Trial - Day 2

Today’s trial events:

The defense teams cross examined the Marshal’s IT expert regarding the emails that were exchanged between Danny and Reno. Reno’s lawyer basically got the IT expert to concede that most of the emails were one-way traffic from Danny to Reno with little or no reply traffic from Reno. Also he noted that several of the emails from Danny were to a large distribution group, one of which highlighted the fact that the Ed and Elaine story had made the front page of the LA Times, with a link to the article.

Next the prosecution introduced the video from the camera that was set up at the end of the driveway and recorded the shots that were fired at Danny on 6/7/2007. The initial playback of the video was problematic because it skipped the crucial middle video file in the sequence of 3 files. It just played the first file and skipped to the third file. The 2nd video file was played moments later and it clearly showed that of all the weapons in this whole ordeal, the only ones fired in anger were those of the government. This video clearly backs up Danny’s affidavit from that day. Now that this video is in the public domain, it should appear shortly on youtube.

The prosecution then played the Audio recording from WTP radio of the red alert incident when shots were fired in the woods during the night. Danny called the radio station and spoke with Torrin Wolf and Jack Blood. The jury got to hear this audio segment in its entirety. I thought this audio did a great job of clearly highlighting that the supporters of the browns were clearly in a defensive posture with orders to not fire unless fired upon.

The prosecution then called up the pilot of the helicopter that flew in the area of the browns property on 6/7/2007. He established foundation for a short video segment from the helicopter's gyro stabilized, high powered video camera that merely showed Ed moving the lawn mower around and repositioning the pickup truck in the garage with Reno acting as armed security.

The prosecution then showed a video of a walk through of the Browns house shortly after their arrest that showed weapons, including 50 cal rifles, positioned at the ready at strategic points throughout the house. It also showed improvised black powder nail grenades stored at various locations in the house. It also showed improvised zip guns in various stages of construction in the garage workshop area. The video also showed unmixed tannerite stored in the house. The video also highlighted the survival rations and auxiliary power setup that the browns had. It also showed Elaine’s dental setup and a hyperbaric chamber that were in the house.

The prosecution then called the lead ATF EOD expert who was on scene to dispose of the weaponry to introduce all the improvised black powder nail grenades into evidence. The ATF EOD expert also explained what tannerite was and that it was not explosive until mixed and that it was used on shooting ranges to create small explosive targets to facilitate long range target practice.

End of day 2.