Philip Munger: Still waiting on a post from Fred James for Monday. I'll be at the first hour of the morning portion of the trial, and back for much of the afternoon.
I've been mulling over John Henry Browne's decision to go minimalist on the defense presentation of this proceeding. Steve Aufrecht isn't so sure that Browne will actually not call anyone to the stand - except possibly Kohring:
Defense attorney Browne said after the jury was dismissed for the day, “Speaking candidly, I may not put on a defense.” (I’m always alert when people suddenly say they are speaking candidly. What were they doing before?) He then asked some questions about whether witnesses would be allowed to testify about Kohring’s habit of being very friendly and offering to help. After some questioning the judge said no. I’d heard at lunch from a close friend of Kohring, that his nephew was going to be called. And he said afterward he’d been told to call all the witnesses to cancel. I’m not entirely convinced. We’ll see.
On my laptop, while writing about this trial, I'm watching C-SPAN 3's coverage of the House Judiciary Committee hearings about the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division's concentration under the Bush administration on minority voter suppression, rather than on voters' rights. Watching Alabama Representative Artur Davis questioning division chief John Tanner about the conduct of his office is waking me up fully that the lawyering in the Kohring case, especially in the realm of hammering away at getting facts out of somebody on the stand, hasn't been stellar. Just solid. Davis, my favorite Democrat on this important U.S. House committee, is an ex-U.S. Prosecutor with a lot of criminal trial experience.
Off to get ready for a long, long day in Anchorage.
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