sunny hostin, you said to me, and i have to be honest, sunny hostin said to me tonight, there's going tonight. >> yell. >> yeah. >> why did you feel that? >> i mean, it's obvious when a jury decides to work through dinner that they believe that they are close. what will is strange to me, don,ing so i knew there was going to be a verdict tonight. what is strange to me is that they asked for clarification on manslaughter. is the judge sent back a note asking them to be more specific and they were never more specific. i think that that is a good sign for the defense actually. i think perhaps there could have been that sort of lone holdout that was saying yeah, i don't know. maybe this is manslaughter, maybe this is manslaughter. and then perhaps changed her mind. and so i think it's a good sign for the defense that they never asked for the clarification. >> and what we -- i just want to remind our viewers, you're watching cnn. this is live coverage of the george zimmerman trial. we have a verdict in the george zimmerman trial and the pictures you're looking at now are live pictures insid

so will sunny hostin. then also jennifer friedman, faith jenkins excuse me joins me and then jeffrey toobin who is our legal analyst joins me on the phone. jeff, as we await the jury, the judge at least, the attorneys, george zimmerman to come back into court, where do you think this puts us? what does it all mean? >> well, the judge has a tough decision right now. the safe choice is simply to repeat what she said before about the definition of manslaughter. that would certainly not create a problem on appeal if george zimmerman is convicted. however, if she wants to help the jury she has to try to translate the jury instructions from legalese into english. that becomes a perilous endeavor because appeals courts take jixz particularly at this stage of the case very seriously. i think the judge is going to have to walk the line between simply repeating herself and trying to help the jury in a way that might lead them to reach a verdict soon. >> okay. i said our reporter would join us shortly and that is mar

i want to get some closing thoughts from our panel, sunny hostin sunny hostin, jeffrey toobin, danny, what do you expect? you're not expecting a verdict tomorrow? >> i'm not, but i want to see the notes. we've spent so much time asking what are they thinking? now we get to find out. what evidence do they want to see? do they indicate which part of the law confuses them. do they indicate any deadlock? we learn a lot from jury notes. >> danny, they asked to look at all the evidence. that's standard stuff. >> that doesn't surprise me. but it means they're going to take it seriously and go through all the evidence, instead of just locking at each other and say, let's move on and get out of here. i can expect that would add at least a day if they go through that list. but we don't know what it means. >> sunny, tomorrow or sunday? >> i'm not sure. i think after observing this jury, this is a very methodical jury. this is a jury i think that's going to be very deliberate and very cooperative as well, though. i think to expect a verdict very, very quickly, i'm not there, but i think it's any

. >> let's bring in our panel, legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, sunny hostin, and jeffrey toobin. do you think that mark o'mara scored the points that he wanted to? >> i think at first blush you'd say why would you ever do that? but if you think about it, i think what he was trying to do is set up the closing argument. he wants to argue later on, look, here's somebody who told the police initially that it wasn't him and now he's ekw

sunny hostin sunny hostin and jeffrey toobin join me and danny savalos with mark geragos. we'll talk about the mlk reference later in the conversation. mark, let me start with you. the lesser charges, defense attorney don west very upset, outraged about the prosecution's move to move this lesser charge of third degree felony murder, a child abuse charge resulting in death. did he are a right to be upset? >> yes, i think he does. i think it was frankly outray jouls and he's been upset all along. i don't know that it was a good idea to channel that anger towards her honor. but ultimately the manslaughter was going to be given. we had that argument yesterday about the propriety of lesser includeds, and the judge did what sthe law calls on her to d. >> you can say what you want about this case. it has nothing to do with child abuse. i thought, again, the judge was exactly right in her rulings, that she said manslaughter is an appropriate lesser included offense, but this third degree murd we are child abuse was not. she fought with the defense attorney, but he won that key rul

