AMIR JENNINGS - 18 Months - Columbia SC

babyjustice wrote:OMG...she's pregnant again. They better take this baby away as soon as it's born or it will go missing like Amir. Someone sterilize this idiot.

You keep posting my thoughts.

twinkletoes wrote:

babyjustice wrote:OMG...she's pregnant again. They better take this baby away as soon as it's born or it will go missing like Amir. Someone sterilize this idiot.

You keep posting my thoughts.

Sure will.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A Richland County judge has denied a request to lower the bond for the mother of a South Carolina boy missing since Thanksgiving.

Judge Casey Manning ordered Tuesday that 22-year-old Zinah Jennings continue to be held in the county jail on $150,000 bond.


Jennings has been held since late December on an unlawful neglect of a child charge. Police say they arrested her for lying about the whereabouts of her son, Amir. The boy was 18-months-old when he was reported missing. Jennings allegedly fabricated multiple stories about where he is.

Her attorney, Hemphill Pride II, says he is shocked at the judge's decision. He said police are violating his client's constitutional rights by opposing her release on bond.

Hemphill Pride II said in court Monday that police oppose Jennings' release from jail because the 22-year-old mother hasn't told them where her young son is. He said the $150,000 bond is punishment because she is not talking to police. Pride says Jennings has a right to remain silent, and that his client would have a lower bond if authorities were not still looking for her son.

The State reports Pride said Jennings should have been released because she is pregnant, and needs prenatal care. Furthermore, doctors at a psychiatric hospital had determined that Jennings is mentally ill, he said.

Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott told the judge that Jennings is a flight risk, noting her own family had reported her missing in early December and because of her frequent travel between Columbia and Georgia and North Carolina.

Last week, investigators searched a rural area for the toddler but found no evidence of the boy.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57369063-504083/mother-of-missing-s.c-boy-amir-jennings-denied-bond/

Pretty nervy asking for a bond reduction when her baby is missing and LE is searching for a dead baby's body.

They should increase bond if anything. Just to make sure she sits there and they can snatch the newborn as soon as it appears.

Results from DNA testing on samples collected from the car of Zinah Jennings are in, but Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott says he will not comment until the first of the week when he expects to be briefed by State Law Enforcement Division agents.
“I have not seen the report,” Scott said Saturday. “SLED is finished with one portion of the preliminary results, and I will be briefed on those findings on Monday.”

Jennings, 22, is the mother of Amir Jennings, last seen Nov. 29, when he was 18-months-old.

Samples were taken from Jennings’ car in December after investigators found “stains consistent with bloodstains” on clothing and blankets. Investigators also searched a two-story house in the Waverly neighborhood where Jennings lived with her mother and Amir. They also took a swab of fluid or tissue from Zinah Jennings for DNA identification purposes.

Scott said multiple submissions were made and sent for testing in SLED’s crime lab, and only a portion of those results have come back.

In addition, he said he would not know until Monday whether the report included DNA testing from a shovel found at the home.

Amir was reported missing by his grandparents in December after Zinah Jennings wrecked her Dodge Neon in a one-car accident near her house and gave police conflicting reports of where her son might be.

Jennings has remained in jail since Dec. 29, when she was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child. Police say she has since refused to cooperate in their search for the toddler.

A request for a bond lower than the $150,000 set was recently denied. In asking a judge for a lower bond, Jennings’ attorney, Hemphill Pride II, said his client is mentally ill and pregnant.


http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/04/2140700/police-chief-says-hell-comment.html

She's not too mentally ill to know enough to keep her mouth shut.

i dont believe she's mentally ill at all.

Nor do I, that's what I meant. I hope she is never allowed to see or touch her baby when it is born.

Despite reports to the contrary, there are no new developments in the search for missing Columbia toddler Amir Jennings.




Reports surfaced on Twitter Thursday that Amir was found alive at a Georgia police station. However, Columbia police say the child is not the missing 20-month-old.

Amir has not been seen since late November. His mother, Zinah Jennings, has not provided any details about where the child may be, according to police.

Meanwhile, the FBI has put Amir's picture on their website, and lists him as a kidnapping victim.

