Blake murder trial enters second week

In judicial news, one of the criminal session’s biggest cases entered its second week–and News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams was walking her usual beat.

Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting

The murder trial of Ornel Welcome continued this morning in Supreme Court number three, with trial judge John Gonzales making a ruling that he’s tendering the twelve photos that defence attorney Simeon Sampson asked not to be entered into evidence.

It was a challenging day for the judge, as he had to take time out to clear up an allegation that a juror had already made up his or her mind on a particular verdict. After clearing the court of the jurors and hearing the evidence, the judge said he was satisfied that the allegation was not true.

The prosecution has only called four witnesses so far, and they were counting on today’s witness, Therese Olivarez, to make a positive identification of the suspect in question.

Olivarez had stated in a deposition that photo number one on the board of twelve photos was the person she saw holding the gun on the day in question. However, on cross-examination she reconsidered her statement to say that the suspect resembled the man in the photo, being slender and fair-skinned, with a low hair cut and little facial hair. Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.

The trial continues tomorrow when the fifth prosecution witness takes the stand.