DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. SMYSER:
MS. SMYSER: Good morning, Mr. Piazza.
FRANK PIAZZA: Pardon me. Good morning.
MS. SMYSER: What do you do for a living?
FRANK PIAZZA: I am a forensic audio and video editor.
MS. SMYSER: And what is a forensic audio and video editor?
FRANK PIAZZA: I provide audio and video forensic services for legal matters.
MS. SMYSER: Where do you work?
FRANK PIAZZA: I work for Legal Audio Video.
MS. SMYSER: What is your role there?
FRANK PIAZZA: I'm the president.
MS. SMYSER: And at a high level, what kinds of services do you provide at Legal Audio Video?
FRANK PIAZZA: Legal Audio provides analysis services of both audio and video, authentication services for both audio and video, enhancement services, consultation, creating trial exhibits, and testimony.
MS. SMYSER: And you mentioned authentication services, could you just explain a little more what you mean by that?
FRANK PIAZZA: Authentication is the process of determining through examinations whether or not a file might have been edited or tampered, and trying to place that file to the device that recorded it.
MS. SMYSER: How long have you worked with Legal Audio Video?
FRANK PIAZZA: Legal Audio Video started in the year 2000. At that time it was named Legal Audio, and then soon after as video became a large component of many legal matters, the name was changed.
MS. SMYSER: Before working for Legal Audio Video, where did you work?
FRANK PIAZZA: I was the owner of a recording and video production studio called Audio Paint.
MS. SMYSER: And who were your clients generally at Audio Paint?
FRANK PIAZZA: It was a variety of clients spanning everyone from the music world through ad agencies, pharmaceutical agencies, book publishers, you know, mainly private corporations and private individuals.
MS. SMYSER: And were you providing audio services there as well?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. SMYSER: When did you begin working as an audio and video editor?
FRANK PIAZZA: I began that work easily in 1995, if not sooner, but the company was formed in roughly 1995.
MS. SMYSER: Are there professional certifications for video editors?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, there are.
MS. SMYSER: Do you hold any?
FRANK PIAZZA: I do. I'm a certified video technician.
MS. SMYSER: And from what organization do you have that certification?
FRANK PIAZZA: The name of the organization is LEVA and that stands for Law Enforcement Video Association International.
MS. SMYSER: Can you describe what goes into the process of being certified by LEVA?
FRANK PIAZZA: LEVA has four certification training courses offered over -- you can do them quickly but they don't offer them more than I don't think once or twice a year. And they cover a variety of issues someone might expect when handling both video and digital files.
MS. SMYSER: Are you a member of any professional organizations besides LEVA?
FRANK PIAZZA: I am, yes.
MS. SMYSER: What are some of those organizations?
FRANK PIAZZA: One is the Audio Engineering Society. They have a forensic audio division. Another one would be the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. While I'm not a lawyer myself, it is a membership that I have had for years.
MS. SMYSER: Do you attend trainings with regard to your work as a video editor?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, I do.
MS. SMYSER: And what are some of the trainings you attend?
FRANK PIAZZA: Those training events happen -- I try to -- to at least five a year. They usually can be as few as three days at a time. There might be a week at a time. There might be webinars. And different organizations will offer those opportunities.
MS. SMYSER: And how do you stay up to date with the current technologies for video analysis and enhancement?
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, absolutely through the training that takes place each year. And just my -- the hours I spend working in peer groups, things like that.
MS. SMYSER: Do you do forensic video enhancement?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, I do.
MS. SMYSER: What does that mean?
FRANK PIAZZA: Forensic video enhancement is taking what might be a video file that has been poorly recorded, let's say for example, and trying to enhance it by improving its clarity so the visual experience is the best it can be.
MS. SMYSER: Approximately how many times have you performed forensic video enhancement?
FRANK PIAZZA: I would say approximately thousands of hours.
MS. SMYSER: And how often were those enhancements in the context of legal cases?
FRANK PIAZZA: Mainly 95, 99 percent.
MS. SMYSER: Do you also perform forensic video analysis?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, I have.
MS. SMYSER: As part of that analysis, do you ever determine whether a particular video has been edited or tampered with?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: What kinds of things do you look for when you're doing that analysis?
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, if it's a video file, there are a lot of components that make up a video file. You would be very surprised how much information and data is in digital video. So that area has to be examined. You might have heard the term metadata, that has to be confirmed and examined. When it comes to audio, especially a digital file, it shares a lot of the same data properties that have to be examined. Additionally, your eyes or your experience visually, video will show its thoroughness when you view it on a screen, or not, and there might be anomalies or things going on that you need explanations about. So the analysis helps to determine if there are parts of the video that can be improved or not. And with audio, we have software and other tools to help us examine the audio, not just hearing it, but getting a visual of it as well.
MS. SMYSER: Approximately how many times have you analyzed videos to determine if they were edited?
FRANK PIAZZA: Again, I would say thousands of hours.
MS. SMYSER: Generally, in what contexts?
FRANK PIAZZA: Mainly for legal matters. And, yeah, I would just say for the legal, that would be the reason why I would be doing this work.
MS. SMYSER: And have you testified before?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, I have.
MS. SMYSER: In what kinds of cases?
FRANK PIAZZA: The cases are, for testimony, mostly criminal matters. I have done civil matters as well. And I've also performed depositions.
MS. SMYSER: And are you typically testifying about video and audio enhancement and analysis?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Have you been qualified as an expert in forensic video enhancement or analysis before?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. I have.
MS. SMYSER: Approximately how many times?
FRANK PIAZZA: I would say approximately 50 times.
MS. SMYSER: In state court, federal court, or both?
FRANK PIAZZA: Both.
MS. SMYSER: Your Honor, the government offers Mr. Piazza as an expert witness in forensic video enhancement and analysis.
MS. GERAGOS: No objection.
THE COURT: The witness will be accepted on that basis. You may proceed.
BY MS. SMYSER:
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, were you retained as a witness in this case?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Who retained you?
FRANK PIAZZA: Your offices.
MS. SMYSER: And did you analyze video?
FRANK PIAZZA: I did.
MS. SMYSER: At a high level, what kinds of videos were you asked to analyze?
FRANK PIAZZA: There were three categories of video. One being cell phone video, video that was taken using a cell phone; another category was surveillance footage, footage that might have been taken by a camera security system or CCC -- CCTV system; and a third category, which were videos taken, we'll refer to them as sex videos.
MS. SMYSER: And did you in fact examine each of those kinds of videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Who provided you with the videos you analyzed in this case?
FRANK PIAZZA: Your offices.
MS. SMYSER: Have you worked with the Southern District of New York's U.S. Attorney's Office on any other occasions?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, I have.
MS. SMYSER: Approximately how many times?
FRANK PIAZZA: I would say anywhere between 50 and 100 times.
MS. SMYSER: Is that just for testimony or is that just for assisting in other parts of cases?
FRANK PIAZZA: Other parts, you know, all, all.
MS. SMYSER: And has your engagement with the government in any way effected your analysis of the videos in this case?
FRANK PIAZZA: No.
MS. SMYSER: Have you been retained in other cases by defense attorneys?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, I have.
MS. SMYSER: What percentage of your work is for defense attorneys as compared to for the government?
FRANK PIAZZA: I would say most of my work is done for defense. If there was a percentage, I probably would say 75 percent.
MS. SMYSER: And are you being paid for your work and time in this case?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: What is your hourly rate?
FRANK PIAZZA: My hourly rate is 295.
MS. SMYSER: Dollars?
FRANK PIAZZA: Dollars. Sorry.
MS. SMYSER: Does the amount you get paid in any way depend on the outcome of this trial?
FRANK PIAZZA: No.
MS. SMYSER: Do you have any personal knowledge of the facts of this case?
FRANK PIAZZA: I do not.
MS. SMYSER: And do you have any familiarity with the government's proof in this case aside from the videos that you've analyzed?
FRANK PIAZZA: No.
MS. SMYSER: I want to start talking about some of those videos and specifically looking for the cell phone videos you mentioned and the surveillance videos that you mentioned. How many of those videos did you analyze in total?
FRANK PIAZZA: The total of the cell phone videos and the surveillance videos would be five.
MS. SMYSER: And could you describe the cell phone videos at a high level?
FRANK PIAZZA: The cell phone videos I mentioned earlier are videos that were taken and recorded with a cell phone and the cell phone is actually recording the computer monitor like this in front of me of events playing off of a security system. So it acts as a video of a video. But that kind of -- that's the synopsis of what's happening there.
MS. SMYSER: And what about the surveillance videos; could you describe those at a high level?
FRANK PIAZZA: The surveillance videos are videos that were taken by that system that I just mentioned. And they are three different camera angles. Whereas, the cell phone only focuses on only one camera angle.
MS. SMYSER: And how many cell phone videos were there that you analyzed?
FRANK PIAZZA: There were two.
MS. SMYSER: And how many surveillance videos were there?
FRANK PIAZZA: Three.
MS. SMYSER: I want to direct your attention to some of the disks that are next to you on your left. So the one closest to you, furthest away from me, should contain a disk that contains Government Exhibits 3B-101 and 3B-102 as well as what's been marked for identification as Government Exhibit AF-101, AF-102, and AF-103. Do you recognize this disk?