. >> let's bring in sunny hostin, jeffrey toobin, danny cevallos and mark geragos. so mark, let's start with you. what's your assessment of o'mara's closing today? >> i just lost you. >> mark, can you hear me? danny, your assessment? >> sunny has her mcdreamy. to me, o'mara is mcawesome. i thought the prosecutors did a good job. their style was a little more fiery. what i admire is somebody who can -- as an attorney who tries cases, i see someone do that measured calm way of delivering a closing summation after he's lived this case for so long. it's hard to keep emotion out of it. i admire someone who methodically goes through the case and challenges every piece of the prosecution's evidence. i thought it was a terrific closing. >> it was such an extraordinary contrast to the prosecutors, just on volume of voice alone. yesterday, it was so much yelling in that courtroom. today, i don't think o'mara even raised his voice at any point. i think to a fault. i thought he was almost too sedate. but it was a conversational discussion of the evidence. >> which works better?

sunny hostin, denny cevallos, mark geragos and jeffrey toobin. the family will sue for civil damages? >> it's been reported they've already settled with the homeowners association. i don't know if that's true. next time you interview the lawyer, i would ask that and find out. if they've settled with the homeowners association, meaning they got some kind of a check in trade for a release, the only target left, i would imagine, unless they think they've got something against the cops themselves, is zimmerman himself. zimmerman himself, i would imagine all the money he's raised has gone to pay o'mara and west. he probably doesn't have much of anything. so i understand they could get a large verdict if they get the right jury, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to kind of put them through that for a pyrrhic victory just to get a judgment. the bigger question is whether the feds are going to come in and whether the feds would come in and do what they did in the rodney king case out here in l.a. which was after the acquittals. in simi valley, the

i have sunny hostin here as well, a cnn legal analyst.y hughes who is a former prosecutor and also paul callan who is a cnn legal analyst joining me in new york. paul, i was listening. what you said to me before the break, it did not two unheard. it did not fall on deaf ears. you said there is a -- it was very simple. you said it's very simple about manslaughter. talk to me about that. what did you mean by that? >> well, you know, i think what we're seeing now, and this is classic in a murder case, the jury is confused because when judges charge juries, they're reading from lawbooks. they're reading lengthy, complicated explanations of statutes. but i think you can boil this down so our viewers have a really clear understanding of what's going on. second-degree murder, which if sunny is correct, and she may very well be and they've already decided about that, is that with hate in his heart, george zimmerman pursued and killed trayvon martin, and he wasn't acting in self-defense. if they have moved beyond that, and they've said, maybe they

randi kaye, cnn, kroshg. >> with me again, sunny hostin. jeffrey toobin. danny savalos and mark geragos. sunny, the argument was fascinating. over this animation went close to like five hours in court today. there's no other point of contention that's lasted this long. where are both sides so dug in on this? >> look, this is a movie about the defense's theory of the case. of course, they want it in, anderson. juries love animation. they love demonstrations. this would be a bonanza for the defense. but this isn't coming in. i mean, this is a criminal trial. the standard is very high for this type of evidence to come in. i mean, this is not a movie. this is not "avatar." this is not "iron man." the judge doesn't care that this type of suit was used in hollywood. this is seminole county. this is sanford, florida. this is not going to happen. i've got to tell you, i was in the courtroom sort of watching it, it was like watching a movie, but this is not coming in. >> danny, it's only as good as the data points used to make it. and those are all in dispute. >> e

sunny hostin, jeff toobin, danny cevallos. thanks very much. arizona is mourning the death of 19 firefighters. an elite squad of men trapped in an inferno. what led to the tragedy in a moment. to fight it... to investigate it... ...prosecute it... and stop criminals. our senior medicare patrol volunteers... are teaching seniors across the country... ...to stop, spot, and report fraud. you can help. guard your medicare card. don't give out your card number over the phone. call to report any suspected fraud. we're cracking down on medicare fraud. let's make medicare stronger for all of us. but for all these symptoms, you also take kaopectate. new kaopectate caplets -- soothing relief for all those symptoms. kaopectate. one and done. >>> let's get caught up on some of the other stories we're following. susan is here with the 360 bulletin. susan? >> anderson, the governor of arizona calls the loss of 19 firefighters unbearable. the men were part of an elite squad battling a giant wildfire northwest of phoenix when they were killed on sunday. they w

