Danny Savalos
Appearances
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: Poison Twist
What's the answer to that? They can't just do it again like that. Well, they could. If they went back now and did it right, they could get that evidence the proper way. In theory, there's nothing really to prevent obtaining the same evidence another way in a new trial. You mean if they got it by writing a different warrant?
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: Poison Twist
Right. I mean, so much of this evidence came from the cell phone that it likely just couldn't be found anywhere else unless it's communications with other people who might have those records as well.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: Poison Twist
Exactly right. Or it could be searches, searches conducted on websites which are in theory given. to a third party. Almost everything that we do on our phones is us giving information to a third party. So while it may involve a lot more footwork by law enforcement, they often can get to that information through other means than the original cell phone if that cell phone isn't available.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: Poison Twist
The biggest barrier would now be time. It may be that companies or websites may not keep records that long to respond to a subpoena for that kind of information. But if they did, and if you can match up the IP address, which is a unique number assigned to everyone's internet browsing, then yes, you could potentially match that up.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: Poison Twist
But even then, if you match the IP address, you sometimes get into the thorny question of, well, who else might have been using the computer or the phone at the time?
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: Poison Twist
Yes. As soon as you match up the IP address, there really isn't much else for a defendant to do other than argue that, hey, this device of mine, laptop or cell phone, was like Grand Central Station. Everybody was using it all the time.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Hi, Andrea.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Yes, and there are actually some other pleas that are much more rare, and those are the Alford plea and the no contest or no lo contendere plea. So what is the difference between the two? In a no contest plea, you're basically not pleading guilty. You're not pleading anything, and you're sort of going limp and allowing the government or the court to find you guilty.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
In an Alford plea, the defendant is pleading guilty, but but maintaining their innocence. And they enter an Alford plea because they believe in their heart of hearts they're innocent, but the evidence is just so overwhelming.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Yeah, for Peterson, he'd been convicted of murdering his wife, Kathleen, in 2003. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2011, a new trial is ordered after a judge vacates his conviction. And then in 2017, he takes an Alford plea instead of going to face a second trial. So you can see the benefit. to the state is that they get their guilty verdict.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
He's sentenced to time served. He's able to leave prison. And he can tell himself that the nature of my plea was that I am innocent, even though as far as the government and the paperwork and the courts are concerned, I am guilty.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Yeah, Pam Hopp had entered an Alford plea to avoid the death penalty.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Absolutely. There is a real world consequence of pleading no contest because you can later on dispute your liability if you're sued in civil court for the same conduct. That is not the case with an Alford plea. You're essentially foreclosed from even arguing against your guilt or liability in a later court proceeding.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
But other than that, there really isn't a whole lot that differentiates either an Alford plea or a no contest plea from a straight up guilty plea.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Yes. For the most part, you'll go to sentencing. You will be sentenced. And in fact, you might get a worse sentence because you haven't accepted responsibility. And one of the key factors in sentencing at the state and federal level is whether or not the defendant is accepting responsibility after they pleaded guilty.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Yeah, you know, we've all sort of grown up with the idea of plea bargaining, but this is not something that courts are required to accept. And the federal rules, for example, expressly disfavor the idea of an Alford plea. Many judges, many courts, many states will not allow them. They are controversial judges.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Because for people like victims' families who come to court, they want to see someone take accountability for their actions. It's understandable that they're frustrated because the person is not taking responsibility, even though they may be, at least on paper, pleading guilty.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
It's one of the most terrifying things for me. And I'm the attorney. I don't even have to make the choice. I have to deliver those options to a client, go to trial where the evidence is very strong, spend a lot of money. And then at the end, you roll the dice. And if you're convicted, you will get a much worse sentence than if you plead guilty and enter into a plea bargain.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Absolutely.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Thank you.
Dateline NBC
Verdict in the pharmacist poisoning trial. A deadly love triangle in paradise? And Bryan Kohberger is back in court.
Many judges, many courts, many states will not allow Alford pleas. They are controversial.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
Hey, thanks for having me.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
Expert witnesses serve a very specific function. If the subject of their testimony is going to be outside the knowledge of your ordinary juror, then you may be permitted to call an expert witness in that area.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
Not only do they take money, they take a lot of money. If you have the world's foremost expert on fingerprints, DNA, any of these hyper-technical issues, this is somebody that's going to be expensive.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
And the other important point is that the other side is not only permitted to usually discover that, but also you can bet they're going to raise that in their cross-examination just as a matter of course. It's something we always do. Isn't it true that you were paid over $100,000 for your testimony? And that's true, but it's often justified.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
Yeah, you're talking about a phenomenon we call battle of the experts. You know, we think of something like science as immutable or unchallengeable. And yet it's not too hard to go out and find two experts who will take dramatically different positions on either side. Now, is that only because they're being paid? No, not necessarily. I mean, you can cherry pick your area of expertise.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
to fit what you need in your trial. But yes, you're absolutely right. As you've seen all too often, you'll have experts take the stand and completely contradict each other and leave it for the jury to decide who they like the best.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
You're exactly right. So there are limitations on expert testimony. I mean, you can't just make up an area of science that serves your purpose and then say you're entitled to call an expert to testify about that area. So the judge acts as a gatekeeper before the jury ever hears that testimony.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
to determine that this is a legitimate area, whether it be scientific, technical, whatever the case may be. It's got to meet at least a minimum standard before a judge allows any old expert to come in and start testifying to a jury.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
This is a very is that the defense team said to the court and to the prosecution, we have had limited access to these guys. We're basically taking them as we find them. We're barely talking to them. We haven't paid them anything.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
Well, now it seems that the defense may have possibly violated their obligation to disclose information about the level of, let's say, coziness that the defense had with these experts. Prosecutors allege that there were emails between the defense team and these experts, and in addition, an alleged payment of about $24,000. If true, and this wasn't disclosed, that's a huge problem for the defense.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
That may be a lot of what we call lawyerly backpedaling at this point. But here's the thing. You've got to disclose information about your expert. You've got to give the other side the opportunity to cross-examine them as completely as they can.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
Thanks for having me.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
He thinks the family of the missing woman feels something happened to her, but they have no evidence of that yet.
Dateline NBC
Survivors' haunting texts in Idaho. Questions for a New York prosecutor. And a spring break mystery.
Not only do they take money, they take a lot of money.