Cameron Brown trial update

Some of you may be wondering why you're not seeing as much coverage in the Daily Breeze of Cameron Brown's retrial, especially compared to his first trial three years ago, for the November 2000 cliff death of his 4-year-old daughter, Lauren Sarene Key, in Rancho Palos Verdes.

There are two reasons for this: 1.) It's kind of like reporting on a "rerun." Although I'm sure there are plenty of people who didn't catch the plethora of stories on the 2006 trial, many have. I'm trying to stay abreast of any new developments or other interesting trial occurrences, but that's kind of hard - especially because of my second reason. 2.) The retrial is in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. That makes it difficult for me to pop in for shorter periods of time due to the 45 minute drive and all-around headache that is the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center (I've waited up to 20 minutes for an elevator some mornings).

At any time, I've got about 100 cases on my radar plus any number of long-term features and projects. Going downtown for a trial I've seen already takes me away from my other duties. Believe me, I wish I could do it all, and if I could clone myself, I would.

That being said, I did make it to the Brown trial late last week for the prosecution's last witness. Since there are people interested in this case who like to discuss it on the Internet, including one blogger who is trying to take down every word in her notebook, I took a peek over the weekend to see what the Interwebs are saying. Just so you know, I usually avoid it, since it seems a lot of the discussion centers on personal attacks of other commenters and players in the trial (myself included).

Some of what I saw raised some questions, so I called Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum to verify some points.

First of all, the trial is on a 10-day break until Sept. 2 due to Judge Michael Pastor's vacation. It will resume with the defense case, which has already started. Hum said he expects the jurors will do a "site visit" at Abalone Cove on Sept. 10, but that is subject to change.

I also asked Hum about some evidence that the blogger teased as "jaw dropping." He thinks she is referring sheriff's Detective Jeff Leslie testifying about a search he conducted at Brown's home, which he shared with his wife, Patty Brown, in Palos Verdes on Jan. 2, 2001. Leslie said that, under a bed, they found two cut-out photos of Lauren's mother, Sarah Key-Marer, in a suitcase - along with black candles and black ceramic figures. A follow-up question by Hum to Leslie about witchcraft books was objected to by the defense, and sustained by the judge.

While probably not a key piece of evidence in the overall case, my guess is the value of the information goes toward the animous Brown (and his wife) allegedly had toward Key-Marer during the heated custody and child support over Lauren. It's eyebrow raising, nonetheless.