Deputy District Attorney Patrick Palacios followed defense
attorney Art Cantu’s closing statement by attempting to solidify
his case against claims the suspected victims are not credible and
the law enforcement investigation was insufficient. Palacios’
rebuttal has lasted more than two hours
– and was not yet completed as of 11 a.m. – as he contended to
jurors he needed to respond in-depth to what he called
”
desperation
”
from the defense in its many attempts to confuse them.
HOLLISTER
The prosecutor this morning in the rape trial against former sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Rodrigues took the floor for his rebuttal before jurors deliberate.
Deputy District Attorney Patrick Palacios followed defense attorney Art Cantu’s closing statement by attempting to solidify his case against claims the suspected victims are not credible and the law enforcement investigation was insufficient. Palacios’ rebuttal has lasted more than two hours – and was not yet completed as of 11 a.m. – as he contended to jurors he needed to respond in-depth to what he called “desperation” from the defense in its many attempts to confuse them.
Palacios, though, started the day by going through each witness and contesting the defense’s claims from closing arguments. He said Cantu neglected to address the law and instead focused on such phrases as “delusional, alcoholic, gold digger and scorned girlfriend.”
“Not once – not once – did he talk about the law, the facts,” Palacios said.
He said the defense in its closing “basically conceded.”
“If you believe the testimony of these women,” he said, before raising his voice, “guilty.”
Palacios maintained that Cantu “went after everybody” in Rodrigues’ defense, such as the prosecutor, law enforcement investigators and even the former, deceased Sheriff Harvey Nyland.
He noted how Cantu to start his closing statement handed a stack of large notepads, offered by the court, to the jurors to take notes. He asked, “What’s he saying?” before answering: “Please write down all this junk I’m giving you.”
Editor’s note: In an attempt to best portray the tenor of the Michael Rodrigues rape trial, the Free Lance is posting a series of videos on closing statements, which wrapped up this morning. In this first part, see the beginning of both prosecutor Patrick Palacios and defense attorney Art Cantu’s final arguments.
