George Zimmerman’s lawyers Wednesday notified prosecutors that their witness list now includes a who’s who of the Sanford Police Department’s chain of command at the time of Trayvon Martin’s death, including the police chief, major crimes captain, sergeant and case detectives.
It is an unusual defense strategy. Police officers typically testify for the state, explaining how they gathered the evidence that led to charges. In this case, it suggests that Zimmerman’s attorneys believe the testimony of Sanford officers will help — not hurt — their client.
The defense is simply informing the prosecutor that they intend to call the cops as witnesses. That may be unusual in criminal cases but is not that unusual. All it means is that the defense thinks the cops’ testimony will favor them, not that the cops are itching to be defense witnesses.
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get cops to commit to appear for trial, and in my experience they are only slightly less enthusiastic about it than they are about having their heads sewn into a basket full of live rats.
The police department doesn’t have much choice in the matter. Their past is far worse than anything the most rabid “minority rights” individual could conjure.