Most important information for me to impart here is that Merritt has a website that is worth paying for, but you can view parts of it for free. It includes information that the public never got to know-not even those of us who have watched the trial numerous times. I believe it is important to support those fighting for their freedom. And I do believe that Chase Merritt is an innocent man, convicted of someone else’s crime. But don’t take my word for it, read the evidence for yourself: https://theprosecutorspuppets.com/

To be clear, I entered into my research on this case believing that Merritt was guilty. I was certain of his guilt. And as it turns out, I was as wrong as I could be.

It was a lesson for me in judging any complex issue like this absent all the information. There is no way to make an accurate determination of guilt or innocence on any case if you haven’t read all the evidence. The first data that made me question his guilt were the published probable cause affidavits for approximately 32 search warrants. They just didn’t add up, and it was clear that at a certain point in an investigation that seemed to have begun in earnest, it had become stymied by confirmation bias.

Then I watched every moment of the trial, and by the first week in, I knew that Merritt had nothing to do with the murders of the McStay family. The State’s case was riddled with misrepresentation and/or misunderstanding of the very sophisticated forensics they were using to convict Merritt.

I’ve gone into great detail in many of my posts about why I believe Merritt is innocent, posts that I will be editing now that I have even more information to work with, but, again, if you are really interested in this, go to the source, go to Chase Merritt’s website.

I have now had the great honor of speaking with the man whose case consumed me for a number of years. I had never spoken to him before and he kindly answered so many questions I had.

What was missing for me at trial, was Chase’s narrative, his story. The defense did a good job of debunking much of the State’s evidence, but they never got to the point where they told the story of what actually happened. The entire case in chief by the defense felt like an unfinished sentence.

Chase’s book, no doubt, will answer much of this. But I would like to write a summary here of things I suspected might be true, but now I have verification.

There were 9 central issues brought forward by the State as both prelim and trial:

1. The murders occurred in the McStay residence on February 4, 2010 between 6:47PM & 7:47PM
2. A futon cover used to package Joseph McStay came from the home
3. Headlights captured on a neighbor’s surveillance camera at 7:47 PM were those of Merritt’s 3700 Chevy truck
4. Chase buried the McStays in the Victorville desert Feb. 6
5. Chase drove the McStay Isuzu Trooper  to the San Ysidro border Feb.8
6. Chase returned to the McStay residence to clean the home
7. Chase did all the above because he had been fired by Joseph
8. Joseph fired Chase because he discovered that Chase stole money from him by way of Quickbooks
9. Chase was in deep debt due to gambling

I already knew that the “truck” captured by the neighbor’s surveillance wasn’t Chase’s, and I knew this not just because expert witnesses stated this (one being certain it wasn’t Chase’s truck, the other only stating he couldn’t rule the truck out, but clearly he couldn’t say with certainty that was Chase’s truck either). But most damning, was that the State during cross of defense blood expert witness, admitted they weren’t certain it was Chase’s truck either.

DDA Daugherty asked: “Well, let me ask you this. Let’s assume that the family was murdered either the night of February 4th or the early hours of February 5th, if a person between 7AM and 10:15 was unaccounted for, that would be three hours and fifteen minutes that they could potentially clean up. Right?”

Once Daugherty admits the McStays could have been killed anytime other than the night of the 4th, he, representing the State, is admitting that the State isn’t sure, either, whose vehicle was captured. That’s reasonable doubt, because if the McStays are killed anytime other than Thursday evening, that vehicle captured on a neighbor’s surveillance means nothing, and Chase is well alibied for Friday morning.

I won’t go into detail about all the other points here (I sum up all the debunking in my post titled Chase Merritt), but the two other big claims made by the State that seem to have made a big impact on people were Chase’s whereabouts on February 6th and 8th.

February 6th is a tough one for Chase to challenge, because he genuinely doesn’t remember that day. He wasn’t asked about it for four years. And in closing DDA Rodriguez admits the State doesn’t know with any certainty that he was committing any part of this crime on that day. It wasn’t relevant evidence. But phone records show that it was unlikely he was anywhere near the gravesites.

And I agree very much with Chase on this, it was a mistake not to put the defense Cellular Data expert on the stand for this. Not putting their expert up to testify was like the defense opening with an emphatic statement and stopping mid-sentence. It left us all hanging, because it really wasn’t enough to just debunk the State’s expert witness and evidence, we, in the audience needed to know what most likely happened.

I had always believed Chase likely took his sister to lunch at Coco’s. He doesn’t think so, but he does ping in downtown Victorville, and if neither he or his sister are certain about that day, what would be the harm in letting the jury know some of the specific places Chase might have stopped-Denny’s or 7/11, etc. Because the only call he makes that lasts more than a few seconds, places him in downtown Victorville. And he arrived and left Victorville that day, at the same time of day that he appears to have arrived and left there on July 9, the year before, and that year he did take his sister to Coco’s. And both he and his sister remember that day well. It shows a repeated event, whereas the prosecution wanted it to seem as though it was unheard of for Chase to go to that area, and therefore he must have been up to no good.

The biggest revelation, though, for me on this case is that the morning of February 8, 2010 Chase told me that he went to the warehouse in which he created his works of art, and these fountains he crafted were works of art, to wait for a glass delivery. He knows what time he was there because he first dropped his daughter off at her school, then drove to the warehouse where he chatted with the one of the workers from 8 am to 10 am. Once he received the glass delivery, he left for home, which is consistent with towers his phone connected with later that afternoon.

The public only found out about this when that worker took the stand at trial.

This is the day that the Trooper was left at the San Ysidro border. Given Chase’s phone records, it would have been impossible for him to drive to San Ysidro and make it back to where he pings in Rancho Cucamonga around 1ish. Just didn’t happen. And getting the full story of that morning fills in the blanks.

It all makes perfect sense. It’s the story of a father taking his child to school, making certain an important delivery is made, and getting on to all the other work he has to do that day.

Chase also confirmed that Summer would have placed the child seats in the Dodge on the fourth. So the question remains, how, when and why did the child seats get transferred to the Trooper?

He told me he’s long given up speculating as to what happened, as there are just too many possibilities. I agree. It’s so hard to know. But I was happy that we agree that the family was most likely alive until the morning of the 5th. And the State seems to think that’s a very real possibility as well.

It was a pleasure to speak with Chase. The hard work he has put into his own case is admirable and of a very high quality. He deserves support in his endeavor to be free and for his full story to be known.

I don’t judge innocence or guilt on how I personally feel about a person. It’s all about the evidence for me. But Chase is personable. I think he is a good man, who lost so much. The McStays also deserve real justice. And as a society we will be safer once the actual killers of this beautiful family are apprehended and behind bars.