FRANK PIAZZA: I do.
MS. SMYSER: And have you reviewed the contents of the disk?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: What does the disk contain?
FRANK PIAZZA: This disk contains the five files that we've been talking about. The cell phone files, and the surveillance video files.
MS. SMYSER: The originals that you analyzed?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, the originals.
MS. SMYSER: Okay. So how do you know that's what the CD contains?
FRANK PIAZZA: In addition to viewing them, my initials are on this disk. On these disks, plural.
MS. SMYSER: So I want to talk about each category of these videos and starting with the cell phone videos. So you mentioned the cell phone videos record a surveillance system; is that right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: What kind of cell phone recorded this video?
FRANK PIAZZA: The cell phone was an iPhone 6.
MS. SMYSER: What do you generally expect to see in a video where a cell phone takes a video of another video?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah. So while all different versions -- I'm sorry, like -- there might be different things that might occur, not always the same. But you might have distortion issues. There might be shaky or movement because the person holding the phone might be shaking. It's not a static system. There might be color issues, lighting issues, reflection issues.
MS. SMYSER: And are these issues common when there's a video of a video?
FRANK PIAZZA: They can be, depending on how much time went into how it was taken.
MS. SMYSER: Do they prevent a cell phone from recording all of the events present in the underlying video?
FRANK PIAZZA: No. The cell phone finishes its task of recording.
MS. SMYSER: Do you know when the specific cell phone videos at issue here were recorded?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. I was able to read in the metadata, they were on March 5, 2016.
MS. SMYSER: Okay. So I want to look at one of these.
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, can you please pull up what's in evidence as Government Exhibit 3B-101. Could you display it for the jury.
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, is this one of the cell phone videos you were talking about?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: So I just want to play the first 30 seconds of this clip.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, are you familiar with the term frame rate?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: And what generally is a frame rate?
FRANK PIAZZA: In video, digital video, we refer to frames per second. So with -- in every second of video, there are a number of frames. So that would be the rate that's happening within that one second.
MS. SMYSER: And how does frame rate relate to the speed of a video?
FRANK PIAZZA: Frame rate can either cause a video to have more information taking place within that one second. So if I were to give you an example, 30 frames will give you more information than 10 frames per second. You're seeing more of a smoother -- you have an opportunity to see more of a smoother play back. The speed, depending on if it is exported and it goes to a standard player, will or will not scan and play properly. If you put 30 frames next to 10 frames, they'll be a difference in the speed because the 10 will get through it faster.
MS. SMYSER: And what is the frame rate of the cell phone videos Government Exhibit 3B-101 and 3B-102?
FRANK PIAZZA: That is a 30 frames per second.
MS. SMYSER: You can take that down, Ms. Gavin.
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, after examining the cell phone videos, did you come to a conclusion as to whether they were manually altered or not?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, my conclusion was that they were not manually altered.
MS. SMYSER: And what were some of the reasons for that conclusion?
FRANK PIAZZA: Although they had issues, as we talked about a little bit before, coloring and contrast issues, and shakiness, the cell phone was recording the -- the video surveillance playing off of the native system, which is playing in a stable fashion. And the cell phone itself was not edited or tampered in any way. So it cleanly captured the clean play back of the surveillance system.
MS. SMYSER: And after watching the cell phone videos, did you come to a conclusion about whether they reliably represented the underlying surveillance footage or not?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: And what was your conclusion there?
FRANK PIAZZA: They do.
MS. SMYSER: Is that for the same reasons that you described?
FRANK PIAZZA: Correct.
MS. SMYSER: Next I want to talk about the surveillance videos that you mentioned earlier. Without getting into the details, could you just list any technical issues that you noticed about the videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. These videos had a speed play back issue. They played faster than normal real time. And there were some artifacts or distortions happening throughout the video, and there were areas of motion activity that was taking place as well.
MS. SMYSER: And were there some issues with the time stamps?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. The time stamps were also behaving the same exact way that the video was behaving.
MS. SMYSER: And were you able to correct any of these issues?
FRANK PIAZZA: I was able to correct the speed issue. The distortions, the -- the motion activity, that's all embedded into the file itself. That cannot be changed. And what I mean by embedded, that is what the camera captured and what the system recorded. So it's just a copy of what the system recorded.
MS. SMYSER: So I wanted to look at each of these issues you've identified individually. But first, I want to direct your attention to a CD in front of you which contains what's in evidence as Government Exhibit 10C-103, 10C-104, and 10C-105. Do you see that?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah. Yes. Sorry.
MS. SMYSER: Do you recognize the disk?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, I do.
MS. SMYSER: And have you reviewed the contents of the disk?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, I have.
MS. SMYSER: What does the disk contain?
FRANK PIAZZA: These contain the corrected surveillance videos.
MS. SMYSER: And how do you know that's what they contain?
FRANK PIAZZA: I reviewed the disk and my initials are on the disk.
MS. SMYSER: So you said that the speed of the surveillance videos you examined was fast, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: How did the speed compare to the speed of the cell phone videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: So the simple answer would be that the play back was playing 21 frames at a time, and the clock was set to play 30 frames, as a standard kind of clock that might be in typical software you might use. And therefore, it played much faster. So it was counting seconds, but missing nine frames. So we had to account for that difference.
MS. SMYSER: And so how did you address the fact that the surveillance videos were faster?
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, there were a few ways. Obviously, just watching them. Another way was counting the frames manually, and then having the ability to use software to correct the timing.
MS. SMYSER: So you were able to slow down the videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: At their reduced speed, how does the speed of the surveillance videos compare to the speed of the cell phone videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: The speed is now in sync with it, so it's playing back at the same exact speed as the cell phone and the surveillance are now in sync.
MS. SMYSER: And the cell phone videos that you looked at, when corrected, how does their speed compare to the speed of the underlying surveillance system?
FRANK PIAZZA: Would you ask that question again, please.
MS. SMYSER: Yes. The surveillance videos you original -- you analyzed and then corrected to slow it down, how did the slowed down version speed compare to the speed of the play back on the original surveillance system?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. It is now synchronized. It's playing at true, real time.
MS. SMYSER: And based on your experience with videos, are you aware of any reason that surveillance footage might end up being sped up?
FRANK PIAZZA: There could be multiple reasons, but what can occur is there is a process that the original system records in a proprietary or a native format. And you have the ability to export out duplicates of what was recorded in the native format because you can't use the native format until you have the native software that plays it. So you would convert it or transcode the file. In that process of transcoding is where these errors can take place.
MS. SMYSER: And does transcoding cause a video to from one file type to another file type?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. Typically, yes.
MS. SMYSER: And how common is it to convert a video from one file type to another file type?
FRANK PIAZZA: In my business, it's very common.
MS. SMYSER: Does this kind of conversion indicate to you any human alteration or tampering with the file?
FRANK PIAZZA: No.
MS. SMYSER: Earlier you mentioned that there were some other visual artifacts, I think is how you phrased it, in the surveillance videos; is that right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: I think you said you weren't able to correct those; is that correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
(Continued on next page)
BY MS. SMYSER: (Continued)
MS. SMYSER: After watching the surveillance videos and examining them, did you come to a conclusion as to whether the surveillance videos had been manually altered in any way?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. I came to the conclusion that they were not manually altered.
MS. SMYSER: What was your -- your conclusion was that they were not manually altered?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. SMYSER: What were some of the reasons for that?
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, there are a few reasons. One reason is that after identifying the frame issue in the speed, being able to correct it and make it play back in true time, having the cellphone video also that we were certain that it played in real-time when the comparison is made of both, you can see that the footage plays exactly in sync. So there's like nothing missing. There are no anomalies going on in the file that would indicate that it had been manually altered.
MS. SMYSER: And after examining the surveillance videos, did you come to a conclusion about whether they reliably represented the underlying surveillance footage?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: And what was your opinion?
FRANK PIAZZA: They accurately play back as the underlying footage.
MS. SMYSER: And what were some of the reasons for that opinion?
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, being able to correct some of the errors, in this case the speed errors, which is the -- it seems to be one of the -- in the list of errors that we could correct but a very vital piece to having insight to now see what a corrected file would look like and play like, and we can confirm that now.
MS. SMYSER: I want to take a look at some of the corrected videos.
MS. SMYSER: So, Ms. Gavin, could you please pull up what's in evidence as Government Exhibit 10C-103.
MS. SMYSER: Is this one of the corrected surveillance videos that you mentioned?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, could you just play the first 15 seconds.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, does this video display generally the same events that are present in the cellphone videos we looked at?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Did you see the pixelation that just occurred on the screen?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Is that one of the visual issues that you were discussing earlier?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: What are some of the reasons that that kind of pixelation can occur?
FRANK PIAZZA: So this is a case of the file became corrupted. The video stream itself is corrupted. And this you will notice happens multiple, many times throughout the playback of the surveillance videos. And the corrupted files in the stream have caused that distortion or that pixelation or that blocking effect.
MS. SMYSER: And is the whole file corrupted or just these small pieces?
