This medical examiner is making me laugh.

[bravenak]

I know this is serious, he takes everything literally. There will be no leading of this witness!

[handmade34]

1. oh ya

just taking a break and watching him while I lunch... he is great!

[Duer 157099]

2. I hope he's not the last witness. Not exactly a good way for the state to end.

Trayvon's brother or mother would have been a much better final witness imho.

[bravenak]

13. It's entertaining.

My husband thinks the ME wrote a book and wants to sell it. I shouldn't laugh.

[Gin]

3. He's kind of bizarre.....not sure what I would think of him if I was on the jury.

He seems very defensive.

[bravenak]

10. Why doesn't he want to share his notes?

This is weird!

[Just Saying]

4. The defense attorney seems to want to make him say things

And he's just not having it.

Frankly, these defense attorneys are boring as hell and seem like assholes. Just my impressions from this trial.

[CatWoman]

5. i'm loving this guy

[Little Star]

7. Me too!

[Just Saying]

8. He's a tough cookie!

I'm sure it gets old working hard to do an important job and defense attorneys always trying to accuse you of mistakes.

He's doing well, IMO. I think jurors understand that this isn't his only corpse, and he's not going to remember a specific day. Defense attorney looks like a huge jerk pushing this and if I was a juror I would be asking "What's the freaking point???"

[femmocrat]

6. He is very precise.

Spelling out words, clarifying the difference between fact and opinion..... He can't be rattled.

[KurtNYC]

9. testifying from notes??

[pintobean]

11. This is so weird

and entertaining.

[Just Saying]

14. The "expert" on MSNBC says this is odd

But idk. I guess she says having the report is typical but not to have notes. I honestly don't see why it matters. Have you ever seen these reports? There's a lot of info so I could see why someone might want a cliff notes version. It's HIS notes from HIS reports anyway.

[KurtNYC]

17. as long as he prepared the notes for his own use

I don't have an issue but Defense may try to portray the notes as coaching or in some other way improper.

They may also find some questions that the ME wrote for himself that they didn't think of and want to use.

West took his notes from him like an 8th grade teacher would -- "this test is NOT open book! See me after class!"

[AngryAmish]

65. I got destroyed in a trial by having a medical expert get on the stand with their own, undisclosed

notes. Other side was calling them a cheat sheet and it just looked and felt awful.

I made that mistake in my third trial. Never again - but witnesses who are not professional witnesses always try to do that. It is a crutch for them. They don't need it.

poor guy

[bravenak]

12. The notes thing has me dying!

It's my stapler! Office space.

[pintobean]

16. He's not happy

but he giggled a little when the judge announced the lunch recess.

[bravenak]

33. He probably knows the notes will take up their time.

No ice cream cones today.

[pipi_k]

15. Well, he just did

something very very stupid...

He brought his own personal notes in, referred to them, then insisted that the defense NOT be allowed to see them.

He is looking nervous.

[KurtNYC]

18. Perhaps he wrote in the margin: "West is a poopy head!"

[tavernier]

23. snort

[pipi_k]

26. Maybe...

or maybe not.

In any case, it certainly appears that the prosecution hasn't given their own witnesses much guidance on courtroom procedure.

[CatWoman]

39. i just spit water all over my monitor

[premium]

20. The prosecutors in this case have been like the Keystone Kops,

inept and clownish. I'll be shocked if GZ is convicted of anything, the jury must be shaking their heads and wondering why the prosecution would expect them to convict this guy.

For the record, because I've been accused of defending GZ, I think he's guilty of Manslaughter, not 2nd Murder.

[Vattel]

35. Is it your educated guess

that Zimmerman committed manslaughter? Or do you think that the prosecution can actually prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman's behavior did not meet the legal standard in Florida for justifiable self-defense? Personally, I don't know what Zimmerman actually did, but barring any surprises in what remains of the trial, it seems clear to me that he should be acquitted because there is no way the prosecution has come even close to proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman's behavior was not justifiable self-defense.

[premium]

37. It's my belief that he committed Manslaughter

based upon what I know of the facts so far, but, barring any last minute revelations from the prosecutor, the state hasn't met the burden of proof, hasn't proven it's case beyond a reasonable doubt and for those reasons, he should be acquitted, which is what I think is going to happen.
The state bowed to public pressure and charged him with 2nd Murder, which they had to know they couldn't prove, and now, they're, IMHO, are going to look like inept fools if Zimmerman is acquitted, which, at this point, is a very distinct possibility.

[GreenStormCloud]

40. Yes, it is looking that way. N/T

[Vattel]

41. Thanks for the clarification.

Having read many of your posts, I thought you were too reasonable and well-informed to think that, based on what we have seen in the trial thus far, Zimmerman should be convicted. And you have proven me correct!

[premium]

43. Not sure if you're agreeing with me or not,

could you clarify for me. Thanks.

Just for the record, I think he should be convicted of Manslaughter, but I fear this isn't going to happen because of the lousy job the prosecution is doing.

[Vattel]

44. Well, I agree with you that he should be acquitted.

I really have no idea whether Zimmerman is guilty of manslaughter or not. If I were forced to guess and my life depended on guessing correctly, I would be sweating big time either way I went.

[premium]

46. Ok, I understand now,

and whether or not he's guilty, he should be acquitted because the state hasn't met the burden of proof or proven it's case beyond a reasonable doubt.

These jurors must be thinking, REALLY? You want us to convict on what you've presented so far?

