Trayvon Martin's friend and a key witness made a lot more sense than you think

[TorchTheWitch]

84. she never said the word "heard"

On the tape and on the transcript it is clear that she used the word "hear" in that sentence, and even the defense doesn't dispute that. The defense's only argument was whether or not she said "could'a" or "could've". But it is the word "hear" that matters because had she been saying that she could have HEARD Trayvon she would have used the word HEARD, and she never did - not in on the tape, not in the transcript and not in her testimony. The defense was using her dialect that is not very clear to those people who don't speak it to try and claim that "she could have heard" was what she said and more importantly what she meant. But it is her consistent and clear use of the word "hear" rather than "heard" that makes it clear that whatever that additional "ah" sound meant after the word "could" was only her style of speaking or a pause like "ah" or "um" or an expulsion of breath or whatever that in no way changes the clear meaning of what she was conveying which she made abundantly clear in her testimony.

She never lied in her testimony at all. Any lies she told previously like why she told Martin's parents she didn't go to the wake or funeral she clearly owned up to in her testimony and explained why she did which is totally understandable. At that age in particular I would have done the same - made up a "white" lie to explain why I was emotionally unable to attend so as not to offend and not to reveal what I would have considered a weakness in my own character in not feeling emotionally capable. Any lies of omission by not giving all details in front of Martin's mother were for the same reason - to not upset her needlessly and not believing such strict detail was relevant.

Defense did the same thing to other witnesses badgering them as to why they didn't give every single detail to everyone they talked to about the case, like the Asian woman and her testimony about the sound she heard moving left to right. Defense pounded her on that when anyone can clearly see that she never mentioned it before because she didn't ever consider it relevant information nor was she ever directly asked a question pertaining to the directional movement of the sound she heard until her testimony in court INCLUDING the defense counsel - they never asked her that question directly EITHER yet made a stupid big stink over it in cross examination to a point where she was nearly reduced to tears.

The end result of Rachel's testimony was that she consistently told the truth while being badgered and harassed and humiliated by West who repeatedly mischaracterized her testimony in order to confuse her and try to get her to agree with his mischaracterization (which she never allowed) and repeatedly asking the same questions that were asked and answered the same way by her again and again. Even the judge was obviously disgusted with him. Prosecution allowed him to do this without objecting because they KNEW he was coming off as a bully deliberating trying to confuse her and use her dialect against her and basically treating her as a criminal, and the jury wouldn't fail to see it.

Her lying to Martin's family and lies of omission to them she freely admitted to, reasonably explained and aren't even relevant. She never once lied in her testimony though West repeatedly and obviously tried to confuse her in the hope that she would contradict herself through misstatement, but she saw what he was doing and didn't stand for it perpetually insisting on her every answer that showed her consistency. And for that she came off even better despite her age, her woeful under-education, her dialect, her soft voice, her size and her race which was clearly used by the defense and even cretins here on DU against her.