No witness to rebut Sked’s testimony

 

The Joyner Sked murder trial is coming to an end with no one taking the stand to refute Ms. Sked’s claim she did not murder Umatac mayor Daniel Sanchez.  Prosecutor Leonardo Rapadas has decided against calling a rebuttal witness.

Ms. Sked testified in her defense Thursday and delivered compelling testimony about the events that led up to the murder of Sanchez.  When asked if he still believes Ms. Sked is guilty, Mr. Rapadas said, “We’re going to the end and the people believe that we have its case.  And we believe that we’ve provided the evidence for the jury to find her guilty, of course that’s what we intend to do.”

Kandit asked Mr. Rapadas why he did not call Rudy Quinata to the stand if he believed Sked was guilty.  Mr. Quinata is Sked’s boyfriend and was arrested the same day last year on charges he also murdered Sanchez.  He faces trial after Sked.  Mr. Rapadas replied, “He has his own lawyer and he’s still pending.  He hasn’t been convicted of anything so…one of the things we can’t do is intentionally call a witness to exercise their fifth amendment privilege so that’s one of the issues.  Plus, he’s a co-defendant.  Any other case, if you have co-defenddants who plead guilty then they will be available to be a witness but generally if they haven’t gone through the system yet, they are generally not available.”

As Mr. Timblin left the courthouse, he shared a few words with Kandit as well.  Mr. Timblin said, “Let’s just say that I am much more optimistic about our prospects than I was when we started the trial.  It ain’t over ‘til it’s over and we’ll see what happens.”

The trial will continue with closing arguments Monday at 9:30 am.