Police are still offering a $10,000 reward for information that helps find him. Anyone with information should call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

http://www.wltx.com/news/article/172870/2/Still-No-New-Information-on-Amir-Jennings-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Cbc%7Clarge

Nothing new found 4-17-12

A grand jury will hear evidence in the case of a Columbia woman, whose child has been missing since late November.
Prosecutors will begin presenting information to the jurors next week
regading Zinah Jennings. If it's determined there is enough evidence,
an indictment could be brought against her, although at this time, it's
unclear what charges she could potentially face.

Zinah Jenning's son, Amir Jennings, was last seen around
Thanksgiving. Columbia police have said Zinah Jennings has
been uncooperative.

Since the disappearance became public, officers have received plenty
of leads, but none that have provided the clues necessary to find the
child.

Zinah Jennings herself was listed as missing for a time, but she
resurfaced after a car accident in late December. Investigators have
since pursued leads in other states, including the Atlanta area.

Police questioned her several times, and a warrant was issued for
Zinah on December 29th on a charge of unlawful conduct towards a
child. She is currently behind bars.

Anyone with information in the case should call Crimestoppers at
1-888-CRIME-SC, or e-mail a tip in to Crimestoppers of the Midlands.

http://www.wltx.com/news/article/185830/2/Zinah-Jennings-Case-Headed-to-Grand-Jury-

The grandmother of missing toddler Amir Jennings talked Tuesday
about her 23-year-old daughter, now in jail and suspected by police of
doing harm to her son, telling a tale of problem drinking and mental
illness that descended unexpectedly upon a young woman with a
once-bright future.
Although the public has heard police tales of
prostitution and erratic behavior, Zinah Jennings – the mother of the
missing boy – in fact comes from a good family, was successful at Dreher
High School, completed her freshman year at Winthrop and was on a
trajectory to being an independent, stable adult when she began to have
problems that changed her personality.
That’s the other side of
Zinah Jennings, said Amir’s grandmother Jocelyn Jennings, 53, in an
interview Tuesday afternoon at the office of her lawyer, Hemphill Pride.

“What I really want the public to know is that Zinah had a great
beginning, did not grow up in a violent environment,” said Jennings. “We
have goals and aspirations, we are Christian people, and Zinah set high
goals for herself.”
Later this week, 5th Circuit Solicitor Dan
Johnson is expected to indict Zinah Jennings on charges of unlawful
conduct toward a child.
Jocelyn Jennings said Thursday she wasn’t
trying to make excuses for her daughter, but she did want the public to
know there was far more to her daughter’s life than the unflattering,
one-dimensional picture given in many media accounts of the toddler’s
disappearance since late December.
Zinah’s father was Jacob
Jennings, a top official at the University of South Carolina who died
unexpectedly in 1992, when Zinah was three, Jennings said. Jacob
Jennings job was to better relations between the university and the
African-American community.
As a girl, Zinah was an athlete who
played basketball and volleyball, was on the color guard at Dreher and
was working on a degree as an athletic trainer to become a physical
therapist. At Dreher, she founded a step team that dances to beats,
using hands and feet, she said.
Zinah started working for her
aunt’s business and worked for Hardees for three years, becoming a shift
manager, Jennings said. “She’s hard-working. This idea that she’s quick
and she’s fast, that’s not Zinah. This is a young lady was went to
three proms in her senior year at high school – at Dreher, Spring Valley and Dutch Fork. “
Zinah grew up attending St. Luke Episcopal Church, but as an adult chose to join Grace Christian Church with Amir.
“I want the public to know something went terribly wrong here,” Jennings said.
Zinah’s problems seemed to begin during her freshman year at Winthrop when
during the first week of school, her white roommate moved out of the
room, leaving her to room alone for the rest of the year. After that,
Zinah transferred to Midlands Tech. Along the way, she had a love affair
that resulted in pregnancy – a development that upset the family,
because until then, Zinah had seemed on her way to achieving a
productive, independent life.
Although Zinah kept herself healthy
during the pregnancy, after Amir was born she began drinking – at
times, having “multiple blackouts”’ and memory problems, Jennings said.
She broke up with Amir’s father, her drinking problems got worse, and
she wouldn’t acknowledge them, Jennings said.
Pressures grew on
Zinah, with the stress of not having a job or a relationship with Amir’s
father as well as trying to handle a toddler, Jennings said.
Friends of the family who know Zinah support Jennings’ account of a drastic, inexplicable change.
“She has known my daughter since third grade. They went to elementary
school, Hand Middle School and Dreher together. She has stayed over at
my house numerous times,” said Yvonne Pygatt, 57. “Zinah was a very
kind-hearted person, soft-spoken fun-loving girl, very respectful, a sweetheart.”
The Zinah of recent news accounts “is not the Zinah that we know,” Pygatt said.
Jennifer Bishop, an elder at Grace Christian Church along Monticello Road, said
Zinah joined the church a few years ago and participated in women’s and
singles’ ministries.
“Zinah always had Amir in her arms and was
very loving and engaging,” Bishop said. “She always had a smile on her
face and bright eyes.”
A state-ordered mental evaluation of Zinah
while she was in jail found she was suffering from severe depression,
Pride said. A judge ordered daily medication, but it robs her daughter
of energy, Jennings said. “These days, Zinah stays in lockdown because
she can’t get up,” she said.
“My wish is for her to be
rehabilitated. My wish is for her to have long-term residential
treatment. She needs counseling, and she needs treatment for alcoholism.”
But Zinah appears to be in denial about drinking and
has declined treatment, even though – as a Richland County employee –
Jennings has health insurance that would pay for such treatment, she said.
Meanwhile, Jennings said she “has gone to great lengths to
find Amir.” She is working with churches, the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children, a private investigator and law
enforcement to find the boy, she said. She has also printed and
distributed thousands of fliers, she said.
Jocelyn Jennings visits her daughter weekly. Her daughter hasn’t said specifically what happened to Amir.
“Early on, she told me she left him in safe hands where he was with a lot of
children and she was very happy,” she said. “She expects to reunite with
him someday. But she has said to me, ‘Mom, the longer I stay in here, I
may not be able to find him’”
Jennings believes Amir is still
alive. “I honestly believe that Zinah left him somewhere. She was
probably intoxicated and said, ‘I’ll be back’”
http://www.thestate.com/2012/05/09/2269156/grandmother-missing-boys-mothers.html