let's go to our legal analysts sunny hostin. we just heard the defense call its first two witnesses, that being the mother of george zimmerman, as well as the uncle right there, jorge meza, of george zimmerman. sunny and mark, first, let's start with the uncle. what did you think of his testimony there? did you think that the jury will find him believable that he thought this was george's voice screaming on this 911 tape? >> well, i thought he was a very credible witness in the sense that he's a law enforcement officer, he spoke clearly with conviction, although i do think that the circumstances surrounding what he is testifying to just seem a bit odd that you would be watching, you know, on your computer and you hear a scream somewhere in your home and you identify that scream immediately as that of not even your son but your nephew. i'm not sure if that -- those circumstances are believable but i thought that his testimony -- through his testimony he came off as a credible witness. >> and i concur with that. i think that it ki

sunny hostin, jeff toobin, danny cevallos.zona is mourning the death of an elite squad of men trapped in an inferno. what led to the tragedy in a moment. we know it's your videoconference of the day. hi! hi, buddy! that's why the free wifi and hot breakfast are something to smile about. book a great getaway now and feel the hamptonality this is what matters. the experience of a product. how will it make someone feel? will it make life better? does it deserve to exist? we spend a lot of time on a few great things. until every idea we touch enhances each life it touches. you may rarely look at it. but you'll always feel it. this is our signature. and it means everything. >> let's get caught up on some of the other stories we're following. >> anderson, the governor of arizona calls the loss of 19 firefighters unbearable. the men were part of an elite squad battling a giant wildfire northwest of phoenix when they were killed on sunday. many they were trapped by flames which were fanned by shifting winds. >> oh, my goodness. he wan

. >> our legal analyst sunny hostin also interviewed trayvon martin's parents. she'll join us later this hour. we'll talk about what she learned from her interview and what the parents hope will come out of all of this. that interview with sunny coming up later. >>> a couple of programming notes. it's the piers morgan interview a lot of people are talking about. the prosecution witness rachel jeantel in her own words tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern on "piers morgan live." >>> parts of the u.s. may get a break this weekend from days of sweltering heat. a cold front is expected to bring much needed rain from the northeast to the midwest. for days temperatures have soared above the 90-degree mark, with heat indices over 100. so hot here in d.c., humane society officials are taking steps to check on people and their pets. our meteorologist jennifer delgado is over at the cnn weather center. emily schmidt rode along with a team watching what's going on in washington. emily, let's start with you. what are you seeing? >> reporter: wolf, you know, we've been talking all week

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i would advise you probably don't do that. >> back with the panelist, sonny hostin and mark geragos.s essentially what you were talking about yesterday when you guys were arguing over the extent of his injuries and as long as george zimmerman was scared by the extent of his injury, whether or not those injuries really were something that were as serious as maybe he thought they were, that doesn't matter. what matters is what he felt about them, correct? >> that's exactly why i don't understand this witness either. if you're the prosecution why do you put this witness on? he, in that little exchange gave precisely what we discussed last night is going to be the defense's argument. my guess, you're going to see the jury talk about this precisely this when they go back there first thing in their deliberations. this is one of the key issues for them to understand that and the prosecution, their own witness cuts them off at the knees. >> marcia clark, do you agree with that? >> a little bit, but i understand why they put him on. they wanted to show the jury that george zimmerman knew the

i want to get reaction from sunny hostin, jeffrey toobin, mark geragos. just mark, your thoughts?ses. i never understand how people, you know, having a son about the same age, i don't understand how anybody ever deals with this. it's just tough to follow and comment on. you just don't, as a parent, to me, it's unimaginable. i'm happy, i guess, if happy is the right word, that they're channeling it into a foundation. that's a great thing. i just don't know how else you cope with things like this. the trial aside, the loss of a kid, of your kid, i just think -- i don't know how a parent ever gets over that. >> sunny? >> i think what is remarkable is that we see what a remarkable family this is. this is a family of grace and dignity and of faith. and that was apparent throughout the trial. it's apparent now. i think what was interesting is that they still believe in the justice system. they say that the justice system may not have worked for them, but they still believe in it. i think that's a message to everyone. but i wonder at this point what does justice look like to them, going

