Submission + - Reiser's Fate Soon To Be Known
anagama writes: "It looks like Tuesday morning will mark the end of the Reiser trial. For those who RTFA, the whole trial was live blogged and if you have eight or more free hours, feel free to catch up. There is some interesting analysis by a former defense attorney, Jay Gaskill. He writes on Reiser's decision to take the stand: "As I've told new trial attorneys-in-training over the years, there is no circumstantial evidence case so weak that a testifying client can't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in a few improvident minutes, hours or days on the witness stand." Plainly, he isn't taking a positive view of the outcome possibilities and wasn't really swayed by the Platypus Defense. It's worth noting, as Resier's lawyer (William DuBois) correctly pointed out in closing, that basing a conviction on odd behavior and circumstantial evidence doesn't always amount to justice: c.f. Cyntia Sommers conviction for murder by arsenic poisoning despite no evidence that she poisoned her husband. The conviction was based on odd behavior, getting a boob job and promiscuous activity after her husband's death. Most interesting however, it turns out there was no arsenic poisoning at all, just a lab error showing a concentration so high as to be physiologically improbable. She was released with nary an apology for her murder conviction and near 900 days in jail after new testing showed no arsenic at all."
