and do not give anybody the benefit of any doubt except for george zimmerman. mark, that s the central for the defense, because the prosecution, there are a lot of gaps in their version of events. a lot of sort of possibility. and this fits in completely with the theme we ve been talking about several nights in a row. it s a reversal of the usual roles. usually that is kind of the prosecutor s argument. here you ve got the defense saying look, all they re doing is poking holes in this, and you can t just poke holes. they really, i think, today were very effective and they meaning the defense, in putting together a narrative and then backing it up with the re-creation and then going through the law. because ultimately, you know, the theatrics are great. but when the jury gets back there, and you saw that within a
events, a lot of sort of possibilities. and this fits in completely with the theme we ve been talking about several nights in a row. it s a reversal of the usual roles. usually that is kind of the prosecutor s argument. here you ve got the defense saying look, all they re doing is poking holes in this, and you can t just poke holes. they really, i think, today were very effective, and they meaning the defense, in putting together a narrative and then backing it up with the re-creation and then going through the law. because ultimately, you know, the theatrics are great. but when the jury gets back there, and you saw that within a couple of minutes, they asked for that lives exhibits. what happens when they get back there is the jurors really start to take it seriously. no matter what the feeling was. when they start to deliberate, they want to look at the evidence and examine the law and they really focus like a laser on the law. sunny, were you surprised
did a very good job of dismissing it because it doesn t turn on the facts. the facts here, has the defense gotten to the point of proving that zimmerman was not using self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt? that s important. f you can t start talking about, oh, whether it was god s plan, confuse the jury. you want to focus on one thing. they haven t gotten to the stand or reached reasonable doubt in this case. except that mark o mara said without having to say it, he admitted he didn t have to say it, he was going beyond poking holes in the state s case and prove the actual evidence of zimmerman. that was a mistake because i was waiting for him to do it. he didn t do it. his response to evidence presented by the prosecution is that s absurd, that s ridiculous, oh give me a break. it was a bit arrogant. i saw the same reaction on social media to the opening which was a charge to the jury. he was almost giving jury instructions rather than an opening to his closing argument. it was alm
i was in the courtroom for part of the testimony. the jury was riveted because juries love demonstrations. i think when the prosecutor got on top of this charcoal dummy, it was very, very effective in poking holes in not only the witness s preparation but his testimony. mark, how did you see this? from the courtroom s perspective how did people respond? i think that many lawyers can t help themselves and ask too many questions. i think the defense was on a very big high and they should have concluded their case or restructured this case so he ended it. they opted to call this witness and i think that john guy did really terrific job of cross-examination. however he did that as well. he asked one question too many and opened the door to let the defense really basically retell george zimmerman s story.
more of a has done a better job of poking holes in the prosecution s argument if i m being quite honest. lisa bloom, after the defense rests what are we going to see from the prosecution side? will there be some redirect? the prosecution has an opportunity to put on a rebuttal case. we don t get to know any of the witnesses in advance so we don t know what they re going to put on. the defense has a chance to put on a surrebuttal case as long as the witnesses are in the scope of the rebuttal case. after all of that shakes down i expect to hear the judge charge the jury with the law they have to follow in the case. then closing arguments, then deliberations. and craig melvin down there in florida, i know as the court is about to resume and they re coming into the courtroom today, there s a lot of anticipation as to the closing days really in this emotional case. a great deal of anticipation, andrea mitchell. dennis root, by the way, when he takes the stand, he s going to be the