Six-year-old Rashaad Daise had only attended his new elementary school for about two weeks, but was already known as “a wanderer.” And, one morning last fall, little Rashaad took his backpack and wandered right out of the school’s gates, heading down a barren, desert-like street in North Las Vegas. Laurinda Drake, who’d just picked up her son from the same school, spotted the boy and stopped; he told her he felt sick, and was on his way home.

Rashaad remained in Drake’s care for almost two hours before she and her friend Elaine Clermont brought him to the school district offices where police were waiting – along with television crews, alerted by Clermont.

Clermont and Drake say they were simply trying to help Rashaad and ensure his safety, but the State sees it differently, alleging the women used the child to make a point about poor security at the school. They were both charged with first-degree kidnapping, among other things, but Laurinda Drake was acquitted in May of this year. Elaine Clermont now takes her seat in the defendant’s chair – facing a potential life sentence if convicted. Tune in to In Session this week for coverage of her trial.

Next on In Session: The death of a pet in the remote hills of Tennessee leads directly to the shooting death of its owner - and a murder charge against the victim's neighbor. But was John Collett acting in self-defense when he shot Bruce Greer five times? That's the question a jury must decide in this trial. Tune into In Session for opening statements starting Monday.

Ft. Myers, Florida–Jurors on Tuesday found a Fort Myers man guilty of murdering his estranged wife and mother-in-law. Juan Mendez Jr. was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder for the stabbing deaths of Whitney Mendez and her mother in July 2006.

Jurors deliberated for just about 90 minutes to arrive at their unanimous decision. As they entered a silent courtroom, the six-member panel looked straight ahead without any visible emotion as they took their seats.

Judge Mark Steinbeck spoke with family and friends on both sides of the courtroom a moment earlier, warning them that a lack of restraint could result in a contempt of court charge.

The courtroom was still when the jury foreperson passed the verdict sheet to the clerk and the guilty verdicts were announced. While the jury was still seated, family members of Juan Mendez, including his mother, left the courtroom. The father of the defendant stayed seated, crying, putting his face in his hands. Family members of the victim were jubilant but silent.

Earlier in the day, closing arguments began with assistant state attorney Cynthia Ross telling jurors to remember testimony of the defendant's demeanor the day the bodies of his wife and mother-in-law were found in their home. She asked the jury to recall that Mendez displayed no concern to law enforcement, saying "he doesn't ask what was inside."

She described the continued stabbing of Whitney Mendez, in her bedroom, as she lay on the floor by her bed and that it could only be from someone who had hate, spite, and an evil intent toward the victims, and that person could only be Juan Mendez.

Defense attorneys Nicole Malick and Jay Brizel attacked the credibility of the investigation and the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses who were working at Denny's the nights of July 21 and 22, 2006. They emphasized the DNA that was not consistent solely with Juan Mendez, and questioned why other people in the victims' lives were not even investigated.

Chief assistant state attorney Randall McGruther gave the rebuttal close for the prosecution which focused on common sense. He emphasized events beginning late Friday July 21, 2006, when a worker for Florida's Department of Children and Families told Juan he could not see his son that weekend.

Referring to testimony that the DNA found on the broken knife handle was consistent with the defendant or his son, McGruther urged jurors to use their common sense: "a 2-year old didn't have strength to bend a knife like this."

Over the course of five days, prosecutors called 23 witnesses. The defense called one witness, and the defendant chose not to testify.

Juan Mendez faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on February 22, 2010.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

Fort Myers, Florida – Jurors on Tuesday found a Fort Myers man guilty of murdering his estranged wife and mother-in-law. Juan Mendez Jr. was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder for the stabbing deaths of Whitney Mendez and her mother in July 2006. Over the course of five days, prosecutors called 23 witnesses. The defense called no witnesses, and the defendant chose not to testify. A sentencing hearing has been set for February 22nd. Mendez faces life in prison.

