The interesting thing about that was that just a day or so previously, the Court TV people were saying that Mr. Mustache did a good job because he projected so much confidence, or something.
So I wonder if it was after they read all the comments that they changed their opinion of him. Or maybe they just watched more of his performance instead of only a thirty second clip. That could make a big difference.
I don’t know if it was the exact same group of court TV people, either. So maybe it was just a different cast of characters who had a different response to him.
I thought the same thing about the way the judge referred to them in passing as bad people.
Like, “Yes, they’re bad people, and yes, they lied a lot under oath, but you still can’t get a chance to use those facts to get your client off.” Whut??
My guess is that the prosecutor thought it was more of an open and shut case, regardless of RG and LKs background, and that the defense would agree to a plea deal eventually anyway.
Instead? It went to trial. And the prosecution had to actually put RG and LK on the stand.
And after spending way too much time reading comments on Law & Crime from a bunch of random trial watchers, as well as watching it myself?
RG and LK were both disastrous witnesses. Both impeached themselves. Both were generally un-likeable (judging by the comments). Both reminded watchers of addicts or narcissists or other sorts of troubled people they had known during their lives. A significant proportion of viewers thought they were on something while testifying. It was… Not Good.
Sooooo… if the jury is hung… I have to assume there will be massive hesitation on the part of the prosecution to retry. I don’t know how procedure works though. Perhaps they will push MB to take a plea deal all over again? I don’t know if that will work. They might be right back where they started. If he didn’t take a plea deal before, and he didn’t agree to the lesser includeds at the charging conference… I doubt he will go for any of it now.
It seems like it’s “Not Guilty” or nothing for MB.
I worry he will not last much longer in jail. He’s clearly in profound mental distress. It’s all very very sad.
Some of us understand how our legal system is supposed to work. Some of us have received jury instructions in the past. Are you suggesting that there is reasonable doubt that Barisone shot LK? You should send a text to Bilinkas about that because he’s not even suggesting that. His defense is premised upon the idea that Barisone was insane at the time of the shooting and therefore not responsible AND that the shooting was motivated by self defense. He’s laid out a very tricky path for himself.
I have to think if that’s what he was trying to do, he might have completely failed at it.
It looked to me more like he was punching down at somebody who was already pretty much in the gutter under the current circumstances. If I were on the jury, I would have had the opposite reaction from the one he wanted.
I’m thinking especially about the remark on MB’s looks, and bringing up MB’s text to MHG. Both of those things would have completely turned me off anything else he had to say. Mostly because they were completely unnecessary to the case, which made them just sound like mean comments he made for no good reason.
MB cannot remember the event so therefore he can’t testify as to what happened.
If he doesn’t remember the event he cannot say he was disarmed and there was a scuffle and the gun went off - as an example.
So his defense has no choice but to go with other options. Clearly mental disease or defect is one choice. The other is self defense because the guy spent his life being a horse trainer and not say, Charles Manson.
