Weakst Claim News Today

Argument, she says im going to study it. that night she did and came to court prepared. >> reporter: prepared and ready to rule as she thought the law dictated. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> joining me once again, sunny hostin, mark geragos, jeffrey toobin and danny savalos. mark, last night you mumbled under your breath something, danny was talking about sort of like good guy judges and how often their courtrooms are a mess. and you mumbled something like, theyre the worst. like you like judges...

Is what they need to do. >> mark? >> remember, because theyre the defense, this is their only time to argue. so not only do they have to go through and lay out self-defense, and lay out how self-defense negates the two counts that hes facing, but they have to anticipate what the prosecution is going to do. supposedly in theory, the prosecutions only supposed to rebut what the argument is by the defense. everybody knows that most prosecutors always lie in wait to sandbag you in the rebuttal. so h...

>> you can ask. and fortunately, the judge did the right thing here, which was exclude it. 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 second murder. 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 wha...

On this earth. >> so that was the moment jeffrey toobin picked as the most effective. were back with our panel, jeff and sunny hostin, danny savalos and mark geragos, all of whom have their own picks. you thought that was the best because the prosecutor really kind of brought it back home to what this case is all about. >> exactly. its a reminder of why this case captured the nations attention a year and a half ago. how can we live in a country where a 17-year-old boy goes to guy skittles and ic...

Defense has in this case is that trayvon martin was reaching for the gun and trying to get the gun. >> which george zimmerman claimed in that videotape. >> correct. and thats implausible to me. when you look at where the gun was, when you look at the nature of their struggle, i think thats a weak claim and it may be something that zimmerman came up with after the fact to try to justify the shooting. it doesnt mean hes guilty, but i did think there were several good moments in the summations toda...

Murderer is portrayed as the victim. welcome to america. tomorrow, closing arguments from the defense and george zimmermans fate is in the hands of the jury. the very latest where you tell me what you have to say about this explosive case thats tomorrow night. thats all for tonight. anderson cooper starts right now. the prosecution makes its closing pitch. good evening again. welcome to another "360" special report "self-defense or murder, the george zimmerman trial." today, the lead prosecuto...

His narrative paused just once for a recess and was interrupted at another point for an objection. the defense attorney mark ohara says the state was wrongfully interpreting the law. the state often returned to its tactic of using zimmermans own words against him. >> he does not want to admit at all that hes following him or chasing him or profiling him. >> reporter: while the jury sat for much of the delivery, zimmermans parents in court for the first time as spectators since the trial started,...

And thats not alleged in the information that way. and i just dont think that the evidence supports that. >> reporter: the pressure, now on mark ohara to close out the defenses case friday before it heads to the jury. martin savidge, cnn, sanford, florida. >> high stakes ruling, props, a power point presentation. even the prosecutor skipping around the room at one point. just about anything that can happen in the courtroom did happen today. plenty to talk about with our panel. sunny hostin and j...

>> shouldnt civility mandate -- 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 that. s what was so unfair about it. felony murder is a different kind of defense than just a lesser included offense, which is all the same elements -- >> i was just go...

They told you. remember, a criminal case is a lawsuit. the prosecutor is the plaintiff. the defense is representing the defendant. except its not for money, its for your liberty. and so when you file this lawsuit, and youre defending against it, youre not supposed to be ambushed. thats what this morning was. this morning was basically another of the prosecutorial ambushes. one of the reasons why its totally unfair to have lessers, if the defendant doesnt agree to it, because the prosecution has ...