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Heather Ellis speaks with members of the media following day one of her trial.
Photo provided |
The second day of the State of Missouri vs. Heather Ellis trial resumed this morning at 8:30 a.m., with the jury hearing testimonies from 12 different individuals.
Heather Ellis is accused of four charges, two of assault to an officer of the law, one resisting arrest, and one peace disturbance, in connection with the incident that occurred at Walmart on January 6, 2007.
Betsy Walls, the store cashier involved with the incident, was first to testify on behalf of the state, represented by Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle, of Cape Girardeau County. Walls noted in her testimony that Ellis arrived on the scene pushing another customer's items back on the conveyer belt to make room for her own items ahead of the customer's.
Walls also noted that she attempted to continue doing her job of running the cashier while waiting for management and security to handle Ellis, who reportedly became "beligerant," and "out of control."
In response to Walls' statement, Defense Attorney Scott Rosenblum asked if at any point the cashier tried to resolve the issue by asking others what had occurred, to which Walls replied, "No."
The second testimony of the day came from another Walmart employee, Assistant Manager, Kay McDaniel.
McDaniel explained in her testimony that when she arrived on the scene Ellis was upset. She noted that she asked Ellis to move to the back of the line, or to exit the store. The defense asked McDaniel if she at any time tried to correct the problems or listen to Ellis' side of the story, to which McDaniel replied, "No."
Others providing testimonies during the day included, Walmart ICS Team Leader, Loretta Cunningham, Walmart CSM, Linda Maddox, Walmart Cashier, Robin Flood, Former Kennett police officer, Al Fisher, Sgt. Joe Stewart of the Kennett Police Department, Officer Phillip Caldwell of the Kennett Police Department, Officer Alan Campbell of the Kennett Police Department, Cpl. Craig Moody of the Kennett Police Department, Witness Brandon Elliott, and Witness Ashley Elliott.
The defense worked to disprove credibility of the witnesses by asking each witness to inform the jury that they had met as a group several times with Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney, Stephen Sokoloff.
Also during the trial, the jury was able to review a surveillance tape provided by Walmart, that the prosecution noted clearly shows Ellis pushing another customer's merchandise back.
Review this video below.
A further detailed report regarding the testimonies heard on Thursday will be printed in the Daily Dunklin Democrat tomorrow and posted online.
The trial will resume at 9 a.m., Friday, at the Dunklin County Courthouse.
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please
She must have jumped in front of several people because the cashier started taking care of another person after the Kinder lady. All this trouble for a box of cookies and a bottle of orange juice.
That first transaction would have been quicker if the cashier didn't have a price check on one item.
It did appear like an "army" of cops did come in though. But you know if they have backup available, use it. Because you never know what kind of situation you will come in to.
Note to KPD...Get your officers on some weight training programs.
Another thing, the defense asked the manager if she tried to correct the problem or ask for Ellis' side of the story. Common sense tells you that to correct the problem, you would have to teach Ellis what good manners and common decency is. And that is probably something she will never learn.
She does not need 15 years but she does not need off the hook on the race card either. She behaved BADLY and then chose to escalate the situation by not stepping back into the position she was in. Now look where she is....
You can read the Dexter paper now and read the entire transcript...very tiring to say the least. This spoiled child needs a trip to the wood shed...and she needs to apologize to all involved.
After watching the video I have decided the cashier is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Should have stopped everything and closed the register. Good old Walmart management is the same there as here....open only a very small number of registers...no respect for customers' time. Must be corporate policy out of Bentonville.
As soon as Ellis walked up and shoved the other cutomer's itmes out of the way the cashier should have stopped all transactions and called management. Another register should have immediately been opened and those customers in line should have been quickly moved over, in the same order. Ibet Ellis would have followed them and tried to get up front again....
I would have liked to have been there to see her demeanor. Also sounds like the manager needs to be a little more forceful in dealing with unruly customers. Hire a retired Marine to YELL at people. :-)
I would like to suggest that if you are a person who prays that you remember to say a prayer for our community that absolutely no one gets hurt in any way, no matter what happens in this case.
I would also like to suggest that we all take a look at some of the cases of crimes against children that we are seeing in the news right now. While we quibble over this Heather Ellis nonsense, little children are being forced into pornography, prostsitution, and countless other unimaginable atrocities.
I'll bet if we put as much energy as we have into the Heather Ellis case into passing a law that says automatic life in prison if you make child pornography, we could get that law passed!
