If I were the prosecution I would argue the following:
Zimmerman's own testimony is that to his knowledge he never saw Martin before in his life, therefore the only information about Martin relevant to his defense is what Martin said and did in Zimmerman's presence that night.
Therefore, whether Martin called a drugdealer or did something else questionable or illegal using his phone prior to the encounter with Zimmerman is immaterial to Zimmerman's defense.
A defense attorney can make arguments against this, but it is up to the judge.
Ok - but would it matter if the charging affidavit stated:
“During this time, Martin was on the phone with a friend and described to her what was happening.....The witness advised that Martin was scared because he was being followed through the complex by an unknown male and didn’t know why.”
Shouldn’t the defense have the right to validate whether or not this conversation happened?
And doesn’t the presence of this statement in the Charging Affidavit presume that the prosecutor has at least validated that a phone call happened? Which would mean that the phone records should already have been ‘released’ by the Martin family and given to the prosecutor.
If not, shouldn’t the judge have slapped down the prosecutor for using unsubstantiated heresay from a 16 y/o girl as a basis for charging?.
And can’t the judge suppress any other phone calls to drug dealers, etc in court? I don’t understand why the possible presence of embarassing information in the records would make the entire record off limits.
It seems simple to me - a very sketchy report from a 18 y/o girl (who was deliberately mis-represented as a 16 y/o girl) was used in the Charging Document! The defense should at least have the right to inspect the phone record and see if this is true.
And...if the prosecutor happens to know that its a false statement, he is supposed to bring that to the attention of the court.
The way things are going, the only evidence allowed will be the NBC re-enactment. For some reason, the media and forces I don’t comprehend want to pin the murder of a black kid on a Latino Democrat, so they can somehow point the finger at white republicans.