Trayvon Martin Case

Not total but certainly not particularly helpful.

Not total but certainly not particularly helpful.

Not totaly? I have not heard the whole thing but she seemed like the defendants star witness.

If you get into a fist fight with someone in Florida and the other person dies as a result of injures received during the fight, it is charged as murder!!! If the injuries were not from the fight, then no murder. Zimmerman.. murder.

Not if your defending yourself.

It really is hard to judge when you aren't in the court room to observe the person's demeanor. So much of how we communicate is done through our body language and tone of voice.

I agree that Jeannette was deemed a bad witness at the same time, the picture I got from reading the testimony is that the witnesses are all pretty much in an agreement that Zimmerman was on top of Martin at the end of the fight shortly after the gunshot.

Still, lots of confusion and conflicting testimony on a lot of issues which, of course, is helpful to the defense.

There's not going to be a proverbial smoking-gun. This whole case has very little hard evidence as it relates to the circumstances of the shooting. Based on testimony I've seen the prosecution's star witness certainly came off like she intended to be less than forthcoming and based on her combative nature on the first day it made it look like she was out for vengeance. I think her testimony ends up helping Zimmerman at the very least by muddling everything up even more.

I agree with your assessment of the evidence - or, more precisely, the lack thereof. From a practical perspective, however, I think the prosecutor's goal is to create enough circumstantial doubt about Zimmerman's innocence where the jury wants to hear his side of the story and, thus, put Zimmerman in a dilemma of testifying and risking a probably deadly cross or of not testifying and having the jury (despite any instruction not to) use his silence against him.

To that end, the star witness's testimony probably adds to the confusion of a deadly fight and increases the jury's desire for an explanation of what happened from Zimmerman.

Based on the evidence so far, I think the prosecution has a hard row to go - and certainly hasn't shown yet - 2nd degree murder. They may just be trying for manslaughter and count anything else as gravy.

It really is hard to judge when you aren't in the court room to observe the person's demeanor. So much of how we communicate is done through our body language and tone of voice.

I agree that Jeannette was deemed a bad witness at the same time, the picture I got from reading the testimony is that the witnesses are all pretty much in an agreement that Zimmerman was on top of Martin at the end of the fight shortly after the gunshot.

Still, lots of confusion and conflicting testimony on a lot of issues which, of course, is helpful to the defense.

How could that help anyone if it was after the gun shot?

How could that help anyone if it was after the gun shot?

if zimmerman was on top of martin right after the gun shot, it is circumstantial evidence that zimmerman was on top of martin right before the gun shot.

direct evidence that a deer was in a field - witness says he saw a deer in a snowy field.

circumstantial evidence that a deer was in a field - witness says he saw fresh deer tracks in a snowy field.

Just read another witness's testimony. John Good who appears to have had the best "pre-gun shot" view and he clearly places Zimmerman on the ground with Martin in a "ground and pound" MMA position on top of him.

Good said it seemed like the person on the bottom was yelling for help. Good said he saw the person on top “straddling”the person on the bottom, and the person on top was moving their hands in a downward striking motion that looked like what he called a "ground and pound," a term associated with MMA or mixed-martial arts fighting.

"It looked like that position was a ground-and-pound type position, but I couldn't tell 100% that there were actually fists hitting faces," said Good.

Defense attorney Mark O'Mara asked Good to define the term "ground and pound."

"It's usually when someone is on top in a mounted position, I believe, in the dominant position, but like I said the person on the bottom is able to throw punches back, but I did not see any of that," said Good.

Terrible witness for the prosecution.

Really fascinating watching the attorneys work.

Mr. Manalo seemed to be a good D witness.