Diane Downs Trial Coverage │ 17 May 1984 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02the first week of elizabeth diane down's
2. 0:04murder trial was taken up in jury
3. 0:06selection the prosecution and defense
4. 0:08went through several dozen people
5. 0:09looking for an impartial jury to judge
6. 0:12down's guilt or innocence
7. 0:14in the second week down's own daughter
8. 0:15testified against her christy downs was
9. 0:18asked by prosecutor fred hughey do you
10. 0:20know who shot cheryl christie said
11. 0:22quietly yes the prosecutor struggled to
12. 0:25keep his own composure who the young
13. 0:27girl sobbed my mom hughie asked how do
14. 0:30you know that christy she said sobbing i
15. 0:33watched the next day her psychologist
16. 0:35shocked the courtroom by opening two
17. 0:37sealed envelopes with messages from
18. 0:39christian's side christie was asked to
19. 0:41write who shot cheryl and the family
20. 0:43during two sessions on december 19th and
21. 0:45january 2nd this year
22. 0:47the envelopes were opened for the first
23. 0:49time in court revealing the name of
24. 0:50christy's assailant her mother elizabeth
25. 0:52diane downs
26. 0:54during the third week a state
27. 0:55criminalist explained to the jury how
28. 0:57bullet casings found at the crime scene
29. 0:59and in down's bedroom matched jim peck
30. 1:02said the firing of a gun makes unique
31. 1:03one-of-a-kind marks on bullets he
32. 1:06concluded that all the bullets had been
33. 1:07in the same gun at one time a 22-caliber
34. 1:10semi-automatic ruger the murder weapon
35. 1:12that's never been found
36. 1:14pex also analyzed blood on down's car
37. 1:16door and rock panel and found that
38. 1:18cheryl downs had been shot once outside
39. 1:20the car
40. 1:22in the same week the jury saw a
41. 1:23videotaped reenactment of the crime from
42. 1:25down's point of view the tape was done
43. 1:27four days after her daughter was
44. 1:29murdered then the courtroom was stunned
45. 1:31by down's reaction to a rock and roll
46. 1:33song her daughter claims was playing
47. 1:35while she was shot
48. 1:36downs moved to the beat and mouthed the
49. 1:38words to the song hungry like a wolf
50. 1:41finally the jury got its first glimpse
51. 1:43of the man the state says down shot her
52. 1:45children for robert knickerbocker
53. 1:47testified he saw down's 22-caliber
54. 1:50semi-automatic ruger in the trunk of her
55. 1:52datsun the night before she left for
56. 1:53arizona
57. 1:55two dozen tape recorded conversations
58. 1:57were part of the fourth week in the
59. 1:58downs trial down's former lover began
60. 2:01taping their telephone conversations
61. 2:02because he said i was afraid if diane
62. 2:05could shoot these children the next
63. 2:06obstacle in the way would be my wife
64. 2:09different stories emerged from downs on
65. 2:11tape about who shot her and how the
66. 2:12children were shot
67. 2:14in the fifth week downs took the stand
68. 2:16in her own defense a tortured past was
69. 2:18unraveled for the jury down said
70. 2:20haunting dreams caused her to fabricate
71. 2:22the story she told police and her former
72. 2:24boyfriend
73. 2:26downs admitted to trying to commit
74. 2:27suicide at puberty and scratching her
75. 2:29face in frustration after her father
76. 2:31sexually abused her when she was 12.
77. 2:33downes divulged that she had been harsh
78. 2:35with her own two daughters as a result
79. 2:37of frustration she read a gripping
80. 2:39report she wrote on child abuse that
81. 2:41read adults who were abused children
82. 2:43cannot make their parents scream and cry
83. 2:45but they can make their children scream
84. 2:47and cry but she told the prosecutor you
85. 2:50see mr hughey i stopped the cycle of
86. 2:52child abuse yugi interjected how by
87. 2:55eliminating a whole generation
88. 2:57then four witnesses took the stand and
89. 2:59claimed to have seen a stranger who
90. 3:00matched down's description of the man
91. 3:02who shot the family but each account
92. 3:04varied slightly in age height and weight
93. 3:07and down's mother willadeen frederiksen
94. 3:08testified that she helped diane pack her
95. 3:10car to move to oregon and did not see a
96. 3:1222-caliber ruger in down's trunk
97. 3:15frederiksen also said her daughter was
98. 3:17hysterical the night of the shooting
99. 3:19downs told her mother in the emergency
100. 3:20room mom i can't live without my kids
101. 3:24finally a private forensic expert
102. 3:25testified for the defense that blood on
103. 3:27the outside of down's car may have come
104. 3:29from a bloody postal sweater draped over
105. 3:31cheryl downs but he could not explain
106. 3:34the blood spatters on the car door
107. 3:35consistent with the defense's scenario