Page 17 - Opening Argument News Today

Theres something to go back on. >> that is why, i think, joan, this does read as the opening argument for the defense, that you do have, as steve just pointed out, a kind of preimpeachment, a prebrutal of anything kelly might say. it does read like anyone who could potentially give evidence that perhaps chris christie perhaps knew anything, et cetera is being taken down. but the women are the ones being accused of having some sort of emotional problem. >> and people now try to blame this report ...

Government has a compelling interest in making sure that employers provide this benefit to women. >> now, beyond that question of whether the morning after pill, et cetera, are abortfacients or not, the question was whether or not this kind of case can be transferable. they had specific questions about what else can be implied by a ruling in hobby lobbys favor. and you tweeted that they asked specifically whether they can refuse to cover things like vaccines and blood transfusions. how did that ...

We dont mean somewhere. never means never. so this is a vote for accountability. norms and laws that keep the civilized world civil mean nothing if theyre not enforced. as justice jackson said in his opening argument at the nuremberg trials, the ultimate step in avoiding periodic wars, which are inevitable in a system of international lawlessness, is to make statesmen responsible to the law. if the worlds worst despots see they can flout with impunity prohibitions against the worlds worst weapon...

Dont mean, sometimes, we dont mean somewhere. never means never. so this is a vote for accountability. norms and laws that keep the civilized world civil mean nothing if they are not enforced. as justice jackson said in his opening argument at the nur berg trials, to make statesman responsible to the law. if the worlds worst des pits see they can go without prohibitions against the worlds worst weapons then those prohibitions are pieces of paper. that is what we mean by accountability and what w...

Sometimes, we dont mean somewhere. never means never. so this is a vote for accountability. norms and laws that keep the civilized world civil mean nothing if theyre not enforced. as justice jackson said in his opening argument at the nuremberg trials, the ultimate step in avoiding periodic wars which are inevitable in a system of international lawlessness is to make statesmen responsible to the law. if the worlds worst despots see that they can flout with impunity prohibitions against the world...

>> chris, theres not enough time in your show to go through all that. i think there are two reasons why probably race didnt come into the trial as prominently as i think a lot of people thought it would. it boils down to two rulings against the prosecution by judge nelson. one she said that the prosecution could not say in its opening argument that trayvon martin was racially profiled. she said that they could say he was profiled and people can make their own inferences from that. the other thin...

>> of course they overcharged. you are seeing the prosecution -- >> would it have made any difference if they would have just come in with a manslaughter charge as opposed to second-degree murder? would the outcome have been any different? >> absolutely. the outcome could have been different but they absolutely ruined their manslaughter case by trying to glibring in facts y could not prove and turned out to be unprovable. they had to switch their entire prosecution goal midway in the trial and f...

>> he sort of needed to break the ice so to speak or break the tension? >> break -- i think what he is saying is break the spell. he did deliver a powerful, concise, passionate opening argument on the part of the prosecution. it was a very different kind of lawyer. and he wanted to come out and did come out with a very methodical 3-hour break down of what the defense was going to do. it started off badly. there was a moment where he was immediately objected to from the start and i think that thr...

Martin got the upper hand that trafn martin was going to hurt george zimmerman. then george zimmerman under the florida statute has the right to use deadly force to save his own life. >> do you think the jury is going to understand that? >> i think that this mark omara, the defense attorney is extremely skilled. he is the best attorney in that courtroom. he will definitely -- >> bill: what about the wisdom of the prosecution today giving a three hour wrap? i mean, three hours? >> a fair question...

>> the prosecutors are trying to show the jury that zimmerman, the neighborhood watch activist, had a pentup frustration based on previous ebb counters with quote-unquote suspicious people walking in the neighborhood, and that is the ill will the prosecutors need to have the second-degree murder charge. live on the stand is adam polack. he owns the gym where george zimmerman was training. prosecutors hammered home the idea that zimmerman was taking mma style fighting listens, trying to give the ...