14.Amber Kyzer — Direct/Cross/Redirect (Part 3)
153 linesTHE COURT: Okay. Your objection is noted and my ruling has been made. CONTINUE DIRECT EXAMINATION
By Ms. Mayes:
SUZANNE MAYES: Ms. Kyzer, I only have a few more questions for you. I want to show you a couple of items and ask you whether or not you've had a chance to identify them.
BOYD YOUNG: May we approach?
THE COURT: Yes. (Whereupon, a bench conference was held in the presence of the jury but out of the hearing of the jury.)
THE COURT: Exhibit 79 is stipulated as authentic. (Whereupon, State's Exhibit 79 was stipulated as authentic.)
SUZANNE MAYES: I'm going to ask you whether or not you had an opportunity to listen to some recorded calls.
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
SUZANNE MAYES: All right. And specifically a call that was recorded between the Defendant, Timothy Jones, and two other individuals.
AMBER KYZER: Yes, ma'am.
SUZANNE MAYES: Who were the two other individuals in that call?
AMBER KYZER: Tim Jones, Sr. and his Aunt Bernadine.
SUZANNE MAYES: Were you able to recognize all of those voices?
AMBER KYZER: Yes, ma'am.
SUZANNE MAYES: Any doubt in your mind as to the identity of the voices on that call?
AMBER KYZER: No.
SUZANNE MAYES: Including that of Timothy Jones?
AMBER KYZER: No.
SUZANNE MAYES: I'm going to show you what is marked 519-19 and 519-19 and ask you whether or not you had an opportunity to review two videos?
AMBER KYZER: Yes, ma'am.
SUZANNE MAYES: And who was depicted on these videos?
AMBER KYZER: My daughter, Merah, crying.
SUZANNE MAYES: And who was the other person on the other video?
AMBER KYZER: My son, Elias.
SUZANNE MAYES: And do these videos bear your initials?
AMBER KYZER: Yes, ma'am.
SUZANNE MAYES: Regarding these videos, how were they sent to you?
AMBER KYZER: They were sent to my phone by Tim Jones.
SUZANNE MAYES: And can you tell us whether those videos were recorded and whether you identified them in the same format in which they were originally sent to your phone by the phone of Timothy Jones, Jr.?
AMBER KYZER: Yes. In the video of Merah it is Tim's voice and Merah sent to my phone. And the one of Elias is just Elias sent to my phone by Tim Jones.
SUZANNE MAYES: This will be, Your Honor, 188 and 189 for identification only. And then 186 and 187 have been identified and are the subject of a certified authentication. So we would offer them as evidence at this time. (Whereupon, State's Exhibit numbers 186, 187, 188 and 189 were marked for identification purposes.)
BOYD YOUNG: Judge, we would object.
SUZANNE MAYES: This will be a matter of law at a later time, Your Honor. I have nothing further for Ms. Kyzer.
THE COURT: Okay.
CROSS-EXAMINATION By Mr. Young:
BOYD YOUNG: Ms. Kyzer, do you mind if I call you Amber?
AMBER KYZER: That is fine.
BOYD YOUNG: Amber, we've met before.
AMBER KYZER: Yes, sir.
BOYD YOUNG: My name is Boyd.
AMBER KYZER: Yes, sir.
BOYD YOUNG: I don't want to take up very much of your time at all. You talked about when you and Tim first met. That was after he had gotten out of boot camp? A boot camp program that he had gone to prison for?
AMBER KYZER: I don't know how long he was already out of it when I met him. I just met him at one of our jobs, at a workplace.
BOYD YOUNG: At that point in time he wasn't drinking?
AMBER KYZER: No.
BOYD YOUNG: He wasn't smoking?
AMBER KYZER: No.
BOYD YOUNG: He was going to church?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And you all were going to church together?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: Were you all going more than once a week or just once a week?
AMBER KYZER: Yeah, we would go a couple times a week.
BOYD YOUNG: Would you describe Tim as very religious?
AMBER KYZER: Yes. Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: That church -- I know you talked about Tim's views about women.
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: Where those views the same as what were shared by the church, right?
AMBER KYZER: It was. I think at some point Tim twisted it a little bit to suit himself, I guess.
BOYD YOUNG: Tim got the message a little bit wrong?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And that was the church that you all were going to before he started Mississippi State?
AMBER KYZER: Yeah. We were actually married at that church.
BOYD YOUNG: It was Pastor Sutton, right?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And then when you moved to Mississippi State he continued to go to church a lot?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: You continued in the same faith?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: The same type of faith?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And the Pentecostal faith was -- you had these moments where you could sort of emote to God as you saw fit, right?
AMBER KYZER: Right.
BOYD YOUNG: And Tim sometimes did that, speaking in tongues?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: That was part of the church process?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And that's where you took the kids to church?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And there was -- there was a book written by a guy named Denny Kenaston. Do you recognize this book?
AMBER KYZER: Yes. Godly Seed, yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And is this a book that you and Tim got about how to raise kids?
AMBER KYZER: Yes, sir.
BOYD YOUNG: And is this a book that you and Tim got together and read together?
AMBER KYZER: We did, and we didn't even get through the whole thing, I don't think. We just kind of skimmed through and picked little things out, yes.
