This is outside the presence of the jury.

Judge is asking Jackson if its his decision not to testify. 

Jackson says its his decision not to testify. 

The 15 min. has turned into longer... Be back at 11 a.m. Go grab some coffee and come back.     

Judge is calling for a break. Be  back in 15 min. 

Wacker is excused. 

Wacker: He doesn't know of any trouble that Jackson got into. Never suspended from school - that he is aware of. 

Last time he spoke to Jackson was his graduation - May 2018.

Wacker under cross: In 2019, a private flute instructor would have been $25 -45/hr.

Quite a few students had a private instructor. 

Jackson's mom usually at events. Both parents supportive. 

He was getting A and A+ in band classes.

He would be surprised to learn his GPA was 1.9. He would be surprised to learn he was failing most of his classes.   

Wacker: Jackson also had a private teacher. He got along well with others in flute section. He was a calming presence. He was a featured soloist in his senior year.

Jackson went on 2017 trip to Florida and went on a honor band trip to UNI and Coe College. He had friendly interactions with bandmates. 

Jackson tried out for Allstate band. He lettered in band.  

Jackson had a group of friends in the band. 

 

Jared Wacker, Washington High School band director, takes the stand.

Former band director at Kennedy High. 

Jackson was in the Kennedy band. He met him in 2015. Jackson played the flute. He was in marching band for 3 years and then he was in the wind symphony.

Before and after school rehearsal. Had night rehearsals. Jackson had good attendance. Hard working. Very polite. Took suggestions. He seemed to want to do well.  

Barton under cross: Last time he talked to Jackson was in 2018. Last time he saw Jackson was in 2016. 

Has never been to Jackson's home. 

Garrett Barton, 19, takes the stand. Has known Jackson since 2015. They were in  scouts together. Didn't have much contact with Jackson outside scouts.

During a trip to Yellowstone, working for hiking badges. Jackson started scouts before him.

He worked on restoration project with Jackson. Restored a house. It was Jackson's project. 

He met Jackson's mother a few times. Only met father once. Jackson was always respectful to his mother. Never saw him being disrespectul to his father. 

Never saw Jackson being violent to anyone. Never angry. Competed during card games. 

 

Good morning all! Testimony will get started in a few minutes. The defense will continue its case today.