Testimony in Joseph trial centers on dealings with Monia

Try as she might, George Joseph's attorney, Cynthia Dryden, was unable to persuade Judge Benjamin Lewis to keep Keith Monia out of the discussion Wednesday.

Much of the testimony on the third day of Joseph's murder trial focused on the defendant's financial situation, including his connection with Monia. Dryden raised several continuing objections to evidence and witness testimony throughout the day.

Monia, who has been charged with several counts of financial exploitation of the elderly, exchanged several text messages with Joseph in early 2013 about a bad check, testified Justin Glueck, a Department of Revenue employee working in the Missouri State Highway Patrol's digital forensics unit. While on the stand, Glueck read a series of texts selected by assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff.

One Friday in January 2013, Monia texted Joseph, asking him to give him a call because a check for over $6,000 had bounced.

Joseph advised him by text to try cashing it later in the day.

Keith Monia

Monia replied there wasn't enough money in the account, and he would try again Saturday.

Joseph texted back if Monia deposited the check that day, it would clear by Monday.

In another message later that day, Joseph told Monia he advised his clients not to go to his bank because it "draws unnecessary attention to what I can do for my clients," Glueck read.

He advised Monia he was going to stop payment on the check causing the problems, and they'd get it sorted out soon. He then asked Monia not to contact him again.

The next set of texts read in court began with Monia informing Joseph he had deposited the check, and it had bounced. He also stated his account was overdrawn.

Joseph replied he'd told Monia he wasn't going to honor that check.

Monia responded if he didn't hear from Joseph by a certain time, he was going to consult a lawyer.

"So far all of your actions have been about yourself," Joseph texted back, "so I would be surprised if that trend didn't continue."

In March 2013, Monia again texted Joseph, saying he needed at least a partial payment.

"Postdated checks are the best I can do for now," Joseph replied, adding he was recovering from surgery and wouldn't be working for a while.

Text messages to several other people illustrated the apparent deterioration of Joseph's financial situation.

In early May, Joseph texted one investor to tell him the federal government was investigating Joseph, but the investor still should get a check by May 28.

In texts dated May 7 to two investors, Joseph said he'd be giving them two checks each -- one for their investment principal and one for earnings from a flipped property. Joseph told them the bank "got spooked" at the federal investigation and closed his account.

"Are you kidding?" one investor replied. "This is very bad news."

Joseph eventually texted he was going to mail that investor her two checks after they were unable to meet up. The investor sent Joseph a text May 27, saying her checks still had not arrived; Joseph assured her he would send another set.

Joseph also had arranged to meet a couple of investors May 30, the day of the killings, at the St. Louis Art Museum with cashier's checks funded by borrowed money.

He texted one of them he wanted no more "questions, speculation, accusations and conspiracies."

"I'm living this hell, and will take care of it on my own ...," Joseph texted.

To another investor, he messaged his "situation had changed with the club," and he would be returning their funds.

One investor texted him to report the investor's own account had a hold placed on it as well.

Joseph's text response later that day: "I wish the feds would leave me alone."

Also Wednesday, the jury viewed a video of an interview police conducted with George Joseph while he was a patient at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis in the days after the fatal shootings.

In the video, Don Perry and Jeff Bonham of the Cape Girardeau Police Department are shown talking with Joseph on June 4, the first morning Joseph was able to speak.

During his testimony, Perry agreed the two officers used many methods to try to get Joseph to agree to answer their questions, including appealing to his faith and sense of obligation. He said use of promises, threats, coercion and physical methods was not acceptable when trying to get information.

"But you did try to manipulate him?" Dryden asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Perry replied.

Indeed, during the course of the two-hour video, Bonham and Perry can be heard appealing to Joseph's conscience, saying things such as, "God's going to remember this day" and "would you rather tell us or would you rather keep your mouth shut for the rest of your life?" and encouraging him to "take responsibility" for what happened.

When Joseph declined to answer questions without a lawyer present -- as he did several times throughout the video -- one of the officers can be heard telling him he is "putting himself before all these other people" who want answers.

Although Joseph refused to answer questions, he consented to a DNA swab, photos and having his fingerprints taken. He also signed a consent form to allow police access to his medical records.

While officers collected the swab, photos and prints, the conversation continued, although at one point Joseph said he "can't think straight."

During the conversation, one of the officers is heard saying police didn't know whether they should be looking for someone angry at George Joseph who may have come into the house the morning of May 30 and carried out the shootings.

Joseph commented there was "nobody else involved."

A little later, one of the officers said he didn't know whether Joseph didn't want his family "to go through the shame" of the financial situation.

"That's what it was," Joseph responded.

At one point a nurse entered, at officers' request, to make sure Joseph wasn't in any pain and check whether he was aware of his surroundings.

As part of a series of questions, the nurse asked, "And why are you here?"

"I shot myself," Joseph replied.

Dryden contended it was possible he replied this way because the alleged suicide attempt was documented in his medical records before the date of the interview, and someone may have told him this information.

She also drew attention to Joseph getting the date wrong at first while answering the nurse's questions, which might have demonstrated he wasn't fully aware of his current situation.

"I've done that myself, too, and I've never been shot in the head," Perry responded.

At no point that day was Joseph arrested, taken into custody or read his Miranda rights.

Joseph's brother-in-law, David Snell, testified he also went to visit Joseph while he was at Barnes.

"He said, 'I had to put them in a better place,'" Snell testified Joseph said about Mary and Matthew Joseph. Snell said he told Joseph he hadn't had the right to do that.

When Snell asked about the money, Joseph replied, "It's gone," Snell said.

Later, Snell visited Joseph when he was in the county jail to try to get Mary Joseph's family's finances in order.

He said during that conversation, Joseph told him when he'd said he "put them in a better place," he meant he was doing that by placing the pillows and rosaries on their heads. He reiterated the money was gone, Snell testified.

Snell had made a 911 call the morning of the murders, which was played in court Wednesday. On the recording, Snell can be heard yelling at someone, "Monia had something to do with this."

Snell said he had no other knowledge of Monia aside from what he had been told by Joseph.

kwebster@semissourian.com

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