–In Session staff

Fort Myers, Florida – Jurors on Tuesday began deliberating the fate of a Fort Myers man accused of murdering his estranged wife and mother-in-law. Prosecutors say Juan Mendez Jr. stabbed Whitney Mendez and her mother over 20 times each in July 2006. He is charged with two counts of second-degree murder. If convicted, Mendez faces life in prison.

–In Session Staff

Fort Myers, Florida – Tuesday Jurors will hear closing arguments in the trial of a Fort Myers man charged with murdering his estranged wife and mother-in-law.

Prosecutors rested their case Friday morning. The defense did not put on a case.

Over the course of five days, prosecutors called 23 witnesses, including a former lead detective who admitted he could have done more in the initial investigation. Jurors also heard from two of Whitney Mendez’s co-workers who claim to have been on the phone with Whitney Mendez when she yelled at her male attacker the day prosecutors believe she was brutally murdered.

Friday, one of the co-workers, Ashley Crouch, broke down in tears as she testified she heard the defendant threaten Whitney Mendez in a telephone call the day before prosecutors allege she was killed. “You can’t take my son from me. You’ll be sorry, you’ll be very sorry. I’ll kill you and the b**** . I’ll kill you and your mom,” Crouch said she heard Juan Mendez say.

Earlier Friday, the presiding judge, Hon. Mark Steinbeck, instructed jurors not to consider a statement Crouch made Thursday suggesting the defendant was on probation. “You are in no way to consider this statement in this case and are to disregard it completely. The probation referred to relates to an offense related to the operation of a motor vehicle.

The statement prompted the defense to motion for a mistrial Friday morning but they later withdrew it in favor of the curative instruction.

Prosecutors say Juan Mendez Jr. stabbed Whitney Mendez and her mother over 20 times each in July 2006. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Nancy Leung, In Session Producer

Orlando, Florida - Casey Anthony’s defense team filed a motion late Thursday suggesting that there is as much evidence pointing to meter reader Roy Kronk in the death of toddler Caylee Anthony as there is against her mother, Casey. That doesn’t mean the evidence against Kronk is strong. The defense believes the entirely circumstantial case against Anthony is weak; ergo, the evidence against Kronk is weak. The defense, however, says they are entitled to present this Kronk evidence to the jury. Last December, Kronk found Caylee’s skeletal remains in a wooded area about a quarter of a mile from her home. The defense believes Kronk has knowledge of or may be involved in the placing of the remains in the wooded area.

Defense investigators dug up information they claim the State should have uncovered. After speaking to two former wives of Kronk, his estranged son, and the daughter of a former live-in girlfriend, the defense says they learned that Kronk was physically and psychologically abusive toward both wives—both of whom divorced him. One of the former wives, Jill Kerley, claims that Kronk used duct tape on at least two occasions to bind her wrists. He beat her so severely she was hospitalized. She married him in the early 1990s and stayed with him fewer than five months.

Crystal Sparks, the other ex-wife, told the defense investigator that the family was concerned about Kronk and young girls; they didn’t want him around a niece who was three years old at the time. No further details were revealed in the defense motion. She also said that when Kronk was arrested for the alleged kidnapping of a former girlfriend, he had duct tape, handcuffs and a plastic gun.

Crystal Sparks’s son, Brandon, said he was estranged from Kronk, his biological father, for about a decade when Kronk called him last year. It was about a week before Thanksgiving and three weeks before Caylee’s remains were found. Brandon said his father told him he found the skull of a little girl and that it may be Caylee. Sometime later, Brandon received another call in which Kronk told him that he was going to be on TV “tomorrow” and to look for the report. Kronk called 911 on December 11, 2008. Police arrived, found a black garbage bag with the remains of the missing toddler, and, indeed, within hours Kronk’s identity was known though he didn’t actually appear on television for a few more days.

Kronk befuddled many when it was revealed last December that he had called 911 three times, on three consecutive days the previous August, claiming to have found a bag with a “white round object” in it, possibly the missing toddler. Police responded to the scene but Kronk was not there until the third call on the third day. The deputies searched but found nothing of note though the search was, admittedly, not very thorough.

