18 year old men are more passionate than wise. If the Prosecutor trips him up, it may very well cost him dearly. Doubt thise jury will find him guilty but some left wing ideologue on that jury may hang it and force a retrial. Either way not testifying is a bit of a gamble.
More peopke talk themselves into jail on than stand; few talk themselves out of jail.
"He shouldn't have taken the stand" is complete BS.
Whittaker Chambers once said:
"Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does."
My heart breaks for him. He will be traumatized for life doing what he had to do, the right thing to do. God comfort and protect him.
I think most of us feel that way, but those prosecutors will
ask yes or no questions that prevent you from expanding on
what was going on.
They can really make a person look guilty by doing that. It’s
a favorite of Senators and Congressmen to do that also.
The witness is defenseless. I think it’s a crap ploy, but
it works very effectively.