Zinah Jennings will go to trial
by WACH Fox News Center
Posted: 21 mins ago

COLUMBIA (WACH) - Zinah Jennings was indicted by a Richland County Grand Jury Thursday on a charge of unlawful conduct toward a child.

Jennings has been detained in the Richland County Detention Center for five months. Police say they arrested her for lying about the whereabouts of her son, Amir. The boy was 18-months-old when his grandmother reported him missing in early December. Police say Jennings has fabricated multiple stories about where he is.

In late January, a judge denied a request to lower Jennings' bond, which is set at $150,000.

Amir Jennings, who was 18-months old when he disappeared last November, has not been found.

Police are urging anyone with information about the Amir Jennings case to call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC. All calls are anonymous and there is a possible $10,000 dollar reward tied to information in the case.

http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=752218#.T6woO-v2YZM

June 2nd 2012
COLUMBIA — The mother of a South Carolina toddler missing
since late last year is in solitary confinement after a confrontation
with a jailhouse nurse.The attorney for Zinah Jennings says she pushed and shoved a nurse over medication. Jennings is spending 90 days in solitary.
Attorney Hemphill Pride II says Zinah
Jennings is taking an antipsychotic drug that could endanger her child
due in August. Pride is asking that Jennings be taken off the drug
Risperdal.Jennings has been jailed since December as
police have investigated the disappearance of her son, 23-month-old
Amir. Jennings was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child after
authorities say she told them several inconsistent and false stories
about who is caring for him.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20120602/PC16/120609770/mother-of-missing-sc-toddler-in-solitary-for-jail-spat

The lawyer for the mother of a South Carolina toddler missing since
late last year is asking a judge to throw out a charge against her and
release her from jail.
Hemphill Pride told a judge at a hearing Thursday that prosecutors
don't have enough evidence to prove a unlawful conduct toward a child
charge against Zinah Jennings and are only holding her because she won't
tell them where her son Amir is.

Judge G. Thomas Cooper gave prosecutors until Monday to make their argument to keep the charge against Jennings.

Amir Jennings has been missing since December. He would be almost 2
years old now. His mother was jailed after authorities say she told them
several inconsistent and false stories about who is caring for him.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/243989/3/Mother-of-missing-South-Carolina-toddler-awaits-court-decision

If this boy is somewhere safe... If she really did drop him off somewhere and she intends to go back for him... At his age, he wouldn't likely remember her. He's been traumatized once during a critical period and if she goes back for him, traumatized again.

