ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The judge in the John Jonchuck case ruled in favor of the defense Friday in regards to a key piece of evidence in the prosecution's case.
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It all has to do with prosecution rebuttal witness Kyrsten Malcom. Malcom is a paralegal at the law office of Geneve Torres where Jonchuck stopped by the day before Phoebe was killed.
Malcom was there and part of her planned testimony, she says Jonchuck called the office seven times after he left that day, and at one point said, "If I can't have her, nobody can," referring to his daughter Phoebe.
The defense said the problem is that they didn't know Malcom was going to testify to that statement, and since it wasn't revealed to them ahead of time, it's a discovery violation.
However, the prosecution said they didn't find out until very recently either and it's evidence that simply can't be ignored.
The jury was sent home around 11 a.m. After a recess, the judge ruled that the statement at issue simply cannot be heard in the case.
“I agree with you," she said, speaking to the prosecutors. "I think the statement is a statement that is extremely important that the state put in front of the jury. But I also agree that the defense is highly predjudiced. It’s a killer statement.”