rulings, she has been quite firm keeping the trial going. there is always a concern among defense counsel when you have a holiday looming of whether the jury will cut to the chase toward a verdict. but this is a tough, tough case, because it s not enough to say that she was negligent. i think this is where the defense counsel could have done a better job. when you say someone is culpably negligent, you re talking that something other than simple negligence. everyone agrees this officer made a mistake, a mistake that she broke down immediately after making and started sobbing uncontrollably. she did that again on the stand. i think the prosecutors also lost ground in how they responded to her on the stand. you have this person disassembling emotionally, and the prosecutor eldridge really didn t change her questions, didn t acknowledge that. they can alienate a jury.