So this brings us to January of 2017. I was finally able to get Chris Trotter and Jason Short to respond to some of the things I had mentioned and brought up. They finally addressed the previously mentioned Harry Bray case, where the higher courts ruled that the defense has a right to text messages, online messages, and search history of the accusers. Only now Trotter tells me that it’s too late to do anything about that and would probably cost too much.
Excuse me? That’s why I brought it up 3 months prior to this. But because Chris Trotter ignored important factors that could help me and my case, I was now unable to use this.
At some point we had also discussed presenting an expert witness who could testify as to the proper use of firearms, what a person with a Concealed Handgun License is trained on, general use of force, and related things. I had suggested we contact some of the people who had actually trained me. They are DPSST (Department of Public Safety Standards and Training) instructors, the same people who train and certify law enforcement, armed and unarmed security, and private detectives. Some of them do civilian based courses in their off time. Since these are the people who actually trained me, I figured they would make for the best expert witnesses.
Christopher Trotter and Jason Short, however, insisted that we use their private detective as the expert witness. This guy, Jason Servo, was a former police officer and former department instructor on firearms and use of force. Trotter and Short ensured me this was the best expert witness for us, because he could rebut any expert testimony that any state witness might provide.
Remember this, it’s important and I’ll address this further as I explain the goings-on during the week of the trial.
The week before the trial started, I had a brief phone call with Jason Short and Chris Trotter. I had expressed my concerns with Trotter’s lack of confidence when addressing the judge. I was told that Short would be the one doing all of the arguing, questioning, and most of the talking during trial, and that Trotter would primarily serve as an extra set of ears and eyes.
Remember this. We’ll revisit this in a follow-up post.