In this trial and at Kott's, we were told that his thinking is still clear, but he has trouble putting his thoughts into words at times. He did well for much of the testimony, but there were times with both the prosecutor and the defense attorney where he just wasn't processing. He's also wearing head phones to help him hear.
On a several occasions he wouldn't surrender to the defense attorney's line of reasoning. When Browne was trying to get Allen to admit that except for one occasion, no one else saw him give money to Vic Kohring.
Browne:The only evidence we have besides your word is the video interception where you are giving him money and you are talking about Easter eggs. Beyond that we have no evidence except what you said.At times when Allen didn't seem to be able to process what was going on, or at least couldn't articulate what he was thinking, it was like trying to reason with a small child, and Browne's voice got louder and sounded more irritated when Allen didn't answer his question at all or in ways that showed he wasn't processing.
BA: That’s not true, Rick Smith knew it.
B: I’m not talking about Rick Smith. Is there any other evidence other than your word?
BA: Rick Smith knew when I was going to do it a couple of times.
Overall, I think the prosecution gained back some ground they lost yesterday. Sullivan wrapped up the questioning of Rick Smith and then Joseph Bottini took over when Allen took the witness stand. In some ways this was a repeat performance - the discussion of Allen's background that's in the previous post was very close to what was said in the Kott trail.
The prosecution scored points when they asked Allen about how close his friendship with Kohring was. A big point has been made that there was a bond between the two because they both were with Russian women - Kohring's wife and Allen's then girlfriend. Another link was that they both had daughters. But today Allen said he had never met Kohring's wife and that Kohring had never met his Russian girlfriend. And that the girlfriend had no children. There was other testimony that would indicate the relationship was less social than business. [jb is Joe Bottini, the prosecutor, BA is Bill Allen]
JB: When you socialize with VK. what did you do?
BA: He’d call me on the phone. I seen him a lot in Juneau.
JB Go to dinner?
BA: Yeah
JB: Who paid?
BA I did
JB: Ever met his wife?
BA No
JB: Step daugher?
BA: No
JB: Ever have a girlfriend from Russia? Way back. Kohring ever met her? NO Did Rita have a daughter? No, she doesn’t have any kids.
BA: Recall VK calling you at home?
BA: No, but at my office
JB: Know where he lived? No
But probably the biggest impact was the showing of the video tape of Bill Allen taking bills out of his pocket and handing them over to Vic Kohring. Bottini had requested permission to show the clip and Browne didn't object. You can see the tape the clip is from at ADN [at the site click on "FBI surveillance video: Vic Kohring" then go to Trial Exhibit 11: March 30, 2006. Move the bar to about 3:07:00 where they talk about Easter eggs]
[You can fast forward that little button just below the picture - it's right above the timer and sound icon above. Or you can listen to it all. It begins with Kohring talking about how he owes $17000 on his credit cards and he needs some help.]More thoughts later, but want to get something out fairly quickly.
I just read today's paper.
ReplyDeleteBrowne also lost some supporters for Vic when he confiscated the paper that Allen had and then later showed it to reporters. How did that become Browne's & Kohring's property? The judge really needs to slap a gag order on that man and keep it on him till he turns blue and passes out and we send him back to Washington. What a jerk!
I'd been hoping to see Vic get off, and I already didn't like Allen, but I don't like bullying tactics from either side, and showing the paper to the press was uncalled for.
Browne has been very friendly to the press from day 1. He gives a big smile and nod each time he passes. Lisa Demer is doing a piece on him. She asked me if I'd talk about him and I replied I'd said enough on my blog. I try to keep my comments grounded in what I see. I do speculate now and then, but still try to link speculation with actions I've actually seen and be clear it is only speculation.
ReplyDeleteBrowne and Demer were talking about buying suits and Browne's being in a band after the trial Friday pm. Jimi Hendrix came up in the conversation.
I've been reflecting on, but am not ready yet to write about, how things change when you start talking to the people you are writing about. You certainly get more information, but it also seems to affect what I actually say. I haven't been doing this long enough to know for sure, so I'm still thinking about it.
But in Browne's defense, he has to do what he can to get his client off. It was up to the prosecution and the judge to stop him from taking Allen's crib notes.
And he has to risk the jury's feeling that he's bullying an old man with a head injury.
Thanks for your comment.
Will Vic Kohring testify?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that guys like Browne and Allen are sociopathic? I saw Allen as just using people. I don't know if he's nice-- he's a Christmas present with strings attached.
ReplyDeleteBrowne getting chatty with Lisa-- did you see the article she wrote about him? I'm not sure if it's good or bad. I envy his wife as if his chutzpah indicates anything about his anatomy, he's either hung like a freaking horse or making up for a lack of it! He would have been using her-- he couldn't really LIKE her after so short a time.
He does have an obligation to get his client off if he can.
Please at some point tell me how things change once you start talking to someone. I am taking a journalism class and would appreciate learning how you feel on this!
My wife and I were watching some of the FBI clips and she mentioned that it reminded her of the Godfather movie when people would ask the Godfather for favors. (Kohring and Allen)
ReplyDeleteI hadn't noticed but it does. She's a lot smarter than I am.
cb
Anon, Will Vic testify? If he does, he would have to answer a lot of questions from the prosecutors, like, "Did Allen give you cash on all these other occasions that we don't have on tape, but he says he did?" (Well that would be six or seven progressive questions.) If he says yes, he's confirmed what now they only have Allen's word on. If he says no, the jury has to decide why Allen would have lied about this and which one is telling the truth. Now, if the defense attorney can get him to say no in a very convincing way, maybe he would. Kohring's good friend Fred James who is part of the the USAvKohring blog was a potential witness, but they've decided he is not going to testify. You might go to that blog and ask Fred this question. He's close to Kohring.
ReplyDeleteTea, I finally just read the Browne article. Thankfully, Lisa had enough without quoting my comments about Eddie Haskell as she suggested she might. What she writes feels consistent with the man I've seen in court. She left out the part where he said he can't wear expensive suits in court because he sweats through them too fast. OK, this probably falls in the gossip category, except that he volunteered it on the record. Maybe it gives a clue to understanding him - why does he sweat? Why would he share the fact to a journalist?
I will talk about how getting to know the people you write about affects what you write when I figure it out. Well, with that condition I would never write it. I'll give you my thoughts on this, probably when the trial is over. It was an interesting week for me on this topic.
CB (thanks for being more than anonymous) I made reference to this mob like factor in a post during the Kott trial. I was speculating that Allen works with a different set of cultural values than the rule of law:
"We've watched this tribal culture on HBO - in the Sopranos and in Rome."
Yes, you better listen to your wife if she was able to pick it up from the brief clips.
Tea, I forgot the question about sociopaths. Sociopaths don't feel anything for other people and Allen certainly does have feelings and does care about other people. He just plays by different rules. See that link in the previous comment for a more likely explanation.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I found the book Without Conscience by William Hare to be a very enlightening book on psychopathy.