Charles Merritt’s daughter: ‘I don’t have any reason to lie for him’

The daughter of McStay family slaying defendant Charles “Chase” Merritt testified Wednesday that her parents quarreled after Merritt didn’t answer a phone call from Joseph McStay on the evening of Feb. 4, 2010.

Prosecutors contend that Merritt, in fact, was killing McStay and his family in their Fallbrook home on that very night.

Sara Taylor Jarvis, now 24, was the first witness for the defense in a trial that began in early January. Her testimony Wednesday was challenged by Deputy District Attorney Melissa Rodriguez, who said her father had talked to her about how to testify; Jarvis denied Rodriguez’s allegation.

Merritt, 61, has pleaded not guilty to the charges that he killed McStay, 40, a business associate,  his wife, Summer, 43, and their two children, Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3, in their San Diego County home more than nine years ago.

Investigators said he buried their bodies more than 100 miles away in a remote spot north of Victorville. The bodies were found in November 2013 and Merritt was arrested and charged a year later.

The family had moved to Fallbrook, 45 miles north of San Diego, in November 2009 from San Clemente. They were in the process of remodeling their four-bedroom, three-bathroom home when they went missing.

Jarvis on Wednesday said Joseph McStay was “my dad’s business partner and his best friend.” Prosecutors say Merritt killed McStay out of greed, and looted his business account.

The two men worked on large-size custom water features, with Merritt building the metal sculptures designed by McStay, who also sold them. Defense attorneys say Merritt’s income depended on business from McStay, and he had no reason to kill him. The say another business associate of McStay has been ignored as a suspect.

In her testimony Wednesday, Jarvis said Merritt and McStay started working together when she was 11 or 12 years old.

She told defense attorney Rajan Maline that she recalled her mother, Catherine Jarvis, and Merritt getting into an argument the evening of Feb. 4, 2010 after her father declined to answer a phone call from McStay.

She told Rodriguez she didn’t “physically” see the incoming call, but remembered the content of the argument. When, she said, Merritt tried to call McStay back later, there was no answer.

“It turned into less of an argument and more of — the next day my dad couldn’t get ahold of Joseph and in the subsequent days the conversation turned more to my mom saying, ‘now you can’t get ahold of Joseph’ “

“And as time went on, it became, ‘what if that was an emergency call or a call for help,’ ” she testified.

Sara Jarvis told Maline the call came while the family was at the Rancho Cucamonga apartment complex where they lived in at the time.

Rodriguez challenged her account, saying Merritt had talked to Jarvis recently about the need to place him in Rancho Cucamonga on the night of Feb. 4, 2010.

Defense attorneys failed last month to keep prosecutors from using evidence from planted  device recordings of jailhouse meetings between Merritt and his family in recent months.

Merritt had stopped using the monitored intercom phones provided for inmates to talk to visitors and started talking to visitors including his family by shouting through the security glass, prompting the use of hidden devices, prosecutors said.

“You talked about evidence that was presented during trial, right?” Rodriguez asked, and Jarvis agreed.

“And he talked to you about the phone towers, right?”

“Yes.”

“And specifically told you about the need to be at home on the night of the fourth, because his phone was pinging off of a tower in the Riverside area. Do you recall that part of the conversation?” Rodriguez asked.

“I don’t know if he said he needed to be home. But I remember talking to him in general about the phone towers,” Jarvis answered.

When Maline followed Rodriguez and asked Jarvis why her family had discussed the case in jail meetings, Jarvis broke down in tears. “Our whole family is part of this,” she said. She is pursuing a law degree because of the case, she said.

“In the entire 4-1/2 year period that you have been visiting your dad (in jail), has he ever once told you to lie for him?” Maline asked.

“No.” Jarvis said.  “He’s actually been really specific. He said, like, if you don’t rememeber something, don’t say it.

“I don’t have any reason to lie for him.”

Trial in the San Bernardino courtroom of Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith is scheduled to resume Thursday.