The Dick Dasen Trial: The Alleged Victims Testify

The report of Friday's cross-examination of witness Leah Marshall suffers from sidescroll, and I was waiting for it to be fixed. So far, no fix.

On cross-examination, Best challenged Marshall's testimony that she didn't have a local dealer, asking how she managed to blow the $2,650 Dasen gave her on drugs without a local connection.

The case resumed this week with more key witnesses, including two girls who were underage and the woman, Kimberly Neise, who allegedly procured one of the girls for Dasen. The defense elicited several important admissions, including the fact that Dasen never made explicitly linked the sex to cash payments. One of the girls testified that the Neise told the underage girls to lie about their age if Dasen asked, but he never asked. Dasen took photos of the girls, and those snaps might be the crucial pieces of evidence as to whether Dasen knew they were underage.

It's all very depressing, but perhaps John Tierney could wring a wacky column about red state virtues out of it.