Opinion ID: 1760832
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Preparation for Trial

Text: Defense counsel David Kenyon and Sharon Turlington did the majority of Gill's trial preparation, including reviewing the documents provided in discovery. Among the documents received were several reports authored by Lt. David James of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. Lt. James prepared the probable cause statement, which stated that [Gill] had [the victim's] computer in the car with him at the time of his arrest. Lt. James's name also appeared on several police reports as the supervisor giving other officers investigative assignments. In addition, the State included Lt. James as a witness in the second amended information. In addition to his work as the officer in charge of the investigation, Lt. James prepared a report, which was a listing of all the file folders or directories on the victim's computer. [2] Approximately a month prior to trial, the prosecutor sent defense counsel a copy of the report for their review. The report included a list of instant message accounts and a list of the users with whom the accounts exchanged messages. User name dogday_afternoon2002 exchanged messages with 16 other users: (1) a_slutty18girl_w38c, (2) blackstamina69, (3) cherie_012, (4) daddoesme15, (5) elena_ita_girl, (6) jbnrbi, (7) jenny_cappa, (8) kellieann1980, (9) kelly1_15_1999, (10) lilnichole14, (11) lobowolf1960, (12) msdiane69, (13) sweet_tasting_slute, (14) sweetgirl4older, (15) sweetpiece123, and (16) tiffyfreemont11. Defense counsel reviewed the report prior to trial but did not notice anything that would have alerted them to the presence of pornography on the computer. In addition to reviewing the report, Gill's counsel spoke with the prosecutor about the computer's contents. Their discussions with the prosecutor focused on whether the computer contained (1) anything possibly incriminating and (2) any e-mails that implicated another potential defendant. The prosecutor assured defense counsel that there was nothing on the computer that he planned to use in the case or that implicated another potential defendant. Relying on the prosecutor's assertions, defense counsel decided to focus their attention away from the computer's contents.