The state has finished its case. The defense argued its Motion for Judgment of Acquittal. The state responded. The judge denied the motion, saying only that the state had provided sufficient evidence for the charge to go to the jury. See, for example, the 2012 Florida Supreme Court opinion in Patrick v. State.

The defense argues that because the state's evidence as to ill will, hatred, or spite is entirely circumstantial, the state's evidence must disprove any reasonable hypothesis of innocence.

If, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, a rational trier of fact could find the existence of the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, sufficient evidence exists to sustain a conviction.

However, if the State's evidence is wholly circumstantial, not only must there be sufficient evidence establishing each element of the offense, but the evidence must also exclude the defendant's reasonable hypothesis of innocence.

During the Zimmerman trial today, Medical Examiner Shipping Bao, who conducted the autopsy of Trayvon Martin, took the stand. He surprised both the prosecutor and defense when he changed his opinion on two matters.

Bao testified Trayvon Martin could have live up to 10 minutes after being shot. Up until three weeks ago, his opinion was that Martin could have lived 1 to 3 minutes.

Bao also changed his opinion about whether the level of marijuana in Martin's system could have affected his physical or mental condition. Previously he said it would not. Now he says the level of marijuana could have impaired Martin, but he can't say for sure. He changed his opinion on this within the last 60 days.[More...]

Guilt sells in America, innocence does not. More often than not, the public tunes in for guilt, and changes the channel for innocence. Either innocence is boring to them, or they take a perverse joy in believing some defendant they know nothing about has more flaws than they do, which means their lives aren’t so flawed after all. Or, perhaps it’s that their lives are so filled with perceived slights by others, at work or at home, they just want someone to beat up on – their own personal punching bag – to lessen their frustration and make them forget their own problems. What better scapegoat than a stranger everyone agrees to hate in unity?

The media, all too willing to sacrifice truth for higher ratings and increased ad revenue, indulges the guilt- hungry viewing public. It’s a vicious cycle that never seems to end. Add to the mix a few private parties with a well-oiled public relations team, and chaos ensues. [More...]

I'm off to the mountains for a jail visit.

Here's an open thread, all Non-Zimmerman topics welcome.

The state may rest today.

The judge seems to be in rush to conclude the trial. It's beyond strange that the parties haven't even concluded discovery and the state is resting. Depositions are still being taken at night. Today the judge told the defense it has tomorrow, the 4th of July, to prepare.

If this is all the state has, I don't see a case. I'm looking forward to hearing the judge's explanation for denying the defense motion for judgment of acquittal when the state rests.

The state tried its hardest this morning to walk back the damage from yesterday's testimony of two of its own witnesses, Officers Chris Serino and Doris Singleton. I don't think it succeeded.

Yesterday, officer Serino testified that he believed George Zimmerman was telling the truth. Both he and Singleton testified the inconsistencies in Zimmerman's statements to them the week of the shooting and during his re-enactment of the event did not amount to significant differences. Serino and Singleton both testified to a point I have made here repeatedly: No one recounts an event the exact same way every time. If they did, it would be suspect. Variations are not the equivalent of significant differences.

Serino testified yesterday that when he told Zimmerman that Martin may have videotaped the encounter (a police ruse to get him to think he wouldn't get away with lying), Zimmerman's response was, "Thank G-d, I was hoping someone had videotaped it." It was after this that Serino said he thought GZ was telling the truth. [More...]

For those following world and national events today, as opposed to the George Zimmerman trial, or who just want to talk about life in general, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

For those of you not interested in the George Zimmerman trial, here's an open thread for all other topics.

After losing the battle to present expert voice testimony, the state's first witness is FBI senior scientist Nakasone, who is testifying as he did before, that the 911 call by Jenna Lauer in which cries for help and the gunshot can be heard, is inadequate for analysis. Prosecutor Mantei is trying to get him to say he can determine age by pitch. Nakasone so far isn't going along. He's giving him a little bit on familial (lay) voice identification, but I don't know what that gets him. Zimmerman has as many lay witnesses that will say its his voice as the State has that says its Martin's voice.

Here's a thread to discuss today's developments. You can watch live here. For more detailed analysis, visit our forums. You can find the discussion of today's witnesses by name here.

The Court has published the cell phone records for Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman.

There are a few things to know when examining Martin's records. First, the two columns on the right represent minutes and seconds, respectively.

Second, according to this site, the outgoing calls to 1-805-637-6249 represent incoming calls that go to voicemail.

When you travel with your phone, as soon as you roam on a foreign network T-Mobile knows that you are roaming. From then, anytime somebody leaves you a voicemail, they will register it as a roaming call to 805-637-7249 and will charge you at $.99 per minute.

[More...]

June went really fast. The Fourth of July is around the corner. I'm quite a bit behind at everything, due to my fascination with all things related to the George Zimmerman case.

For other news, you are on your own today. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Eric Zorn at the Chicago Tribune, who has been following the George Zimmerman case since its inception and carefully reviewed the discovery as it became available, has a new article today, Zimmerman Trial Has All the Ingredients for a Miscarriage of Justice.

It builds upon his article about Rachel Jeantel's testimony written earlier this week, The State's Star Witness Testifies Against George Zimmerman, which is a must-read. ( In re-reading it just now, I see he has added a quote from TalkLeft, but I recommend reading it for his words, not mine.)

Once you read his article on Jeantel, you will understand why he concludes in today's article:

...if they [the presumed-guilty crowd]can just take a few steps back for perspective, my friends will see in themselves here the very police and prosecutors whom they've justly criticized in so many other instances. They will see a rush to judgment, tunnel vision and an almost desperate attempt to sidestep accumulating reasonable doubts. They will see that skepticism about the legal process is not something to be set aside when a prosecution suits your politics.

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