Mrs. Palmer's Cross Examination
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Mrs. PALMER’S CROSS EXAMINATION
After I concluded my account of yesterday’s testimony at 3:00 PM, DA Paul Hora did a pretty good job cross examining Mrs. Palmer, Hans’ mother.
However, in my opinion, Paul Hora blew a perfect opportunity to clear up her testimony about the blood marked post in her house’s entryway. For this error, I assume one of two things was going on: (1) It didn’t even occur to him to try (see my earlier comment (“That Darned Post”) for why that effort might have paid off; or (2) he was worried that he would only make matters worse. As matters stand the defense can argue that the Nina’s blood might have gotten on the post several weeks earlier – basing this on Mrs. Palmer’s somewhat casual observations to the effect she noticed nothing different about the post when she returned from Nevada.
Among yesterday’s highlights, was this gem --
Hora: “If this was such a ‘memorable event,’ the specter of Nina running away ’forever’ with the kids to Sweden, why didn’t you report this to the police after Nina disappeared?
Palmer: “It just didn't occur to me.”
Hora: “What did occur to you on Sept. 8 was that ‘something terrible had happened’ to Nina, right?”
Palmer: “Yes.”
[Credit the S. F. Chronicle’s Henry Lee -- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/localnews/category?blogid=37&cat=1428 }
There was additional cross examination about Nina’s threat to leave and take the children with her to Sweden. But when you think about it, this actually corroborates Mrs. Palmer’s earlier worry about Nina’s sudden disappearance. After all, why would Nina voluntarily leave without her children? Palmer has backpedaled but unconvincingly on this point but I believe that all or nearly all of the jurors now believe that Nina, having fought Hans over custody and having showed typical motherly instincts, did not simply ‘run away’ on September 3.
And there was testimony explaining the tension between Hans and his mother over his messiness. When Palmer left for the “Burning Man” festival in Nevada, she expected Hans to clean up the house and he apparently did that.
But he forgot to wipe the blood smear from the front post…
The case resumed Monday afternoon. Mrs. Palmer is off the witness stand… for now.
Stay tuned….
