During the pre-trial proceedings in the George Zimmerman case, both sides filed motions in limine to exclude evidence at trial. Some are still pending, some were granted, and some were granted or denied provisionally, meaning the court would make a final ruling during trial.

Here is the court's ruling on June 5 on the bulk of the state's motions to exclude evidence about Trayvon Martin, which had been argued on May 28. As to what the judge ruled before trial cannot come into evidence: [More...]

The defense calls Gladys Zimmerman, George Zimmerman's mother, as its first witness. She identifies George as the person screaming in the background of Jenna Lauer's 911 call. She is not asked anything else

The next witness is Orange County Deputy Sheriff Jorge Meza, who is also George's uncle. Orange County is next to Seminole County where the trial is taking place. Meza is adamant is is George's voice. [More...]

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...]

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.

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...]

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.

[More...]

Lawyers for the Martin family now say the case is not about racial profiling or race.

An attorney for Martin’s family, meanwhile, suddenly declared Thursday that the high-profile case was not about race.

“It’s not about racial profiling,” Daryl Parks told reporters. “He was profiled (criminally). George Zimmerman profiled him.”

....Asked why he changed his take on the matter, Parks replied: “We never claimed this was about race.”

Really? Then why did Benjamin Crump say race was "the elephant in the room." Racial injustice was the core of their argument. It was always about race to them. Race was what they used to transform this local shooting into a case of national importance. [More...]

Rachel Jeantel was grilled again today on the witness stand by George Zimmerman attorney Don West. The above is a five minute clip about her reference yesterday to Trayvon Martin calling Zimmerman a creepy as* cracker. West asked her whether she thought that was a racial comment and whether it wasn't really Trayvon Martin who profiled George Zimmerman rather than the other way around. (she answered no.)

There was some disagreement between lawyers at the end of her testimony, the judge sent out the jury and the judge dismissed her, telling her she could be recalled and was still under subpoena.

I will watch her entire testimony before posting an update and analysis. You can also read the comments on her testimony today on our forums. They begin here.

President Obama addressed Edward Snowden at a news conference in Senegal today. Shorter version: He's a 29 year old garden variety hacker.

“This is something that routinely is dealt with....“This is not exceptional from a legal perspective. I’m not going to have one case suddenly being elevated to the point where I have to do wheeling and dealing and trading.”

He rejected the suggestion that he might order the military to intercept any plane that might be carrying Mr. Snowden. “I’m not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” Mr. Obama said.

It was thought Snowden might fly to Cuba today. Reports from Ecuador as to whether he will be welcome there are conflicting, but Ecuador today renounced its trade pact with the U.S. saying it would not be blackmailed.

If you are following the Aaron Hernandez case, he is now under investigation for two murders committed in 2012. Also, a second person, Carlos Ortiz, was arrested in CT and charged in MA in connection with the Odin Lloyd murder.

There is an order in place restricting the extra-judicial comments of lawyers.