FRANK PIAZZA: So the corruption lies in the video stream. May I explain how we know that it is only in parts of the video and not the full video?
MS. SMYSER: Sure.
FRANK PIAZZA: So there's a structure in digital video called a GOP; it's a group of pictures. And what is happening is that we have P frames; they're predictive frames which are only showing you -- and this is very common with a static camera, a fixed-mounted camera. You don't know this but you're seeing the walls and everything that doesn't move is just repeated. It's not re-recorded; it's just repeated. But where there's movement, that gets a fresh video file. So you're really seeing these inner frames, that's why you don't see distortion over the entire screen. It is not affecting what is called the I frame, which is the important frame, to set it up; it's a new fresh frame. You're seeing only the frames within that group of pictures. So that's how we know that that stream is corrupted on those P frames. Thank you.
MS. SMYSER: Let's continue playing the video. Let's play through about 55 seconds.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: Did you see pixelation several more times in this portion of the clip?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Is the pixelation any indication of human alteration or tampering?
FRANK PIAZZA: No.
MS. SMYSER: And does it change your opinion that the video accurately represents the underlying surveillance footage?
FRANK PIAZZA: No, it does not change my opinion.
MS. SMYSER: I think you also mentioned there were some timestamp issues in these videos, is that right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Are there times the timestamp skips?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: At a basic level, what are some of the reasons that can happen?
FRANK PIAZZA: Just like visual that you're seeing, the events taking place, the timestamp is also recorded by the same system, and typically with this kind of surveillance system, the timestamp is being affected the same way that these pixelations are happening to the actual visuals. So, for example, there might be times where the video will jump ahead. That could be motion activity which we can explain. There might be times when the timestamp might go backwards because it's searching for its next information to display properly. The timestamp does suffer from the export process that has also caused the problems that you're seeing in the visual.
MS. SMYSER: You mentioned that some of these timestamp issues can be caused by the motion activity cameras, is that right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Can you just explain how that is?
FRANK PIAZZA: Maybe you've heard the term, or not, but a lot of surveillance systems, not just this hotel's one, you know, your private home system if you have one, you have the option of applying a feature called motion activity. And what its role is to tell the system to turn on and off when there's no motion for a certain period of time; it stops recording. And then when there's motion again, the sensor sees it, and then the system turns back on, and it records the video again. And the timestamp will be reflected by whether or not motion activity took place.
MS. SMYSER: So if there's no motion, then what happens to the timestamp?
FRANK PIAZZA: So if there's no motion, the timestamp will either remain where it left off or when there is motion and it picks up again, if it's a minute later, it will be reflected in the timestamp.
MS. SMYSER: So the timestamp can jump forward when there is motion?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Were you able to make any adjustments to the time stamps in these videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: No. Again, these were embedded into the actual file as like one file. If we had the native file, we would be able to separate them, but we don't so we have this embedded one file.
MS. SMYSER: Would you rely on the timestamp for the accurate time of day?
FRANK PIAZZA: No, I would not.
MS. SMYSER: And even without adjusting the timestamp, does this change your opinion that the videos accurately represent the underlying surveillance footage?
FRANK PIAZZA: No. My opinion is the same.
MS. SMYSER: All right. Ms. Gavin, I want to look at an example of this. So could you please skip to one minute and 43? Seconds. We are going to play through 2:10, and then we're going to pause right before there's a timestamp skip.
(Video played).
MS. SMYSER: Could you just pause here?
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, could you take a look at the timestamp and let's play forward through 2 minutes and 16 seconds.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: What happened to the timestamp in those few seconds?
FRANK PIAZZA: Could you play that again, please?
MS. SMYSER: Sure.
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, could you go back to 2:10 and just play forward six seconds.
(Video played).
MS. SMYSER: What happened to the timestamp in that clip?
FRANK PIAZZA: So the timestamp actually corrected itself and displayed what appeared to be going backwards, but it was filled with errors, and there also seems to be motion activity occurring that is causing it to jump ahead by I believe it's 20 or so seconds.
MS. SMYSER: How does the motion relate to the change in the timestamp?
FRANK PIAZZA: So if we could do this -- if you would just go back frame by frame, I want to point out something that's worth seeing. Go backwards. Stop. That's perfect. Let's stop right there. So you can see the timestamp, it's down at 13:11. Go back another frame. Okay. We've gone backwards, yet the timestamp went forward. So now go forward one frame, and I'll explain what I want to explain. This seems to be kind of a collision of two things happening. If you look at the far end of the video, you can see it's a wall of mirrors, and that reflection is being recorded in the camera. And if you look to the left side of the mirror across from the male sitting down, you see what looks like an outline or a ghost of a person, and that is the motion activity actually getting ready to sense that we have new motion. That's correct. Thank you. So at that point, you will see the full figure appear. If you go ahead a frame again, maybe a couple. Just go one at a time. Again, please. Okay. So if you see now it's a full figure in the frame. And importantly you should notice at the bottom left-hand corner, that is the full body of the person that the sensor is fully getting. Okay, let's turn it on for sure, we know we have motion. So that causes the jump. The backwards part I can't really say other than that file is corrupted and -- because, as we talked about before, we're going to see this many times in the video. The file is corrupted in a way where it struggles to give the full accuracy. Just like when you see the figures and the blocking, the same sort of concept is happening to that file. So this is just an opportunity for it to try and correct itself. And it just so happens motion activity was happening at the same time. I'm sorry if that was confusing, but that's the best I can do.
MS. SMYSER: Did the timestamp ultimately correct itself after the motion occurred?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: And in your opinion, are these surveillance videos still accurately capturing the events that were happening?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: You can take that down, Ms. Gavin.
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, in connection with this case, did you create a compilation of video footage?
FRANK PIAZZA: I did, yes.
MS. SMYSER: Who asked you to make that compilation?
FRANK PIAZZA: It was your offices.
MS. SMYSER: What does that compilation generally consist of?
FRANK PIAZZA: The compilation are all three surveillance videos. We've only been seeing one camera angle, and there are two other camera angles up hallways, and it is a timeline of events as they took place, as events took place, and they're edited in a way to track the movement of individuals inside that -- inside the events.
MS. SMYSER: Is one of the cellphone videos also included in that compilation?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. SMYSER: Does the compilation have different camera angles in it?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, it does.
MS. SMYSER: When you created the compilation, how did you indicate that the video was going to change between camera angles?
FRANK PIAZZA: So within each camera, there was overlap of the footage, so you knew from one camera by comparing it to another camera that a certain event was taking place. So we refer to that as an anchor point, so we knew where we were at that point. So using the first camera as our starting place, meaning the one that we just saw outside the elevator in that landing area, everything evolved from there moving forward that enabled us to have a chronological compilation of the playback.
MS. SMYSER: How did you indicate visually in the file that a change in angle was about to occur?
FRANK PIAZZA: A black screen was placed in between each time the camera was changed or there was a switch to a different portion.
MS. SMYSER: I want to direct your attention to another CD in front of you which contains what has been marked for identification as Government Exhibit 10C-115. Do you recognize this disk?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: What is it?
FRANK PIAZZA: This is the compilation I prepared.
MS. SMYSER: Did you review the contents of the disk before you testified today?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: How do you know?
FRANK PIAZZA: These are my initials on the disk itself.
MS. SMYSER: Your Honor, the government offers Government Exhibit 10C-115.
THE COURT: 10C-115 will be admitted.
(Government's Exhibit 10C-115 received in evidence)
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, can you please display Government Exhibit 10C-115.
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, is this the compilation you created?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: So I want to play through the first about ten seconds of this clip, Ms. Gavin.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: What angle are we looking at here?
FRANK PIAZZA: We're looking at a camera that was mounted in the hallway of the hotel showing what I'll refer to as the right portion of the hallway right outside of the entryway to the elevators.
MS. SMYSER: And what is happening in the video?
FRANK PIAZZA: The woman is walking down the hallway in the direction of the camera.
MS. SMYSER: So I want to focus on the timestamp for just a second. What is the timestamp here?
FRANK PIAZZA: The timestamp says it's 11:16:15.
MS. SMYSER: You mentioned there were various camera angles in this compilation, is this right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Do the camera angles have different time stamps?
FRANK PIAZZA: They do.
MS. SMYSER: How common is it for the timestamp of different cameras to be offset rather than identical?
FRANK PIAZZA: It's a very common occurrence.
MS. SMYSER: And why might that happen?
FRANK PIAZZA: It can happen for numerous reasons. The three video files might not be connected to the same exact system, so they're not using the master clock from that system to then give it to them. It could be that the cameras themselves are generating the time code as opposed to the system, and there is a calibration issue. There can be maintenance that could have happened on one camera but not another, but someone in that process didn't update the offset. And there would be lots of other reasons, but that would be likely some of the reasons here.
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, let's play through until 30 seconds on the video.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: Did we just see multiple angles of the same event?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. SMYSER: How does the timestamp of this lobby camera here generally compare to that of the hallway cameras?
FRANK PIAZZA: So there seems to be an offset, I can't tell you which the name of the file is in the compilation, but the offset is anywhere from five seconds to five minutes and 55 seconds, and then others are -- one other one I believe is synced with it. Depending on which one you're looking at or using as your reference, it's going to change.
