Page 30 - Couldnt Get News Today

Five of them are mothers and it shakes, i think, your very core as a person that someone could see your child walking down the street and make all these false assumptions just because of the way that he looks. i think it was really important for the prosecution to hone in on that because that is what is wrong fundamentally about this case. trayvon martin was doing nothing wrong. yet he was profiled, he was followed, he was targeted. and i think it really resonated in the courtroom. >> danny, for...

Have their own picks. you thought that was the best because, what, because the prosecutor really kind of brought it back home to what this case is all about. >> exactly. it a reminder of why this case captured the nations attention a year and a half ago when it happened. how can we live in a country where a 17-year-old boy goes to buy skittles and an iced tea, comes home to watch the nba all-star game and somehow is killed. how could this happen? someone who was doing nothing wrong, who wasnt ca...

Bail, so he could have been out the whole time. forget about george zimmerman for a moment. doesnt that team somewhat unethical for a prosecutor to overcharge you, to go the entire case to not be able in their own mind to have the confidence to think theyre going to convict you, and then the morning before you argue say oh, by the way, heres the other one, maybe you should have defended against this. this isnt a game. it is somebodys life. >> exactly. and manslaughter is a crime, a very serious ...

Its not part of the case. but manslaughter, which i think weve all assumed has -- would be a lesser included offense, is part of the case, and so there are only two options for the jury now. guilty or not guilty on second degree murder and the same question on manslaughter. this was, i thought, dirty pool to ask for the felony murder child abuse. but the judge saw that and excluded it. >> mark, it goes to what we were discussing last night, which was at a certain point by the prosecution coming ...

Civility, all counsel should relate that to each other. if youre going to charge somebody, you shouldnt argue that technically the facts support it. the attorneys should be placed on notice of it. theyve had a year to prepare. felony murder is a very different kind of crime than your lesser included offense thats what felt so unfair about it. felony murder is a different kind of defense than just a lesser included offense, which is all the same elements -- >> go ahead. >> i was just going to int...

Actually you got to know the people you have living with for such a while there. >> and quickly before you go, when you finally get to deliberate and youre in that room, and the case has gone to you. you are allowed to talk to each other about what agreed

Uncommon for a judge. something that was on display again today, as she clashed with defense attorney don west over jury instructions. >> i am not giving that instruction. and you can -- >> by not instructing the law of this jury properly on the law -- >> you continually disagree with this court every time i make a ruling. if i have made a mistake in this case, you will appeal. this is my ruling on this issue. >> reporter: but it was this moment after a hearing late into the night that will fore...

The truth does not lie. >> jeff, sunny says she was in the courtroom, didnt sound like he was yelling that much. how did it sound to you? >> i thought he was louder than he should be. i dont think george zimmerman is going to get acquitted because of the volume of his voice. there is a good example of, i was not entirely clear on whether that was persuasive. i guess the idea is if trayvon martin was on top of him that way, there was no way he could have reached the gun in his back. >> it goes to...

>> the felony alleged is child abuse. obviously, the information alleges that the defendant shot and killed the victim, that the victim was under the age of 18. and child abuse must be, according to the third degree felony murder, instruction defined. >> reporter: the defense attorney was outraged. >> oh, my god. just when i thought this case couldnt get anymore bizarre. >> reporter: the debate brought more testy exchanges between west and judge debra nelson. >> i understand. ive already ruled a...

Being the strangler. police never proved it. a half century later, they may have cracked the case. >> they authorized getting his remains to proof his guilt once and for all. >> reporter: guilt at least in the case of mary sullivan, the final victim. the 19-year-old was raped and strangled. there were ten other victims between 1962 and 64 terrorizing the boston area grabbing international headlines and the silver screen. he was sentenced to life for unrelated crimes and stabbed to death in priso...