This is Part II of today's LIVE Trial Diary.
As many of you are aware, the trial in the lawsuit filed by Dino Rossi and the Washington State GOP to throw out the election of Gov. Christine Gregoire began this morning.
Pacific NW Portal has all the information you need to brief yourself on the trial.
I will provide updates from the Chelan County courthouse as often as I can from this diary. I am not actually there, but I am watching the trial.
Opening statements have already been presented by the GOP, the Democrats, and the Secretary of State. The court recessed at 11:40 AM for lunch. It is reconvening at 1:00 to move into arguments.
Once again, updates will be posted here. I'm starting over fresh because I don't want the diary to get too long, and this will allow for a new comment thread as well.
[1:00 PM] Court reconvenes. Court to consider an intervening motion from the Democrats.
[1:12 PM] Democratic lawyer Kevin Hamilton says it's "improper" for the GOP to drop fraud claims into the case at this time - they argue it's simply not part of the litigation .... "any reference to fraud has no place in this election contest" "This newfound allegation of suspicious behavior going all the way up to the highest levels of King County has no place in this lawsuit".... Hamilton sits down.
[1:18 PM] Republicans argue this is not a surprise - "It's not perhaps as flashy as the felon vote" ... "The evidence we've gathered over the last few weeks shows serious problems in King County" .... Judge Bridges asks GOP lawyer (I believe it's Mr. Maguire) to be more specific...Maguire brings up discrepancy issue again. The discrepancy issue was shot down a long time ago, but it seems the GOP is going with it anyway. Bridges invites GOP legal team to prepare response to Democrats' motion...
[1:28 PM] Secretary of State: "We're quibbling over the use of the word fraud..." "Our position is the court should allow that in..." Dems' lawyer Hamilton responds, saying Democratic motion does not preclude the GOP from introducing evidence....Hamilton says his motion concerns the allegations of ballot box stuffing and the hint of a conspiracy inside the KC elections division.
[1:34 PM] Judge: "Fraud has never been alleged in this case..." "There's a difference between wrongful conduct, etc....and fraud....there's a different burden of proof with respect to fraud. The court does not believe fraud is a part of this case..." Judge asks GOP lawyer Rob Maguire for response to Democratic motion, Maguire will get it to him by 5:00 PM. Bridges said he would allow the fraud charge for now "so we can move on." But tomorrow he will rule on whether those key pieces of the Republican claim can continue to be part of this case. Hamilton then comes back up to clarify a point and talk about witnesses...
[1:38 PM] GOP lawyer comes back up...it's Foreman. Foreman's talking about how to handle the depositions....the Secretary of State's lawyer [Ahearne] says he wants the entire designations of depositions to be read. Hamilton concurs with Ahearne.
[1:47 PM] Lawyers are now reading from Secretary of State Sam Reed's deposition.
[1:58 PM] Kind of boring...they're just putting Reed's deposition into the record. I'm going to take a break and leave my computer for about fifteen to twenty mintues.
[2:21 PM] Back. I'm now watching the trial on cable, and I've ditched the internet stream. Rossi's attorneys are still reading highlights of Sam Reed's deposition.
[2:46 PM] Still going - so they've been reading depositions for an hour now. Some of this is interesting, some of it isn't. The lawyers are a little monotonous, and that's what really makes it kind of boring.
[2:47 PM] The Court has temporarily recessed for a break.
[2:58 PM] Recess is over. The Court is reconvening. GOP lawyers are going through the deposition once again.
[3:12 PM] Still going over depositions. Just to be clear - Republican attorney Dale Foreman is sitting in the witness box, playing the role of Sam Reed. Attorney Mark Braden is reading the questions that were asked of Reed when he was deposed earlier.
[3:21 PM] Nothing new to report, but it's kind of weird to see the GOP lawyers reading Reed's deposition instead of having Reed actually testify.
[3:40 PM] And....they're still at it. If you're constantly refreshing this diary, you can take a little break...check out some of the other news on Kos, or check out the latest updates from our blog.
[4:06 PM] New lawyers have taken over for the GOP...looks like Maguire and Braden, unless I'm mistaken. They're talking about exhibits now.
[4:25 PM] Democrats are up now - no more deposition reading, at least for now. Looks like attorney Jenny Durkan is asking the questions now.
[4:40 PM] Durkan is still asking questions of Dan Brady, the GOP's first witness - questions about felon voters, how the GOP compiled its lists, etc. The Seattle Times says that Dan Brady is a Republican political consultant and volunteer for the Rossi campaign. For the past three weeks he organized records related to illegal votes and is on the stand only to explain the index of the records that are stored in the basement of the auditorium.
[4:47 PM] Court has recessed for the day.