NEWS92FM.com – Wednesday, jurors got a better idea of what to expect in the Jessica Tata murder trial. In opening statements, attorneys revealed more of their strategy and who they plan to call to the stand.
Prosecutor Steve Baldassano started out by telling jurors he plans to call the parents of all four children who were killed in the February 24th fire last year.
“The children can’t testify they were too young to talk and four of them will never talk.”
Baldassano will also call a number of store employees to track Tata’s movements that day as she left 7 young children alone in her home based daycare.
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“You’ll see at about 5 minutes before 8 in the morning she’s at a Wal-Mart. Now we know from the evidence at 7:30am she’s got 6 kids.”
Another child was dropped off around 11:30am when Tata had apparently returned home. But later in the afternoon, while the flames raced through the home, Tata was shopping at a nearby target.
Baldassano explained how cell phone records, surveillance video and receipts would show Tata left the home at least twice.
Defense attorney Mike Deguerin says taking care of children was a lifelong dream of Jessica’s. That’s what she was doing that day.
“You’ll hear testimony that after they were down and asleep for their naps, you’ll hear testimony that Tata went to the Target store that investigators will tell you is three minutes away to get orange juice and Gatorade for the children.”
Degeurin points to a faulty glass top stove as the reason the oil in the pan ignited.
“If you put a pan on top of the burner, right front burner, you can’t see whether the coils are red or hot if the pan is on top of it.”
Deguerin indicated he may call Jessica’s older brother Ron and her mother Josephine to testify. It is not clear at this point if Tata herself will take the stand.
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Daycare Murder Trial Opening Statements Reveal Who Will Testify was originally published on news92fm.com
