< Previous page

Missing notes

Some of the same problems exposed by the Duke lacrosse case, where defense lawyers complained about missing and doctored notes, arose in last week's hearing.

Holmes, the defense lawyer, found out late last week that he did not have an investigator's notes from the key interrogation.

In his testimony about how he obtained the statement -- by asking questions and then writing Nicholson's answers -- Cates, the investigator, talked about things he had jotted down elsewhere, evidence that Holmes was not aware of. State law requires prosecutors to open their case files to defense lawyers and turn over all evidence.

"You're telling me there may have been handwritten notes," Holmes asked Cates during the hearing.

"It was just scribbling," Cates said.

Ronald Stephens, the Superior Court judge who oversaw the hearing, asked Cates: "In getting the general feel for the information, you say you may have made some notations?"

Cates nodded.

Cates also told Nicholson's attorney that he had put his notes in the case file, and after that he did not know what happened to them.

"You don't keep notes from murder confessions?" Holmes asked with a raised voice. "You can see that it's a problem."

Cates nodded.

Mother: 'He's slow'

Holmes, the defense lawyer, also argued during last week's hearing that while investigators had Nicholson in the interview room, his mother and other relatives tried several times to come in.

Cpl. A .Z. Jaynes, the first to interrogate the teen, testified that he remembered several run-ins with Nicholson's family on the second floor of the police department. Holmes said an aunt asked about getting a lawyer and Nicholson's mother asked to sit in on the interview.

"I recall her saying, 'He's slow,' or something to that effect," Jaynes said.

The investigators testified that Nicholson waived his right to have a lawyer present. They also said the teen said he did not want a parent present.

"I believe I told her that we had to talk to him and he had to request that," Jaynes said.

< Previous page