VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome back live from the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown joining me is NBC 10 legal analyst Enrique Latoison thanks for being here here we are once again almost a year later after the first trial this is a very different trial in this instance that the jury has heard but let’s first talk about what happened today closing arguments from both sides how important are those has the jury already made up its mind or is there something that those attorneys may say that could sway them at the 11th hour. well I tell you the closings are the most important part of the case this is the part this is the reason why I attorneys go to law school you get to go into court and you get to argue get to yell you get the pour your heart into this you get to tell them this is the evidence and these are the things that they heard and now this is what it means and this is your chance to be able to sway that jury and be able to tell them this is why they should go for your side when the prosecution is going to say why they should go for their side and it’s the most important part of the case it’s the hardest part of the case but it’s also the funnest part of the case and this is the part where juries actually can listen and take that information back to the deliberations and use that and make a decision. we’ve mentioned this has been a very different trial this retrial included testimony from five other women the first jury did not hear from them. how key is that do you think in convincing this jury that there was a pattern of behavior and perhaps coming back with a guilty verdict? well, I think that it’s very important if the public knows that this case is different than the last case this is not the same jury and it’s not the same evidence that was heard last time. this time the judge in this case allowed a lot of evidence in and said you know what I’m gonna allow them to hear everything and I’m gonna have jury instructions I’m going to tell them how the would evidence they can use against Mr. Cosby or for Mr. Cosby I think in this particular case with the amount of evidence that’s come out I think it’s going to be harder to get a drawing on this case and I think that you might be looking at ultimately a guilty on this case. so you think it’s gonna be tougher to come back with a hung jury which is what happened the first time. I definitely believe that Jim. all right so we waited with many days together last June 5 days for the decision from the jury that they could not reach a verdict we will of course see what happens this time and you never want to predict what a jury might do right Enrique? Absolutely. All right Enrique Latoison thanks we have more coverage of the Bill Cosby trial coming up and Enrique will be back here with us once again coming up on NBC 10 News at 5:30 we’ll talk about the fact that Camille Cosby was here in court today and what it means when the jury sees her there in the courtroom for now let’s send it back to Jacqueline and Aaron in our NBC 10 studios.
Let’s send things over to my colleague Jim Rosenfield who is talking with our legal expert to try to break all of this down Jim. yeah Lauren I’m here with Enrique Latoison our legal analyst we’ve just looked over the court’s order and it seems to hinge specifically on credibility issues with what they call a critical witness that is a police officer that there are now credibility issues with that is why the court said it is time to release Meek Mill correct? that is correct I mean the order in this case specifically says that you know they’re not attacking the judge in this case I’m not saying the judge did anything wrong originally the defense said that the judge was biased and was overreaching but the supreme court said that they’re not taking the judge off this case however they’re saying to the case that he actually was guilty of the one that he was on probation for the one they had the violations of they’re calling into question that case they’re saying that case is troublesome based on the witness and the witness might have been a bad witness and therefore they’re asking that he be released. so that is something his attorneys had brought up before there were problems with this police officers testimony so where does the case go from here he gets out of prison now what happens with the whole case? Jim I don’t think the case is gonna go anywhere at this point at this point the prosecutor’s office said that they believe this witness not to be credible it’s gonna be very very hard for the prosecution to turn around and put this same witness on the stand against Meek Mill so in this particular case I think this case is probably not going to go anywhere at this point. so you mentioned the court also didn’t make any decision about pulling this judge off the case although that was requested as well denied in this order. denied that’s correct Jim the judge in this particular case specifically said that the judge can stay on this case and is not thrown off the case so that ruling says that Judge they do believe to not be biased in this case and they said the case itself is the problem not to judge. how significant Enrique is this whole decision that we are seeing here today? very significant I believe this case is going to go anywhere at this point I believe once he’s released eventually predict the case to be dismissed as it goes down the road and I believe this to be over for Mr. Meek Mill at this point. all right Enrique Latoison and we’re here of course before the Bill Cosby trial which is also wrapping up I’ll have more coverage from The Cosby trial here in Norristown coming up at five o’clock an Enrique will join us once again with his insights coming up at for now we’ll send it back to you in the studio.
Let’s go live now to Norristown that is where NBC 10s Jim Rosenfield is standing by with NBC 10 legal analysts Enrique Latoison Jim. thanks guys Enrique thanks for being here once again we’ve been looking over the court order from the Supreme Court the Pennsylvania Supreme Court it the keywords are credibility issues with a critical witness and that was their reason for saying that Meek Mill should be released on bail once again what’s that issue here? well what’s very interesting about this case this case originally started with the defense saying that this was about an overreaching judge and they said the judge was biased now the case has switched to something totally different the defense has now said this is a police misconduct case and at the Supreme Court agrees they say this is a policeman’s conduct case they should allow his bail to be reduce the unsecured so he’s released and by the way we’re not saying the judge did anything wrong on this case. they didn’t grant the request to replace the judge? absolutely. but if you have a problem with a critical witness and credibility with a police officer understand we’ve already seen others released who were involved or had that this same problem with police officers a giving testimony that was not deemed credible after the fact so where does this case go from here is this over? what happened is his defense will continue to attack the original case under the post-conviction Relief Act and when that occurs eventually they’re gonna be put in position when there will be a court hearing and the district attorney’s office will have to stand up or say we’re not interesting continue to pursue this case or we’re not standing by the original conviction in this case and when that occurs the case will end up being dismissed. all right and we know the district attorney had supported this move today releasing Meek Mill at least at this point on Vale da Krasner not making any other comment because they say at this point this case is still officially pending. correct. all right Enrique Latoison thanks stand by because we are here of course because of the Bill Cosby trial will continue to cover the meek mill case stay with NBC 10 for any breaking details on his release you can also download the free NBC 10 app.
To our other big story in the past 15 minutes the prosecution wrapped up its closing arguments at the Bill Cosby trial the next step the case goes to the jury that could be tonight or it could wait until tomorrow I’m Jim Rosenfield once again outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown the jury took a quick fresh air break and joining me once again is NBC 10 legal analyst Enrique Latoison thanks for being here with your insights today one big development was that Bill Cosby’s wife Camille joined him in court today. how significant is that for the jury to see her with her husband here in court on this final day closing arguments? well when you have a jury of 12 this could be the subtle little differences that might get to one particular juror in this particular case the prosecutor called him a married man said he was a dirty old man I think seeing that his wife is standing by him that could potentially sway a potential juror to think well she’s standing by him maybe these things aren’t true. we saw her do that in the last trial she came on the last day before the jury got the case as well that’s right just these things were done by design this is not an accident that she’s sitting there sitting up there showing her support for her husband. so the jury gets the case what happens with them now at this point walk us through how this whole process works well the first thing that happens is the jury is charged what happens is the judge gives the instructions on how they look at the evidence how are the different things that took place in the trial it’s actually a very boring part for the jury of actually see drawers actually kind of fall asleep sometimes throwing that part. but it must be done. it must be done and then they elect the 4th person and that 4th person then starts to get together and they all sit there and they start deliberating and there’s nothing there’s no particular set of rules on how that’s done they just have to come to you a unanimous decision they could take a vote right off the bat right off the back there’s no right or wrong way just a pencil on each story’s different all right and we’ll be here at the courthouse awaiting the jury’s decision once again they have not yet gotten the case and Enrique Latoison we always appreciate your insights once they get the case and those deliberations begin we will be here to bring you that verdict if and when it happens right here from the courthouse in Norristown remember download the NBC 10 app so you can stay on top of the latest developments in this case for now we’ll send it back to you in the studios and Keith an Aaron.
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