i want to bring in some analysis from sunny hostin. she's been in the courtroom for the past couple of weeks and mark nejame. we're going to first go to sunny. we heard a bit of that testimony as a reminder to people about how contentious it became. why is this relevant wet or dry evidence versus whether mr. bao can recall from his memory or needs notes? what is relevant here to jurors? >> there's no question that the defense wants to shake his credibility in front of the eyes of the jury because i will tell you having been in the courtroom the jury seemed charmed by him. they seemed to like him. he was very analytical. now the defense has to call his credibility into question. they question him about these notes. it's so highly unusual for a witness to draft these notes in preparation of testimony and never tell anyone. witnesses just don't do that. >> what do you mean by that? meaning he should have submitted these notes to the prosecution and said that you're going to enter this into evidence. what do you mean by this? >> anything t

they tried their case for sunny hostin. they did not try it for the juror who was in there who needed, as to borrow ben's line, to be empowered, their vote was as important as anybody's vote. think didn't do it. they were in lala land the entire time. >> that's not fair. the prosecution had the evidence to support a second degrew murder conviction manslaughter conviction. i agree with mark. i think where they failed miserably is they did not humanize trayvon martin in front of this jury. i mean, after the verdict, i spoke to sybrina fulton and interviewed her and the world found out that trayvon martin was an excellent science and math student and went to camp and studied to be a pilot with the world's first african american pilot that flew solo around the world. why didn't the jury hear about that -- >> why -- >> sunny, why isn't the answer? >> i think the prosecution failed. >> the other -- >> in that regard. >> the prosecution did fail not only in not humanizing him and both jurors that we heard from post deliberation ha

sunny hostin and jeffrey toobin join me. on the defense table, danny savalos and mark geragos. and dr. lawrence kobalanski is here. mark, some dramatic moments just in the last couple of minutes. the defense saying that the prosecution -- that the state has basically lied and hid evidence from them, not given over evidence that they had in a timely manner. >> well, this has been their complaint all along. one of the reasons that mark o'mara was talking about that don west was so upset early on and had done the knock knock joke and everything else, they are bitterly complaining that the prosecution has been playing hide the ball all along, that they had what's called a brady obligation to turn over evidence. and i think it's boiled over as you get -- and i've had judges toward the end of a trial, judges want to get that trial moving. they see the light at the end of the tunnel. if they can get this argued and to the jury by friday afternoon, that is what she wants to do. so she's going to keep them late and this is when tempers flare. >> i want to play something moments ago, don

sunny hostin and jeffrey toobin. danny savalos and mark geragos. danny, let's start with you this time. that lesser charge that they wanted to suddenly bring in, that the prosecution sprung that don west literally said "oh, my god" about, did that stun you? >> i think it surprised everybody. it's one of those examples that is brilliant tactically by the prosecution, but it could be viewed as kind of dirty pool. here's why. felony murder is like a legal fiction. it's a policy crime, because all of our other forms of murders are on a continuum. they go from i meant to kill him, down to oopsy daisy. felony murder is an accidental killing that occurs during a felony. the problem here is that the prosecution technically they gave them notice under the facts a child was killed. but no one ever talked about felony murder. the felony here would be child abuse. i think that's a stretch. i think everybody was shocked and i had so much sympathy for don west. it's like when you wake up and you have that dream where you woke up late for school and you're missin

