"Are you claiming in any way that you don't understand English?" Trayvon Martin's Friend Takes the Stand

 

Throughout the entire Trayvon Martin Trial, Trayvon Martin's girlfriend Friend,  Rachel Jeantel has been the most painful witness to watch. Jeantel is a 19 year old high school senior who was the last person to speak to Trayvon moments before he was gunned down. She had a very close relationship with Trayvon and in her testimony yesterday told a very detailed explanation of the phone call that took place in the last moments of his life.

She recalled her conversation with Trayvon in court Wednesday saying "A man was watching him," "He said the man kept watching him. He kept complaining that a man was just watching him." She went on to explain how she told Trayvon to run, when he thought a man Zimmerman was following her. The last thing she heard Trayvon say was, "Get off, Get off".

The defense attorney West was extrememly rude and came off as a complete bully (as most defense attorney's are), nevertheless Jeantel was agressive but consistent. Today in court Jeantel had a completely different attitude, answering most of the defense attorneys questions with "yes sir".

Even when her intelligence was constantly brought into question, she kept her composure. She was even asked by West (Defense attorney):

"Are you claiming in any way that you don't understand English?" (West)
"I don't understand you, I do understand English," said Jeantel.
 "When someone speaks to you in English, do you believe you have any difficulty understanding it because it wasn't your first language?" asked West.
 "I understand English really well," said Jeantel.

The saddest part of the testimony for me was when the defense lawyer:
The prosecutor asks Jeantel if a friend wrote her letter to Martin's mom. She said yes.
"You can’t write in cursive, correct?" asked de la Rionda.
"Yes, sir," said Jeantel.
"You also can’t read in cursive?" asked de la Rionda.
"Yes, sir," said Jeantel.

The fact that the defense attorney had to attack her character, speech, her education in order to discredit her was cruel, but this is a murder trial. However I believe his questioning blew up in his face because Jeantel may have lost her temper a few times, and may have got a little mixed up when he asked confusing questions, SHE WAS CONSISTENT. And a consistent witness is always a good witness.