I'm guessing they decided they didn't want the material in editable pdfs?
Luckily I had opened up the pdf shortly after it was posted, so I was able to read it this AM with ease.
Take-aways--
I read through Merchan's jury instructions (don't judge me) and they were delightfully clear. I know they're well-worn, but I like to see the little distinctive touches.
- He's very against speaking objections. Just "Objection"; no one or two word descriptor.
- He spend a lot of words explaining how the jurors should treat their notebooks.
- On the other hand, no mention of lunch or break schedules.
- A little light on his role as explainer of law, but thorough on What is Evidence?
Pros Opening Statement
- Really well written--and if he was not reading it, he must have largely memorized it or have been speaking half from memory and half from note cards. My editorial eye found very, very few signs of extemporaneous speaking. A few annoying ands and evens
- Good opening, imo. The only material that wasn't directly related to the events of the case was a page or so spent discussing the Cohen issue. Perhaps not without coincidence, that section was the least effective.
def Opening Statement
- Neither memorized nor studied. It's annoying to read transcripts from people speaking extempore that have not been cleaned up, but I'm sure he made his points.
- For myself, I can't get past the fact that they're denying fuckhead had any involvement with anything other than setting up the plan with Pecker and then letting Cohen take over with little or no further involvement. Good luck with that.
- They pushing one of their favorite claims - that Cohen committed perjury (or admitted to perjury; it's hard to tell) in the Engoron trial. "He's going to tell you that he lied in court a couple of months ago" did not go over well. Ojb. Sus.
- All the sidesbars are transcribed. Yay!
- I blushed when I read in the tweets that Blanche was portraying fuckhead as a family man. I blushed harder when I read it in print. Just idiotic. Half of his mind must be on making the points fuckhead wants him to make, because this could not have gone over well.
Pecker One
- He's a really good speaker. He uses complete sentences jam-packed with content.
- On Day 2 of his testimony (no transcript yet), when he was talking about fuckhead the world's most eligible bachelor, and about how he wanted the stories he killed for two reasons, one to help fuckhead, and two to publish later if they turned out to be true, I kept thinking about Blanche's Family Man material. I'm sure the Jury noted the contrast between whitewashing and reality.
finis