. >> let's bring in our panel, legal analyst sunny hostin and jeffrey toobin. also defense attorneys danny cevallos and mark geragos. mark, i'll start with you. how do you think mark o'hara did today? >> i think he did well. i think he did exactly what i expected, primarily a low-key, methodical, going through the evidence kind of a folksy style talking as opposed to theatrics. i think there was some drama to it, but it was pretty much what i expected. i thought he did a nice use of the chart with the degrees showing what is not reasonable doubt. and what is reasonable doubt. so i thought all in all, it was effective and he hit all the points. >> sunny, how do you think he did? >> i think he did final. i don't think it was great. i don't think it was -- i don't think he knocked it out of the park, but i thought he was efficient. i thought he was effective. i thought it was good. some of the theatrics fell a bit flat, like the cartoon that we've all been talking about. i expected more out of it. i don't think it was used that well, the slab of concrete that he b

i want to bring sunny hostin and mark back in here.he judge asked if he'd decided yet he hadn't decided? isn't that something that's been planned for days now? >> no. not at all. it's a very dynamic decision with defendants. they want to listen to all the evidence. i think a lot of defendants go on gut, whether or not they feel they're winning or losing. a lot of defendants just want to tell their stories. they really want to tell their stories. as mark was saying, the fact he told his story to hannity, the fact he said he did this sort of recreation with the police department, remember during the bond hearing he actually got on the witness stand and apologized to trayvon martin's parents. and so this is a defendant that wants to talk. it would be a huge mistake for him to talk. but he's someone that seems to want to tell his side of the story. >> mark, read this for me. what does that mean, the fact that now he might want to get up there and tell it like it is from his point of view? does it indicate that there was some weakness, that

sunny hostin, mark nejame. great to see you guys. thanks so much. >>> other stories we're watching. in texas the state senate passes one of the more restrictive bills in the country. critics say it will impose new restrictions on abortion clinics in texas, effectively shutting most of the clinics down. proponents of the bill say it shows a greater respect for human life and improves the standard of care at the clinics. the bill originally failed after a filibuster. rick perry is expected to sign it into law soon. >>> we've got an exclusive interview with governor perry that you'll see tomorrow on state of the union with candy crowley at 9:00 eastern on cnn. >>> in san francisco, a third person died from injuries suffered this the crash of flight 214. in keeping with the wishes of the family, doctors are not releasing the victim's name, only saying she was a young female. >>> those are the stories we're watching. obviously we're on verdict watch for you. eyes on sanford, florida. now, if you thought that judge judy was tough, wait until we show you the no-nonsense judge in the zimmer

they tried their case for sunny hostin. they did not try it for the juror who was in there who needed, as to borrow mben's lin, to be empowered, their vote was as important as anybody's vote. think didn't do it. they were in lala land the entire time. >> that's not fair. the prosecution had the evidence to support a second degrew murder conviction manslaughter conviction. i agree with mark. i think where they failed miserably is they did not humanize trayvon martin in front of this jury. i mean, after the verdict, i spoke to sybrina fulton and interviewed her and the world found out that trayvon martin was an excellent science and math student and went to camp and studied to be a pilot with the world's first african american pilot that flew solo around the world. why didn't the jury hear about that -- >> why -- >> sunny, why isn't the answer? >> i think the prosecution failed. >> the other -- >> in that regard. >> the prosecution did fail not only in not humanizing him and both jurors that we heard from post deliberation ha

to sunny hostin's point to her testimony.y's point, also the second mark o'mara sits up there, immediately there's an objection. he is saying i'm sorry for your loss. there's an objection from the state. then to sunny's point, he does continue to question him. she called it a rookie mistake. do you agree? >> i agree. i think that he really didn't make any point with his cross-examination. everything that he has to argue this is already in evidence. you're never going to get the victim's mother to really give you anything more. she was solid. she was convinced that that was her son's voice on that tape. nothing he asked her was going to change that. it was really kind of a pointless cross. >> i'll throw a question to you. this is something i was just curious. in terms of standard operating procedure, when you are a mother of a 17-year-old who has been shot and killed and you know you are going into -- it's actually not at the police precinct. it's at the mayor's office. she testified that she wasn't told what she would be hear

mark is here and also sunny hostin a former prosecutor.nk you so much for helping us through this. just on cue as sunny said this, just own an hour ago, i am surprised, i find it a bit odd this jury has not asked any questions yet because this is the point where the jury should ask some sort of question and then boom. there it happened. it is now over manslaughter. this says to you as a former prosecutor? >> this says to me that they are going chronologically as most juries do through the jury instructions, chronologically through the verdict form, and they may indeed be past second-degree murder and also justifiable homicide of second-degree murder and on to manslaughter. that tells me maybe they are not buying self-defense in this case. it's a possibility. >> i'm going to go buy a lottery ticket with sunny afterward. she has been the closest predictor on times and everything else. look. we're reading tea leaves. technically it could be a debate going on between manslaughter and second degree. it could be a debate going on between manslau

