Not sure why the prosecution had M.B. take the stand.
I have to disagree with you on this one Tim. And that's only because I have actually been watching the court proceedings on tv. I've followed it every day since Monday. Fortunately I DVR'd it so that I could speed through 6 hours of footage of 2 separate trials being covered on the trutv network.
He has been a key witness for the prosecution today. They did not allow his face to be shown and they allowed no audio. They allowed the camera only to focus on his hands as he was on the stand and to get a few shots of Tyler's family and other corners of the courtroom. It had to be a horrific experience for "M.B." You talk about victims being re-victimized at trial. This was a prime example.
Here's a few notable points of today's trial. The suspense was very high because Tyler's family had never seen or met this man who Tyler had three times brought up to his room. The defense lawyers had never met him. The back of the courtroom was standing room only with reporters and gawkers. A court reporter for the network was allowed to describe what was going on within the courtroom and describe some of the testimony.
The prosecution who is on his side and is trying to get justice for he and Tyler had to ask M.B. Many uncomfortable questions. Then the defense would have a chance to try to discredit him and paint him in as bad a light as possible. Keep in mind here that M.B. was described by Ravi and other students as "old, shady looking, scruffy, almost homeless looking". Here's some of the things the trutv reporter told us. She was a woman by the way.
"When M.B. entered the courtroom he looked very nervous. He didn't know where he was supposed to sit down and finally someone told him could sit down next to his lawyer. He's wearing black pants and a blue striped dress shirt." Later... "He's on the stand and his hands are trembling. He's very nervous. He has short dark hair. Black or dark brown. He's clean shaven. He looks to be about 30 y/o or late 20's. He's adorable! His eyes sparkle. He looks like he works out. He comes across as very articulate. He answers the questions in a strong voice."
Later the reporter describes some of the questions he had to answer. He was asked if he had agreed for anyone else to view his encounter in the room with Tyler. Did he believe that this visit was to be strictly between himself and Tyler. (Going to the idea that he had the expectation of privacy.) He had to describe how Tyler and he had met up on a gay dating service site. (adam4adam)
He described he and Tyler as having been in a relationship. He was asked if he and Tyler had had sex. The answer was yes. They had sex twice in the room. On the stand he was forced to admit that "penetration" had occurred. Keep in mind here that Tyler's grieving family is all sitting directly across from him. For me it's mortifying to think that you are being obligated to tell about sexual encounters you had with someone while his mother, father and 2 brothers are sitting right there. Let alone someone who is deceased.
The prosecutor had to ask him all these questions to show the extent of the violation of privacy. They weren't just making out and groping each other. They had full on sex on 2 different nights in the room. Although Ravi and Molly and the other people in her room that night all say that they saw only about 5 seconds of video feed on two occasions about 30 minutes apart on that one night...and all they saw was some kissing...Tyler had no idea of how much they had seen. All Tyler knew was that he had been spied on during that sexual encounter. Or perhaps maybe Tyler thought they had watched the whole thing from beginning to end.
The hardest charge for the prosecution to make stick is the bias intimidation charge. More or less trying to prove this was a hate crime because Tyler was being harassed for being gay. M.B. did speak to that in saying that when he left the room the first night that several people were standing out in the hall staring at him. He said on the second night he was there he could hear people in the hallway talking in negative tones like they were discussing gossip. He didn't understand at the time that because of Ravi's tweets that many other people on the campus were aware that they were in there having sex.
The bias intimidation charge is still going to be a difficult charge to make stick.
The defense was brutal in its cross examination. They brought out transcripts of he and Tyler's private chats on the adam4adam website. M.B.'s hands trembled heavily towards the end also. M.B. had never asked for any of this. He was re-victimized in the trial all over again.
All in all though I would say it was a very good day for the prosecution.
