Bobby Cutts boiled the argument of his life down to six minutes. He cried as a he read from a prepared statement in which he asked for forgiveness from Jessie Marie Davis' parents as well as Myesha Ferrell for "dragging her into my nightmare." He also said he was sorry for leaving Blake alone at home.
Six minutes .... 360 seconds ...
Prosecutors called no witnesses offering only an opening statement that Cutts deserved the maximum penalty for such a heinous crime. At a minimum, we had anticipated hearing from Jessie's mother and at least one medical expert on the amount of time it took for baby Chloe to die after Jessie had been killed. Yet, we had none of that.
Instead, the defense rolled along with tearful testimony from each of Bobby's parents along with friends and colleagues who all describe Cutts as a good guy who made a horrible decision.
Why the prosecution called off the dogs I have no idea ... although there is much speculation. Usually, any time the prosecution puts down its guns even when there's still ammo on the chamber revolves around the wishes of the victim's family. I'm not saying there is any evidence that Jessie's family asked prosecutors to back off at the penalty phase, but that's typically been the case at other trials I've covered.
And in the end .. it came down to those six minutes. His crying voice was heard as testimony not given under oath -- it's a legal maneuver that protected Cutts from cross-examination.
Jurors begin deliberating tomorrow ... and as I mentioned earlier today (see previous blog posting), there's no telling how fast or slow they'll come to a decision. Prosecutors have already announced that they will hold a press conference in the prosecutor's office 45 minutes after the verdict is read -- whenever that may be.
Still, you can bet those six minutes will be a key factor in making this decision. Life? or death? Everyone has talked about this moment for so long; now finally on Tuesday, 12 real people will have to make a real decision about what should happen to Bobby Cutts.
You can bet they'll spend more than six minutes thinking about their choice ... and the rest of their lives replaying how they made it.
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I honestly think that if folks knew that Cutts was going to testify in the sentencing phase of this case, there was no need for the prosecution to have people talk. Considering Cutts' earlier "act" on the witness stand, yesterday's 6 minutes were equally bad. Had to make sure to let the tears drip off his nose this time.
You have to be a pretty low life form to kill your wife and unborn child and bury them in a shallow grave.
Come on...think about the amount of "accidental" force it would have taken to kill someone with a blow to the neck by an elbow. I'm sure a lot of sports medicine folks use bleach to revive someone who has lost consciousness. It's amazing how that bleach got all over the floor.
This was a woman. And he was a trained police officer. No excuse.
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