With that said, sadly I'm guessing the boy is dead somewhere and if she gets out of jail, she'll disappear.

This sounds like a classic "Casey Anthony" case. POS mother kills and discards of the baby and covers up with lies.

And now she's pregnant! OMG....what is wrong with these people? I hope they don't let her out to have that baby and kill it too.

Woman clings to hope she'll find missing grandson

06/24/2012
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina grandmother of a missing toddler says she is trying to focus on the future.

Jocelyn
Jennings Nelson told The Associated Press recently that she continues
to hold out hope that her grandson, Amir Jennings, will be found safe
and sound.

The Columbia toddler was last seen around
Thanksgiving. His mother, Zinah Jennings, has been jailed for not
telling police where she left him.

Amir's second birthday is
later this month. Nelson says she hopes people will pause to mark the
milestone and make renewed efforts to find the boy.

Jennings is now pregnant with another child, and Nelson says she hopes to raise that grandchild alongside big brother Amir.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501363_162-57459508/woman-clings-to-hope-shell-find-missing-grandson/?tag=contentMain%3BcontentBody

Still missing, Amir Jennings turns 2 years old

Posted: Jun 27, 2012 9:32 PM CDT
Updated: Jun 27, 2012 9:33 PM CDT
By Meaghan Norman

Amir Jennings will be 2 years old on Thursday. He's been missing since Thanksgiving of last year.

Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott they are still investigating every tip, but no one knows where Amir is at this point.
Where is Amir Jennings?

No one, that is, except Amir's mother, Zinah Jennings, who is now 7 months pregnant with her second child.

Zinah has been in jail since December and was charged with unlawful conduct of a child. She's been in solitary confinement since an incident with a nurse over medication earlier this month.

Zinah's attorney, Hemphill Pride, says it's tough for Zinah in jail, but it's also a bittersweet time for the family since they are left only imagining what 2-year-old Amir looks like now, how many teeth he has, if he's started talking, or if he's even alive.

"There are no leads; no reports from the Solicitor's office. There are no reports from law enforcement," Pride said.

Despite Zinah's charges, Pride says there is no clear evidence holding his client behind bars. Pride is waiting on the judge to rule on his motion.

"The motion says that the charges against Zinah are a mere pretext that the real reason they're holding her is she won't tell where the child is," Pride said.

Prosecutors have to prove Zinah recklessly abandoned Amir.

"Reckless means they have to prove intent," Pride said. "How can they prove that if they don't know where the child's been abandoned? They don't know if it's Charlotte [or] South Carolina."

Pride believes increasing the public's reward for information might help.

"I don't think $10,000 does not provoke the kind of interest Amir and his family deserve and this community deserves in order to find a lead or find a boy that age," Pride said.

Chief Scott says the case should not be a monetary issue, but rather why Zinah is not helping to find her child.

Pride says Zinah has been battling mental illness and that's why she can't help herself or police.

Despite that, the family is holding out hope.

"The family is hopeful," Pride said. "The family is a family that lives in faith and by their faith and they believe ultimately Amir will be found."

Scott says the Columbia Police Department will do whatever it takes to find Amir. They are still looking for tips. If you have any information, call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

http://www.wistv.com/story/18899712/still-missing-amir-jennings-turns-2-years-old

imo this defense attorney is nuts! i realize that he is zinahs defense attorney , but he's just ignoring the fact that a child is missing. i could not defend ppl like this.

Photos, documentation presented during Zinah Jennings' pre-trial hearing

by WACH Fox News Center
Posted: 08.08.2012 at 12:26 PM



COLUMBIA (WACH) - Zinah Jennings appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing Wednesday morning. Nineteen exhibits including the pictures and State Law Enforcement Division documents were presented during the hearing.

Columbia police officer George Wise with the crime scene unit and Jaime Gunter, the dog handler who searched Jennings' car, were interviewed.

According to the initial police report, the dog search was conducted at the Jennings' residence. When the dog handler testified Wednesday, Gunter said they searched the vehicle at the police department. Gunter could not remember the exact day the search was conducted.

Jennings' attorney, Hemphill Pride, said that Gunter is not a credible person to interview during the trial, but the judge ruled that both the officer and the handler will be allowed to be interviewed during the trial.

