BELL COUNTY, Texas — Day nine of the trial of Cedric Marks started at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 27. Marks is accused of killing his ex girlfriend, Jenna Scott and her friend, Michael Swearingin back on Jan. 2019.
Marks is still representing himself in the trial despite being removed from the courtroom because of his behavior on April 26.
The first witness to take the stand on day nine was Joseph Garrett of the Grand Rapids Police Department. He was called on Jan. 8, 2019 to look for Marks with the United States Marshals Service.
According to Garrett, they found Marks at the Rivertown Crossing Mall in Michigan with a female named Maya Maxwell. Garrett says there was a coordinated takedown when Marks left the mall. He was the one who arrested Marks.
Garrett says his team knew Marks had a special skill set with a martial arts background, so it made the case a bit more challenging. Despite being in law enforcement for 23 years, Garrett told the courtroom, "That was the most tense I've ever been with a transport."
In cross examination, Marks asked Garrett if he ever was aggressive or incompliant with law enforcement during the arrest. Garrett said no.
The next witness was John Forner, a detective with Michigan State Police. He was able to track down where Marks, Maxwell and Marks' wife, Ginell McDonough were staying on on Jan. 8, 2019.
Officers from Michigan and Temple PD got a search warrant to search the home. They seized Marks' red Jeep which was registered to Rebecca Adney, his on-and-off girlfriend of eight years. Inside of the vehicle, evidence shows a background check of Jenna back in Oct. 18, 2018.
Throughout this entire period, Maxwell and McDonough were being interviewed. Maxwell gave officers specific instructions for the potential victims' burial site in Oklahoma when she was being interviewed on Jan. 11, 2019.
John McCaw, who was a detective sergeant for Michigan Police Department, was able to examine and extract phone data from Marks', Maxwell's and McDonough's devices with the software Cellebrite.
McCaw found that Marks' and McDonough's location services were turned off. However, Maxwell's was turned on.
McCaw was able to extract search history from the devices. In Maxwell's history from Jan. 5 to Jan. 9, 2019, she searched car washes, weather in Henryetta, KCEN news articles and Temple, TX news.
In cross examination, Marks says there are many reasons someone's location could be turned off. He claims his phone was prepaid, and that's why it was turned off.
However, prosecutors confirmed with McCaw that Marks searched up how to block a cell phone's data on Jan. 8, 2019 which would remove the network to make sure no one can see his data.
The next witness to take the stand was Michigan State Police Sergeant Casey Trucks.
When detectives searched the McDonough's home in Michigan with a search warrant, there was a loaded pistol in the laundry room, according to Trucks.
When detectives searched McDonough's office at the National Guard in Muskegon on Feb. 11, 2019, they found a suitcase. Trucks said the hidden suitcase had Marks' fighter license, a debit card, clothing, paper work and a loaded AR platform pistol at the very bottom.
Trial resumes on Friday at the Bell County Justice Center at 9:30 a.m.
It starts later because Marks is examining the evidence extracted from his phone. Prosecutors hope to present the text messages of the three along with data from their phones.