Ish trial – one juror dismissed, courtroom empties early in week 2

Update 4/25/17 – It was the shortest day yet of the Martin Edmo Ish murder trial, as the day came to a halt before the lunch hour on Tuesday.

The defense is calling one more witness to the stand who will be flying into town later Tuesday night, so the court decided to take a recess until Wednesday morning.

The day’s trial started with officer Michael Ballard, who took photos the night of the crime. He was questioned on the lighting of the photos as compared to the time of night the incident happened.

A similar situation played-out early in the trial when the prosecution called crime scene technician Aida Carrillo to the stand this past week. She had taken photos of the inside of Duffy’s Tavern years later after the incident occurred.

The defense argued the photos didn’t accurately depict the proper lighting potential witnesses would have experienced that night, if compared to these photos during their testimonies since the photos were taken during the day, after several minor cosmetic changes happened inside the bar.

The state argued the purpose of Carrillo’s photos were solely to just set the scene by showing the layout of the bar.

On Tuesday afternoon, Charles Tademy took the stand for the second time (this time, he refrained from bowing to the judge).

According to witnesses who testified in days prior, Ish walked from Duffy’s to Tademy’s home near Quinn Rd to ask for a ride home.

Tademy said Ish was at his home for roughly half an hour before he drove him back to Ish’s mother’s home in Fort Hall where he was staying that that time.

He told the defense he didn’t notice any blood on his clothes or shoes, nor any cuts on his hands. When cross-examined, he said he didn’t notice it since he wasn’t looking for it in the first place.

On Monday morning, the sixth day of the murder trial of Eugene Lorne Red Elk began with one less juror.

The judge said there was a medical emergency over the weekend, causing the dismissal of Juror 13. Now, the jury is down to only 13 people.

The trial began with Martin Edmo Ish’s cousin, Jennifer Teton, who took the stand to testify against him.

She told the jury she went to her aunt’s home the morning after the alleged crime took place to bring her the paper and to have their morning coffee together.

She said Ish was there at his mother’s home and told Teton the events that unfolded the night before.

“He told me he ‘blasted’ Red Elk when he followed him out of the bar that night,” Teton said. “He told me he saw Red Elk just laying there, making a gurgling sound and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”

She said he appeared agitated that morning and kept cleaning off his shoes saying, “(Expletive), look what he did to my shoes. He got blood all over my shoes,” Teton added.

When questioned, Teton said she did not go to police in 2009 after hearing his testimony to her because she was not sure how many other people he told about this, and was afraid he would know it was her who went to police.

She did not say why she was compelled to go to police years later when she did in 2015, three years after the case went cold.

Mid-morning Monday the defense was allowed to present its case for the first time since the trial started one week ago.

The defense called Sgt. Trent Whitney to the stand who was an officer with the Pocatello Police Department and responded to the scene that rainy night of June 17, 2009.

Whitney said when he pulled up, he heard former witness Heather Davis sobbing loudly across the street at the Faun Apartments.

He said he interviewed her in his car, where she told him she saw a man who was tall, thin, wearing a black do-rag on his head and was somewhere between his late 20s and early 30s. She told him she had spoken to him earlier that day when she saw him lurking around that area.

Neighbors told Whitney the only man who fits that description who visits the complex is a man by the name of Ron Bailey.

Whitney said he paid a visit to Bailey three days later on June 17th where Bailey said his brother heard what happened to Red Elk on the news and called him to warn him.

The defense attorneys said they will try to prove a motive behind why Bailey’s brother needed to warn him of what he saw on the news, and said they believe the two brothers had something to do with the crime.

However, the defense said Bailey is unavailable since he’s currently serving time in a federal prison in Oregon.

Stay updated via Twitter during the trial: @KaitlinLoukides