Dan Markel's Neighbor Says He Witnessed His Murder | Dentist Mastermind Trial

do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth yes you may take your seat please speak loudly and clearly you can adjust the microphone if you need to good morning Mr guer good morning please spell your name for the court reporter first name James j m e s middle initial W last name guer GE g r Mr guer do you live here in Tallahassee yes I do where do you live I live on trescott Drive in Tallahassee how long have you been living on trescot Drive I think it's about 45 years now judge without objection I'll move into evidence States one States one is admitted permission to publish by way of the laptop you may okay did you used to have a neighbor by the name of Dan marel yes when was that well um restate the question when when did Mr marel live next door to you oh well it was uh he died nine years ago and he had been there about five years before that all right and where in relation to your home did Mr Markel live uh he was my next door neighbor all right so if we're looking at this Photograph right here which one is your home uh the one on the right is my home the one on the left was Danny's all right so that driveway there with the vehicle in the driveway is that would that have been Mr marquel's driveway yes it would okay can you tell us about something that occurred um back on July 18th of 2014 um on that morning um my wife and I were sitting in our living room which looks out over trescot drive here and um we were working with an iPad on a couch and we heard a a noise a loud bang uh we weren't sure what it was and I quickly got up to see what might have caused that noise and um there had been at the time some burglaries in the area and I was concerned that perhaps uh that had been a burglary attempt and so as I approached we have a large window looking out on the street and as I got to the window uh I looked to the left and to the right because I wasn't sure whether the noise came from but on my right uh as I looked out I saw a car uh quickly back up out of the driveway uh and then head towards bton Road very rapidly um let me interrupt you for just a moment judge if there's no objection I'd like to introduce States two and three at this time no objection States two and three this time I publish two please okay so is this the view you had from your window looking out toward Mr marquel's Drive yes that's correct and you say you saw a vehicle backing up out of his driveway yes what type of vehicle was it well it uh I caught it out of the corner of my eye so it was not I didn't uh look at it real hard but it looked like a Prius to me looked like a silver or white colored Prius anything about the way it backed out did it do that normally or something it just went very quickly and that's what caught my attention all right which way did it go after it backed out of the drive there as as it backed out of the driveway uh it headed uh to the right uh which was towards Betton Road all right were you able to see the occupants of the vehicle no I couldn't see any inside did you do anything to further investigate the situation could we publish three please well as I said I had uh I was concerned that we we had heard that there would had been some burglaries in the area and so I thought that I would walk next door to see if that might have been what happened and uh as I uh approached uh Danny's house I noticed that the garage door was up and his car was in the garage and it was running and so I stopped then almost as I got to the garage and I thought well so much for a burglary if he's getting ready to leave it wasn't anything like that and so there must not be a problem and I turned around and went back to my house at that point all right what about once you got back inside the house did you do anything else yeah I I as I got back in I kind of stood right at this window and why I'm not sure but uh I just thought I would stand there for a minute or two and wait for him to go ahead and back out and leave uh and uh after maybe three or four or five minutes he hadn't backed out yet and I said to my wife I said something seems wrong to me I don't know what it is uh Danny hadn't left yet uh I think I'm going to walk back over there and check things out and so that's what I did was to walk back over again what happened when you got over there well as I got back over the garage door was still up the car was still in the garage it was still running and I thought perhaps then that maybe he was on a phone and was simply staying there while he was had his phone conversation but again I just wasn't quite sure and I said to myself well I'm going to walk on into the garage and make sure everything's okay and Mr that's what I did in the five years or so that you'd live next door to Mr marel had you ever had an occasion to go over there and check on him before no so he probably sat in his driveway talking on the phone before right he may have I don't know he was in the garage this time I wouldn't have known if he was there or not all right but for whatever reason the hairs on the back of your neck stood up this time I don't know that they stood up but there was just something that said I need to check it out all right so what happened when you got over there well I I as I said I decided I'd walk on into the garage I felt a little awkward doing that uh but I walked on in and uh I looked at the driver's side window and it was busted out uh and I at that point I I recalled stepping on glass uh and as I looked in then I could see a man's head uh was Bloody uh and it was looking through part of the glass was still there from the driver's side window and but part of it was blown out and I looked inside and I I I saw a head it was bloody and it