as we are here waiting for this i want to go to sunny hostin sitting next to me.e heard word the attorneys are entering the courtroom and just a couple seconds ago we were saying it's been a while. no questions. we haven't heard from the jurors. what's going on? >> i think this is going to be the most telling indication as to whether they're getting closer or whether we're going to have a jury that is really fighting it out a little bit. this jury has been a hard working jury. if they come back in and say they're done for the day -- >> they do have a question. we don't know what it is. >> smart lady. >> finally a question. it's about that time. they've lived with the facts for several weeks now. they've lived with the facts to deliberate from in the jury room for about 12 hours. conventional wisdom always says that usually and generally you get an hour for each day. >> there is -- sorry about that, sunny. there is george zimmerman walking into the courtroom. you see his parents walking behind him and his wife as well. funny, i ran into them this morning as they we

our panel, michael jackson's former attorney and former prosecutor sunny hostin and paul callin weigh in on the what ifs and what nows. and finally the verdict prompts street demonstrations including this one in chicago. two different governors weigh in on the case and their hot button battles with state law makers. exclusives with rick perry and pat quinn. i'm candy crowley and this is "state of the union". >>> very first this morning, the not guilty verdict in the george zimmerman trial. the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed 17-year-old trayvon martin is a freeman this morning after the jury's decision late last night. we've seen some protests in major cities across the u.s. more plan today. there is anger among martin's supporters but mostly the demonstrations are peaceful. the six woman jury acquitted him after deliberations refusing to convict him of second-degree murder or manslaughter. he showed little expression at first. many say this is a vindication of his claim that he shot martin in self-defense early last year. this case raised important questions about cr

also with me, sunny hostin and former federal prosecutor.hackett and mike brooks, hln law enforcement analyst. let's go back to mark osster man, darren and sunny. i want to begin with you two. let's chew on what mark osster man said, specifically the issue that the state is hoping to seize upon because, again, this guy talked to his buddy and accord being to george zimmerman which is in this book which he wrote four months later and the defense said, this wasn't corroborated. this is the first time that we heard this, that trayvon martin grabbed zimmerman's gun. this is totally contradictory, sunny hostin, to what george zimmerman told police over and over. >> yeah, that's right. bottom line is that his best friend, george zimmerman's best friend, mr. osster man, did him no favors. he was a terrific witness for the government. he started out his testimony by saying, brooke, he was the one who encouraged george zimmerman to get a gun. >> get a gun. >> even went over what type of gun he should get. that i'm sure didn't go jury. then on top of

so i'm joined now by our legal analysts sunny hostin, former federal prosecutor, and criminal defense attorney mark nejame. sunny, so he's blaming the media for part of the narrative here, part of i guess of shaping the narrative when it comes to his client. >> that's fascinating to me only because this played out in a jury room. in a courtroom. and they weren't privy to anything that we were saying outside of that. and i think what is terrific, though, about what did happen here is that there were cameras in the courtroom. everyone got to see what was going on. there was transparency to the process. and people were able to make up their minds for themselves without being shaded or jaded by our coverage. and so i think it's almost intellectually dishonest to argue that. it's surprising to me. >> mark, can you weigh in on that? >> the media did have a great deal of influence, but there's a difference how the media impacted before the trial and during the trial. obviously during the trial it's of no consequence. the jury is not seeing anything. that's for addressing the public. before t

