George Zimmerman: Analysts bury M.E.
By Hal Boedeker, Staff writer
8:17 a.m. EDT, July 6, 2013
Medical examiner ShipingBao on the stand Friday at the George Zimmerman trial. (Gary W. Green/Orlando Sentinel / July 6, 2013)
Thank goodness for the legal analysts. They do help us make it through the high-profile trials by explaining court procedure, analyzing the lawyers' strategies and assessing the witnesses' performances.
At the George Zimmerman trial, the most controversial witness may have been medical examiner ShipingBao. His first round of reviews Friday were terrible; the second round may have been even worse. Bao got worse reviews than "The Lone Ranger," a box-office bomb for Disney.
Larry Kobilinsky, a forensic scientist, told CNN that Bao was "an unmitigated disaster for the prosecution. To end with Dr. Bao, it couldn't be worse."
Kobilinsky dismissed Bao as "amateurish" and said the medical examiner lost credibility with every cross-examination question.
Steve Raiser, a criminal defense attorney, told Fox News Channel that Bao's testimony was "quite frankly terrible" because Bao couldn't remember Trayvon Martin's autopsy. But Raiser noted that Bao's testimony that the bullet went straight through Trayvon's heart undermined the defense argument there was a struggle for the weapon.
Orlando attorney Mark NeJame, a legal analyst for CNN, said the state ran "a beautiful, organized trial as it relates to telling a story," but with Bao "it all unraveled."
CNN's Jean Casarez said she had never seen anything like Bao's testimony in a courtroom.
WOFL-Channel 35 legal analyst Diana Tennis seconded that view. "He was off the charts," she told Keith Landry on "Orlando Matters." "This guy really cost the state a lot. To be the last witness -- just not good." Tennis was astonished that Bao didn't understand court protocol and looked biased in favor of the state.
Turning prognosticator, Tennis predicted there won't be a hung jury because the six-member jury has bonded. She also suggested deliberations could go 90 minutes to four hours.
"There's only six of them," Tennis. "And you're going around the room, and nobody needs to be careful of the other persons' feelings. That's what living together in sequestration does."