was moving back and forth slowly mhm and was it Mr marel inside the car yeah and I said Danny what happened and there was no response just that slow slow moving back and forth and I hollered out again Danny Danny what happened and there was still nothing and at that point I knew he needed help and I had to call 911 and so I reached into my pocket which is where I normally keep my cell phone and it wasn't there and then I recall that while I was sitting on the couch I'd taken it out and set it down there so I quickly ran back to the house it's not very far away as you can see and got my phone and then called 911 did you know anything about Dan marel did he have a family living there with him yeah he and his uh wife had just been married when they moved into that home and um they were there and then a couple of years later they had a child and then another child and um they they had some difficulties and uh they divorced or I guess were in the process of being divorced and she had moved out and so Dan stayed there um frankly we didn't see him a whole lot all right but he was living there and had the boys sometimes yes all right at the time that this happened correct okay were the children there with him when he was injured in this way not that I'm aware of so you didn't see the children there no all right so you go back and get your phone and call 911 is that cor right okay have you had an opportunity to review the 911 call in this case previously I have all right and is that your voice on the call that we played previously yes it is all right judge at this time I'd asked to introduce States exhibit 81 I'm sorry 82 and ask for permission to publish any objection no objection St 82 is admitted you want see of your emergency uh it's right next door of my house which is 2122 trescott dri can repeat that for verification 2122 trescott Drive okay the phone number you're calling from I'm calling from 85212 4623 okay tell me exactly what happened uh we heard a a loud bang in a car pulled away from next door I came over and looked in the garage door was up and I thought the gentleman was backing out I went back to my house but never backed out and I came back over and his wind his his driver side window is shattered and he battered and can't answer he's inside I don't know if somebody tried to shoot him or if he shot himself or what I don't know and it was at this location correct next door I give you mine I don't know his address it's next door okay s an [Music] ambulance he's still alive he's moving okay what what's he what's going on with him I don't know the the driver's side window is all bashed in he's inside the car is running and he's got blood all over his head he not responding to me that number by the way is 2116 2116 [Music] what's your name sir my name is Jim gerer g i g r Mr gerer you said that the man that you saw in the vehicle was unresponsive to you um with if there's no objection I'd like to introduce States exhibit 5 at this time any objection no objection stes five ised may I publish you may is this Mr Mr Marquel your neighbor yes okay and when you say he was not responsive was he able to say any words to you I didn't hear any words at all okay what sounds did you hear coming from I didn't hear any sound I just saw his his head slowly Mo rolling back and forth okay he wasn't moaning at all or not that I heard okay all right um May I introduce States exhibit six and seven at this time your honor any objection no objection States six and seven are admitted publish six please all right so is this looking up Mr marquel's driveway yes all right and state seven please is this how Mr with the exception of the doors being open in this photo is this how Mr marquel's vehicle appeared to you when you approached on that day yes I I'm gon to approach with States exhibit 4 Mr have you had an opportunity to see that image before yes is that um your signature there on the image it's here initials I should say yes it is okay and is that indicating that the vehicle pictured in this exhibit is consistent with the vehicle you observed in Mr marquel's driveway that day yes that's true permission to publish introduce and publish please objection no objection stat for is admitted and I believe you said on the recording there that the car was running is that true that's true did you touch the victim or the car no I didn't did you move anything inside the garage no Can you estimate how much time passed between the time you heard the loud bang and the time that you called 911 I would say um between five and 10 minutes going to show you States exhibit 81 is States exhibit 81 a fair and accurate map it's an aerial map of your residents and in the scene where this occurred yes judge i' asked to move an evident State 81 any objection no state1 I publish all right so if you're coming in off of can you show yeah off Thomasville Road there the yellow line how would you get to Mr markel's residence from Thomasville Road well you could do it more than one way one is to uh go on the yellow Road there which is Thomasville Road down to pretty close where that green Mark is which is Betton Road you would take a left come up to trescot drive and then go back okay that would be one way to do it yes sir um another way would be to exit off of um uh Thomasville Road on Klein and then come uh across to a trescot drive and in that case you'd be turning right and on that one we' got to go up a little bit right yes yeah so maybe arm is dead to climb yeah to trust God okay thank you sir no further questions cross examination no question Mr gerer you may step down sir thank you Mr

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Id: eQIZ68xQXc8

Length: 16min 53sec (1013 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 29 2023