i'll post that question to sunny hostin. sunny? >> that's an argument that the defense has made and is going to make, but i don't think it makes a lot of sense in the legal world because, you know, what is at issue here is what was in george zimmerman's mind. this is a second degree murder case. not what was in trayvon martin's mind. that really doesn't malter mat the determination of this case. the defense has wanted for some time to argue, to put in some of trayvon martin's school records, some information about his personal life, which really in this case irrelevant. i will tell you, i think even if that kind of information comes in, which it shouldn't, it is highly prejudicial. you know, it's a tactic that defense attorneys use. this sort of trash the victim, sully the victim. and as a prosecutor, it was something that really backfired most often and more often than not on defense attorneys. i always wonder, carol, why they still use that tactic. >> well, let's ask drew about that. drew, let's back up a little bit. how importan

prosecutors are going to -- actually, let's ask sunny hostin. prosecutors are going to argue, how could he have been beating george zimmerman within an inch of his life if he has a tiny abrasion on one knuckle on his left hand? >> yeah, i mean, that is really important evidence for the prosecution. not only did he have one very small abrasion on his left hand, he was right handed, so that's why i've been cautioning everyone that, you know, we are just in the middle of this case. we haven't heard from the medical examiner about stipling, which shows how close the gunshot was and how close the shooter was to the victim. we haven't heard about this abrasion, we haven't heard about whether or not trayvon martin died instantaneously. so there is information that still needs to come in to support the prosecution's theory of the case as to whether or not this struggle happened the way george zimmerman said it happened. in the csi day we're in, jury wants to hear that, they want to hear the forensics. they want to hear how that evidence fits in with geo

specifically linda kenney baden is our guest along with jean casarez and sunny hostin.pected mr. di maio is, literally the guy who wrote the textbook on forensic pathology, how do you counter that? how do you counter what he is saying? >> i think you do exactly what the state did. they countered him using their theory of the case. for the defense, jake, this is all about self-defense so they want their experts to get into how close they were, who was on top, who was on the bottom. for the prosecution, their entire theory is about who started this fight, who was the initial aggressor. so that is what the ruprosecuti did the minute they got up. they said you're not testifying about who started the fight, you can't tell who threw the first punches, isn't that right? and it went on and on and on like that. the prosecutor even got this witness to concede that maybe he was over him, maybe he was standing back, maybe he was pulling away from george zimmerman, if indeed he was on top. so i think they needed to do that to neutralize him and i think they did it. >> let's take a l

sunny hostin, cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.as in the courtroom today in sanford, florida. faith jenkins, a prosecutor. trent copeland, a criminal defense attorney. of course, don lemon also joining us from florida. you know, sunny, i want to ask you first. because you were theren

i want to bring in our legal analyst sunny hostin and mark nejame. i'd like to give both of you an opportunity to assess what we've heard here. does it strike you that because george zimmerman is so calm and he doesn't seem to be freaking out that he's very confident in his version of the story and therefore others in the jury will be as well? >> no. that cuts both ways. if the government finds him in inconsistencies, he hasn't just given one statement. he's given three or four. if the government points out lies then the jury may think, oh, my goodness, he's a cold-blooded liar. that sort of cuts both ways. let me tell you about my observations. i was in the courtroom and the jurors were leaning forward. they were taking a lot of notes which was very interesting. by my count about two of them started looking add george zimmerman when his audio recording was being played. what we need to keep in mind it's not just inconsistencies that the government is looking for. they are looking for what he said. he called trayvon martin a suspect and those were hi

sunny hostin, marcia clark, danny savalos and mark geragos.e chances are that the jury will be instructed in an opt for lesser charges? >> i think there's no question the jury will be charged on second murder and manslaughter. that's a lesser included offense. the way i read the statute, it has to be done. and i suspect that the government is going to request it. there's evidence to support manslaughter. this jury will have a choice of what to convict george zimmerman on, if they're going to convict him at all. >> and that's how it goes, it's up to the jury, they can go for second degree murder or manslaughter. >> exactly. it's very, very common. manslaughter is what is called a lesser included offense within second degree murder and it's a very rare case when the manslaughter instruction is not given when you have a murder charge like this and the jury makes the call. >> but you think that in the summation by the prosecution that once they're allowed to give their version of events and tie all the pieces together, you think they may still be

