While cross-examining use-of-force expert LAPD Sgt. Jody Stiger, defense attorney Eric Nelson showed body camera video of George Floyd. Nelson asked Stiger if he could interpret what Floyd was saying at that time, saying, “Does it sound like he says ‘I ate too many drugs’?” Stiger said he could not make out what Floyd was saying.
The prosecution should’ve immediately objected to Nelson’s questioning, according to CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates.
“The idea that you’re going to introduce testimony through the actual attorneys is not what you’re entitled to do,” Coates said to CNN’s Kate Bolduan.
By including his interpretation of what Floyd was saying, “it lingers,” Coates said. “And again, prosecutors have to be very careful about what lingers,” she said.
“If you’re the jury and that’s out there, on redirect, it’s got to be addressed immediately,” she added.
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