Sybrina Fulton is Trayvon Martin's biological mother. Fulton's testimony starts at 08:11
Note: Fulton violates the Court's order when she testifies she has two sons, the youngest being "Trayvon Martin, he's in heaven..." this is at 08:35 This kind of testimony is a cheap parlor trick by the prosecution to garner sympathy for Trayvon Martin and his mother testifying here. Notice that the prosecutor dared not pull this stunt a second time.
What is remarkable about Sybrina Fulton's testimony today is NOT what she said, but what the Judge forbid her to say. As usual, the media did not talk about this, but read on, you can get the scoop here.
The back story: I'm sure you are wondering why Fulton's testimony was so limited. You are not alone. For months everyone assumed Sybrina would take the stand and tell the jury what she has been saying to the media for the past 16 months:
- There's no way Trayvon assaulted George Zimmerman, Trayvon was defending himself.
- George Zimmerman hunted Trayvon down and murdered him in cold blood.
- There's no way Trayvon attacked George Zimmerman because Trayvon was:
A good boy,
A good student,
Always respected authority,
Respectful to his peers and adults,
Did not do drugs,
Was never arrested,
Never got into more trouble than 'boys will be boys' kind of stuff,
Did not have a criminal record,
Never got into fights,
Got along well with others,
Did not know anything about guns,
Was happy in the home, etc.
(All of the above is a compendium of comments Fulton has made to the media over the past months in interviews and sworn statements she made to law enforcement in the early days. E.g., see O'Steen's and Bernie de la Rionda's reports.)
So why didn't we hear all this from Sybrina on the stand? Because of that simple phrase that even few lawyers know how to spell: "motion in limine." (Lawyers tend to leave out the second "i" in "limine" and they also mispronounce it "lim nee." It is correctly said "lim eh nee.")
Anyway, while mainstream media slanted coverage of the motions in limine against Zimmerman, the Judge's ruling was actually devastating for the State because it silenced these witnesses, who intended to take the stand and wax poetic about Trayvon.
Judge Nelson ruled that all the bad acts and facts about Trayvon Martin were PRELIMINARILY inadmissible. But the Judge also ruled that if anyone, including Sybrina Fulton, testified as above, that would "open the door" to Zimmerman impeaching (discrediting) that testimony.
Sidenote: As usual, Fulton's attorney Crump misrepresented the devastating aspect of the Judge's motion in limine ruling. Crump announced to the world: "Judge Nelson ruled all this cell phone data from Trayvon's phone is forever inadmissible. She said it is irrelevant to the case." In fact, the Judge said no such thing.
With Fulton's testimony today we saw the effect of the Judge's motion in limine ruling. Sybrina's testimony was brief and said nothing earth shaking. (No doubt prosecutors drilled into her head the only way to assure the jury does not see "Trayvon = guns, drugs, fighting, lies, and deception" was for her to answer all questions "yes" or "no.")
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Notice: Lawyers (for MCLE) and law students. Please bookmark this video for discussion. You can use FastStone to capture it. Place in your "Trial" folder, and "Crossing Mothers" sub-folder.
