Day Eight - The Prosecution Rests With A Love Letter

Erin Corwin/Facebook

I'm going to start with the end of the day and work backward, because the final piece of evidence the prosecution presented was truly the coup de grâce of an already overwhelming case against defendant Christopher Brandon Lee.

ADA Sean Daugherty showed on the overhead projector a photocopy of a letter that was discovered in Erin Corwin's jewelry box after she disappeared. It was in handwriting that Jon Corwin said was not his own. It was a love poem written in cursive to Erin. This is what it said:

"Like it or not you still hold a part of my heart
Ready or not we were gonna get caught
Don't give up and I won't too
Hopefully like me, you still think 'I love you'"

The fingerprint technicians were able to lift a print from the piece of paper that belonged to Christopher Brandon Lee.

This proved Lee's assertion to law enforcement that his relationship with Erin ended months earlier, and that he'd had not any contact with her, was a lie. 

After the prosecution rested, defense attorney David Kaloyanides made a motion, as virtually all defense attorneys do before they begin their own cases, to have the case against their client dismissed for lack of evidence. (This was AFTER the jury left the courtroom for the day.)

In denying this motion, the usually jovial Judge J. David Mazurek became very serious and told Kaloyanides that the prosecution more than proved its case, and that a reasonable jury would be able to conclude that the defendant was guilty of first degree murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait. Mazurek said there was plenty of evidence proving the defendant planned the murder, while letting the victim believe he was planning a special surprise for her:

"In fact, it was a surprise trip for her, but not in the way she thought."

Someone sitting near me wondering aloud if this was the first time Christopher Lee realized how truly f*cked he was. 

The defense begins its case tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.