MS. SMYSER: How did you know just how to string the videos together if the time stamps on the different cameras were different?
FRANK PIAZZA: I relied on what I mentioned before, the anchor point, meaning the overlap of the video you can see visually is taking place so you know where you are in the video. And the videos do play forward, chronologically forward, so we have a reference there as well.
MS. SMYSER: How many video compilations have you done in your career?
FRANK PIAZZA: Hundreds.
MS. SMYSER: Do you typically focus on the content rather than the time stamps when putting together those compilations?
FRANK PIAZZA: Typically that would be the case, unless there was a different request made.
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, we're going to continue playing through this clip till about 4 minutes and 5 seconds.
MS. SMYSER: And I'll ask you some questions as we go along, Mr. Piazza.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: Who emerges from the hallway?
FRANK PIAZZA: The male is running down the hallway in the direction of the camera, and then we're catching different angles as this next angle is present.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: What did the man just do in the video?
FRANK PIAZZA: The man was dragging the woman across the carpet out of the elevator area into the hallway.
MS. SMYSER: Does the man appear to have anything in his hands?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. He seems to be carrying a duffle bag or luggage of sorts.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: What is the woman doing?
FRANK PIAZZA: She picked up a handset that was mounted on the wall to her left.
(Video continued playing)
MS. SMYSER: Where does the man appear to be going?
FRANK PIAZZA: The man seems to be walking down the hallway that he initially had walked toward the camera, he's now walked away and disappeared to the right.
MS. SMYSER: Is he re-emerging?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Does there appear to be anything in his hands?
FRANK PIAZZA: No, his hands appear to be empty.
(Video continued playing)
MS. SMYSER: Is there anything in his hand now?
FRANK PIAZZA: It appears to be a cellphone. It's glowing.
MS. SMYSER: Could you pause the video here, Ms. Gavin?
MS. SMYSER: You mentioned earlier that at the back of this room is mirrors, is that correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: So I just want to focus on what happens in the mirror over the course of the next five seconds or so.
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, could you play that.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: What appeared to happen there?
FRANK PIAZZA: The male picked up an object on the small table right beside the chair and what appears to be a vase and threw it across the room in the direction where the woman was. And in that process, it appears that the vase itself fell to the ground but the object that was in the vase was released.
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, could you continue playing through about 5 minutes and 12 seconds.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: What just happened with the video, Mr. Piazza?
FRANK PIAZZA: So the surveillance video that we were just watching had ended at that point, and now the cellphone video is now continuing the next portion or so in the video. So this will appear a little differently, but it is the cellphone recording of the same footage.
MS. SMYSER: Who appears to have emerged from the elevator?
FRANK PIAZZA: That is a security person.
MS. SMYSER: Let's continue watching through approximately 6 minutes and 10 seconds on the timestamp.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: What do the security guard and woman appear to be doing here?
FRANK PIAZZA: They appear to be having a conversation of sorts.
MS. SMYSER: What is the woman wearing?
FRANK PIAZZA: A dark oversized hoodie.
MS. SMYSER: Is the hood pulled up?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Did you just see a zoom in the video?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Did you add that zoom?
FRANK PIAZZA: No, I did not. That was done by the person who made the recording with the cellphone.
MS. SMYSER: Let's continue playing through 6 minutes and 59 seconds.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: Where does the woman appear to go?
FRANK PIAZZA: She appears to go down the hallway to the left side of the elevator landing area.
MS. SMYSER: And what does the security guard appear to be doing?
FRANK PIAZZA: He picks up the handset that was on the wall and is speaking into it.
MS. SMYSER: Let's pause here.
MS. SMYSER: Did the footage just skip from the man and security man being in the lobby to them being in the hallway?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Did you have any available footage that showed them walking out of the lobby?
FRANK PIAZZA: No, none existed.
MS. SMYSER: Was that the end of the cellphone video file?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. SMYSER: And in this frame, what is the man doing?
FRANK PIAZZA: The man seems to be examining his hand or his wrist or his fingers. Hard to exactly know.
MS. SMYSER: Let's continue playing through approximately 7 minutes and 20 seconds.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: What do the hotel security guard and man appear to be doing?
FRANK PIAZZA: They appear to be having a discussion.
MS. SMYSER: Does that conversation appear to continue on the video?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Let's skip forward to 8:45.
MS. SMYSER: Does it appear that they're still talking in this clip?
FRANK PIAZZA: It does.
MS. SMYSER: Let's play from here, Ms. Gavin.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: Who emerges now?
FRANK PIAZZA: The female is now walking in the direction of where the -- we just saw the conversation taking place, and this is the same direction, and it's from the rear point of view, a different camera angle.
(Video continues)
MS. SMYSER: Let's pause here.
MS. SMYSER: Are all three individuals now off the screen?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. SMYSER: Let's fast forward to 9 minutes and 53 seconds.
MS. SMYSER: In those 30 seconds, did the three individuals emerge?
FRANK PIAZZA: No.
MS. SMYSER: So let's continue playing.
(Video played)
MS. SMYSER: Who is emerging now?
FRANK PIAZZA: This is the female.
MS. SMYSER: And what does she appear to be carrying?
FRANK PIAZZA: She is carrying looks like a duffle or her luggage.
(Video continues)
MS. SMYSER: And who appears now?
FRANK PIAZZA: This is the security person.
(Video continues)
MS. SMYSER: What is he doing now?
FRANK PIAZZA: Appears to be inspecting the floor.
(Video continues)
MS. SMYSER: And who emerges next?
FRANK PIAZZA: The male is walking towards the camera down the hallway.
(Video continues)
MS. SMYSER: Does he appear to be holding anything?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah, there seems to be a cellphone in his hand.
(Video continues)
MS. SMYSER: What did he appear to be doing at the end of the clip?
FRANK PIAZZA: He's either receiving a call or making a call, and then putting the cellphone to his ear.
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, you can take that down.
MS. SMYSER: Just to sum up, Mr. Piazza, you put these videos in chronological order in this compilation?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: And you found that all the videos that you put in the compilation did not have signs of tampering?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. SMYSER: And you found them to be reliable depictions of what the hotel surveillance system captured, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Correct.
MS. SMYSER: Were there any events depicted after what we just saw or was that all the footage that you had?
FRANK PIAZZA: That was all the footage I had.
MS. SMYSER: And does the compilation show all the content that was available to you from the videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, it does.
MS. SMYSER: Now, I want to turn to a different topic, Mr. Piazza. At the beginning of your testimony, you also mentioned that you enhanced sex videos, is that right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: How many videos did you work with?
FRANK PIAZZA: Initially, it was ten.
MS. SMYSER: So let's focus on those ten videos first.
MS. SMYSER: Your Honor, at this point the government would offer Government Exhibit 1307, which is a stipulation between the parties.
THE COURT: All right 1307 will be admitted.
(Government's Exhibit 1307 received in evidence)
MS. SMYSER: Ms. Gavin, will you please display that for the jury.
MS. SMYSER: I'm going to read this in a second, Mr. Piazza, but before I do, I want to direct your attention to the drive next to you, which contains Government Exhibit BX-201 through BX-210. Do you recognize that drive?
FRANK PIAZZA: I do.
MS. SMYSER: What is it?
FRANK PIAZZA: This is a flash drive containing those sex videos.
MS. SMYSER: Does it contain the videos that you enhanced?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Did you review the drive in advance of your testimony?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Your Honor, the government offers Government Exhibits BX-201 through BX-210?
MS. GERAGOS: No objection.
THE COURT: Those videos will be admitted.
(Government's Exhibits BX-201 through BX-210 under seal received in evidence)
MS. SMYSER: I want to read the stipulation, so, Ms. Gavin, could you please zoom in on paragraphs one and two. Before we move on, your Honor, I want to clarify I'm offering those exhibits under seal.
THE COURT: They will be admitted under seal.
MS. SMYSER: Thank you. Paragraph one is Government Exhibit exhibits BX-201A, BX-202A, BX-203A, BX-204A, BX-205A, BX-206A, BX-207A, BX-208A, BX-209A and BX-210A are video files that recovered from the Frank Black user file on Government Exhibit BX-200, a device that Casandra Ventura provided to the government. Government Exhibit BX-201 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-201A, an original video that was created on October 8, 2014.
MS. SMYSER: Can we go to the next page, please. Can you zoom in on the paragraphs? Government Exhibit BX-202 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-202A, an original video that was created on October 8, 2014. Government Exhibit BX-203 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-203A, an original video that was created on December 4, 2014. Government Exhibit BX-204 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-204A, an original video that was created on October 14, 2012. Government Exhibit BX-205 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-205A, an original video that was created on October 20, 2012. Government Exhibit BX-206 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-206A, an original video that was created on October 14, 2012. Government Exhibit BX-207 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-207A, an original video that was created on October 14, 2012. Government Exhibit BX-208 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-208A, an original video that was created on December 4, 2014. Government Exhibit BX-209 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-209A, an original video that was created on December 4, 2014. And Government Exhibit BX-210 is an enhanced version of Government Exhibit BX-210A, an original video that was created on October 20, 2012. And you can take that down, Ms. Gavin.