If you think children aren't being sexually abused right here in our community, then I am here to tell you that you are wrong.
a older gentleman told me one time to judge nothing until you see the end result and then judge it fairly. as i have stated, more power to
her if she is right, but if she is wrong, then she
should have to apolize to all involved and to her
race. These kind of situations keeps the races from truly coming together. She should also have to pay for all the expenses that the tax payers of missouri will have to pay for
extra security involved. Also her dad and the
others should think about their involment in this
matter and bringing God and religion in to play,to
try and sway the public. To the out of state people involved, stay at home and take care of your own problems pro and con.
you know, I think people would think more of this crazy, got to prove a point, racist, black gal if she would just have the nerve to get up and make her apologies from the very beginning. Now she is letting the world know what her character is....as if we didn't know already. I believe in family support but wrong is wrong. I would hang my head in shame if one of my adult children acted the way she has for all the world to see.
It is plain as day, the Ellis woman just rakes her arm back with stuff, and it is obvious, this is not about black or white, its about Behavior. Such a shame our town is going through this before the Thanksgiving Holiday and Christmas. Her attorney's pictures on the internet make him look like he is crosseyed. Is he?
I grew up in Kennett and came back to live after being away for almost thirty years. Well, I'm gone again, nothing has changed. There are some racist people in my hometown, but that's not why I left again because there are some here also!! But I do know that as long as we use the law to serve and protect, we should not use it to destroy. All parties involved could have, should have made better choices in their responses to each other. They are all wrong including you blogers with your let's get out the "Ole rope" and hang'em high......I love K-Town and most of the people are the best, let this cause us to respond better to each other.
HatinNorCal & Missn "Tha Dusty K"
Heather, it appears you are in trouble, but not for long since you don't already have a record. You did in fact commit assault twice on a police officer(s); you did in fact resist arrest, and you did in fact disturbed the peace.
You are the one on trial and will pay the price but, in fairness to you though, the clerk exacerbated the problem and you fell into her trap. Rather than just checking you out after the first person, you didn't, then you continued to check out other people, further making H. Ellis irate. Does your conscience bother you, or do you feel good at causing this small problem to balloon out of proportion? A good clerk would have checked her out after the first person, IF FOR NO OTHER REASON than to get her out of the store. You put Walmart customers lives in danger by playing your game of "I'm not going to check you out because I don't like you". Some black people carry guns or knives, or stun guns. Why did you exacerbate the problem?
Hlovejoy - you are so right, my heart breaks for little Shaniya and other children in the news. RIP Shaniya, a lot of people love you and hope you are having fun everyday in heaven playing with your new friends and GOD watching you.
Only 100 people showed up at her protest, so I hardly think there would be a big outcry if she is convicted and sentenced some paltry amount. There just might be a mistrial because someone decides to hold out for her, but it will just mean another costly trial. And I don't think White residents are interested in burning down their city if there's a mistrial. 100 people at a protest shows she has minute support for a ridiculous cause. Having Trial Attorney Rosenblum is analogous to using a Fire Dept heavy duty water hose on a contained candle burning.
I'm curious to see how that Bible goes down without no grease on it.
Hello Kennett, I see mop head took a plea deal. In my opionion all of this could have been avoided, if the father (Rev) had been a man and took the time to put is house in order, inlieu of allowing the women run it. As I recall, the bootheel has always been a family area and what I mean by this, if the the father had knocked some sense into his daughter, 2-3 years ago, he could have worked out a deal with the city/DA and this nonsense would have never been heard of. The NAACP and the lawyer could have been out there saving someone whom really need saving, like the 12 young boys they have in jail (Kennett) facing life for robbery. This lady has brought shame to the area, and yes once again there are some racial issues there, but there are also alot of lazy idiots there also. As someone mentioned in an earlier post the children need our prayers/love/supervison and attention. There was no same reason for what the little Shaniya went through may God be with here where ever she might be. In closing, Kennett PD there is no reason int the world for you to allow those two obese cops to represent your town, that in itself is an embarrassment, think our the medical problems/financial they will cause the city.
More details in this article:
http://www.dailystatesman.com/story/1588...
Lt Jim Dangle - in the Daily Statesman article ( Dexter, MO newspaper) it lists every question asked and every answer by the witnesses. I thought Heather Ellis was totally at fault, but when you read this article you see that the clerk exacerbated the problem(s) by continuing TO NOT HELP Heather Ellis. I think she wanted to teach her a lesson, so she continued to press the conveyer belt and bring products forward, and continued to help everyone but Ellis. The clerk was not as innocent as was portrayed in all the articles. Because she (clerk) wasn't the one on trial, but she clearly exacted her revenge, and Ellis fell into the trap, and got louder, and madder. Quite vindictive and mean if you ask me. There are lots of MEAN white girls. She's (clerk) an adult but didn't totally act like one, and in turn put people's lives at risk. It goes to show we have to hear it from the horse's mouth, and get all the facts. Most of the articles have only told us what Heather Ellis did, but not what was happening to her to cause the CONTINUED DISRUPTION.
Where is Jethro Jackson or Al Sharpton at. They seemed to love this maljustice. Most of these black women, they will try to get over on you. Remember the duke lacross case.
Well just who is paying for all this trouble . Is this coming out of the tax payers pocket.