BOYD YOUNG: Amber, I'm going to ask you if you can flip through this book and see if this is the book -- if you recognize it as the book that you and Tim --
AMBER KYZER: I recognize it. I do recognize it. Yes. Yeah, we highlighted a few things. This is it.
BOYD YOUNG: Your Honor, we would offer Defendant's Exhibit number 122 into evidence.
THE COURT: Any objection?
SUZANNE MAYES: No objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: 122 is the book that's admitted without objection. (Whereupon, Defendant's Exhibit number 122 was admitted into evidence.)
BOYD YOUNG: Amber, I think like a lot of marriages you had good times?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And some not good times?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: We know when having good times you made a lot of movies, took a lot of videos.
AMBER KYZER: We did.
BOYD YOUNG: And you all made those as a family with kids?
AMBER KYZER: Yes, sir. We did.
BOYD YOUNG: And those were stored -- Tim had those stored on a hard drive?
AMBER KYZER: Yeah. We backed them up to hard drive and had them on our big computer. And we did that together so we wouldn't lose them.
BOYD YOUNG: And did -- when you and Tim moved to South Carolina Tim changed. Is that right?
AMBER KYZER: I'd say his anger issues got worse.
BOYD YOUNG: You had listened to a phone call between yourself that you recorded and Tim, Sr. Is that right?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And in that phone call you told Tim, Sr. that Tim had changed when you moved to South Carolina?
AMBER KYZER: He did.
BOYD YOUNG: You went on to say that as far as his anger problems go, you thought that he needed to see a medical professional?
AMBER KYZER: He was just flip-flopping.
BOYD YOUNG: Mood swings?
AMBER KYZER: Mood swings, flip-flopping.
BOYD YOUNG: You described it at one point as bipolar?
AMBER KYZER: Yeah.
BOYD YOUNG: You said that talking with Tim was like walking on egg shells because you never knew how he was going to respond.
AMBER KYZER: Exactly.
BOYD YOUNG: On good days Tim would buy you flowers or write you a letter or bring you dinner home. And on bad days he was always paranoid like you were out to get him?
AMBER KYZER: The thing with Tim is -- is that you didn't really have to do anything, if I could say that. You didn't have to do anything to get him angry. Tim was just angry. There were -- there were more bad times down here than there were good. I'll put it that way. It got worse.
BOYD YOUNG: During that time Tim was a good father?
AMBER KYZER: He was always a good father while we were married, yes.
BOYD YOUNG: He was never abusive towards the children?
AMBER KYZER: Not towards the children, no.
BOYD YOUNG: Is part of the religious principles that he gravitated to and part of the doctrine of Raising the Godly Seed was corporal punishment?
AMBER KYZER: I am not understanding you.
BOYD YOUNG: Sure. Spanking. That spanking is --
AMBER KYZER: He did. He didn't spank often. He didn't -- we're not big spankers in our house. It was -- he did more of push-ups and squats and stuff.
BOYD YOUNG: And writing?
AMBER KYZER: And writing, yes. Writing what they did wrong and apologizing for it. But it was never to an extreme --
BOYD YOUNG: Right.
AMBER KYZER: -- while we were married, no. (Whereupon, Defendant's Exhibit 123 was marked for identification only.)
BOYD YOUNG: Amber, I want to show you an affidavit that's been marked as Defendant's Exhibit number 123 for identification and ask you if you recognize that.
AMBER KYZER: Yes. Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: And that's an affidavit from you?
AMBER KYZER: Yes, it is.
BOYD YOUNG: And that's signed by you?
AMBER KYZER: Yes, sir.
BOYD YOUNG: Beg the Court's indulgence.
BOYD YOUNG: One more thing, Amber. Sorry. I forgot. This check that you talked about on direct examination. What was the date that that check was written?
AMBER KYZER: 2/8/2004 -- or '14. I'm sorry.
BOYD YOUNG: And what's the check number on there?
AMBER KYZER: 104.
BOYD YOUNG: And was that check ever cashed?
AMBER KYZER: No, it wasn't, and I don't -- I think this was when I probably lost my job at Walmart. So I had asked him to wait until my, like my check had gone through. But this was -- I don't think he cashed this one.
BOYD YOUNG: And your divorce was final in October of 2013. Is that right?
AMBER KYZER: Yes.
BOYD YOUNG: Thank you. That's all the questions that I have at this time.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION By Ms. Mayes:
SUZANNE MAYES: Ms. Kyzer, he was asking you about the term, bipolar. What do you mean when you use that term?
AMBER KYZER: To me it just meant that he was flip-flopping. I mean, it was getting worse. It wasn't -- it was like a Jekyll and Hyde thing. Every time I turned around it was like am I going to, pardon my language, piss Tim off today, or is he going to be nice. That's what I meant by that.
SUZANNE MAYES: Were you referring to an actual diagnosis of bipolar?
AMBER KYZER: No. I just meant that as just what I had stated.
SUZANNE MAYES: Thank you. Nothing further.
THE COURT: All right. You may step down. (Whereupon, the witness stepped down from the witness stand.)
SHAWN GRAHAM: The State calls Heather Clary to the stand.