The friend who was on the phone with Florida teenager Trayvon Martin just moments before he was shot and killed finishes two days of testimony in the George Zimmerman murder trial. Key witness Rachel Jeantel spent more than five hours under cross-examination by the defense.
Zimmerman is facing second-degree murder charges and claims he shot Martin in self-defense.
In a recent appearance on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” criminal defense attorney Billy Martin and MSNBC legal analyst Kendall Coffey discuss Rachel Jeantel’s performance on the stand and whether the jury finds her as an unreliable or a sympathetic witness.
In the court of public opinion, people have come to her defense or ridiculed her as she admitted she’s unable to read cursive. Jeantel claims that she wrote the letter with a friend, describing what happened on the night of the shooting and sent it to Martin’s mom several weeks after his death.
Former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey told MSNBC's Al Sharpton, the jury may not be able to relate to Jeantel, but her testimony is consistent.
“What I think the jury is seeing, is somebody who is there, doesn’t want to be there was brought in by a horrific twist of destiny and tragedy to have to talk about what happened in the final minutes of the life of a friend of hers. And who is by and large being truthful and being truthful is a lot more important than sympathetic than any other word when it comes to the key witness for the prosecution,” said Coffey.
Jeantel said that Trayvon Martin used slurs when describing Zimmerman in their final conversation. As a former chief prosecutor in Washington, D.C.'s homicide unit, Billy Martin says the jurors typically look past the language.
“This is not unusual in a homicide case to have vulgar language and activity that people feel and fund uncomfortable. I think a juror and jurors look right through that and look at what are we trying to determine. They’re not trying to see if one was a good person or a bad person. There are facts here. Who was the aggressor? Who had the ability to flee? And who had the gun? I think they’ll look right past these slurs and find the facts that will really help them decide this case."
Zimmerman is facing second-degree murder charges and claims he shot Martin in self-defense.
In a recent appearance on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” criminal defense attorney Billy Martin and MSNBC legal analyst Kendall Coffey discuss Rachel Jeantel’s performance on the stand and whether the jury finds her as an unreliable or a sympathetic witness.
In the court of public opinion, people have come to her defense or ridiculed her as she admitted she’s unable to read cursive. Jeantel claims that she wrote the letter with a friend, describing what happened on the night of the shooting and sent it to Martin’s mom several weeks after his death.
Former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey told MSNBC's Al Sharpton, the jury may not be able to relate to Jeantel, but her testimony is consistent.
“What I think the jury is seeing, is somebody who is there, doesn’t want to be there was brought in by a horrific twist of destiny and tragedy to have to talk about what happened in the final minutes of the life of a friend of hers. And who is by and large being truthful and being truthful is a lot more important than sympathetic than any other word when it comes to the key witness for the prosecution,” said Coffey.
Jeantel said that Trayvon Martin used slurs when describing Zimmerman in their final conversation. As a former chief prosecutor in Washington, D.C.'s homicide unit, Billy Martin says the jurors typically look past the language.
“This is not unusual in a homicide case to have vulgar language and activity that people feel and fund uncomfortable. I think a juror and jurors look right through that and look at what are we trying to determine. They’re not trying to see if one was a good person or a bad person. There are facts here. Who was the aggressor? Who had the ability to flee? And who had the gun? I think they’ll look right past these slurs and find the facts that will really help them decide this case."
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