MS. SMYSER: Finally, Mr. Piazza, were you asked to examine one additional sexually explicit video?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: And what were you asked to do with regard to that video?
FRANK PIAZZA: I was asked to enhance the sound portion.
MS. SMYSER: So I want to direct your attention to a final CD, the CD containing Government Exhibit AX-701-79 and Government Exhibits AX-701-79-B and those are marked for identification purposes. Do you recognize the CD?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Did you review it in advance of your testimony?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: What does it contain?
FRANK PIAZZA: This contains the enhanced audio exhibit.
MS. SMYSER: How do you know that?
FRANK PIAZZA: I initialed the disk.
MS. SMYSER: And is Government Exhibit AX-701-79-B the audio enhanced Government Exhibit 701-79?
FRANK PIAZZA: That would be the original video.
MS. SMYSER: 701-79 is the original, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: Your Honor, the government offers Government Exhibit AX-701-79-B under seal.
THE COURT: That exhibit will be admitted under seal.
(Government's Exhibit AX-701-79-B under seal received in evidence)
MS. SMYSER: No further questions, your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you, Ms. Smyser. Ms. Geragos?
MS. GERAGOS: Your Honor, can we take a two-minute bathroom break.
THE COURT: Of course. Let's take ten minutes and come back at 10:40. Thank you. Members of the jury, all rise.
(Jury not present)
THE COURT: Mr. Piazza, we will be back in ten minutes.
(Witness not present)
THE COURT: We will be back in ten minutes.
(Recess)
(Witness present)
(Jury present)
THE COURT: Please be seated. Mr. Piazza, you understand you're still under oath.
FRANK PIAZZA: I do.
THE COURT: Ms. Geragos, you may proceed when ready.
MS. GERAGOS: Thank you, your Honor.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. GERAGOS:
MS. GERAGOS: Good morning, Mr. Piazza.
FRANK PIAZZA: Good morning.
MS. GERAGOS: My name is Teny Geragos. I'll just be asking you a few questions.
FRANK PIAZZA: Sure.
MS. GERAGOS: We talked about three sets of videos that you analyzed in connection with this case, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: We talked about the cellphone videos which you said came from a cellphone, right? And then we talked about the surveillance videos, and we looked at those at length on your direct, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: What is your understanding of the source of those surveillance videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: The original source?
MS. GERAGOS: That's right.
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah, that would be the native system that created it.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And then how is your understanding that the native -- the -- how they came into your possession after the native system was recording them?
FRANK PIAZZA: The videos were exported from that system and at some point were also transcoded in that process, and with the cellphone video we were able to determine that it plays back accurately because we know the cellphone video is demonstrating the accurate playback coming from that direct native system that the surveillance files were exported from.
MS. GERAGOS: And then who gave you the surveillance footage?
FRANK PIAZZA: That I received from the U.S. Attorneys.
MS. GERAGOS: And where did you -- if you have an understanding, where did the U.S. Attorney's Office receive those videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: I don't know. I don't have that information.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And I'm not sure if you talked about this on direct, but did you make a determination that the surveillance footage was perhaps older and cheaper, a surveillance video that was or surveillance system that was kind of old or cheap?
FRANK PIAZZA: I never used those words.
MS. GERAGOS: Can I just -- would it help you if I show you something to refresh your recollection?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, please.
MS. GERAGOS: Can we just put up 3571-009 at page 1. Would you please just take a look at underneath where the second?
MS. SMYSER: Just let me verify this is just for the witness.
MS. GERAGOS: Just for the witness and the parties. If you could just go out. Sorry. That's not it.
MS. GERAGOS: Underneath, where it says the second dash. Do you see halfway down the page where it says -- did you research -- let me ask this way: Did you research the system?
THE COURT: Well, hold on. Do you want him to review the document?
MS. GERAGOS: That's right. Have you reviewed the document, Mr. Piazza?
FRANK PIAZZA: No, I believe this is the first time I'm seeing this document.
THE COURT: Mr. Piazza, the only thing Ms. Geragos is asking you to do is to just read it to yourself. So if you want to focus the witness on a particular portion, you're free to do so.
MS. GERAGOS: Mr. Piazza, could you go to exactly where the cursor is on that screen and please review those bullet points. Please let me know when you're done.
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: You've reviewed it. We could take it down. Does that refresh your recollection that you researched the video system and you thought it was a cheap system?
FRANK PIAZZA: First off, I don't know when this document was created --
MS. GERAGOS: I'm -- no problem there. I'm just asking you if it refreshes your recollection --
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: -- that you researched the system and you thought it was a cheap system?
FRANK PIAZZA: It's potentially, yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: Because when we looked at videos on direct, there were, I think you described, multiple different issues with them based on the native system, is that right, and how they were transcoded?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. So I want to show you, and I hope to do this streamlined, but I want to show you 10C-103 which we looked at on direct as well.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could just press play and pause there. Perfect.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: This is the elevator bank part of the video footage, is that right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And when you look at the top left-hand corner and there's a timestamp there portraying 11:10:19, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: I think you said you're not sure if that's actually the real-time or if it actually syncs with what was real-time, but that's the time that was being shown, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And that's why we've seen multiple different video angles that show multiple different timestamps because they may not always be synced with each other, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: This video starts at 11:10:19. I think you see on the bottom right-hand corner, it's a 3 minute and 13 second video, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Correct.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could just go to the end of the video, if you could go to the very last frame.
MS. GERAGOS: The timestamp on the upper left-hand corner is 11:15:17, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: But the video itself only plays for 3 minutes and 13 seconds, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. GERAGOS: So there is about, and my math may not be great, but about 2 minutes 12-ish seconds of real-time that's not captured?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And that is because -- if you could just explain to the jury what the reason for that is, I know you talked a little bit about motion sensor.
FRANK PIAZZA: So, first of all, if this is 10C, this is something that I created.
MS. GERAGOS: Right.
FRANK PIAZZA: So this would be the corrected version. Could I ask you to play it just for a few ten or so seconds so I can just make sure?
MS. GERAGOS: Can we go to the beginning? Why don't we just start at 19 seconds.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Go back a little. Go back ten seconds.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Could we pause it there, actually.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay, go ahead.
FRANK PIAZZA: So taking place within this footage, there are a few issues that we cannot correct, one of them being that this system is buffering some of that time. In that process, sometimes time is dropped. We also know, as I pointed out earlier, there were some portions that were motion activated, and that took out the time. I have not gone through this clip and added up all the individual times I see that to give you your rough estimate of 2 minutes and 12 seconds.
MS. GERAGOS: Understood. But if we could just go back two seconds, I think you were talking about motion activated. Maybe we could see how that worked. If we go right there.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: You see it's at 11:10:44 and you play --
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Do you see if you just pause it, how it jumped ahead to 11:10:46?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: Is that an example of some of the time, I guess, not being captured properly?
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, what appears to be happening based on some of the artifacts that we've seen, that the delivery of what we refer to as packets in video, somehow they're corrupted. So the video doesn't know what to refer to to make the correction or make it look accurate, or it misses it. I talked a little bit before about a GOP, which is a group of pictures, and there are critical times of certain critical frames that are missed. It's either going to hold on to those numbers longer than necessary or it could have the issue of trying to find the right packet, but since it's corrupted, it will just throw anything in there. That is not always what happens, but there are some errors going on here that we know what is causing it. The visual that you're seeing would change in digits. We don't know why that's doing what it's doing, but we do know that there is a delivery packet issue, and there are at times buffering issues going on.
MS. GERAGOS: Thank you so much for that, but I just want to take us through a few examples of that, and you can kind of show us those delivery issues I think are the words you used. If we could jump ahead -- well, let's just play from here. If you see we're starting at 11:10:48. Then it's 11:10:50. It stopped right there. It jumped ahead again to 11:10:56, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Could you show me that again.
MS. GERAGOS: Yeah, let's do that again. Just back up three seconds or so.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Did you see that? Why don't we start?
FRANK PIAZZA: One more time? Can you go frame by frame, please. And could you continue to play it?
MS. GERAGOS: Can you please continue to play it?
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Stop it right there.
MS. GERAGOS: Do you see that it went from 10:10:50 to 10 -- it went from 11:10:50 to 11:10:56, so six seconds on the timestamp jumped in the few seconds we just watched.
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah, I did see that. And I need you to just replay that again.
(Continued on next page)
BY MS. GERAGOS:
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And right before we do that -- and we will replay it because I want you to just address two things. And then right here we see 11:10:99 when you see the male come into the elevator bank. Okay. I just want to draw your attention to those two things.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could back up 10 seconds and show it again for the witness.
FRANK PIAZZA: Are you able to play it frame by frame? Can that be done?
MS. GERAGOS: When you say frame by frame, do you mean second by second, Mr. Piazza? I'm not an audio-visual expert, so if you can explain exactly what you would like, we will do that for you.
FRANK PIAZZA: The person playing this back has the ability to just tap on a key.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: And have it go -- so when you mentioned I said frames per second.
MS. GERAGOS: Yes, of course.
