The Murder of Trayvon Martin

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by KDCat

If Zimmerman's case is going to very difficult to sell to a jury. The Martin was unarmed and has no history of violence. He was a kid. The girlfriend will testify that he was scared and trying to get away from Zimmerman. Another neighbor will testify that Martin was crying for help.

I'm going to ignore what you said and respond to what I think you meant to say.

The girlfriend is not going to be able to testify as to Martin's state of mind because she doesn't have knowledge of it.

The neighbor testifying that Martin was crying for help can't be sure of anything and will likely be excluded from the trial. To that end, the quackery in the "voiceprint analysis" field will never survive a Daubert hearing. That voice print analysis crap you probably read a headline from back in April was some quack who ran some computer program and was "48 percent sure" that the voice wasn't Zimmerman's. That never gets into the trial.

Here's a good article from someone who knows what he's talking about in this area:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bennet...b_1468761.html

The only thing I see getting in is witnesses who can give a lay opinion as to whose voice that is, but if the defense is prepared to cross those folks (as I suspect they will do so in grand fashion), their testimony won't weigh too heavily on the jury.

Another neighbor will testify that Martin was on top of Zimmerman. Zimmerman had physical injuries to the back of his head and, IRC, a broken nose.

All consistent with Zimmerman's story.

I think Zimmerman has to take the stand, because so much of what happened depends on whether Zimmerman is credible or not. It is going to turn on whether the jury likes him and believes him. If he can't testify, it's going to be hard to sell the story.

No, defendants seldom take the stand in their trials. I mean almost never. There's almost no way in hell that happens here. It's always the defendant's final call, but I won't say I'd never advise a client to take the stand, but I'll say almost never. The prosecution is going to have to prove its case without the help of the Defendant. It's his constitutional right to not testify and the jury will be instructed not to draw any conclusions from it.