Oscar Pistorius: The defense case continues with expert testimony

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Good morning:

The direct, cross-examination and redirect examination of Oscar Pistorius concluded yesterday. Roger Dixon, a defense expert is on the stand. His direct examination by defense counsel resumes this morning. He testified yesterday regarding the crime scene.

Prior to the resumption of his testimony, the judge granted the prosecution’s application for a postponement of the trial (we call it a motion to continue the trial) commencing tomorrow, April 17, through May 4th. The trial will resume May 5th.

UPDATE: I am mistaken about when the break starts because they are in session tomorrow.

The continuance was requested by the prosecution because this case has lasted much longer than counsel predicted and Gerrie Nell’s co-counsel has another criminal case scheduled for trial that involves defendants in custody in an apartheid matter. The application was not opposed by the defense counsel. Since Pistorius is free on bail and the scheduling conflict was not reasonably foreseeable (and there is no jury to worry about), the judge granted the request. After today the trial will resume on Monday, May 5th.

Crane-Station and I are sharing a computer and she is hosting a session on another website today. Therefore, we have to pass the computer back and forth. We regret and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please follow along and join us in the comments. We urge you to not forget to make a donation, if you appreciate the time and effort we spend on your behalf.

Thank you,

Fred

Session One:

Session Two:

Session 3

Liveblogging Michael Dunn trial defense case

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Good morning:

We will be live blogging the Michael Dunn trial today and watching the proceedings via live stream link at First Coast News.

I recommend opening two browser pages, one for the blog and the other for the live stream. Size each one half-size so that you can view them side by side.

Court resumes at 8 am.

We are in the defense case.

Defense has possibly 2 more witnesses to call:

Doctor John Abuso, who is supposedly an expert regarding reactions by juveniles to extremely stressful situations, and possibly the defendant.

Here’s my take on Dr. Abus, who would presumably testify that fleeing from a shooting scene and ordering a pizza after attempting to kill four teenagers in an SUV is a normal human reaction (H/T to Lurker for the snarky remark):

Many thanks to Blushed Brown for providing a link to John Abuso’s website.

He has a D.Min after his name that I assume to be a Doctor of Divinity. He also claims to be an ordained minister.

Where he went to school to obtain his degree is not listed.

He lists no articles published in professional peer reviewed journals.

He claims to be:

Lic. Marriage & Family Therapist
Clinical Member AAMFT
Clinical Member ATSA

AAMFT is the American Association of Mariage and Family Therapists.

ATSA is the Association for the Treatment of Sex Offenders

He also claims to have received advance training in Ericksonian hypnotherapy.

I am not seeing any evidence of a scientific or medical basis to what this man does.

By almost any standard that I can imagine, this guy is not qualified to express a science or medical based opinion regarding any matter in this case. Therefore, his testimony should be excluded under Rule 702 as not helpful to the jury to decide an issue of that nature in this case.

Because there is no evidence of self-defense admitted into evidence, I do not believe Judge Healey will give a self-defense instruction unless Dunn testifies.

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Please I am pleading for donations. We have received less than a dozen for less than $200.

We are not going to be able to pay our rent and electricity for this month without reader donations.

Fred