FRANK PIAZZA: In between all -- you know, each frame is a thirtieth of a second.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. So I believe the government's paralegal just told ours how to do that. But let's see if we can get that done. If we start right there at 24 seconds, and then play frame by frame.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Is this what you're asking for?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Great.
FRANK PIAZZA: I would like to just stop there. I would like you just to see that we have the pixilation or the blocking starting to occur.
MS. GERAGOS: That was one of the examples of what you were saying, part of the corruption --
FRANK PIAZZA: But it actually is related to why the time code is doing that.
MS. GERAGOS: Got it. Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: So if you please, go ahead.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: So we just --
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: Just so I can put on the record to make it clear, from 11:10:50 and then you saw the boxes for lack of a better term.
FRANK PIAZZA: Yep.
MS. GERAGOS: And then it went to 11:10:56.
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: And we don't see any of those gray boxes right now on the screen, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct. It has, in fact, corrected itself.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: Because it couldn't prior to that. And for how many frames that it was having an issue, that's where it couldn't get its next information to play properly. So it struggled. Okay. The time code was struggling also because it was -- you could see that they're related. Although the time code doesn't have the pixilation, it has a different issue. Which is it's giving random numbers for a little bit of a time, so that's how the time code is showing its error. This is how the time -- the visual is showing its error.
MS. GERAGOS: So you just said it's giving random numbers. It said before 11:10:50, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, chronologically --
MS. GERAGOS: If you just --
FRANK PIAZZA: -- a random number, because the time code is only choosing from a bank of numbers. Whereas, the visual is choosing from colors and light and, you know, the information it's getting. So in the packets that exist in the time code, it's different than the packets that exist for the visual. There are two different files.
MS. GERAGOS: Right. And that's what you have been talking about. But I just want to ask about simply the timestamp, which is the frame right before it says 11:10:50, we saw that was pixilated. The next one is 11:10:56. That's the time code the system chose, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Right. But what makes this frustrating for anybody to watch this or follow what we're talking about here, is that the system, the rate is an averaged rate over time. So, for example, as part of my work, I manually, in this section, exactly what you demonstrated, I manually counted out all of the frames over a 10-second period, and then a 20-second period, and I averaged out how many frames were displayed. So over a 10-second period, it gave me roughly 21.3 frames. I'm using the original video not the corrected video.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: Because that is the more --
MS. GERAGOS: And then you added frames?
FRANK PIAZZA: And then I said by 10 seconds at 21 frames per 10, 2,100 just as a round number. That told me that over each second, some seconds only gave me two frames. But then the next one gave me 27 frames. I'm throwing numbers out. The average is really what we have to pay attention to. It's having trouble, the system is not able to produce the smooth motion you would hope to get. So you have --
MS. GERAGOS: In other words, the system is taxed, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Look at -- point by point.
MS. GERAGOS: Sorry. One question at a time.
FRANK PIAZZA: Sure.
THE COURT: Ms. Geragos.
MS. GERAGOS: Yes. Thank you, your Honor.
MS. GERAGOS: The system is taxed, in other words, right? I think that was --
FRANK PIAZZA: Again, there were multiple stages of my analysis, which brought me to where I'm speaking about today.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: So the system has the potential of being taxed, yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Understood. Thank you.
MS. GERAGOS: Why don't we play for a few seconds so you can illustrate again for the timestamp issues for me again once we view the male coming into the elevator bank. Can we just play. Can we play, please.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: So we see him coming into the elevator bank at 11:11:02. You can play, please. Thank you.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: If you could pause there.
MS. GERAGOS: Is that another example of the timestamps kind of jumping around because of the taxed system?
FRANK PIAZZA: No. I didn't say taxed system. You said that.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. But it's another example of the timestamps jumping around while there's movement on the screen, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. So, again, this is exactly what I just said a moment ago. If you were to count the frames in each second in that portion right there, if you started at 11:10 you would see some of them only have a couple frames happening. But then it gets made up again later in the later frame. It's constantly playing catch up. And to accept it second by second or frame by frame is, you know --
MS. GERAGOS: It's difficult, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: It's difficult, of course it is.
MS. GERAGOS: That's difficult of course. So let's --
FRANK PIAZZA: You know --
MS. GERAGOS: Understood. I'm just trying to do one question at a time. We have a lot of videos.
FRANK PIAZZA: Sure.
MS. GERAGOS: So if we can just move it along.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could play ahead to about -- yeah, just play ahead.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Just for the record's sake, we're at 11:11. You can play. 11:11:28.
MS. GERAGOS: In this scene, do you see the female going to the phone at the wall?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And you see the male coming back into the elevator bank?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Now, can we pause there.
MS. GERAGOS: Did you see the timestamp just jump from 11:11:57 to 11:12:08, and there seems to be some sort of a cut for lack of a better term?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: Can you please explain that for the jury?
FRANK PIAZZA: Sure. Would you mind backing it up again and giving it to me frame by frame?
MS. GERAGOS: Let's do that. So in that, we are going to start at 11:11:50. Just for the record, is the female on the left hand on the phone that was attached to the wall?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And at that point is the male separated from her at the -- over there on the right-hand side in the middle of the screen, yes?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So let's go frame by frame and observe the timestamp.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Next frame. So it just jumped about five seconds timestamp wise, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. Continue to push.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. So in those two frames that we just saw, it went from 11:11:57, and we saw there was a phone in the female's hand, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And then it jumped just in one frame and to 11:12:07; is that correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. And in that time period, the bags were then put -- are now on the ground I should say, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So could you please explain those 10 seconds of missing time or whatever that was, if you could explain that?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah, I can. So you have to go back in the video.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: If you would go back roughly 20 seconds or so.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Right there.
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay. You can play it at normal speed. I wish I could do that. I don't want to make it cumbersome, but I will tell you what I'm doing here.
MS. GERAGOS: So just for the record sake we just played it back. We're now at a minute and 28 seconds into the video, timestamp being 11:12:11. We just saw, again, the timestamp from 11:11:57 to what it is now. So now I pose my question again, could you please explain what exactly happened in that time period?
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay. Before 11:57, before it jumps to that. Let's go back to that, please. A little before that.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. Perfect.
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: So we will start, I just want to make it clear for the record, at one minute and 19 seconds into the video.
(Video played)
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay. So we talked before about motion activation.
MS. GERAGOS: Yes.
FRANK PIAZZA: It's not uncommon for security systems to give you the ability to have the sensitivity of that motion activation guide, whether it's triggered or not. If it's motion that it's clearly getting, then it will make its change. You might see someone in the corner. In this case, a female is there. And while she's standing in the corner, there's not much movement really going on. There's a tiny bit of movement, but the sensitivity -- this is a possible scenario -- has not been triggered, because it doesn't think anything is moving there. Same with the individual, the male across the way. He is remaining -- he's just standing there. And the sensitivity is seeing him as a nonmoving object until you get a distinct piece of movement is where you start to see your jumps and the bag drop. That's when you know it's been triggered.
MS. GERAGOS: Well, we didn't see the bag drop, right? We saw --
FRANK PIAZZA: The bag -- I'm sorry.
MS. GERAGOS: No problem. I just want to make it clear. We saw him holding the bags, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And then we saw an image of him with the bags on the ground, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Right.
MS. GERAGOS: And I, just for the record, there was about 10 seconds of timestamp footage difference in those two images, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: From 50 --
MS. GERAGOS: It was about 57 to 12:07?
FRANK PIAZZA: I'm really not counting the 57 because what it really did, what it did was just flew through from 51 to 52 right to 12:07, which is giving us a block of almost -- almost 15 seconds.
MS. GERAGOS: Fifteen seconds that were not -- that we were --
FRANK PIAZZA: Right. Did not --
MS. GERAGOS: Did not appear to be captured on this video?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's right. That's right.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. All right.
MS. GERAGOS: Let's go to -- if we could go -- actually let's just play again right now right here.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Here at 11 minutes -- or 11:12 if we could go back two seconds, we saw it jump again. 11:12. Did you see about a 20 second jump again?
FRANK PIAZZA: Would you do that again?
MS. GERAGOS: Yep. We'll go back three seconds. So here, if I could just make it clear for the record, one minute, 36 seconds on the video. The timestamp is 11:12:18. On the lower left-hand corner you see the female putting on lip gloss, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: And you don't see the male in this frame.
MS. GERAGOS: So let's play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: And pause.
MS. GERAGOS: So did we see it jump from 11:12:21 to 11:12:25, and now where we are at one minute, 40 seconds into the video, is 11:12:46?
FRANK PIAZZA: Right. Again, it is the same --
MS. GERAGOS: That's the -- what I was just going to say is that's the same issue is someone is at the lower left-hand part of the screen and the system is not really capturing the movement because there is no movement?
FRANK PIAZZA: I would like to point out, if you could go back just a few seconds, maybe to 145.
THE COURT: I'm going to stop you for a second, Mr. Piazza.
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
THE COURT: For the court reporter's benefit, we have to have a question and an answer. Now, if you get a question that is a yes, no question, your answer should be yes, no. And if you can't answer the question, you can say that too. And then we will have a chance for redirect examination.
FRANK PIAZZA: I see.