Kronk was fired in late October from his county job for excessive absenteeism following a work-related injury. He used up his sick days and medical leave then failed to show at a disciplinary hearing. Through his attorney, David Evans, Kronk denies all the allegations the defense claims in this recent motion.

–Beth Karas, In Session Correspondent

Fort Myers, Florida – The prosecution has rested its case in the Florida murder trial of Juan Mendez Jr.

Mendez, who is accused in the stabbing deaths of his wife and mother-in-law, has chosen not to testify. The defense says it has brief case to present. Stay tuned to In Session for details.

 – In Session staff

Fort Myers, Florida - The Deputy Chief Medical Examiner of Lee County, Dr. Robert R. Pfalzgraf, was back on the stand Wednesday afternoon in the case of Florida v. Juan Mendez Jr.

Dr. Pfalzgraf’s testimony had been abruptly halted earlier in the week when the forensic pathologist testified he had compared a knife found near the crime scene with the stab wounds on the victims. Defense attorney Gary Bass objected to this testimony by stating the medical examiner had told the defense during their deposition with him, that he had never before seen a knife connected to the case.

After much argument, it was finally determined by Judge Steinbeck that the state was responsible for a discovery violation. They never alerted the defense, as required under Florida law, to Dr. Pfalzgraf’s opinion that the half-circle, bent knife blade could have inflicted the victim’s wounds.

Following Judge Steinbeck’s final ruling that the discovery violation did not materially hinder the defense’s case, the prosecution put the medical examiner back on the stand.

Dr. Pfalzgraf not only testified the bent knife could have inflicted the wounds, but that the bent tip and knife blade may have come from the murderer intentionally stabbing into a victim’s skull.

On cross-examination, Gary Bass asked the forensic pathologist why he was handing the knife with his bare hands, instead of wearing gloves that professionals normally do on the stand. The doctor seemed to laugh and testify it wasn’t really any different from any knife in any home, and since prints had been processed, it didn’t really make a difference if he handled it with his bare hands.

Juan Mendez Jr. is facing life in prison for the stabbing deaths of his wife Whitney Mendez and her mother Lorena Stone.

– Jean Casarez, In Session Correspondent

Fort Myers, Florida - On the fourth day of testimony in the trial of Juan Mendez Jr., the former lead detective testified that mistakes were made in the initial investigation into the deaths of Whitney Mendez and her mother Lorena Stone.

“Regrettably, I did not.”   It was a phrase heard over and over in courtroom 7B of the Lee County Justice Center on Wednesday, as Sgt. Walter Ryan of the Lee County Sheriff’s department took the stand.

Ryan admitted that there are many things in the murder investigation that he wishes he had followed up on and done differently.

Among them:   he did not obtain phone records; he did not follow up on witness interviews; he did not check other possible leads.

As a result of the lack of evidence in his investigation, the case went cold.  One year later, Det. William Kalstrom, also of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, was assigned to lead the investigation.  He had interviewed Juan Mendez Jr. twice in the days following the deaths of his estranged wife and mother-in-law.  Kalstrom testified the defendant was cooperative and calm, but also odd.

In July 2007, Kalstrom re-interviewed witnesses and interviewed new witnesses, including Whitney Mendez’s supervisor, who was on the phone with her before she was allegedly murdered.  Kalstrom also sought phone records but because so much time had elapsed, they were no longer available.

The medical examiner was called back to the stand.  He said that the knife found in the vacant lot next to the duplex where the women lived could have caused at least some of the wounds on the victims.  Dr. Robert Pfalzgraf also demonstrated to the jury how pieces of the knife – the knife with the broken handle, a piece of plastic, and a flat metal disc – fit perfectly together. 

Trial resumes today, the prosecution is expected to call two DNA experts to the stand.   

– Nancy L eung, In Session producer