The Trial

This is a continuation from a Facebook post yesterday.  Part 2 lent itself to a blog, instead of a Facebook status update.

Post and comments:

Marie Andrus Dalling

18 hours ago

CSI crime scene, or a qrt of plum syrup thrown down the stairs by a one yr old boy? You decide!! To be continued....

 

• Kaye Womack, Joseph Andrus, Jeanette Leishman and 17 others like this.
• Tricia Aubrey Crime scene? Can't wait for part two.
• Wendy Hill Randolph Just in time for Halloween. Great decorating! ;)
• Joanna-Shane Wasden Oh man....what ever happened I'm sure it will be fun to clean up! Good luck.
• David N Lloyd Carpet cleaning companies can do amazing things now. If it does not come out you can even color carpet or replace or put a new area rug in place
• Erin Harbertson Gappmayer Oh wow. I feel your pain though. My 19 month old is barely staying alive right now. :)
• Sarah Clark Haha are you saying it will turn into a crime scene haha
• David Jolley I would vote for a 1 yr old boy throwing syrup down the stairs.
• Luella Peterson Uh oh!! And plumb syrup?! May I have the recipe?
• Brent Andrus My client (baby Justin) will not be taking any questions at this time. And he resents this online attempt to convict him in the court of public opinion with nothing but mere conjecture.
• Sarah Clark Haha nice Brent!!
• Malinda Marley Phillips Wow. O_o
• Amy Bailey oh Marie!!
• Mandi Isom Oh my!!
• Jan Woodward Oh man!
• Suzy Wanner Lloyd Boys are the best! Wow!
• Andrea Holmquist I'm going with CSI. I want detailed updates.

 

 

Part 2

Verdict:  Guilty

The perpetrator (Justin Milo Dalling, a.k.a. Baby Justin), was found guilty by the court despite being represented by the best lawyer family relations can buy, Brent Lloyd Andrus.  And despite looking so innocent:

 

The evidence was incriminating. 

 

The forensics team found a high velocity splatter:

 

 

The direction, height, and location of said splatter on the basement wall led the team to deduce that the position of the perp was at the top of the stairs:

 Our team canvased the area and found a couple of witness that supported the team's deduction.  Their testimony against the perpetrator was quite definitive and unanimous.

 

Witness #1:

Pumpkin man hanging on doorknob at top of stairs:

 

 

 Witness #2:

Mr. Lambert.  A bit of a stuffed shirt, but finally cooperated with authorities under the agreement that he would be put  in witness protection services:

 

There were, unfortunately, two casualties:

 

 Victim #1:

Eunice the Unicorn.  Death by glass shard to the horn:

 

 

(yes, we see the absence of gloves on one of the members of our team.  Discipline measures have been taken.  If the Italians can contaminate evidence and get away with it, so can we)

 

 

Victim #2

Tim the Tiger.  Death by rear impact.   Upon further investigation by our medical officer, Mr. Tiger had a huge hole in his rear end.  The Defense insisted that Mr. Tiger had this hole prior to the incident.  That he is, in fact, a puppet, and the puppeteer's hand must enter in by way of this hole.  But this was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

After a long trial and debate, as stated before, the defendant was found guilty.  He was never actually called to the stand, since he can't speak yet.  Words like "Da-da" did not help the Defense team plead his case.  Some thought he might be saying his Dad had committed the crime.  However, such notions were found invalid, since said Father was, at the time of the crime, at work in his clinic in Idaho Falls.  His secretary and patients were strong alibis.

Another point of the defense was the improbability that Baby Justin could lift a full quart of plum syrup.  That point was counteracted by the prosecution, noting that a boy that can lift his own weight to climb on things, could surely lift a full quart bottle.  See evidence photo:

 

 

In the end, Baby Justin was convicted to a life sentence of community service to the Dalling Family:

 

 Good behavior might earn Baby Justin some leniencies.  Perhaps he can drive by the age of 18, and date by the age of 20.

 

 

Behind the scenes update:

I am surprised at how well the stain came up, especially since I couldn't get to it until at least a half hour after it happened.  Of course I'm trying to potty-train Valerie this week, and of course she was peeing right when this occurred (yeah, she was 1 for 7 in the toilet yesterday):

 

 

 So I dealt with her, and then I had to put Baby Justin down for a nap, because he wanted to help me clean it up, glass shards and all.  After picking up all the big pieces of glass, I scooped up what I could with a spoon, then wiped/scrubbed with a wash cloth.  Then I realized I had to bring in the big guns, and went to Broulim's to rent the Rug doctor carpet cleaner.  I had to do quite a few sweeps with the machine, at an inch a second.  But it actually got most of it up.  Then some more spot spraying and scrubbing with a brush.  I finally finished when Jason got home at 9:45 pm last night. You can still see a little bit of the stain left, but let's be honest, it wasn't pretty carpet before:

 

 

 The splatter was 15 ft. long!  And 12 ft across in some spots.   We measured (the convicted and I):

 

 

 In retrospect, I guess it was good that Jason didn't let me get rid of the horrible blue carpet before we moved in.  At this rate, we should get new carpet just before we move....:)