During the hearing, several pictures of inside Jennings' car and trunk of the car were shown.

Wise says his search was conducted after the dog searched the vehicle. Baby wipes, a bloody blanket, a comforter and linens were found inside Jennings' trunk. The backseat contained miscellaneous trash, such as chip bags, but officers only removed items out of the trunk of Jennings' vehicle.

DNA tests were conducted on the blood found on items in Jennings' trunk in January, and authorities with the police department believe it is Amir Jennings' blood.

Amir Jennings, who would have been 2-years-old in June, has been missing since last November.

Jennings' trial on the unlawful conduct toward a child charge is set for Aug. 27. Judge Knox McMahon previously said he plans to call an extensive pool of possible jurors in the case due to the fact that it has received such intense media coverage.

http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=785880#.UCPn86N0grh

APNewsBreak: Bloodstains allowed in SC mom's trial

By MEG KINNARD
Updated 2:49 p.m., Wednesday, August 15, 2012

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A judge ruled Wednesday that bloodstains belonging to a missing Columbia toddler may be used as evidence in the coming trial of his mother on a charge of unlawful conduct toward a child.

An attorney for Zinah Jennings had argued that prosecutors shouldn't be allowed to introduce the evidence at trial because it came from the trunk of her car, which sat in a salvage yard for the week between Jennings' Christmas Eve wreck and the day it was taken into police custody. During that week, Jennings' attorney argued, anyone could have accessed the car, which wasn't guarded or sealed with police tape.

"You don't know today who else it was exposed to," attorney Hemphill Pride II said in court. "And that is very important in this case."

But Circuit Judge Knox McMahon sided with prosecutors, who argued that there is no evidence that anyone tampered with the car and that police are only tasked with maintaining evidence once they retrieve it — as, in this case, from a salvage yard — and aren't responsible for it prior to that.

"We do not feel that this is actually a chain of evidence issue," prosecutor Luck Campbell said.

Clad in a striped, collared shirt, Jennings sat quietly in court Wednesday, speaking only with her mother and other relatives during a short break.

Jennings has been jailed since December as police have investigated the disappearance of her son, Amir. Jennings was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child after authorities say she told them several inconsistent and false stories about who is caring for him.

Amir was 18 months old when he was last seen around Thanksgiving. Jennings' mother reported her missing several weeks later, telling police that she thought her daughter and grandson were in Atlanta but that she was receiving evasive answers when she asked about the boy.

Speaking to police after the Christmas Eve car wreck in downtown Columbia, Jennings first said she had no children and then said the boy was with relatives and friends in cities from Atlanta to Charlotte, N.C. Investigators say they chased down Jennings' stories in several states but arrested her after several dead ends.

Prosecutors and police have said Amir's blood was found on blankets in Jennings' car. Agents searched a wide rural area but found no sign of him.

Jennings has not been charged in the boy's death, but her attorney had asked that the blood not be allowed to be used as evidence in her coming trial, saying the blanket would imply that. Pride has also asked a judge to suppress search warrants and statements that Jennings made to police during their investigation and has asked that television cameras be barred from her trial.

On Wednesday, Jennings' aunt testified that she took her niece to a salvage yard to retrieve clothes and other belongings from her totaled car two days after the wreck. Questioned by Jennings' attorney, Millie Houston also said that no police officers were guarding the car, and there was no evidence tape visible.

Jennings' mother also testified that she stored bags of her daughter's things, ultimately washing and storing the items and clothing within.

Jennings' trial is set to begin Aug. 27. In court Wednesday, McMahon said that he has ruled that evidence related to cadaver dogs was relevant to the case but may not be introduced during Jennings' coming trial. Dogs were used to search the car as well as the home of Jennings' mother. McMahon also ruled that the blanket was admissible at trial.

Pride has long said that police have unjustly charged his client for simply refusing to speak with them.

"You can't make somebody cooperate with you ... and that's not a basis, in this country, for an arrest," Pride said.

Last week, Jennings was also charged with assault. Pride has said that the charge stems from an allegation that his client pushed and shoved a jailhouse nurse over medication earlier this year. Jennings has been ordered by a judge to take Risperdal, an antipsychotic drug, while in jail awaiting trial. After the fight, she was ordered to be held in solitary confinement for 90 days.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/APNewsBreak-Bloodstains-allowed-in-SC-mom-s-trial-3777677.php#ixzz23ivQijd1

Trial to begin for Zinah Jennings, mom of Amir Jennings

6:24 AM, Aug 27, 2012
Written by The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The mother of a missing South Carolina boy is set to go on trial on a charge of not being honest with investigators about the boy's whereabouts.