[Vattel]

47. I don't see how a reasonable juror could do anything but acquit.

Trying to make the case that Zimmerman did not reasonably fear great bodily harm or death would be the prosecution's best approach, but given that eyewitness and other testimony place Zimmerman on his back with Martin on top, and given that Zimmerman's injuries suggest that Martin might have forced Zimmerman's head into the sidewalk (even if not as many times as Zimmerman claimed), and given that no one can show that Zimmerman did not perceive Martin reaching for his gun, proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not reasonably fear great bodily harm or death is no easy task. And by going for murder 2, the prosecution have set themselves the clearly impossible task of showing that Zimmerman started the fight.

[premium]

48. Agree 100%.

These have got to be the worse prosecutor's I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of prosecutors.

[dkf]

53. What would it take to prove it wasn't self defense?

That is such a difficult judgement call to say you believe beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman did not a reasonsable belief he was in danger of serious bodily harm.

With the evidence as presented that is such a high bar.

[premium]

55. What would it take?

For me, it would take a witness that actually saw the event go down, or a video of the whole incident.
It's just my opinion that the prosecution has totally flubbed the case and I don't see how the jury can convict Zimmerman of either 2nd Murder or Manslaughter.

[Hoyt]

66. They could conclude a reasonable person would not have shot an unarmed, skinny

kid, not to mention grabbing a gun and stalking him, trying to say he feared for his armed, MMA trained life because of minor scratches, etc.

Then, again, there will be at least one bigot on the jury, and likely a few gun lovers who could see themselves screwing up and shooting a kid with no justification.

[avebury]

19. It would have been far more interesting if the

medical examiner had prepared his notes in his original language (which I imagine was not English). Then watch the face of the Defense Attorneys as they try to figure out what they guy wrote.

[premium]

22. It would have been interesting

but disallowed by the judge, and rightly so.

[avebury]

31. I don't blame the guy for trying to think

about what different questions he could be asked on the stand and making his own notes. However, he should not have brought them into the courtroom.

[premium]

34. Yep,

bringing them into the courtroom gives the defense the right to see them and question the witness on the veracity of his notes.
This witness, IMO, is a clown, and, once again, the prosecution has shot itself in the foot.
Ya gotta wonder by now if the state is trying to purposely trying to throw this case.

[LanternWaste]

50. Much like when GZ shot himself in the foot by...

he prosecution has shot itself in the foot...." Much like when GZ shot himself in the foot by attempting to illegally transfer money from his jail cell...

"Ya gotta wonder" if Zimmerman was purposely trying to throw the case too...

[premium]

56. And that has what to do with the case?

That's not going to be presented at trial as it's irrelevant to the case.

[GreenStormCloud]

38. Shiping Bao is from China. N/T

[pipi_k]

45. In that case...

I would imagine the court would have called in a translator.

You don't introduce stuff into court and get away with it not being evidence available to both sides.

[jessie04]

21. He is the worst expert witness EVER.

He cant give a straight answer.

What a dope.

[premium]

24. This whole trial is, IMHO,

a disaster for the prosecution.

[russspeakeasy]

29. You have extensive experience in criminal court, I assume ?

[premium]

32. I do,

I've testified in numerous criminal cases, for the prosecution and defense, and this guy is, IMO, a fucking clown.

[PCIntern]

42. I have testified as an expert in dental cases more than 50 times,

and I just sat mouth agape the entire time.

That was the worst performance I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen what I thought, was everything. Until today.

I cannot tell you how many times I sat on the stand, wishing I'd had my notes in front of me, but COULD NOT.

[russspeakeasy]

67. My only experience was being on a jury for four days.

It was hard to keep from hollering at some of the witness'
I thought they were the dumbest fucks I had ever heard..

After listening for another hour to the ME, on the GZ case, you are right, I was wrong. He was/is a fucking clown.

[premium]

68. It can definitely be frustrating at times,

I've been retired for a few years now so I don't have to do the court thing anymore.

[jessie04]

36. Yes...I do.

You are trained to answer the question and ONLY the question.

This guy is all over the map.

If you don't know, say I don't know.

[pintobean]

25. He's decided to spend his lunch break

making notes about his notes. We've just entered the twilight zone.

[bravenak]

30. We have some meta note taking going on.

It's getting strange.

[uppityperson]

27. I have no problem with a ME using notes, but those notes must be made available for lawyers on

both sides.

[hedgehog]

28. So far we've seen a lot of incompetence and/or racism from the police to the state's attorney -

does the testimony sound like the medical examiner is trying to cover up a half-assed job?

[tavernier]

61. No, he is too pompous to think himself wrong,

but it sure looks like there was some half-assing going on since this guy was responsible for the techs, but admits not knowing what they were doing in this and any other case.

[pintobean]

49. The comedy show is back on

The word "retarded" pops up again.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

51. "retarded" is a pejorative

It's in the same category as the n-word, the f-word, and the k-word.

That being said the M E is coming off as a buffoon.

[Marrah_G]

52. I love the guy

[CatWoman]

58. as do I

[avebury]

60. I like the Medical Examiner. He just won't let

Knock Knock lead him down the garden path. I think that the Knock Knock is getting pretty frustrated with him.

[madaboutharry]

54. The defense is on a bogus issue now.

When an autopsy is done, they aren't going to take a photo of every single part of body. That photos will be taken when there is something to take a picture of. The defense knows this.

[CatWoman]

57. he's also asking about Trayvon's "length" and Body Mass Index (which is 22)

West is coming off like he's fishing for any and EVERY thing.

This is why I find this ME so entertaining (and credible).

He's not having any of West's shit.

[Marrah_G]

63. He makes every single thing seem like it is suspect.

Even BMI

[madaboutharry]

59. He reminds me of Max on Hawaii Five-0.

[jessie04]

62. This is embarrassingly difficult to watch.

Get this idiot off the stand.

[madaboutharry]

64. I don't think he is an idiot.

Why are you calling him an idiot?