THE COURT: If you need to clarify. Okay?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
THE COURT: Ms. Geragos.
MS. GERAGOS: Thank you, your Honor.
FRANK PIAZZA: Sorry.
MS. GERAGOS: No problem.
MS. GERAGOS: Why don't we go back two seconds and you can explain what you would like to explain, which I would like to put right here is the exact place we started.
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: She is in the lower left-hand screen?
FRANK PIAZZA: And if you could please play it by frame.
MS. GERAGOS: Frame by frame. The question I have is do you view this as the same issue we've been talking about where the motion activated cameras do not necessarily register somebody in that lower part of the screen as movement? That's the only question. We will go frame by frame starting at one minute 37 seconds.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Now, the next, we're at one minute, 39 seconds. We see the blurring on the left-hand side of the screen, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. GERAGOS: And then it jumped. During the blur it jumped ahead to 25 seconds --
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And that's the same type of artifact issue that you have been testifying about, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: I'm going to say yes, but I still need a few more frames.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. Let's see a few more frames because we're going to jump ahead in the timestamp.
(Video played)
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: So there we go. The next frame shows we are one minute, 40 seconds at 11:12:45, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So now that you've seen I would say at least five frames but I am not the expert, I don't know how many that was. We've seen a few seconds. That is a perfect example of what you were just talking about in terms of the artifacts and the system not properly calibrating with the motion sensored activity, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, the motion activity.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. Great.
MS. GERAGOS: So if we could -- now that I've just looked at that. If we could go to the compilation video, which we looked at on direct, which is 10C-115.
MS. GERAGOS: This is about a 12-minute video you put together, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: We're just going to start here because we didn't look at this section on my cross. If you would just explain -- and I know you explained it on direct but explain it again because we've been looking at 11:10, 11:11. Why is this showing 11:16:06, this different view of the hotel?
FRANK PIAZZA: Because the time code is offset.
MS. GERAGOS: And because they're just different systems; would you say that? They're on different cameras?
FRANK PIAZZA: They could be different cameras.
MS. GERAGOS: And they're not synced, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's right.
MS. GERAGOS: So this shows the hallway, the left hand, I think you called it the left-hand view of the hallway?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah. That's correct.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. So let's start here. And you see -- if you can pause it -- four seconds into the video, the female coming around the corner or wherever she's coming from, she's at 11:16:09 right now. Right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Pause it.
MS. GERAGOS: This shows a different timestamp, right, because it's a different camera view so it's not synced?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's right.
MS. GERAGOS: But you knew because of -- you tell the jury why you knew that this was the same portion of the video or same time period?
FRANK PIAZZA: Because as she is walking in this particular section we're seeing, she is holding the bag, her hoodie is up. She's using both hands. I think it's both hands. You know, if I had to watch it again. And that same movement is taking place, that we just saw in the other camera angle.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. Perfect.
FRANK PIAZZA: So that tells us we're at a certain point in the video --
MS. GERAGOS: Even though the time --
FRANK PIAZZA: -- with both videos.
MS. GERAGOS: Even though the timestamps are different?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah. The timestamps are just off.
MS. GERAGOS: No problem. Let's play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: If we could pause there.
MS. GERAGOS: You see the male coming down the hallway. The timestamp is 11:16:52?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So when we saw the female, it was 11:16:09, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: I don't remember, but if that's what it is, yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: It would make sense it's earlier.
MS. GERAGOS: So it's about a 30-second difference, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Sure.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. You would agree with me that it's about a 30-second difference?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. Thank you.
MS. GERAGOS: Let's play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Can you pause it there.
MS. GERAGOS: Can you just explain the timestamp, what happened? It showed 10:10:99. Can you explain that?
FRANK PIAZZA: If you could back up a few frames, yes, I can.
MS. GERAGOS: Let's do it.
MS. GERAGOS: Let's back up a few frames if we can try.
MS. GERAGOS: So right now we're at 46 seconds. It's at 11:10:59, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: Let's go next frame. All right. The next frame shows 11:10:99 when you see the male coming into the screen, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And can you please explain that for the jury?
FRANK PIAZZA: The time code is having the same corrupt frames packet delivery issues, and this is what it's displaying.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. If we can press play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Pause.
MS. GERAGOS: Did we see it jump about 10 seconds on the timestamp?
MS. GERAGOS: Could we go back about three seconds to show Mr. Piazza that? Just a couple seconds before that. There we go.
MS. GERAGOS: So right now we're at one minute, 27 seconds on the video, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: And the timestamp shows 11:11:26, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Uh...
MS. GERAGOS: Twenty-four, I'm sorry. Twenty-four, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So if we press play, it goes to 26 and then 36; did you see that?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So did that indicate about a 10-second jump in the timestamp?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. Great.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could keep playing.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: We're at about one minute, 42 seconds on the video and you see the male walking away with two bags in the right hand, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And then he turns around at about one minute, 52 seconds in the video with both bags again, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: And if you pause it.
MS. GERAGOS: At what point is this from what you can tell? At what point, from what we just watched, when he was walking back, when he was walking to the room, if you know?
FRANK PIAZZA: This was prior to him dragging the female.
MS. GERAGOS: This is, right now?
FRANK PIAZZA: This is a continuation now of a few seconds in the video. Not a few seconds, maybe a little time in the video just picking up the last time we saw her dragged across the carpet.
MS. GERAGOS: It's a continuation from the elevator footage, but you don't know exactly -- you don't know whether this is at the point where he was walking towards the room or away from the room, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: At this point -- well, we saw what is happening.
MS. GERAGOS: Right. I'm asking where --
FRANK PIAZZA: At this point, even at this point, yeah, we can't see what's going on behind -- I'm not following you. I apologize.
MS. GERAGOS: We just watched --
FRANK PIAZZA: This is just picking up where we left off last time.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: And then we're back in the elevator area.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: So going on down the hallway, the male is walking.
MS. GERAGOS: The male was walking back --
FRANK PIAZZA: Away, then back.
MS. GERAGOS: Away from the camera and then towards the camera?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And at a timestamp that indicated a very different timestamp than right here, correct? It was like an 11:16 and this is an 11:11, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay. Okay. You want me to focus on timestamps.
MS. GERAGOS: All I'm asking -- all I'm asking is you don't know where this is in relation to him walking away and towards -- that's really all that I'm asking.
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, I mentioned earlier there was an offset of five seconds between two of the files, and you just illustrated a five-second difference. So I believe that's what you're talking about.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. So it's a five-second difference?
FRANK PIAZZA: Between this file and one of the hallway cameras.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. All right.
MS. GERAGOS: Let's play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: And this is basically what we just watched in the other video. This is part of 10C-103, and you see her on the phone, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Which then he is at the other end of the elevator bank. We just saw the bags drop. We've already gone through that.
MS. GERAGOS: Pause it.
MS. GERAGOS: So we just saw the female on the phone and hang up the phone, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And you see the male walk away after that incident, right? Or after her being on the phone?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And if we could start again, please.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: And is that him walking away after she was just on the phone?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So he walks away from her after she hung up the phone?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. All right.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could play it.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: So we saw him leave the screen. We're at about three minutes and 23 seconds. And if we could play again. The timestamp is 11:18:35. We see him come back at 11:18:37. He comes back from which he came, correct? And he has no bags in his hands now, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. And the female is in the same position that she was before?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And he -- do you see, if we pause it here, the male, he's kind of crouching down; is that how you would describe it? How would you describe -- crouching, he's bent over perhaps?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah, as part of whatevers happening there.
MS. GERAGOS: He's bent down?
FRANK PIAZZA: He's bent down.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. We're at about three minutes and 48 seconds.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. If you could play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: All right. Now he has what you described as a phone in his hand, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And he's looking at the phone?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. Now he's walking back and he goes to the chair area -- if we could pause it -- right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So you saw him crouch down on the left-hand side of the screen kind of in the reflection of the mirror, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. And then he got what you described as a phone within his hand, and he walked away, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And then he came back and he sat on that chair on what we looked -- we're looking at the mirror reflection, but he sits on a chair in kind of the middle area of the screen at about four minutes and seven seconds, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And the timestamp there is 11:13:15, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And I would like you -- I'm going to play again, but I would like you to pay attention to kind of timestamp skipping that's about to come up. So if you could just pay close attention to that and then we can rewind and look at frames again as we've been doing.
MS. GERAGOS: If you could play again.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: If you could stop there.
MS. GERAGOS: Do you see how it went back to 11:13:11?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And then you saw what you described as I think -- I think you say ghost, but a translucent-like figure there in the left-hand part of the mirror?
FRANK PIAZZA: I see that.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And you said that this was an example of a visual artifact?
FRANK PIAZZA: Why not. Sure.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. That's what I had written down, but you tell me what is this an example of?
FRANK PIAZZA: Well, the camera or the sensor is now seeing something that it's going to give a message to.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. Did you see this translucent or ghost-like figure in the cell phone videos that you reviewed, or is it only present in this one?
FRANK PIAZZA: The cell phone video does not show it because the quality of the footage didn't allow that kind of detail as I remember it.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. So that was the determination you made as to why it's only present in the surveillance videos?
