That is called "The Rule." Any prospective witness cannot be present at trial until called, unless the other side agrees to waive it. There is an exception for a party to the suit in civil cases. The judge can also make exceptions, although I wouldn't expect it in a homicide case. So, did Martin's mother testify?
Not yet, but I heard commentators say that she would be testifying. Maybe they were inaccurate.
I'll try to track it and see. Normally, the prosecution would have waived the right to have her testify by having her present. May be some weird Florida exception for a parent or something...
i hope they come back with an innocent verdict. i also hope there are riots and random acts of violence just like jamie foxx is pining for. it should make for some great reality tv.
SYG is not really a separate defense at all. It just changes the definition of self-defense and when it will apply. In your own home, you're entitled, and always have been, to SYG and it's automatically self-defense, unless you've behaved in such a way as to remove that as a defense. There are plenty of gray cases in that area also - the homeowner pursuing the intruder, etc. The SYG statutes are really an attempt to port the "household" defense to situations outside the home, where it gets to be devilish to determine when a person has retreated as far as he/she possibly can. It's an attempt to draw a line for certainty about self-defense. In the end, SYG attempts a modification of the defense of self-defense outside the home. I know I'm being repetitive, but apparently I'm not making myself clear. I wish some of our guys were participating who practice this kind of law on a regular basis. I'll see if I can wake up BamaBelle or Drewy...
I see more than that, although from what I've seen the prosecution hasn't exactly done a bangup job, they've tried to introduce and emphasize the fact that it was Zimmerman following Martin, not the other way around. As I said above, I think there's a valid argument to be made that Zimmerman had essentially abandoned his self-defense rights by trying to move the SYG bubble to wherever Martin was. It's an interesting case...
IANAL, so I defer to your judgment, but unless Zimmerman was breaking the law by his actions, I can't see how he gave up his right to SYG. That would essentially be saying tha a person not breaking the law was not protected by the law against an attacker - as much as I disagree with Zimmerman's 'zeal' wrt his 'neighborhood watch' duties, and believe that TM would be alive today if he had not pursued him, everything I've seen seems to point to TM attacking Zimmerman, in which case the SYG law (or virtually any other SD law) would come into effect.
And TM would be alive if he had just Told GZ to back off and gone home. GZ also testified that he was headed back to his truck when he was attacked. He claimed "he had lost" TM. ALL of this is immaterial really. The only thing that matters is if they can prove the elements of 2nd degree murder which is a life sentence. ANY reasonable assessment would conclude they aren't even in that hemisphere much less area code.
