Defense Requests Deposition from Lead Detective Bryan Waid

Do you remember Bryan Waid? The Defense certainly hasn’t forgotten him.

In the MPD interrogation videos, otherwise known as the  Anacostia Dialogues, MPD Detective Bryan Waid was the most sympathetic of the questioners on the morning of August 3rd.  He allowed long period of silences between his questions to Joe Price; allowing Price to give his unvarnished version of events from the previous evening.

He was not accusatory, the way Detective “Come-to-Jesus” Wagner was, nor was he disbelieving the way Detective Norris was.  Detective Waid went the good guy route;  seeking to get the full version of events according to Price.

On the stand at the criminal trial, Detective Waid was the same calm, reassuring presence, but it was his testimony that was devastating.

He admitted that part of the reason for his nice guy routine was to maintain a relationship with the defendants so that he would be able to follow up and ask additional questions as the investigation unfolded. He recounted how the backyard where the unknown intruder would have scaled the 9-foot retaining fence, only to land in a raised wall of garden plants was completely untouched.  He noticed how the heavy pollen on top of the fence was completely undisturbed, and the spider webs on the branches of the trees were unbroken.

All of this testimony, along with photographs taken that night, satisfied Judge Lynn Leibowitz enough to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that an unknown intruder did not enter the home at 1509 Swann Street the night of Robert Wone’s murder.

Maybe this is why the Defense in the civil suit wants to get in touch with Detective Waid again.  Read more »

What Are We Not Asking That We Should?

If there was a list of people you might not expect to turn up on this site, Donald Rumsfeld might be near the top. We expect he would be just as surprised to pop up here as well.

But the former Secretary of Defense, now author, is back in the spotlight as he flogs his memoir “Known and Unknown.”  And it’s that famous quote that inspired the title that has got us thinking anew about how we look at solving this case.

Among his many contributions to history, it may be something Donald Rumsfeld said – not did – that will be most cited.  Speaking at a press briefing on Iraqi WMD on Feb. 12, 2002, Secretary Rumsfeld said this:
“There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that we now know we don’t know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know.”
What this zen koan meant in the context of Iraq is still unclear – with the possible exception of Mr. Rumsfeld’s mind.  But like any piece of poetry, it raises a challenge in a different context – that of Robert Wone’s murder.  Namely: what don’t we know that we don’t know? Read more »

January Hymn:  The Status Hearing Transcript 

The final exhibit attached to the Plaintiff Motion to Compel is the transcript from the December 8 status hearing, the last that Judge Brook Hedge was to preside over before she turned the reins and gavel over to her colleague Michael Rankin.

Those attending the proceding will remember the day, unseasonably cold weather and long, long lines to get into the Moultrie Courthouse.  The near hour-long wait delayed the start of the hearing because counsel themselves were on line waiting to get through the security checkpoints and mags.

The hearing itself lasted exacly one hour, but the agenda was packed and the arguments heated.  Debated were the gag order, defense motions to dismiss counts of the complaint, and finally, the Plaintiff Motion to Compel deposition testimony. 

We left Moultrie thinking that all those issues were squared away.  Only this week did we learn that there has been more defendant depo hanky-panky, according to Team Covington.

The transcript that follows is a good read and showcases the talents and strengths of the many attorneys on the case: Covington’s Razi, familiar face Robert Spagnoletti, the new guy on the Ward team, Ralph Spooner, and the trio of Bret Buckwalter, Frank Daly and Sean Edwards for defendants Victor Zaborsky and Joe Price.   Also on hand that day was Chip English who argued on behalf of the Media Intervenors, of which we were a party to – or more accurately, the instigator.

The sixty-page read also gives readers the chance to see just how good (or bad) we are taking notes and getting quotes at these hearings.  Readers will also note far more misspellings and typos in the official transcript than seen here on any given day:  Mr. Ravi , just to name a couple. 

And there are no electronic records of DC Court proceedings why exactly?  Oh yeah, the official reporters (a DC Courts sanctioned, for-profit monopoly) has it covered. 

Read more »

What We Have Here, is a Failure to Communicate

Wasn’t it just the other day that we remarked how slow the paper chase in the Wone case was going?  

There had been no new filings since early December, and little or no activity according to the Court database. 

Late yesterday afternoon, a four page filing trickled in.  OK, we have a little post for Tuesday, we thought. 

Then a few minutes later, another filing came in.  That one tipped the scales at 150 pages.  So today’s post won’t be that little after all.

Read more »

Judge Brook Hedge’s Lasting Legacy?

Our jobs just got a little bit easier. 

In fact, anyone in DC or beyond who wants to track the paper chase of either Superior Court criminal or civil cases, has a better tool to do so. Unveiled recently is a new and improved, lickety-split improvement to the online database of DC cases.  Huzzah, Huzzah!

While the old system was serviceable, downtime and slow response hampered the search functions and results.  Kiss those days goodbye and say hello to the Information Age. 

The interface is much more user-friendly and the speed of the search results are vastly improved.

Read more »

Is long term memory really just a figment of the imagination?

Diane Ward was the only family member of the defendants to take the stand during the criminal trial last summer. 

Dylan’s mother testified on the provenance of the “missing knife”, i.e., the knife that would have occupied the empty slot in the cutlery set box found in Dylan Ward’s bedroom.

There had been intense speculation regarding the whereabouts of the knife, given Dylan’s formal culinary education, and that the box was found stored in his bedroom, rather than more logically deployed as a utensil in the Swann Street kitchen.

Discussions with many courtroom observers elicited the response that Mrs. Ward was lying on the stand. Her testimony, tone, body language, etc., were in keeping with a mother trying to protect one of her offspring. 

 Her nervousness and weeping were completely understandable but many felt they had an air of theatrics. After all, her testimony could infuse additional doubt and keep her son free.

In looking at that sad day, a mother on the stand testifying on behalf of a son now publicly acknowledged as a “masseur” who dabbled in sadomasochism, perhaps the testimony was not false, but merely a mental fabrication of memories associated with the knife.

Read more »

Could A Black-Out Spell Out Dylan Ward’s Where Abouts?

During the 2004 Presidential Campaign, CBS News ran a story critical of President George W. Bush’s service in the Air National Guard. Right-leaning political bloggers immediately raised questions about the authenticity of the documents.

They argued that the documents were more than likely forgeries because the typography used was not available in the late 1960s, the time when the documents would have been created.  The story highlighted the clash between old and new media. In the end old media took a hit as long-time CBS anchor Dan Rather resigned, while new media bloggers earned new found respect.

Ripping a page from this playbook, WMRW sought to answer a question about where defendant Dylan Ward is currently living.

While we didn’t need to go to the lengths that those bloggers did in 2004, we did apply the same rigorous standards. What we found wasn’t a total surprise. More importantly though, if our calculations hold up, it could answer a few questions about state of the relationship between the defendants as they head towards the civil trial.

What did we learn?

Read more »