8.Candy Kyzer — Direct/Cross
82 linesCANDY KYZER, being first duly sworn, testified as follows:
COURT CLERK: Once you're seated, state your full name, spelling your last.
CANDY KYZER: Candy Kyzer, K-y-z-e-r.
COURT CLERK: How do you spell your first name?
CANDY KYZER: C-a-n-d-y.
DIRECT EXAMINATION By Mr. Graham:
MR. GRAHAM: Ms. Kyzer, where are you employed, ma'am?
CANDY KYZER: With the Lexington County Sheriff's Department.
MR. GRAHAM: And what do you do there?
CANDY KYZER: I'm an evidence custodian.
MR. GRAHAM: And can you tell the jury what an evidence custodian does?
CANDY KYZER: We get in packages or evidence from investigators or deputies in cases. What we do is we enter them into the computer system, put a bar code label on them and then package them and store them until they're needed for processing or court purposes.
MR. GRAHAM: How long have you worked for the Sheriff's Department as an evidence custodian?
CANDY KYZER: I've actually been with the Sheriff's Department for 24 years, or almost 24 years. I've done evidence for 16.
MR. GRAHAM: So is it fair to say that you intake evidence, you keep it secure, bring it out when it needs to go out to be used in court?
CANDY KYZER: Correct.
MR. GRAHAM: In the regular course of your business at the Sheriff's Department and the evidence department do you all keep track of the movement of pieces of evidence in and out of the Sheriff's Department?
CANDY KYZER: We do.
MR. GRAHAM: And is that made at the time the event, that it occurs?
CANDY KYZER: That's correct.
MR. GRAHAM: Meaning when you do something, you actually record that event?
CANDY KYZER: Yes. The computer system that we have allows us to enter that into the computer system. And we have the capabilities of signing it out along with -- we can get my signature and the person that we're signing it out to, their signature also.
MR. GRAHAM: Actually, do you all have like a bar code tracking?
CANDY KYZER: Yes, we do.
MR. GRAHAM: And do you have a document that helps you explain the movement of a particular piece of item that you brought with you today?
CANDY KYZER: I do.
MR. GRAHAM: Let me show you State's number 91 which is a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 cell phone and ask if you recognize that as an item that was maintained in the Lexington County Sheriff's Department for significant periods of time?
CANDY KYZER: It is.
MR. GRAHAM: And the document you have shows the movement of that phone within the Sheriff's Department and also leaving out and coming back. Is that correct?
CANDY KYZER: That's correct.
MR. GRAHAM: If you would help walk me through that item as into the Sheriff's Department. What is the first entry that you have with reference to that cell phone?
CANDY KYZER: The first entry that I have is where Shelby Derrick seized it September the 23rd, 2014.
MR. GRAHAM: And the next entry, what does it show that Ms. Derrick does with it?
CANDY KYZER: The next entry shows that she is -- what it is, is she's completing the voucher on that same day. And then the following entry is on September the 25th she is actually handing it to a custodian, which is me.
MR. GRAHAM: So she actually physically handed that phone to you?
CANDY KYZER: That's correct.
MR. GRAHAM: Once it was in your possession did you ever break any of the seals or go inside or do anything with the phone itself inside?
CANDY KYZER: No, I did not.
MR. GRAHAM: So after you received the phone, tell the jury where it goes next?
CANDY KYZER: Once I sign it in and make sure that everything on it is correct, then I ended up putting it in a storage location in our warehouse until it is needed again, which at that time would be then Mike Phipps comes to get it on January the 7th of 2015.
MR. GRAHAM: Let me back up just a second. On September 25th of 2014, after you got it from Shelby Derrick, it went into a particular spot in the evidence room?
CANDY KYZER: Yes, it did.
MR. GRAHAM: And then now you're testifying that on January 7th you actually retrieved that item and released it to Mike Phipps. Is that correct?
CANDY KYZER: That's correct.
MR. GRAHAM: And who is Mike Phipps?
CANDY KYZER: He is our -- he deals with all the cell phones and computers. He does all the downloading of those items.
MR. GRAHAM: So it goes to Mike Phipps, per the document, at 8:30 in the morning. Is that correct?
CANDY KYZER: That's correct.
MR. GRAHAM: On January the 7th. When does Agent Phipps return it to you?
CANDY KYZER: He returns it back that same day.
MR. GRAHAM: At approximately --
CANDY KYZER: -- at 8:52.
MR. GRAHAM: Thirteen minutes later?
CANDY KYZER: Yes.
MR. GRAHAM: The next entry then, so it comes back into your possession on January the 7th at 8:52. What do you do with it?
CANDY KYZER: On the 22nd -- let's see. I sign it back out on January the 7th to Mike Phipps.
MR. GRAHAM: So the same day at 9:00 o'clock you're signing it back out --
CANDY KYZER: Back out to --
MR. GRAHAM: -- to Agent Phipps?
CANDY KYZER: Yes.
MR. GRAHAM: And then describe what happens next.
CANDY KYZER: Then on the 22nd of January at 2:49 he brings it back and I sign it back in.
MR. GRAHAM: So he had it in his possession for about 15 days and then it comes back to the Sheriff's Department?
CANDY KYZER: Yes.
MR. GRAHAM: All right. What happens next?
CANDY KYZER: Then I ended up on September the 28th of 2017 I sign it out to Detective Adam Creech.
MR. GRAHAM: And then what happens next?
CANDY KYZER: The same day Adam Creech ends up taking it to a lab for testing and he turns it over to Britt Dove.
MR. GRAHAM: And then what's the, I believe the last entry?
CANDY KYZER: Then it looks like it comes back in from Mike Phipps on December the 4th, 2018.
MR. GRAHAM: So on September 28th of 2017 it was released to Britt Dove, and then Mike Phipps turns it back in, and it's been in the Sheriff's Department custody in their evidence room since?
CANDY KYZER: Yes.
MR. GRAHAM: Thank you, Ms. Kyzer. Please answer any questions the Defense may have.
CROSS-EXAMINATION By Mr. Madsen:
MR. MADSEN: Ms. Kyzer.
CANDY KYZER: Hey.
MR. MADSEN: Do you have -- I notice you are -- do you have any independent, do you remember receiving this in or checking it out?
CANDY KYZER: Not right offhand because it's been so many years ago. We usually go off of the documentation that the computer provides for us.
MR. MADSEN: That's all the questions I have.
THE COURT: You may step down.
(Whereupon, the witness steps down from the witness stand.)
MR. GRAHAM: The State calls Lieutenant Britt Dove.