Attorneys Confident that Accused are Not Guilty
Norman Rodriguez
Also making closing arguments today was attorney Norman Rodriguez who is representing Ashton Vanegas. According to Rodriguez, the prosecution has failed to call on any witness to provide evidence that his client was involved in the murder of Pastor Llewellyn Lucas. Rodriguez asked the court to not consider the evidence presented by the prosecution who, he says, is pulling evidence from the side to patch holes. As it relates to the surveillance video taken from Mason’s house, Rodriguez told the court that the crown failed to call a witness to positively identify his client in the grainy video. Rodriguez pointed to the court that no evidence which suggests that his client inflicted any harm on the deceased has been presented.
Norman Rodriguez, Attorney for Ashton Vanegas
“I will subject what I will say to the authority of the court which has the final decision in this but yes I believe that Nr. Ashton Vanegas is innocent. There is actually, absolutely no evidence to support that he committed any act of murder.”
Reporter
“A major piece of the D.P.P.’s evidence that she has provided to the court is surveillance footage from William Mason’s home surveillance system which she says if you studied carefully frame by frame you can definitely make out your client and everybody else. You might not be able to see their faces but if you study the video long enough that you can. Do you disagree?”
Norman Rodriguez
“Section sixty four of the Evidence Act tells you that you can bring evidence to the court, out of court or in court through your witnesses. Witnesses are brought before the court during the presentation of the Crown’s case and in the defense’s case and where that is not done it is not considered evidence. So my opinion, my thought is that I don’t need to comment on a video evidence where no witness came before the close of the crown and defense’s case to identify any of those people in that video.”
Moore is expected to the hand down a verdict by year’s end.
