I’m sorry, I understand a defendant’s right not to incriminate themselves and their lack of burden to present a defense, but when the defense makes an opening statement that says the child died a certain way and the grandfather had some culpability in the way the body was disposed of, the defense should be required to offer proof of those claims. The defense in this case did not, which is why the judge did not allow those claims to be repeated in the closing statement. That should have been a mistrial, because no amount of jury instructions can remove the taint of those wild accusations from their minds.
I could not agree with you more. For all the compliments I had for the way Judge Perry handled his courtroom, I was stunned he allowed the defense in their closing arguments to spend over 3 hours continuing to make wild accusations and hint at involvement of George Anthony. Perry only barred the defense from accusing him of sexual molestation.
Baez spent over 3 hours of his closing accusing George Anthony of everything except being a white man only to admit in the middle of his rant there was “absolutely no evidence” that GA was involved.
It’s mind-blowing that jurors who listened to the same closing remarks still claim GA was involved or sexually abused his daughter; as do many of those who are defending this juries verdict.
Throwing handfuls of crap against a wall to see what sticks should not be allowed, nor should either side be able to defame the reputation of another person when they acknowledge that person had no involvement with the crime being adjudicated.