FRANK PIAZZA: I am saying, as we're discussing it, I only see it in the surveillance videos.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. So you agree with me it's not in the cell phone?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could play again.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Pause it.
MS. GERAGOS: It jumped ahead to 11:14:33, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So approximately one minute and 16 seconds just passed? Should we back it up?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, back it up.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. Back it up.
FRANK PIAZZA: And if you would also just play it and don't stop where it changes, just go beyond it.
MS. GERAGOS: For the record, we're starting at four minutes, eight seconds. If we could play it starting now.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: So we saw the vase drop. We see the translucent figure and we see it jump ahead in timestamp by about a minute and 16 seconds, right? A. Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And do you see the male walk away from the chair with the phone in his hand?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: At this point, is the male standing in the hallway area of the hotel?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: And can we back up just 10 seconds, sorry. Let's play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: The phone is to the female's left?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: The left of the female I should say. Does the male come sit again on the chair he was just sitting on?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could pause here.
MS. GERAGOS: Now you switch to the cell phone video. Could you please tell the jury why you do that?
FRANK PIAZZA: That was the end of the surveillance video. So the cell phone video is a bridge of time that was recorded that was not recorded at the surveillance. So this is added to connect the next time period to the next surveillance video.
MS. GERAGOS: Because we don't have the surveillance video in the system we were just looking at that depicts this time period, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's right.
MS. GERAGOS: And we see kind of the cursor on the screen because this is a video of a video, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Is the male, from what you can see, still sitting?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: And what does it appear that the female is doing?
FRANK PIAZZA: Appears to be talking with the security person.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: I'm not sure.
MS. GERAGOS: And the security person is talking as well?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah, making gestures.
MS. GERAGOS: And the female is making gestures?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. Do you see -- pause it right there. Did you see the female saying something and pointing with her finger?
FRANK PIAZZA: No. But you can play it back if you want.
MS. GERAGOS: Why don't we go back about three seconds. For the record, we should go back to five minutes, 53 seconds. All right. If we play it.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Did you see the female just say something and point?
FRANK PIAZZA: It could have been pointing or just her hand holding something made her finger go that way.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
FRANK PIAZZA: I honestly --
MS. GERAGOS: Did you see her saying -- could you tell if she was saying something?
FRANK PIAZZA: It looked like she was speaking.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And this, we're at six minutes and 30 seconds. The male is still seated on the chair, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: He's still in his towel?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. And he has not gotten up. He's still seated?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. Let's play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: And you see the security person using that same phone that you saw the female use, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: And the male is still seated when he's using that phone, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: The security person is laughing. Does he appear to be smiling?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. We didn't see him get up. But we are now looking at the footage to see him in the hallway, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: All right. Pause. Or play.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: This we're at seven minutes, 22 seconds. The two males are talking to each other. There's one security person, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: We don't see anybody else with him, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's right.
MS. GERAGOS: And then we see the male we saw sitting down on the chair kind of against the wall in the hallway, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. Prior to this.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. Prior to this, we saw him on the chair. Now we see him against the wall in the hallway, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: We're at eight minutes, 19 seconds in the video. The timestamp shows 11:25:16, and you see the male going back down that hallway, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So we see him disappear around the corner at 11:25:56; does that make sense?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And now it's 11:25:48 and the female walks down the hallway as well, right? Just about two seconds after we see him turn the corner.
FRANK PIAZZA: Yeah.
MS. GERAGOS: And we just see her turn the corner. We are at -- if we could pause it -- 11:26:03, and the nine minutes and 22 seconds in the video, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. If we could play it.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: If we could pause this, and if we could jump ahead to about 10 minutes. If we could go back a little bit more. Yeah. We will start there.
MS. GERAGOS: The timestamp is 11:29:44, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Play it. Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. So we play it. So she emerges back into the frame about four minutes after she had walked down the hallway, right, based on the timestamp?
FRANK PIAZZA: I didn't do the counting, but there was a longer chunk of time missing, yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Because we saw her go down the hallway 11:26 and then emerge from the hallway 11:29:44 approximately, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. We can keep playing.
(Video played)
MS. GERAGOS: Then we see the security guard come down at 11:30:31, right? And that's at 10 minutes, 29 seconds in the video. And he's still the only security guard you see, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: If we could press play. So this is about a minute after you saw the female walk down the hallway, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Even though less than a minute went by in this video.
MS. SMYSER: Your Honor, objection. This appears to just be a statement in the record rather than a question.
MS. GERAGOS: I was waiting for a response but I didn't get it. So even though one minute went by. All right.
THE COURT: The objection is overruled. But let's keep it going. Ms. Geragos.
MS. GERAGOS: We're almost done, your Honor.
MS. GERAGOS: And then we see the male again in the hallway, correct?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: We're at 11:32:41, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: So that is three minutes, according to the timestamp, after the female leaves the room, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: You said 29, what was your --
MS. GERAGOS: Did we see the female leave the room at around approximately 11:29:44?
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: And now we're looking at the timestamp and it's 11:32:41.
FRANK PIAZZA: Mm-hmm.
MS. GERAGOS: So approximately three minutes, probably a little bit less than three minutes; does that sound right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And is he still in a towel?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And if we play, I think you said on direct that he appeared to be holding a cell phone?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. You saw him then turn around, and I think you said on direct that then he either made a call or just put the phone to his ear; you weren't sure which of course, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay. And then he walks back. And we don't see any other security guard at that point either, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: That's correct.
MS. GERAGOS: Okay.
MS. GERAGOS: Your Honor, may I have a moment?
THE COURT: You may.
MS. GERAGOS: Thank you so much for coming, Mr. Piazza, and explaining that. We have no further questions for you.
THE COURT: All right. Ms. Smyser.
MS. SMYSER: Very briefly, your Honor.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. SMYSER:
MS. SMYSER: Mr. Piazza, you were asked on cross-examination a lot about timestamps; do you remember that?
FRANK PIAZZA: I do.
MS. SMYSER: So, just to be clear, is the lobby video timestamp approximately five minutes different than the hallway to the right of the lobby where the man in the towel was?
FRANK PIAZZA: Okay, I am working off of memory. I have this written down. But my notes told me there was a five minute, 55 second difference with video -- with the elevator video and one of the hallway videos, and I can't remember which one. There is another offset of five seconds with the elevator video and another one. And then one of them is in sync with each other and I can't remember which one that is.
MS. SMYSER: Okay. So there are different amounts?
FRANK PIAZZA: There are different amounts, yes.
MS. SMYSER: One is about five seconds, right?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: And one is about five minutes and 50 seconds approximately?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes, approximately, yes.
MS. SMYSER: So, Mr. Piazza, I just want to take a step back. Based on your decades of experience looking at videos, did you conclude that the videos we've watched today reliably and accurately depicted what happened?
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes.
MS. SMYSER: No further questions, your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Piazza.
FRANK PIAZZA: Thank you.
THE COURT: You're done. Before the government calls its next witness, let's have a very brief sidebar.
(Continued on next page)
(At sidebar)
THE COURT: Thank you. Just for time purposes, what is the anticipated length of Ms. Bongolan's direct?
MS. SMYSER: I think it's about an hour.
THE COURT: An hour. Okay. Good. This is something -- I wanted to raise this. I forgot to in the morning. The defense has sent a couple of ex parte messages to the Court that contain exhibits. Apparently for -- because they are planning to use these exhibits for impeachment purposes. The Court has not reviewed those e-mails, and unless I'm missing something and everyone is comfortable with ex parte messages about exhibits coming to the Court, this is not something that I believe is appropriate. But if the parties have no objection to it and if the defense is doing it so that the Court has some advanced notice of what is coming up, then I will review those e-mails. However, I am not going to do so unless the government consents to the Court doing that. Because I think as is generally the practice, there are no ex parte communications with the Court. So maybe the government can tell me, is this something that happens and you're comfortable with it, or is it not something you've encountered before? Because it is not something that the Court is comfortable with. And if the government doesn't object, then we can deal with that. But if the government does object, then I am going to continue to not review these e-mails.
MS. SMYSER: Thank you, your Honor. We would object. I have not encountered that before.
THE COURT: All right. So the way we will handle these issues is just the way we've been handling them. Meaning if there's an exhibit that is being used for impeachment purposes that has not been previously disclosed to the government, you can try to offer it into evidence and I will make the call at that time. Okay.
MR. AGNIFILO: Okay.
THE COURT: I wanted to make sure everyone had full notice and there wasn't any confusion.
MR. AGNIFILO: Thank you, Judge.
THE COURT: Good. Let's proceed.
(Continued on next page)
(In open court; jury present)
THE COURT: The government may call its next witness.
MS. SMYSER: The government calls Bryana Bongolan.
COURT CLERK: Remain standing and raise your right hand. BRYANA BONGOLAN, called as a witness by the Government, having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
COURT CLERK: Can I please have you give the Court your first and last name and spell your first and last name.
FRANK PIAZZA: Yes. My first name is Bryana, and my last name is Bongolan. It is B-R-Y-A-N-A, and then B-O-N-G-O-L-A-N.
THE COURT: Ms. Smyser, you may proceed when ready.
MS. SMYSER: Thank you, your Honor.