her own and dismiss the count. normally what they will do is let the jury decide, or, after the state has put or government has put on their evidence, then it s appropriate for some sort of a motion for judgment of acquittal. i think it is premature at this point for the judge to dismiss the first-degree murder count. arthel: then, doug, something else the jury will have to decide is whether the defense claim that jordan graham was coerced to confess that her actions were motivated by anger. that she chose to push her husband off a cliff. if you re the prosecutor, how do you convince the judge to continue down the road although esther says it is easy? the judge will continue down the road to first-degree murder and make the defense argument look just preposterous? the reality federal agents are not required to tape record. however if there is instance, reading my colleague s mind, maybe they didn t tape the part that doesn t necessarily help them and focused on that which does help t
florida stand your ground law contradicting previous statements but he presented a scenario that was more favorable to zimmerman s defense. someone feel they were being threatened and they countered that threat with a force that was disproportionate to the force that was directed towards them. that would be defense claim even under that scenario the person that may have started it with some lower level of force and the table turns on them and there s great level of force, a disproportionate level they have the right to defend themselves. reporter: did the defense strategy work? we shall know soon enough. don lemon, cnn, sanford, florida. we will know soon enough. the jurors are expected to be back in the courtroom. that s when they will get the instructions from the judge and begin their deliberations process. it could take hours or days.
jeantel s appearance. claiming her testimony took zimmerman s defense claim and blew it up. have you she corroborated what she said. those are major issues. reporter: we are beginning with a bench conference with judge debra nelson. this is day five of this much-watched murder trial and still to be called is the state s lead investigator as well as the medical examiner who did trayvon martin s autopsy. martha: the courtroom has been packed since this trial began. the seat inside is a hot commodity as far as who gets to sit in the courtroom. 31 seats go to journalists.
the trial is being held in miami. phil keating is outside the courthouse. this spray tan defense did come up in court, right? phil: in opening statements briefly. the defense attorney claiming that their investigators found chemicals from the fake spray tan she got the night before on the magazine which was on the magazine rack next to the toilet and that is the defense claim that lina was sitting on the toy secret went unconscious and her head ends up resting overtime magazine wreck and strangling her and the defense attorneys telling the jury that rookies bungled to case and there is no evidence of any crime. you are going to hear that a rookie homicide detective handling his very first alleged homicide case with a small local police department, with no
explanation as to how lily coffman died. eleanor is the real name, full name, she was 33 at the time, and according to her husband, a prominent real estate developer, andy coffman, he woke up, went to the restroom and found her lying on the floor and not breathing. here s the nine # one tape: reporter: now, the medical examiner for miami-dade county took a year and a half before suggesting this was perhaps a murder because of evidence that he found, of mechanical strangulation. the defense claim was that there was one orange brown