i want to bring in sunny hostin the this is doris singleton.t from zimmerman after the shooting. why are they bringing her back? >> obviously they think she's helpful to the defense. she did sort of intimate that she thought he was truthful and believable. remember she was one of the officers that was removed from the investigation after the charges were brought and other investigators were brought in. it's usually pretty unusual to have what are really state witnesses like police officers and detectives and m.e.s being called by the defense. it shows you what you this case is about. the defense is turning things on their head. you just don't typically see it. when i was prosecuting cases perhaps it happened to me one time. it's pretty unusual that this happens. >> a lot of twists and turns. earlier we heard from lee ann benjamin. one of the things she said is she knew him because they were involved in these political cam p campaigns. she heard him like these screams of joy or these political campaigns. she was asked about the 911 tape. she sai

. >> reporter: cnn legal analyst sunny hostin has been in court every day. >> the inference is yeah, these are shocking, ugly, hateful words. and that wasn't lost upon the jury. i looked at them very, very closely, and some of them did seem shocked and offended almost by the words. >> reporter: at other times, the jury seemed to be captivated by the defense, especially when defense attorneys pulled out a dummy in court to help illustrate the confrontation. >> i was impressed when they stood up to get a bird's-eye view when they were trying to replicate or reproduce what was going on between trayvon martin and george zimmerman. it was very telling. it showed how into this they were, how they were watching a tennis match. >> reporter: jurors were especially engaged when the mothers of both trayvon martin and george zimmerman testified. five out of six jurors are married and almost all of them have children. prosecutor john guy keyed into that here. >> was that child not in fear when he was running from that defendant? isn't that every child's worst nightmare to be followed on the way h

in sanford florida, together with cnn legal analyst together with former federal prosecutor sunny hostin and martin is joining us from miami. martin, this is all very dramatic and at least the sense was that the defense managed to counter some of the impressions left the other day when trayvon martin's mother and brother testified. they insisted that that voice screaming on that 911 call was the voice of trayvon martin. >> well, again, this was another really remarkable moment, wolf, inside of that courtroom. think about it. you have tracy martin, the father, who is called to the witness stand and questioned by the attorney who is defending the man who killed tracy martin's son. that's of course trayvon martin. so that unto itself sets up the drama. but then you have the issue of a father that is now, as you just pointed out, there were two detectives that took the stand and said unequivocally that they heard tracy martin when they asked him whose voice that was calling 911, that was your son, they heard him say no. but then you heard the father come on and very strongly say they were wr

i want to bring back our panel, danny savalos, jeffrey tubin, sunny hostin, mark geragos. i want to talk about the credibility of another person who testified. i want to play part of this testify to our jurors, of the medical examiner. >> i believe he was alive for one to ten minutes after he was shot. his heart was beating until there was no blood left and then it stopped and it would be silent. >> this would be an obvious question. this was a fatal shot, is that correct? >> there is two holes on the right ventricle of the heart. there is no chance he can survive. no chance, zero. >> are you saying his brain is still technically alive, in other words? >> yes. >> that's what you mean by in terms of conscious, his brain is still live? >> yes. >> he can still feel pain in other words? >> yes. >> didn't he originally say trayvon martin was alive for one to three minutes? and now he said one to ten. >> he did, he did. that's correct. this testimony gave me agina. i just didn't quite follow what he was talking about. first of all, the heart can stop but of course can you resusc

i want to go to our panel, sunny hostin, marcia clark. at the defense table tonight, danny savalos and mark geragos who is author of "mis-trial," a look at how the justice system works and sometimes doesn't. and tracy martin probably the witness to watch today. how successful was the defense in poking a hole in saying it was his son in the 911 call? >> i think they're going to say he wh he was with the police, he said one thing and in court he said another thing i think they're going to that in closing argument to say that's exactly why trayvon martin's mother said the same thing, that her mind wanted her to. but the witnesses were very, very effective for the defense. i think when you contrast that with what he told the police first, it's going to be a very effective closing argument. >> marcia, it was interesting to watch mark o'mara to slyly make the point that he believed he changed his story about the 911 call, especially after talking to his attorney. is that an effect ive strategy? >> it can be because in this case it's coming from