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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Laurel Leader-Call has published a video of the opening statements, (Delivered earlier today: June 6, 2023); Thank you Leader-Call! It's so rare to see such comprehensive trial reporting. You've taken us right into the courtroom for this important procedure. From what I've seen so far, the video is utterly engrossing. HL)
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This trial looks to be of significant interest to the readers of this Blog. (I have no inside knowledge of the case - just a hunch that there will be much grist for our mill.) So I will be dropping in on the case from time to time. Keep an eye on the The Laurel Leader-Call at the link below.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Gardner and Stringer were arrested in December 2021 and both eventually posted $500,000 bond and were released from the Jones County Adult Detention Center. They were believed to be the first local capital-murder suspects to bond out of jail while awaiting trial, then-District Attorney Tony Buckley said at the time. The defendants were charged in the October 2019 death of 6-month-old Rosalee. The infant’s father was a foreign-exchange student from Germany. Gardner and Stringer now have a baby together. The arrest took more than two years because investigators had to wait on medical evidence from the crime lab, they explained at the time. The manner of death was “homicide,” according to the medical examiner’s autopsy results, and the cause of death was “blunt-force trauma.” Gardner and Stringer were the only people in the home with the baby at the time of her death, and their explanation of what happened “was not possible,” Martin said at the time of the arrest."
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GIST: "Jurors have been selected in Neshoba County and they will hear opening statements from attorneys on Tuesday morning in the Jones County capital murder trial of Brandon Gardner and Brooke Stringer, who are charged in the 2019 death of her baby Rosalee.
Jury selection took most of Monday before the 16 jurors — four of whom are alternates — were empaneled just before 4:30 p.m. The trial is expected to take two weeks, so there are four alternate jurors instead of the usual one or two. The makeup of the jury is six white men, four white women, one black woman and one Choctaw man. Alternates are two white men, one black man and one white woman.
Gardner and Stringer each have new attorneys who have joined the defense team in the days leading up to the trial. Christopher Collins of Philadelphia is co-counsel with Marcus Evans of Waynesboro in defense of Gardner while Jansen Owen of Poplarville is at the table with Tangi Carter of Hattiesburg on behalf of Stringer. Collins served a term as circuit court judge in the district that includes Neshoba County before returning to private practice as a criminal defense attorney in 2020. Owen is a Hattiesburg native who is a Republican state representative — the youngest in the state Legislature, at 29.
Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Martin and Katie Sumrall are prosecuting the case. They are expected to call the first of 15 to 16 witnesses on Tuesday morning, including medical personnel from South Central Regional Medical Center and the University of Mississippi Medical Center and investigators from the Jones County Sheriff’s Department. Testimony is expected to last all week. The defense has eight to 10 witnesses, including its own medical experts, and is expected to begin making its case next week.
The Jones County Circuit Court case was moved to Neshoba after defense attorneys asked for a change of venue because of pre-trial publicity, and Judge Dal Williamson granted their motion.
Gardner and Stringer were arrested in December 2021 and both eventually posted $500,000 bond and were released from the Jones County Adult Detention Center. They were believed to be the first local capital-murder suspects to bond out of jail while awaiting trial, then-District Attorney Tony Buckley said at the time.
The defendants were charged in the October 2019 death of 6-month-old Rosalee. The infant’s father was a foreign-exchange student from Germany. Gardner and Stringer now have a baby together.
The arrest took more than two years because investigators had to wait on medical evidence from the crime lab, they explained at the time. The manner of death was “homicide,” according to the medical examiner’s autopsy results, and the cause of death was “blunt-force trauma.”
Gardner and Stringer were the only people in the home with the baby at the time of her death, and their explanation of what happened “was not possible,” Martin said at the time of the arrest.
The defendants were charged with capital murder because there was an underlying felony — child abuse. If convicted, they could face life in prison. The DA’s office is not seeking the death penalty."
The entire story can be read at:
