The prosecutor in the Potter case just said this was not some "oopsy." She is offering a detailed account on the elements. The problem is that the element with the least attention: Potter had to "consciously disregard" the risk. That is the distinction with simple negligence.
...Notably, Erin Eldridge seemed to declare the police witnesses as "biased" as "members of the family" of officers. She encouraged the jury to look to witnesses removed from that "family."
It is interesting to hear a prosecutor making the "thin blue line" bias argument against officer testimony. Former Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon testified Potter was a "fine officer" and that he would not have fired her without due process.
...Eldridge keeps referring to Potter's "police family" to discard their testimony. Eldridge is also telling the jury not to feel empathy or sympathy for Potter, who she insists "betrayed" her fellow officers...
... What is interesting is that Eldridge is not reframing her approach after her cross examination, which was (in my view) tone deaf and poorly crafted. You can make the case for manslaughter while recognizing what the jury saw on the stand.
...Instead Eldridge told the jury to essentially disregard the testimony of the other officers while also disregard any sympathy for Potter. The prosecution case was detached to the point of lacking any empathy for the situation...
...That could leave the jury detached from the prosecution. The stronger framing would have acknowledged what the jury saw on the stand while also saying that it should not change their verdict. There is an instruction to that effect.

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More from @JonathanTurley

20 Dec
Defense counsel Earl Gray is now hitting the prosecutor on her dismissing the testimony of police officers as biased "family members." That is a better point of attack created unnecessarily by Eldridge in framing her closing.
Gray is attacking the state witness on deadly force and noting that he may charge up to 95k while the defense witness does not charge. He is also highlighting the background of the officers dismissed by Eldridge. This is much more effective.
...These are the types of arguments that can hit below the waterline for the prosecution. Again, Eldridge made it worse by attacking the officers as unreliable.
Read 4 tweets
17 Dec
Eldridge is continuing to drill down as Potter is sobbing that she did not want to hurt anyone. This remains me of the prosecutor in the Rittenhouse trial. The court is now sustaining objections to the prosecutor's questions.
... I think Erin Eldridge lost serious ground in her final examination. The lack of response to the sobbing witness was stark and chilling...
...The irony is that Eldridge was attacking Potter for a lack of concern for anyone else at the scene after she broke down. However, Eldridge was showing the same utter detachment in front of the jury in the face of a sobbing witness.
Read 5 tweets
17 Dec
Potter is a complex witness. She often sounds mechanical and, with the prosecutor, technical. However, she began to breakdown immediately when returned to that day...
...The vital element for the jury is whether she evidenced the type of criminal conduct captured by the statute as opposed to simple negligence.
The more human she appears on the stand, the less culpable she will appear in that jury room. In a curious way, her rigidity in testimony made her breakdown more credible. She is clearly someone who tries to be controlled and precise. It is similar to what we saw in Rittenhouse.
Read 4 tweets
6 Dec
The pandemic now seems to have reached the mythic levels of gods who once were blamed for everything that went wrong in life. The Norse had the trickster Loki. For politicians, a lurking Loki explains that social problems are not really of their making... jonathanturley.org/2021/12/06/the…
...While many politicians call for “reimagining policing,” that imagination does not extend to seeing a cause-and-effect on crime. It is the Loki effect of the pandemic. The fact is that most criminals are rational actors who make a calculus of risk in the commission of offenses.
...While the White House may not see the cause-and-effect realities, these felons certainly see the cost-benefit realities. Even in a pandemic, most of us do not look for a Givenchy store to grab an essential diamond-encrusted purse...
Read 4 tweets
5 Dec
Justice Sonya Sotomayor's objection to the “stench” of politics in the oral argument in Dobbs seemed directed at her three new colleagues and the effort to use the new court composition to seek the reduction or overturning of Roe v. Wade...jonathanturley.org/2021/12/05/big…
...Of course, when justices begin to declare their disgust at the very thought of overturning precedent, there is another detectable scent in the courtroom. Indeed, it felt like a scene from Tennessee Williams' play, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” ...
...The only thing missing was the play’s central character, “Big Daddy” Pollitt, asking: “What's that smell in this room? … Didn’t you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room? There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity.””
Read 4 tweets
4 Dec
As shown by the comments of the White House this week on crime, The pandemic now seems to have reached the mythic levels of gods who once were blamed for everything that went wrong in life. For politicians, it is useful to have a lurking Loki...thehill.com/opinion/crimin…
...Apparently, pandemic sustenance-gatherers felt compelled to grab $79,000-worth of purses from a Givenchy store in New York...
...Purses certainly do appear to be a COVID necessity across this accessory-deprived nation: When a gang hit Burberry’s on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, they ran past an assortment of clothing to grab high-priced purses, too.
Read 4 tweets

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