Posted on 07/06/2013 5:44:33 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
The final day of the prosecution’s case remained true to form in every respect, and also provided another glimpse—actually, a substantial look—into the prosecution’s closing arguments.
Sybrina Martin, Trayvon Martin’s Mother: The first witness of the day was Sybrina Martin, who testified that the screaming voice in the Lauer 911 recording is Trayvon Martin. The prosecution, not wanting to open the field to anything she might know about Trayvon, kept their questions limited to only that.
On cross O’Mara tried to make it clear that Sybrina might have reasons other than absolute truth to identify the voice as Trayvon. He may have had some success in that Sybrina seemed not only coached, but potentially rehearsed. She often tried to avoid directly answering O’Mara’s questions and parsed her answers so as not to concede even the most obvious points, even those not harmful to the prosecution. Her overall appearance was stoic, and the potential waterworks did not materialize.
It was clear that she was a prosecution witness through and through–a strangely rare occurance. It’s unfortunate that the jury will never hear that she has already won a seven-figure settlement, and has a continuing financial interest in the outcome of the case.
Jaharvis Martin, Trayvon’s Brother: A soft-spoken and well-spoken young man, Jaharvis confirmed his mother’s testimony, and like his mother, testified to nothing else. On cross, however, his credibility suffered badly. O’Mara caused him to admit that when he first heard the recording in the office of the Sanford Mayor with a substantial number of other people, he told others he was not sure the voice was Trayvon’s, but later changed his mind. He said he didn’t want to believe it was Trayvon due to “shock,” “sadness” and “denial.”
As with his mother, I detected coaching, and his answer regarding why he didn’t identify the voice as Trayvon’s at his first exposure to the recording seemed rehearsed, however, his demeanor was substantially more effective than his mother’s, and I suspect many viewers not familiar with these matters might not have picked up on that. He did not, for example, give the appearance of trying to avoid cooperating with the defense.
Dr. Shipping Bao, Medical Examiner: Dr. Bao, unlike Dr. Rao, actually conducted the autopsy on Trayvon Martin, which gave the prosecution the opportunity to display a wide variety of graphic autopsy photographs so that Bao could, in a perfunctory manner, identify them. The primary purpose, of course, was to elicit revulsion and sympathy in the jury................
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Two weeks of prosecution witnesses have ended without the prosecution proving, beyond any doubt, the three elements of the offense. As they offered no probable cause to prove those elements in the affidavit for the charge (Update 2) this is hardly surprising. In the many months from Zimmerman’s arrest to the trial, the prosecution could find no new evidence to demonstrate that the decision of the Sanford Police and the local prosecutor was wrong. The prosecution was also unable to prove beyond any doubt that Zimmerman’s self-defense account was unsupportable. In fact, most of their witnesses supported it, either fully or in part.
For readers unfamiliar with the workings of the law and the criminal justice system, it’s difficult to explain how utterly amazing and bizarre this is. As I’ve written, it’s as though the entire system suddenly turned backwards. For a prosecutor to complete his case and to be unable to disprove self-defense, offering nothing but theories unsupported by any credible evidence, and for a prosecutor to be unable to offer evidence to fulfill the elements of the offense is simply astonishing. It demonstrates what I, and others, have been saying for a very long time: this case should never have been filed; there is no evidence of a crime.
I expect a very aggressive, effective and devastating defense case. Consider how badly the prosecution did on offense, when they had every advantage in presenting and proving their case. Will they do better when they’re playing catch up?
I thought Bao didn’t actually do the autopsy...just signed off on it.
This whole case stinks from the git-go.
I fear that the FIX is IN, though; and that Traayyvoon is a-gonna get hiss jussis!
Should justice prevail here—there are ALWAYS Holder’s boys to keep up the PERSECUTION of the WHITE Hispanic (did you ever hear that term before?).
Well — here was the interchange of the day:
Bao: Nobody knows TrayvonMartin autopsy better than me.
West: Except that you know nothing about it.
Bao: Correct
LOL
bttt
If you think about it you would realize which one was more likely to be screaming.Zimmerman had his nose broken and his head severely lacerated and Martin was shot in the heart.
It’s unfortunate that the jury will never hear that she has already won a seven-figure settlement, and has a continuing financial interest in the outcome of the case. ............................................That is what this case is really about. She already received more than Trayvon would have earned in his lifetime had he continued on the path he was on. He would have ended up as another prison statistic, or worse yet, a drive by victim. She leaves me with the opinion that all she hears is ka-ching ka-ching.
Are you joking?? He actually said that??!
It is especially aggravating that she and her husband have been allowed to sit in that courtroom, day in day out, under the Florida Victim Family law listening to other testimony (and being coached/rehearsed by the prosecutor each night) AND THEN be allowed to testify herself is not only patently unfair to the defense, but especially egregious bias on the part of the judge.
To me, this one fact alone should be grounds for a mistrial (not going to happen) or reversal on appeal.
There have been multiple instances like this where the judge has arbitrarily ruled against the defense in favor of the prosecution. She has no inkling of what justice is. She should be disbarred.
The only thing I can think of is that he has a book deal or something on the side and wants to make sure it matches his testimony.
Did he say he met with the prosecutor the day before for 45 minutes.
What they should do is “booth them” so the jury cannot see them and visa versa.
The prosecution says that since the screaming stopped right after the gun shot, it’s obvious to anyone in their right mind that it was Trayvon screaming. That’s just a dumb enough statement to show the fix is in. I guess that means Trayvon was beating the hell out of Zimmerman while screaming “Help, I’m beatin’ this cracker’s ass! Help!” BAM! “Never mind.”
No joke — he said it.
What stunned me was his announcement that he had changed his opinion on marijuana’s effect that night. Because he did that the defense may now be able to get the marijuana useage into evidence. O’Mara announced that yesterday.
It's neither....
I tend to think differently. I don’t think the Victim Family law was intended to provide this sort of unfair advantage for the prosecution. Only keeping them from seeing the jury or influencing them to me is not enough.
HEARING the testimony of other witnesses goes against all procedure as far as witnesses go. The only one normally allowed that is the accused. This law subverts that and puts someone who, other than having a familial connection, has no first-hand input into the case.
I am not compassionless; I think their testimony should be heard after conviction - in the sentencing phase. But this is just outrageous.
The suit was settled in April. I’m sure that everyone on the jury knows about it. Women pay attention to these things. It usually pi**** them off.
I might have remembered this incorrectly, but I think the Judge ruled that THC effects on Trayvon would NOT be permitted. IIRC, this testimony by the ME was given when the jury was out.
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