Judge Garaufis denied the defense motion for mistrial this morning. The trial resumes.
Assistant US Attorney Tanya Hajjar gave the government's opening statement. Here is a transcript. Pretty powerful.
Lead attorney for the defense, Marc Agnifilo (correct spelling - I've been spelling his name wrong in previous updates) gave his opening statement. He asks the jury to consider things from Raniere's point of view, to "crawl inside his skin and walk around". I can imagine that's going to be thrown back in his face at some point. Probably not the best analogy.The defense statement is a catalogue of logical fallacies and some outright lies about ages and timelines. Long read, but it's a good view into the likely defense strategy.
That's how prosecution witness Sylvie described her first intimate encounter with Raniere in her testimony. I wrote about her in yesterday's update. I wonder if the jurors, once they spend several weeks hearing and seeing all this stuff, will ask themselves, "How come only Raniere is charged?"
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Thanks for the updates and the way you present them. Sort of a sub-Oracle.
Speaking of which, where’s bagster?
“crawl inside his skin”
Freudian slip.
Raniere is so nasty he even makes the skin of his defense attorney crawl.