8.Candy Kyzer — Direct/Cross
81 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:
SHAWN GRAHAM: Ms. Kyzer, where are you employed, ma'am?
CANDY KYZER: With the Lexington County Sheriff's Department.
SHAWN GRAHAM: And what do you do there?
CANDY KYZER: I'm an evidence custodian.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN GRAHAM: And is that made at the time the event, that it occurs?
CANDY KYZER: That's correct.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN GRAHAM: Actually, do you all have like a bar code tracking?
CANDY KYZER: Yes, we do.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN GRAHAM: So she actually physically handed that phone to you?
CANDY KYZER: That's correct.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN GRAHAM: So it goes to Mike Phipps, per the document, at 8:30 in the morning. Is that correct?
CANDY KYZER: That's correct.
SHAWN GRAHAM: On January the 7th. When does Agent Phipps return it to you?
CANDY KYZER: He returns it back that same day.
SHAWN GRAHAM: At approximately --
CANDY KYZER: -- at 8:52.
SHAWN GRAHAM: Thirteen minutes later?
CANDY KYZER: Yes.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN GRAHAM: So the same day at 9:00 o'clock you're signing it back out --
CANDY KYZER: Back out to --
SHAWN GRAHAM: -- to Agent Phipps?
CANDY KYZER: Yes.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN 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.
SHAWN GRAHAM: Thank you, Ms. Kyzer. Please answer any questions the Defense may have.
CROSS-EXAMINATION By Mr. Madsen:
ROBERT MADSEN: Ms. Kyzer.
CANDY KYZER: Hey.
ROBERT 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.
ROBERT MADSEN: That's all the questions I have.
THE COURT: You may step down. (Whereupon, the witness steps down from the witness stand.)
SHAWN GRAHAM: The State calls Lieutenant Britt Dove.