Zinah Jennings' trial on a charge of unlawful conduct toward a child is set to begin Monday in Columbia.

Her son Amir was 18 months old when he was last seen around Thanksgiving. Jennings' mother reported her missing several weeks later, telling police that she thought her daughter and grandson were in Atlanta but that she was receiving evasive answers when she asked about the boy.

RELATED | Amir's blood found in mother's trunk

Police say Jennings also gave them conflicting stories about the boy's whereabouts, and she's been in jail since December. Jennings is pregnant with a second child and faces up to 10 years in prison if she's convicted.

http://www.11alive.com/News/Crime/253964/445/Trial-to-begin-for-Zinah-Jennings-mom-of-Amir-Jennings

OMG this murdering biotch is pregnant. She kills her first baby and gets pregnant with another. Unbelievable. Honestly, they need to sterilize these abusers and murderers.

Heated exchanges open trial over missing Columbia toddler

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012
By JOHN MONK - jmonk@thestate.com

In opening statements to jurors Tuesday morning, the trial of the mother of missing Columbia toddler Amir Jennings began with prosecution and defense lawyers exchanging starkly different versions of the case.

“It is our job to prove to you Ms. Jennings is guilty of abandoning Amir Jennings,” assistant 5th Circuit Solicitor Dolly Justice Garfield told the Richland County jury.

“It is not your job to forgive Ms. Jennings or try to figure out why she did what she did,” Garfield said.
Defense attorney Hemphill Pride, his arms crossed, told the jury that the state has no case at all.

“Just because a mother won’t tell the state where her child is, that doesn’t constitute abandoning a child,” Pride said.

Pointing out there’s no evidence about what happened to Amir, Pride said, “If the state doesn’t have the facts, then they don’t have a case.”

Pride said although Zinah Jennings had refused to tell police where Amir was, she had told police Amir “was in a safe place.”

Zinah Jennings, 23, of Columbia, is charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, a felony that carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence upon conviction. The charge includes not only doing harm to a child, but also abandoning a child.

Amir was last seen in late November. He was 18 months old when he disappeared.

In early December, his grandmother, Jocylyn Jennings, filed a missing person report with Columbia police. The report said that both Amir and Zinah Jennings were missing and couldn’t be located.

On Dec. 24, Zinah Jennings was involved in a single-car accident in downtown Columbia. It was then that police, entering her car tag in a national database, discovered that she and Amir were listed as missing persons. Zinah Jennings proceeded to give conflicting statements to nurses and police about where Amir was. Police arrested her Dec. 29, and she has been in jail since, awaiting trial.

In her opening remarks, Garfield told the jury about some of the evidence to come, including that Roderick Mitchell – Amir’s biological father – had last seen Amir on Nov. 29. At that time, Amir was with Zinah Jennings.

“He simply gave his son a hug and a kiss and left,” Garfield said.

Later that day, at a bank, Zinah Jennings – who had Amir with her – closed a bank account.

“That was the last time Amir Jennings was seen,” Garfield said.

In his opening statement, Pride derided Mitchell’s credentials as a father.

“He was a sperm donor – he wasn’t a father,” Pride told the jury, drawing an objection from Garfield.

Judge Knox McMahon allowed Pride to continue attacking Mitchell. “He beat her. ... He tried to prevent Zinah from going to school. He was a drunk, too. That’s who Roderick was.”

Mitchell is not expected to play a major role in the trial, which is expected to feature more than 50 witnesses. However, the sharp comments appeared to foreshadow what is likely to be a hard-fought trial.

Other witnesses testifying Tuesday morning before the lunch break included two nurses at the Palmetto Health Richland hospital emergency room who treated Zinah Jennings after her Dec. 24 traffic incident, Columbia police chief Randy Scott and Officer Christon Miller, who worked the Dec. 24 traffic crash and ran the database check that got a “hit” on Zinah Jennings as a missing person.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/08/28/2415816/heated-exchanges-open-trial-over.html#.UD0dvaMvB3U#storylink=cpy