UPDATE: Day Six - Afternoon Session With Isabella Megli And Chris Lee Interview Video

Erin Corwin Missing Poster/Pinterest

This post covers the courtroom action for Wednesday's session after the lunch break. Again, there is no court today because a juror suffered a death in her family, and needed the morning to attend what sounded like a funeral service.

Isabella Megli was the first witness called by the prosecution after the lunch break. Megli is the owner of the White Rock Horse Rescue. (She refers to herself as "Isabel Megli" on the White Rock Horse Rescue website, which is why I referred to her that way in previous blog posts.)

I could not see Christopher Lee's face from where I was sitting in the courtroom, but the prosecutor pointed out that the defendant was smiling at Megli. Megli was not smiling back.

Megli testified she met Erin Corwin when Erin sponsored a horse at the ranch. (The horse, Cassy, is pictured below.) Although Megli was not allowed, due to the defense objections of hearsay, to answer many of the questions ADA Sean Daugherty asked her, Megli did make some damaging points:

• Chris and Nichole Lee were at White Rock Horse Rescue on the afternoon and evening of June 27, 2014, the day before Erin disappeared. Chris asked Megli if he could have her propane tank (which Megli identified as looking like the one found in the mine shaft next to Erin's body). When Megli asked if Chris wanted the tank for a barbecue,  Chris said no, "He was going to use it to 'play games.'"
• The Sunday before June 28, Christopher Lee told Megli he had been out exploring areas in the desert. He told her he found a mine that was so remote, "No one would ever find it."
• Megli testified that on June 29, both Nichole and Chris were at Megli's horse ranch. Megli said she heard from Nichole that Erin Corwin was missing. Nichole said she believed Erin was playing a game and hiding but, as Megli testified, "She (Nichole) didn't care if she (Erin) was dead."
• When the prosecutor asked Megli if Nichole said to her that Christopher Lee was "too stupid to keep his lies straight" she said "Yes."
• Megli testified that prior to Erin going missing, Nichole Lee told her she wanted to kill Erin, "If Erin didn't stay away from her husband."
• Megli said Nichole Lee told her after Erin disappeared: "(If) there is no body, there is no case."
• Megli testified Chris Lee never returned the propane tank he borrowed.

The defense did not cross-examine Megli.

Erin Corwin's horse, Cassy

The next witness was San Bernardino Sheriff's Department Sgt. Daniel Hanke, who conducted a roughly six hour interview with Christopher Lee on July 1, 2014. Ninety minutes of that video was played in court Wednesday afternoon.

Lee went willingly with Hanke to the Sheriff's Department substation. Hanke testified Lee said to him on the drive from base to the sheriff's station:

"I really want to help you guys find her, because as much as she lied to me, I really cared about her."

Hanke started the interview by chatting warmly with Lee about Lee's daughter, his plans for life after leaving the Marines, the annoyance of having to pack up everything and move back to Anchorage, Alaska. Lee was fidgety, scratching his legs often and crossing his arms in front of him.

Lee claimed not to be able to remember simple facts, like where in Oregon a friend of his lived, or even Erin's last name. Lee blamed this fogginess on combat-related memory problems. He also explained why he lied about his relationship with Erin when law enforcement approached him the morning after Erin went missing:

"It didn't seem pertinent at the time."

Hanke asked Lee to describe how his relationship with Erin developed. Lee said the two bonded over their shared unhappiness with their life circumstances. Lee said he was suicidal after returning from a deployment in Afghanistan, because he missed the simplicity of his life there and wanted to go back:

"I was indifferent about life."

Lee said he and Erin first kissed after playing the video game Halo together on Xbox. They also had a shared love of the television show "The Walking Dead." Lee told Hanke he was able to confide in Erin all of his problems and his desire to kill himself - things he could not tell anyone else:

"She was a secret, so I could tell her my secrets." 

Lee said he and Erin would text each other several times an hour every day. He described his relationship with Erin as his make-believe life:

"She was my happy place."

Lee claimed the physical part of his relationship with Erin consisted only of kissing, and for only a couple of weeks.

The prosecution plans to play the rest of the video in court on Monday. Until then...